Dan M, I don't dislike Kubrick entirely, though Eyes Wide Shut is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I love the Shining; it may be the scariest movie I've ever seen. And I like a lot of Barry Lyndon in a very weird way. I also really enjoyed Full Metal Jacket.
EYES WIDE SHUT unfortunately was not fully realized due to Kubrick's death before he could make his final cut. I'm sure no one really knew what Kubrick's final vision would actually have been considering he took so long in post-production as his usual course. I have no doubt that the "official studio release" is not Kubrick's.
That you should mention EWS and BARRY LYNDON, one of my pet theories is that Kubrick deliberately cast Ryan O'Neal as Barry and Tom Cruise as Bill in EWS, as they both have a sexual blandness or artificiality to them upon which the audience can place their own feelings, etc. Particularly playing off their appeal as manly men, they are both reduced to playing impotent men in the films. And to further annoy any number of DRs and lurkers, I would add that Kubrick also chose O'Neal and Cruise for their acting blandness/impotence as dramatic actors so that the more crucial/fulcrum roles played by the character actors would become heightened. Kidman is far more interesting as an actor and as a character in EWS.
From my studies of Kubrick, I think that what most people miss is that he was very humorous, perhaps perversely so. There are many in-jokes, like the O'Neal/Cruise casting, that lend a multiple level read to his movies. In THE SHINING, I learned from the documentary ROOM 237 that Jack is perusing a Playgirl magazine while waiting for Ullman, clearly seen from a frame-by-frame analysis. Kubrick had an interest in subliminals as did DePalma in CARRIE or Friedkin in THE EXORCIST. While you see, you do not observe, and since you do not see, you are left with a cognitive dissonance, but you're not sure why since you could not consciously process what you unconsciously recorded in memory.
