Ringing in 2025 with Barry Lyndon on YouTube

Now here's something you don't see every day. Warner Bros. has apparently made the decision to upload the entirety of Stanley Kubrick's 1975 every-frame-a-painting epic Barry Lyndon to YouTube, in full HD to boot. I guess it's some sort of New Year's present from one of our worst entertainment behemoths, an odd but undeniably welcome one. I'm a big believer that everyone should seek to better their cinematic knowledge, and Warner is out here giving people reasons to add that to their resolutions. I have a burning hatred of most of Warner's business decisions as it relates to their handling of their catalog, but I can't be angry at them for bringing this masterpiece to more people. This is the right thing to do.

Making older movies such as this more widely available for free is something I'm a big proponent of. I feel that there is a point at which studios have little incentive to lock such films behind streaming fees, and I feel this point often comes well before the film has hit public-domain status. At some point, making the film available for free is going to lead more people to pay for it than would normally. I feel this way about most films that are old enough for their directors and stars to have passed away, but haven't yet gone into the public domain.

Anyway, I'd highly recommend that you check out the movie. It's easily one of the most visually stunning movies ever made, as well as a wonderful piece of eerily distant drama. Get it as long as the getting's good! You never know when those normal WB business instincts might kick in.

Also, happy 2025 to all of my readers! I hope you have a wonderful year!