Pages

Thursday, January 17, 2013

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)





Synopsis: Astronaut on the hunt for alien granite countertops matches wits with homicidal-yet-incredibly-laid back computer.

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “2001 is a spectacular movie that grows even more wondrous with each viewing. Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece has awesome scope, touching the limits of interplanetary space and penetrating man’s inner destiny.”

What Did I Learn?: Strauss’ Blue Danube can become surprisingly irritating if it’s played for a long time.


Really?: 1) Um…why exactly does HAL go all O.J. on the crew, and what does that have to do with finding monoliths? 2) So, early humans looked exactly like…gorillas? 3) Did HAL really believe Dave was going to buy his “I’ll be good” bullshit after he murdered the entire crew? Couldn’t HAL have made a deal along the lines of “leave me a alone or I’ll empty the ship of oxygen”?

Rating: 2001: A Space Odyssey is widely considered to be a science fiction classic – even one of the best films ever made – but I have to admit that I have very mixed feelings about it. The HAL-goes-bananas sub-plot is unrelated to the main storyline, and holy crap – I realize Stanley Kubrick had a big special effects budget, but did he really think audiences enjoyed watching spaceships gliding along for minutes at a time? 2001: A Space Odyssey is incredibly imaginative and thought-provoking, and it was huge influence on any number of later movies and television shows, but it’s also pretentious, dull for entire stretches, and far too long. 7/10 stars.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

3 comments:

  1. Ok, I'll give you my take. The film received mixed reviews when released and had a cult following. It grew in reputation over time. I think it's one giant LSD trip. This would explain it's popularity amidst the hippy drug culture. Hal going heel is explained in interviews and in scenese cut from movie whereas mission control ordered Hal to kill the crew after the crew started raising serious doubts about the mission itself. There is also a nuclear weapons in space subtext which Kubrick cut or played down in the movie for reasons not known to me. The satellites were actually holding nuclear arsenal. There a hints of this in the movie. I fell asleep 7 times watching this flick and had to rewind each time.
    - Cool

    ReplyDelete
  2. You may find this interesting - apparently, the Pink Floyd song "Echoes" from the Meddle album synchs up with the "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinate" sequence at the end. - EES.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think this calls for a listening party. I love "Echoes".

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.