trailer:
The New Yorker has a history and a consideration of the plot. FilmSite calls it a masterpiece. io9 says, "One of its most enduring qualities is how open to interpretation it is—over the years, the enigmatic film has inspired some fascinating (and/or delightfully batshit crazy) theories about what it all means. This is exactly what the director intended." Slant Magazine has a positive review.
The BBC opens with this:
It’s been 50 years since the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and we’re still trying to make sense of it. Stanley Kubrick’s science-fiction masterpiece is regularly voted as one of the greatest films ever made: BBC Culture’s own critics’ poll of the best US cinema ranked it at number four. But 2001 is one of the most puzzling films ever made, too.Roger Ebert considers it a Great Movie and closes it by saying,
Only a few films are transcendent, and work upon our minds and imaginations like music or prayer or a vast belittling landscape. Most movies are about characters with a goal in mind, who obtain it after difficulties either comic or dramatic. “2001: A Space Odyssey'' is not about a goal but about a quest, a need.Empire Online concludes, "movies were born for experiences like this." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics rating of 92%.
Posts
I never understood this movie beyond the sequence with HAL and Dave. Never got the obelisk, bedroom at the end. I never read the book maybe that should be on my to-do list.
ReplyDeleteYes, the book apparently makes all the difference. My husband hasn't read it, and he had the same questions about the movie this time as when we first saw it decades ago. I'm not sure this is the entire book, but it might help: http://www.angelfire.com/blog2/endovelico/ArthurC.Clark-2001.pdf
Deletethis is a good old film. Have you ever read the book? I haven't but would like to sometime. Oh so any book to read and so little time as that cliche goes. happy new week. Hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteYes, I had read the short story and the book before I saw the movie the first time. There are so many books! I'll never read half of what I'd like to, but so it goes....
DeleteI've never seen the movie, or read the book, but I have seen blurbs, like HAL talking to Dave. I am glad you shared this review and I think I'll read the story you suggested in the link.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the story and hope you like it, too. :)
DeleteI don't know if I can recall the musical score, outside the crescendo the it is unmistakably from 2001.
ReplyDeleteAh, the Blue Danube Waltz! I hated it the first time through and still do. I've heard all the arguments for how wonderful this score is, and I don't buy it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muPNlnm_i44
DeleteI remember this being quite an experience. One of the few times I smoked pot--LOL! People were doing that--getting high and going to watch 2001 or the Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight showing downtown. Made perfect sense to me--ROFL!! Another lifetime. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt was an experience! I heard tales of people watching it having taken LSD, but we just watched it straight lol
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