Film elitists, unite – AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in nearby Silver Spring is gracing its silver screens with the work of legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick every weekend through March 1. Kubrick has cemented his place in movie history with his groundbreaking cinematic genius, highlighted in films such as Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and his chilling adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ classic novel A Clockwork Orange. AFI’s fest begins tonight with The Shining, but if you don’t know anything about Kubrick’s work, keep reading – Diversions highlights the seminal films of the director’s legacy below. For more information on all the films being shown, check out www.afi.com/silver.

THE SHINING

Release date: May 23, 1980

Dubious distinction: No. 29 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills

Jack Nicholson’s famous one-liner, “Here’s Johnny!”, has terrified moviegoers for more than 25 years, and you can see the moment on the big screen starting tonight. Nicholson stars as Jack Torrance, a writer with a crucial temper who gives up the bottle in an attempt to concentrate on his craft. Torrance decides to take a job as winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel, and he brings his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and telepathically gifted son Danny (Danny Lloyd) along for the trip. But soon the demonic hotel and classic cabin fever begin to take hold. Stuck alone for months on the empty grounds, Jack starts hitting the bottle, his relationship with Wendy deteriorates rapidly, and Danny begins to see things that just can’t be real – “Redrum, redrum!” Although Stephen King, the author of The Shining, notoriously disliked Kubrick’s version, it’s still worth a look.

SPARTACUS

Release date: Oct. 6, 1960

Dubious distinction: Nominated for six Academy Awards and received four: Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Cinematography, Color; and Best Costume Design, Color

In Amy Heckerling’s generation-defining Clueless, pretty boy Christian (Justin Walker) refuses to get it on with the popular Cher (Alicia Silverstone) while watching Kubrick’s version of Spartacus because he has “a thing for Tony Curtis.” But Spartacus isn’t Curtis’ movie, it’s Kirk Douglas’, as he frolics around in a loincloth and inspires other men to fight for their freedom. Douglas wasn’t the only big name in the film, though – Laurence Olivier played his nemesis, the Roman politician and general Marcus Licinius Crassus and, of course, Curtis plays Antoninus, a slave under Cassus’ employ who runs away after the general tries to seduce him. And if Spartacus made a big name out of Douglas, it did the same for Kubrick. Although the young director had already directed four feature films at that point in his career, Spartacus was his largest undertaking. So what if the famous “I am Spartacus!” scene might not have actually occurred? Kubrick still made it mighty believable.

DR. STRANGELOVE: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB

Release date: Jan. 29, 1964

Dubious distinction: No. 3 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Laughs, No. 26 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies

There are few actors more hilarious than Peter Sellers, and there might never be an actor who is funnier in a role than Sellers is in Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick’s dripping satire about the relationship between the Soviet Union and the U.S. The film tilts between politics and science fiction as it concentrates on the actions of the delusional, paranoid and oh-so-very-American Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden). Ripper is convinced the Soviet Union is poisoning America’s water supply, and as a pre-emptive move, he orders an attack on Russia. But what Ripper doesn’t know is that the Soviet Union has built a doomsday machine that will destroy the entire world if it detects a nuclear attack on the Communist nation. It’s then that the U.S. calls in Dr. Strangelove, one of the three roles Sellers plays in the film, to learn more about the doomsday device. As the immensely intelligent former Nazi with a haywire right hand that alternates between a self-strangulation hold and a Nazi salute, Sellers captured the role – and helped make the film a Kubrick classic.

LOLITA

Release date: June 13, 1962

Dubious distinction: Actress Sue Lyon, who portrayed Lolita in the film, couldn’t attend the premiere because of its “Adults Only” rating.

The novel Lolita has raised eyebrows in high-school English classes for years now and even inspired The Police to name-drop author Vladimir Nabokov in their song “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (“It’s no use, he sees her/ He starts to shake and cough/ Just like the old man in/ That book by Nabokov.”) Imagine the controversy Kubrick caused when he created a film version of the classic, updating it to a more contemporary setting, changing the order of events in the novel for the film and casting talented actors such as Shelley Winters and Sellers. But due to film rating restrictions, Kubrick couldn’t include many scenes from the far more explicit novel, especially because Sue Lyon, who played Lolita, was only 14 during filming. However, Kubrick said in later years he “probably wouldn’t have made the film” if he knew how censored it would be; if he could have, he said, he “would have stressed the erotic component of their relationship with the same weight Nabokov did.” Gross and glorious.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

Release date: April 2, 1968

Dubious distinction: In 1991, 2001 was deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Before Star Wars captured the hearts of geeks everywhere, 2001: A Space Odyssey was the movie to see – and it still is. A science-fiction classic if there ever were one, Kubrick’s controversial film about the future of humanity, and technology, and the relationship between the two, has been praised by critics far and wide for decades now, and for good reason. 2001 begins with the dawn of civilization, traces the evolution of ape to man and settles on the story of two astronauts, Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood). The two astronauts are aboard the spaceship Discovery One and are accompanied by three scientists in cryogenic hibernation; soon, they learn that a HAL 9000 supercomputer will also join their crew. As things begin to go wrong, Kubrick perfectly balances the themes of isolation and individualism, while also delivering one of the most widely recognized films in cinema: “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” See 2001 in its original 70 mm format and rejoice.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Release date: Dec. 19, 1971

Dubious distinction: Originally rated “X” upon its release in the U.S., Clockwork was bumped down to an “R” rating when Kubrick voluntarily cut 30 seconds from the film. Nearly all DVD releases of the film show the “X”-rated version, while old-school VHS copies from the early 1980s carry the “R” version.

Gulp down some milk, gather up your droogs, and get ready for some ultra-violence with the most amazing and chilling of Kubrick films, A Clockwork Orange. Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, Clockwork stars Malcolm McDowell as the charismatic and horrifying Alex, a 15-year-old boy in a futuristic England whose favorite pastimes include listening to classical music, raping older women and all sorts of things young teenage boys should never do. The film follows Alex and his group of thugs on their daily adventures until Alex is arrested and undergoes the Ludovico Technique, an experimental therapy that leaves him a shadow of his former delinquent self – or does it? Burgess praised the film as “brilliant,” and even though Kubrick and he fell out with each other in later years, he never blamed Kubrick for using the American version of the novel instead of the original British – to create Clockwork. Alex was “cured, all right” – see it for yourself.