Lol! Odyssey :wink:


Thank you zing. Now, I hope other people remember it.... lol.


For me, its one of the best movies of all time. Maybe one of my favorites. Some people think it was too long and too boring, but I love everything about it. Especially the SFX, which have held up wonderfully today, 40 years later. If I were to grade it, it would most definately be the highest grade possible. A+

I knew it was that way! :wink:

Man, I have not seen this movie in a long time. Need to go watch it again, but all I remember about it was that it was a great movie.

Mmmhmm, sure ya did :wink:

Yup, its a great movie.

Bla bla bla..

2001: A Space Odyssey is the greatest film of all time.



A+

Highly enjoyable movie when you're stoned. The last 20-30 minutes are awesome. Still very overrated. B+

an awesome mind trip. still holds up well 37 years later

A-

Agreed.

I've seen it maybe 25 times in the theatre, never on video. Never bored for a moment. Splendid.

I have infinite respect for it, but I never enjoyed it.

Stanley Kubrick just aint my style. I've really only liked one of his movies (Dr. Strangelove).

Only 1/3rd of this movie was good. I loved the part with the space station and the creepy computer system.

The rest of the movie just wasn't any good.

**

Great movie. First movie (I think) to make it look real and believable. A+

My feeling exactly. I'm sure it would be better if I saw it on the big screen.

It's amazing that a film like this is from 1968. Even comparing it to the other sci-fi classic of that year, Planet of the Apes, it feels decades ahead in its visuals, its story, and its style. While Apes is fantastic, it feels like a film of the '60s, with the cheesy effects, melodramatic acting, and obvious use of soundstages. It is very much a film of its time. This one, on the other hand, could just have easily been made today. The panoramic shots of massive spaceships are breathtaking, almost a decade before Star Wars accomplished the same thing, and the amazingly accurate future inventions shown in this film reveal Kubrick's incredible vision. Undoubtedly one of the best science fiction films of all-time, and certainly a major influence upon the genre for years to come.

It's certainly not an overtly entertaining or enjoyable film to watch - the long stretches without dialogue and the exceptional patience with which each scene is granted make the audience feel every one of its two and a half hours. It obviously doesn't appeal to everyone. For someone who is in awe of the care present in each scene, though, it's a breeze to sit through. The fact that the film is bookended by twenty minute-long segments of dialogue-free film doesn't bother me at all, as the images and visuals are so strong and so interesting that it makes no difference to me at all if there's dialogue or not. Plus, the dialogue that is present in the film is so purposefully inane and harmless that one is forced to focus on the visuals. Almost the entire story is presented through images; I think there's only one speech directly related to the plot.

The first time I watched it, my favourite act was the third one, with HAL. That was probably due to the fact that it contained the most dialogue, had the most plot, and had that creepy robot with the eloquent speech. I thought everything else in the movie was unneeded and just dragged it down - especially that psychedelic ending. Now, I can appreciate the contribution that each act makes to the whole; how the entire story is told throughout the film. I haven't yet read the novel, but I'm interested to see just how similar it is, because this story really is quite incredible. And, though I still don't understand the ending, I can appreciate just how brilliant it is. I think I don't understand it (wholly) because we're not meant to; our first contact with extra-terrestrial will not be as linear and straight-forward as Hollywood makes it out to be, and this film reflects that.

The acting is good, the dialogue is fine, and the sets are kinda dated, but this film is all about the images. From the iconic shot of the ape throwing the bone that morphs into a spaceship, to the classic appearance of HAL, to Dave's final journey to the alien intelligence, it is the visuals of this film, much more than the script, that tell the story. And, though it's nearly forty years old, it's not nearly as dated as every other film from its era. That, in itself, is an incredible accomplishment. The fact that this is a terrific film is even more amazing.

Without a doubt one of the most visually astounding films ever, the cinematography, editing, and space shots are all amazing, and combined with the score it definitley is a film where the visuals overwhelm the dialogue. I was also never bored or strained by the long dialogue-less scenes, there was enough going on to appreciate it.

I know a lot of people don't feel this way, but this movie gave me the willys much more than The Shining does. The astrounauts walking in the moon dig-up, Hal disconnected Dave's partner and killing the frozens, and especially the final 20 minutes with Dave being in seizure-mode and then seeing him walk around that room old. Kubrick nailed the hell out of the creepy suspense factor, I was generally freaked.

I didn't get the baby thing. If I have one knock, it's that the ending was such a big WTF that it left a bitter taste in my mouth, I can't even begin to understand what it means.

2001 is one of those movies that it's tough to write a full review on, it's hard to justify the experience without seeing it for yourself. I think this is Kubrick's ultimate artistic piece, while Clockwork is the social commentary ideology, and Strangelove is the parody, ridicule, and most fun.

A-

You have to think about the monolith in these terms...

What... does it do?
Where... is it from?
Why... was it sent?
Who... sent it?

If you figure this out, the star child begins to make sense. Of course there are a million possible answers to the above questions, which makes 2001 such an amazing movie.

But yeah, it is the best movie ever made. Not only is it perfect cinematically (find me a more perfectly constructed film), but it works on a base movie-movie level (in the sense you can still turn your brain off and enjoy the ride) while still having an absolutely untold amount of depth and ideas.

Under the right conditions (and no, I'm not talking about drugs), this movie turns into a religious experience.

Make sure never sees this, this is his 3rd worst film of all time...not overated...worst.

I myself have never seen it, but from it sounds like, I think only the space station part would be any good.

I would imagine that under the right conditions (and yes, I am talking about drugs) this movie could be quite the religious experience, too. :O

The aliens watching over humanity (they're the ones who put up the monoliths as guideposts for us) developed from organic beings to mechanic beings to what you could call universal matter (this is not elucidated in the movie, but it is in the novel Clarke wrote after the film; you can see it working in the background of the film though, I think). Their trajectory is to be mirrored by humanity once it is ready; the star child, which is bigger than the stars or planets around it, is basically that guy who travelled through space at the end. The star child in other words is the symbolic representation of man's ascendancy to the level of the aliens. It marks the transition to a new level of existence, and is therefore in a sense a rebirth. Ergo that huge, ugly baby.

I'm guessing that means the baby is a purely visual symbol by Kubrick? It's not a real thing then

This is probably the only Kubrick movie I can't watch from the beginning to the end. I've tried so many times, but I always ended up turning the TV off after 15 or 30 minutes. I also have a feeling it's the kind of movie that people tend to praise because it's like covered with a golden aura: you like it because you want to like it, and you want to like it because pretty much everyone else likes it (sometimes for this same reason) and you don't want to look like a fool. But perhaps I'm overdoing here.

I think to glean everything you know about the movie from the book (or vice versa) is a disservice to both mediums. Granted, they were developed in conjunction with one another, but I think they both have their own individual ideas and concepts working throughout them.

The key to the movie (for me) is evolution. It's up to you to decide what is causing that evolution, for what reason, and what the effect is.

But box is right. The star child is the rebirth of man, or one man in particular, into a new level of existence. The movie breaks it down for us like this:

Ape
Man
Star child

It is up to us to decide what the star child means, or what its purpose is.

Or, maybe, people actually do like it. What a novel concept!

Nah, it's like any other well regarded, classic movie. People at KJ aren't allowed to truly like them. The only movies we like for ourselves are the Freddy vs Jasons and Contacts of the world.

It was just an idea that crossed my mind, never said I actually think it's true. I see it as a possibility, since I'm a little surprised that so many people liked it. This just doesnt look like the other normal classic old movies, it seems the interpretation/understanding of some figures is the most important thing and the plot is put on the background, like what happens whe you read a poem. But, like I said, perhaps I'm just overthinking.