Paths of Glory

A gut wrenching experience. This scathing indictment of military culture remains sadly relevant in a world where too many are willing to feed the machinery of war in all of its bestiality for the sake of slogans, hatred and personal gain. Kirk Douglas gives a terrific performance as the one man in a position of responsibility in the whole French army who actually acts like he has a soul, while Adolphe Menjou and George Macready embody the corruption of generals safe behind lines. Director Stanley Kubrick presents a film full of gripping scenes, including intense battle sequences that prefigure Saving Private Ryan by 40 years, courtroom drama as sharp as A Few Good Men, and a harrowing sequence in which a firing squad serves as a form of passion play, one that cannot help but inspire pity and disgust in equal measures. War may be, as one writer put it, a force that gives us meaning, but its secondary effects simply drip with meaninglessness and villainy. Glory’s got nothing to do with it. 

A.I.

There were some serious reservations at the start; it's just not that engaging at first. It's even a little creepy (but not in an interesting way). But once it starts to--very consciously--parallel its literary antecedent (Collodi's Pinocchio) the movie really takes off and becomes something worth watching--maybe even fascinating.