Movie Details

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» Original Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
» Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

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» Original Title: A Clockwork Orange (1971)
» Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

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» Original Title: The Shining (1980)
» Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

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» Original Title: Full Metal Jacket (1987)
» Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

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» Original Title: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
» Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

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» Original Title: Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures (2001)
» Directed by: Jan Harlan

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 Discjunkie's Comments

Packaging / Design

This is a rather unusual set as it combines the use of your regular steelcases with a rather thin slipcase style tin box set (packaging tin within tin just ain't the common route to take if you ask me).

The 5 steelcases are branded Star Metalpaks and though they look quite simular to your everyday steelbook there's the crucial difference of the Metalpacks not having a separate spine (meaning that they can't lay down flat on a table once opened).

Furthermore; except for the german releases of 2001 and Full Metal Jacket they're have not been any steelbook releases of these new edition so far. The french box set comes packaged within digipacks but most other countries have just packaged everything within keepcases inside a common cardboard box as far as I know (just referring to the other regions on THIS particular box set, not counting old Kubrick collections that have been released in the past).

The steelcases are all very well designed and all in a very simular style which makes it look all the more genuine and well crafted. The outer tin box is probably the black sheep in this release and it really feels like an odd choice to go for even if it works out pretty well in the end.

What's bothering is that it's a very easily damaged box and also a troubling tight fit. Granted, the inside of big tin box is lined with a very fine plastic to keep the cases from getting marks and scratches, but it's still such a tight fit that I doubt it really makes that much of a difference.

The steelcases are still stacked right next to each other so they will definitely get marks and scratches on them with time (unless of course you can find a really thin plastic pocket for each case - as I did on mine).

Furthermore; There's no embossing of any kind anywhere and both the steelcases and the outer box is done with your regular matte steel surface.

Disc contents / Extras

All the discs appear to be equal to the new R1 special editions for for each film, except for a few minor changes. 2001: A Space Odyssey is missing an interview with Stanley Kubrick by Jeremy Bernstein which is found on the R1 set. And also, as usual, the R1 edition has the longer US Theatrical Cut of The Shining, while this box set (like all others) feature the international 30 min shorter version.

As far as the extra material is concerned, each film has a pretty good wealth of special features except for maybe Full Metal Jacket, which is in fact not REALLY a 2 disc edition, but rather just a 2 disc case, where the second disc is actually the separate feature length documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures.

Menu systems look a bit different from film to film but it's all in english and the overall design feels pretty good for each disc so I'm not complaining.

Looking at the big picture I can honestly say that it's a pretty well packed line up. Granted, there are still a few films missing for it to be a complete collection (For instance; the recently released French box set includes 12 discs, and adds the films Lolita and Barry Lyndon, which are not present in this set).

All in all a pretty good collection for any Kubrick fan but if you really want a complete Kubrick collection you're gonna have to stack up on a few other editions as well.

Sidenotes

All the steelcases incorrectly list their respective aspect ratios as 2.40:1 when in fact none of the five films are actually presented in this ratio (please see individual disc specs for the correct aspect ratios).