Stanley Kubrick is one of cinema’s most admired directors. He directed only 13 feature films, but most are regarded as classics. Here they are in order of their CineIndicator scores.
| Film | Year | CI |
| Dr. Strangelove | 1964 | 99 |
| Paths of Glory | 1957 | 98 |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey | 1968 | 95 |
| Barry Lyndon | 1975 | 94 |
| The Killing | 1956 | 93 |
| Full Metal Jacket | 1987 | 93 |
| Spartacus | 1960 | 92 |
| A Clockwork Orange | 1971 | 92 |
| The Shining | 1980 | 89 |
| Eyes Wide Shut | 1999 | 79 |
| Lolita | 1962 | 66 |
| Killer’s Kiss | 1955 | 51 |
| Fear and Desire | 1953 | 19 |
The most striking thing about the ratings is how consistently high they are. Nine are rated close to or over 90%. Only four fall short of this. Kubrick’s first two films were not successful, and Lolita does not fare well (unsurprisingly given its subject and treatment). However, even his last film, Eyes Wide Shut, scores 79%.
However, there are a couple of interesting anomalies. 2001: A Space Odyssey is surely his most influential film. It topped a 2022 British Film Institute poll of Directors to find the greatest film ever, and has been referenced in films ranging from Barbie to Everything Everywhere All at Once. However, the two most highly rated films are Paths of Glory, an excellent but relatively minor work, and Dr Strangelove, a black comedy about the risks of nuclear war, which to me seems rather dated.
This illustrates a few issues to keep in mind when looking at online ratings, including CineIndicator.
- They tend to capture how widely admired a film is, rather than whether viewers think it’s truly great. Lots of people like Paths of Glory, but I suspect it would make few people’s all-time top 10.
- It’s usually not useful to put much weight on small differences in ratings. It’s the rough level of the score that matters.
- Ratings tend not to undergo major revisions. Films tend to get stuck with a certain score, which may or may not seem fair over time
All these are good reasons for looking beyond ratings to what it is about a movie you might really like.
AW – March 2026
Declaration of potential bias! I have long admired many of Kubrick’s films, but don’t go back to them very often these days, except for Barry Lyndon.