| Subcategories | Grade Level (feature_five_browse-bin) |
|
|
|
|
Color Me Kubrick | 
 enlarge | Director: Brian W. Cook
Actors: John Malkovich, Jim Davidson, Richard E. Grant, Luke Mably, Marc Warren
Studio: Magnolia
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $2.06
You Save: $27.92 (93%)
New (33) Used (38) from $2.06
Rating:  16 reviews
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 10078
UPC: 876964000789
EAN: 0876964000789
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: March 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Item in Very Good condition. MAY NOT contain all original artwork and materials. Case/artwork MAY show wear and/or have stickers affixed. 30 day guarantee!
Tell A Friend
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
John Malkovich gives a hilarious tour-de-force as Alan Conway a conman who successfully passed himself off as the famed and notoriously reclusive director Stanley Kubrick for the last decade of the filmmaker's life despite knowing very little about Kubrick. It'd be a farce of the highest order if it weren't based on a true story.System Requirements:Run Time: 87 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 876964000789 Manufacturer No: 10078
Amazon.com
Color Me Kubrick tells the slyly amusing and "true-ish" story about a brazen impostor who pretended to be one of the world's greatest filmmakers. As British comedies go it's a bit of a trifle, but constantly enjoyable for cinephiles devoted to Stanley Kubrick and his films. In a foppishly flamboyant performance, John Malkovich dons a fab-ulously colorful wardrobe and uses a comical variety of voices as Alan Conway, an eccentrically gay outcast who spent most of the 1990s convincing his gullible targets that he was Stanley Kubrick, despite bearing no resemblance to the real Kubrick and knowing next to nothing about the director's celebrated films. Preying (with startling success) upon their ignorance and their fawning desire to seek favors from this "legendary filmmaker," Conway conned his mostly gay victims into giving him money, sex, and other kinds of ill-earned appreciation, and Color Me Kubrick (completed two years before its simultaneous release to theaters and DVD) does a terrific job of showing how Conway managed to maintain this charade for nearly a decade before he was "outed" by New York Times columnist Frank Rich, whose own encounter with Conway would eventually lead to the faux-Kubrick's undoing. It's pretty slight stuff, as comedies go, but it boasts plenty of authority behind the camera: Both director Brian Cook and screenwriter Anthony Frewin were close associates of Kubrick's for decades, and they have terrific fun by peppering their film with a variety of Kubrickian in-jokes, from the frequent use of music featured in Kubrick's own films to a variety of visual in-jokes that Kubrick worshippers will instantly recognize. Add to this Malkovich's crazily unhindered performance, and you've got a nice little cult comedy that will keep you laughing if you're in the right mood. Keep your eyes wide open for cameo appearances by Marisa Berenson (who appeared in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon), Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films), and director Ken Russell, among others. --Jeff Shannon
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Full Metal Rubbish! October 5, 2008
Mr. P. W. Sanders (London England)
I think this must be just about the worst film I have ever seen. The acting is uniformly awful, especially Malkovitch who hams it up so much it is soon boring. Jim Davidson as a fat, unfunny comedian is type-cast and the Kubrick in jokes are about as subtle as being hit on the head with a brick. Avoid at all costs, save your money and 90 minutes of your life. Why do I have to give it 1 star?????
 Color me bored July 1, 2008
Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA)
Although it pains me to say it, I sometimes wonder, especially after seeing a film like "Color Me Kubrick," if the Malkovich legend doesn't outstrip the Malkovich talent. He was superb, for example, in the too little known "Klimt" and pretty good in the Hollywood tear-jerker "Dangerous Liasons." But his performance in "Being John Malkovich," an excellent film with some excellent acting by Catherine Keener and Cameron Diaz, was mixed. In "Color Me Kubrick," it's so bad that, to give Malkovich the benefit of the doubt, one wants to think it's deliberately so. But even this doesn't reduce the film's tedium.
Malkovich plays the role of a small-time con artist, one Alan Conway, who scammed his way through a few years by pretending to be Stanley Kubrick. Like all good scam artists, Conway (at least as portrayed by Malkovich) adapted his character to fit the expectations of his marks. But the different persona portrayed in the film--Conway the gay seducer, Conway the entrepreneur, Conway the guy's guy, Conway the Hollywood mover and shaker--are reduced by Malkovich to eventually tiresome caricatures. Conway the gay man comes across as simpering and swishy (reminiscent of the horrible parody of femininity Malkovich presents in one scene in "Being John Malkovich), insecure, weepy. Conway the guy's guy (who tries to scam a couple of metal rockers) is loud and brash and pushy--the typical Ugly American. Conway the mover and shaker is an equally stereotyped portrayal of a guy who can pick up a phone, call somebody in Hollywood, and get things done. All that's needed to fill out the caricature was a big, $10 cigar. And on it goes. Each persona played by Malkovich is over the top. There's no finesse at all in his performances, and one finds oneself glancing at one's watch way before the film is over.
Perhaps the film wanted to make the point that each of the types impersonated by Conway/Malkovich are strawmen, insubstantial ghosts that our insubstantial culture births. Perhaps the director wanted to suggest that our culture's celebrity-mania is so extreme that we'll embrace even the shallowest of persons. But surely both points could've been gotten across without having Malkovich hitting us over the head with his buffoonish acting.
That's the bad news. On the up side is the performance of veteran British actor Peter Bowles (of "Rumpole" fame) as the manager of a posh seaside resort. Although he has a small role, Bowles handles it beautifully.
Two stars, tops.
Hammy Malkovich, disappointing conclusion but this is fun for Kubrick fans May 8, 2008
Peter Hoogenboom (New Zealand)
John Malkovich hams it up shamefully as conman Alan Conway who impersonated Stanley Kubrick for years despite being openly gay and looking nothing like him! The film pokes fun at celebrity and has continuous references to many of Kubrick's films. It fun for the first two thirds but then peters out to an unsatisfying conclusion. Kubrick fans will probably enjoy it most.
 A "Tru-ish" Story December 27, 2007
Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas)
"Color Me Kubrick"
A "Tru-ish" Story
Amos Lassen
There are very few people who are not aware of who Stanley Kubrick was. His death left a void in fimmaking and those of us that have seen "A Clockwork Orange" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" are not likely to ever forget them.
The film "Color Me Kubrick" is based on a true event which occurred in the 1990's when Kubrick was filming "Eyes Wide Shut", his last film. It stars John Malkovich as flamboyant gay male who somehow manages to impersonate the director. Malkovich is Alan Conway pretending to be Stanley Kubrick and he does so with a great deal of camp. Conway leads a good life (that he manages somehow to get other people to pay for). He also is able to persuade young good-looking men to drop their pants for him.
Malkovich gives an amazing performance albeit slightly over the top. He is a man of many accents and mannerisms and uses them all. He makes fun of other Hollywood actors and appears to be having a wonderful time playing this role. He is perfectly at home playing Conway as he peels off layer after layer of weirdness. What makes this so interesting is that Conway, the real man, knew absolutely nothing about Kubrick yet he managed to pull off this imitation until he was ultimately discovered by the theater critic for "The New York Times", Frank Rich.
The costumes are amazing and Malkovich wears them like a trooper. At times he is dressed as a bum and at other times as a stereotypical flamer. He manages to seduce what seems to be the entire gamut of masculinity. This movie is a great joke. When Conway as Kubrick promises a young Liberace like man to star in a Las Vegas show we see how Conway works his game.
I found this to be a thoroughly entertaining no brainer of a film. I just sat back, watched and enjoyed myself all the way through.
Color Me Lavender October 15, 2007
H. F. Corbin (ATLANTA, GA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I finally ordered this DVD at the urging of a friend and ardent movie buff. I'm glad I took his advice. Directed by Brian Cook, "Color Me Kubrick" stars John Malkovich as a real-live con-artist whose real name is Alan Conway. As gay as pink lemonade, Conway-- aptly named-- "cons" a lot of people into giving him money and expensive gifts by posing as the reclusive film director Stanley Kubrick. The movie belongs to Malkovich for his camp over-the-top performance that delights the viewer for 90 minutes or so. His costumes defy description and have to be seen to be believed. There are lots of hooty moments here as Conway convinces his unwary victims that he is Kubrick. Only rarely is he found out. In one scene he rattles off a list of his films-- he is always working on some new project and might use the talents of his latest quest-- and includes "Judgment at Nuremberg" as one of his. At least he got the "Stanley" correct since Stanley Kramer directed that one.
There are references here and there throughout the film to Kubrick movies including much of the music he used. In addition to being a sad commentary ultimately about a man who is no one but a no one who gets away with this hoax-- he ultimately meets his waterloo when the American journalist Frank Rich meets him and exposes him-- "Color Me Kubrick" makes a statement about celebrity worship.
Although a much better film, "Six Degrees of Separation" is also based on a true story of a gay man (Will Smith) who poses as Sidney Poitier's son and fools a lot of the pretentious New York art world for a season. While two examples of gay people impersonating the rich and famous do not a significant statistical sample make, perhaps the phenomenon should be further explored.
|
|
|
| |
