5 Brutal Reviews That Will Actually Make You Want To Watch The Film

3. Pauline Kael Accuses Kubrick Of "Sucking Up To The Thugs" With A Clockwork Orange

A more measured approach is iconic film critic Pauline Kael's review of A Clockwork Orange (she's a kind of more literary Roger Ebert). Still scathing, and amplified by an attack on not only what some would call a classic film, but also on an acclaimed director, (Stanley Kubrick, whom she had no time for), Kael had this to say:

"The movie's confusing - and, finally, corrupt - morality is not, however, what makes it such an abhorrent viewing experience. It is offensive long before one perceives where it is heading, because it has no shadings. Kubrick, a director with an arctic spirit, is determined to be pornographic, and he has no talent for it."

Never one to shy away from controversy, she also dismissed the nine-hour epic Shoah (a documentary about The Holocaust), and other popular filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock in her time. It's on Kubrick's film that she's at her best though, and her sign-off decides to take on the viewer as well in one final line of for-good-measure insult:

"How can people go on talking about the dazzling brilliance of movies and not notice that the directors are sucking up to the thugs in the audience?".

Best Quote: "We become clockwork oranges if we accept all this pop culture without asking what's in it." Why It Makes You Want To Watch It: Don't you want to revisit it and check that you're not one of the thugs to whom she's referring? A chance to check your opinion of a classic.