Critic Review - Chicago Sun-Times

A Clockwork Orange is an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (204)
Chicago Sun-Times
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Comments

Donnie_Boy

Ohad Akhtari

Roger, Roger, Roger... what can I say about your review? Let me just say that I think you're a donkey. Are you satisfied with that, Roger? Good.

Mar 31 - 12:22 PM

Tommy H.

Tommy Hatcher

I usually agree with Roger's reviews (or at least see his point of view) but, yeah, he's definitely being a donkey on this one lol.

Sep 9 - 08:10 AM

Kirk S.

Kirk Stock

Yeah, nobody ever asked a film critic to tell us what he thinks about a movie. What an asshole. How dare he do what he is paid to do.

Apr 16 - 05:48 PM

Gory Donnaccelli

Gary Shannon

Your cynicism is unwarranted and unwanted.

Apr 18 - 01:19 PM

Kirk S.

Kirk Stock

I fail to see how I was being cynical. I was merely showing how stupid these people are.
I think these users' cruelty and condescension towards a critic merely for doing what he is payed to do is unwanted and unwarranted.

May 6 - 01:02 PM

This comment has been removed.

Kirk S.

Kirk Stock

So Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Jaws, Pulp Fiction, Raging Bull, Bonnie and Clyde, The Shawshank Redemption, The Departed, Inception, Saving Private Ryan, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 12 Angry Men, All About Eve, and Dr. Strangelove are bad movies? This is the guy you should be flaming, people, not Ebert.

Apr 16 - 05:52 PM

This comment has been removed.

Kirk S.

Kirk Stock

Ebert's philosophy is "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it's about it." Ebert gave 2012 a good review because it did what it was trying to do. He said "2012 delivers what it promises, and since no sentient being will buy a ticket expecting anything else, it will be, for its audiences, one of the most satisfactory films of the year."

But really people are entitled to their opinion and should be respected for them. I hate people who do not respect other people's opinion. Everyone must have some movies that they like that people hate or vice versa. If you were a film critic, I am sure that there would be some movies you would radically disagree with the public about. It happens to all critics.

May 6 - 01:04 PM

WS S.

WS Shannon

How about Once Upon a time in the west, Blue Velvet, Blade Runner (before he hypocritically changed his opinion), TO Kill a Mockingbird, Deliverance, Unforgiven, Fight Club, Usual Suspects, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Gladiator, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Brazil, Untouchables, Resevoir Dogs,Die Hard, Army of Darkness, Full Metal Jacket, The Elephant Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Papillon, Escape From New York, An American Werewolf in London, Pelle the Conqueror, Snatch, The Professional or even Star Trek.

Most of these films are classics, and yet he thinks films like 2012, The Happening, Cop and a Half, Anaconda, Knowing, and The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle are better? Opinions are opinions, but this guy doesn't dictate what a great film is at all. He's nothing but a spectator who writes good, his opinions suck for a 'top critic'

May 14 - 10:03 PM

Kirk S.

Kirk Stock

The fact that you focus on the "bad", after all the "good" I've listed really says a lot more about you than it does about me.

How is changing your opinion hypocritical? That makes no sense. He changed his opinion on Unforgiven and Pelle the Conqueror, too. He put Unforgiven in his Great Movies collection, saying he had been distracted by thoughts of his impending wedding when he watched it and then gave it a bad review.

Who are you to say he was wrong about any of those movies, anyway? He came up with good reasons for a lot of those movies being bad, particularly Reservoir Dogs and Star Trek. And Roger Ebert had good reasons for giving 2012 a good review. He said "2012 delivers what it promises, and since no sentient being will buy a ticket expecting anything else, it will be, for its audiences, one of the most satisfactory films of the year." Yet people refuse to even consider his reasons because they are so preoccupied with the idiotic belief that the majority is always, or even usually right. It - is - not.

Besides, Escape From New York only has a 7.1 on the IMdB. Fast Times at Ridgemont High has a 7.2, and An American Werewolf in London has a 7.5. These are only decent ratings. If they're such great films, then why aren't their ratings higher?

And who says the group is always right? All Water for Elephants was greatly praised by critics, has thousands of 5-star reviews on Amazon.com, and every review I've seen of it on YouTube is positive. Yet I can name very good reasons for it being a terrible novel and one of the worst books I've ever read. If you like it or think I might be wrong about it, here's an example you might agree with: Twilight has 3,403 5-star reviews on Amazon.com.

Let's face it, it's all up to taste. Brazil, in particular, is a film that your reaction differs to based on your tastes, from what I've heard. If he laughed at or was entertained by a movie like The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, how can anyone say they were not good movies to him? And in accordance with his 2012 review, you cannot compare films like 2012, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle to the movies Ebert panned. Ebert's motto is "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it's about it". Siskel once mocked Ebert for giving Benji the Hunted a thumbs up and Full Metal Jacket a thumbs down on the same show, to which Ebert stated that the 2 movies were from completely different genres and could not be compared.

I think the fact that Roger Ebert has differed from the majority so much shows that his opinion should be valued because he does not conform and state opinions that are not his own.

May 21 - 07:04 PM

Maneesh Starcade R

Maneesh Starcade R

this guy is the best critic ever. but disagrees with him on this rating

Jul 8 - 12:52 AM

Ragalar

Joey Z

May 21 - 07:32 PM

bubbaburnstine

adam burnstine

Finally, someone who gets it right. This is a shallow and pointless movie that marks the lowpoint of Kubrick's brilliant career

Jun 20 - 09:27 AM

Damien Lives

m x

eat **** bubbaburnstine

Jul 20 - 01:13 PM

girly g.

girly girl

oh, that's mature!

Aug 2 - 07:08 PM

girly g.

girly girl

i disagree but i respect your opinion

Aug 2 - 07:09 PM

Michael P.

Michael Patison

Like both people above, I disagree with your opinion. After initially watching the film, I was in the same boat as you, but my opinion changed significantly as I thought about it more. I respect your opinion and am glad you expressed it.

Jun 6 - 04:01 PM

Spencer Christensen

Spencer Christensen

The film criticizes traditional views of criminality and punishment by showing how a fascist government promotes a shallow and violent culture to control the populace.
The film also contains themes of the banality of evil theory, parallels crime with consequence, and uses role reversal to criticize the "eye for an eye" mentality of western justice.

This film is not shallow, you are.

Aug 11 - 03:01 PM

Dave M.

Dave Mart

hail you, hail you, hail you!!! *applause, applause, applause*

Sep 21 - 08:01 AM

Tommy H.

Tommy Hatcher

Read the book by Anthony Burgess. I think you'll like it better than the movie (I do) and you might even like the movie better afterwards. I think the film and the book are great.

Sep 9 - 08:14 AM

Ceara Robin

Ceara Robin

The movie pretty much covered everything in the book.

Sep 19 - 01:02 PM

Laurence Marzilli

Laurence Marzilli

You try making a better film than this. I've never seen any film as good as this. And I've seen alot of films.

Oct 5 - 04:31 PM

Cole Jaeger

Cole Jaeger

"You try to make a better film than this?" Or course he probably couldn't. I could say that about every single movie you ever hated and it would be true in most cases. Just because you are not a director (probably). Just because you can't make something that's better doesn't mean it can't be a bad movie.

Jun 20 - 01:18 PM

Laurence Marzilli

Laurence Marzilli

See, this is why no one likes you.

Nov 4 - 02:31 PM

Nysse

Jonny Petersson

Jun 27 - 01:23 PM

yeahroy

george schinkel

does he ever get tired of being wrong?

Aug 2 - 11:02 AM

Kirk S.

Kirk Stock

He likes a lot of good popular movies, you idiot. But of course NOOOBODY remembers those.

Apr 16 - 05:48 PM

the_ice_storm

niall kennedy

I'm a big fan Roger, i most of your reviews, but your just plain wrong on this one

Aug 15 - 07:55 AM

brockwest8

brock west

One of Kubrick's best, so suck it Ebert you stupid fool

Aug 21 - 07:12 PM

Kirk S.

Kirk Stock

Silly little man. He should realize that your opinion is the most superior of all, because you are the greatest being to ever be born.

Apr 16 - 05:53 PM

winterchili

kev sull

Sep 3 - 04:28 PM

wisdompersona

Joe Fioranelli

Roger Ebert is the greatest film critic of all-time but he flat-out missed this one. As he did with The Usual Suspects, The Graduate, and Brazil.

Oct 16 - 10:10 PM

AlexDeLargeisHere

Scott Day

I think you are mistaken regarding The Graduate. He gave that film Four Stars and said it was the Fourth Best film of 1967. Note: It should have been No. 1.

Feb 5 - 04:28 AM

Cavguy

First Last

I read one of Ebert's compilation books and his review of "The Graduate" was quite different from the one on his site. I don't have the book anymore and my memory isn't great, but I recall him breaking down the relationships in the film and having a very negative attitude towards it. The review on his site is from 1967 and so he must have revisited the film and thought less of it. It's an odd thing to do with a classic, but the oddness is probably why I remember it.

Jul 29 - 05:38 PM

Derek Fleek

Derek Fleek

hahahaha

Oct 26 - 07:13 PM

Sunshine&Rainbows

Marco Alatorre

Nov 1 - 08:04 PM

Timmy1990

Timothy Richards

It isn't a movie its a character within our mind that wants to screw it all and do want he/she wants conscious free.

Nov 6 - 04:40 AM

joescannura

marcus holston

i think this is a good film, i dont thnk its one of kubricks best though, how is it an orwellian warning ?

Nov 9 - 10:34 AM

EdTheTrooper

Pedro Clementoni

Have you blinked when you watched this?

Nov 14 - 04:48 PM

Mr. Bowler

Joseph Tomlinson

He did write this review over 30 years ago, so let's hope his opinion has changed since then.

Nov 20 - 12:07 PM

mesh_hugger

Matthew Love

Roger doesn't seem to like movies with gratuitous violence. eg Clockwork Orange, Fight Club, Full Metal Jacket. Although he loves martin scorsese

Jan 4 - 04:50 AM

AlexDeLargeisHere

Scott Day

The Violence in A Clockwork Orange wasn't gratitious. Fight Club was promising but when Project Mayhem is establishes it suffers from a irreperable downfall. I thought the same about Full Metal Jacket (Amazing first half, lackluster second half).

Feb 5 - 04:31 AM

Adrian B.

Adrian Ballam

He has liked several notable films with lots of violence. "Bonnie and Clyde," "Psycho (1960)" and "The Wild Bunch" are on his Great Movies List, understandably, and he also praised "The Exorcist." Those are violent.

Feb 6 - 09:04 AM

Michael P.

Michael Patison

You are correct about all but Psycho. As you never actually see Bates/Perkins stabbing and killing people and you only ever the shadow of it, does that really count as violent?

Jun 6 - 04:09 PM

thefreshman

Patrick Feeney

Yes. Yes, it does.

Aug 12 - 05:39 PM

Peter W.

Peter Winters

How many movies pre 1960 showed explicit stabbing?

Sep 16 - 07:11 AM

Greg Dinskisk

Greg Dinskisk

Natural Born Killers.

Feb 15 - 04:11 PM

Chazz Mauk

Chazz Mauk

And Oliver Stone. He worships Oliver Stone.

May 28 - 01:10 AM

Cole Jaeger

Cole Jaeger

Full Metal Jacket? What about the much more violent war movies that he loves? Saving Private Ryan is one. He is a critic. He doesn't criticize because he thinks it's violent.

Jun 20 - 01:20 PM

The Patient

Mark Stack

I usually agree with what you have to say, but this time I strongly disagree. Did You even watch the movie. This movie challenged most of the things I believed in, this movie was thoroughly thought-provoking.

Mar 14 - 03:35 PM

mabate

Matthew Abate

This movie might be right-wing, but it's definitely the most overrated film in Kubrick's body of work. Malcolm McDowell keeps you watching Alex no matter how difficult or painful. It's the one Kubrick movie that dates poorly. It remains stuck in the 70s, whereas his true classics transcend their eras such as Paths of Glory, Dr. Stangelove, 2001, or even The Killing.

Apr 17 - 10:30 AM

Sam Bailey

Frank Johnson

What do you mean, he hates movies with violence? He loved Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Silence of the Lambs.

I disagree with Ebert here, but the guy hash over forty years of experience, so him some respect, you *******s.

May 26 - 03:40 PM

Misael D.

Misael Duran

I agree with Sam Bailey
Sam Baile.

Dec 9 - 05:09 PM

Gory Donnaccelli

Gary Shannon

I disagree. Respectively.

Apr 18 - 01:21 PM

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