The passing of Stanley Kubrick has me thinking about the man, what he did, and how he did it. What if, instead of crushing creative people with rules, deadlines, budget constraints, and other crap like that, movie execs left them to their own devices. Kubrick was an extraordinary genius to be sure, but who knows how many other geniuses have been crushed by studio heads that think making thoughtless movies like Armageddon and ID4 is a good idea.
Just think how much better those movies would have been if Kubrick had directed them. They would have had soul, a pulse, things to think about and reflect on. The great special effects would still be there too...probably better implemented as well.
