My God, it's full of stars. (Off-Topic)

by Leviathan , Hotel Zanzibar, Thursday, July 23, 2015, 23:58 (3220 days ago) @ cheapLEY

So, I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the very first time a few days ago.

Just have to say, holy shit. What a fantastic film. It holds up fantastically; the fact that they could accomplish such a good looking film in the 60s is incredible to me.

I wish there were more films like this today. The slow burn nature of it is amazing, and I loved it. Most films now pander to low attention spans, and it bothers me (sometimes; Mad Max: Fury Road is an incredible film, and it's definitely not a slow burn!). Even Interstellar, which is a pretty slow film by modern standards, is much, much faster paced than 2001.

Speaking of which, you can definitely see a lot of 2001 in Interstellar. A lot of very similar shots. And the two best AIs ever created, I think, in both films. I love TARS (and wish Ghost was more like him!), and I've never seen anything more menacing than HAL. Those long shots of the red "eye" are horrifying.

Anyway, just needed to mention it; how I've gone 27 years without seeing this movie is beyond me, but I'm glad I finally watched it.

I've heard some not very good things about it's follow up, but I'm going to give it a go anyway.

Although I have movies that I enjoy more on a regular basis, 2001 is probably the closest to a perfect film I've ever seen (Thin Red Line is up there, and The Master might be as well, I need to watch it again...).

I first saw it when I was ten or eleven, and I remember sitting with my mouth open for two hours and looking at my older brother from time to time doing the same thing. It instilled something in me, perhaps a love for science fiction that specializes in wonder. I know the Forerunners in Bungie's Halo games captivated me for a reason and I could trace that captivation back to the Monolith standing on the Moon.

I don't think 2010 is a bad movie, but it's more of a... normal film? Without Stanley Kubrick, you lose quite a bit of the style that essentially made 2001 what it is. It's worth a watch.

The novels are fun, and I especially liked 2061, but they are little too explicit for me. The magic of 2001, the film, which Clarke wrote with Kubrick at the same time as the first novel, was the ability to interpret it in your own way, especially the ending. Watching it subsequent times as I got older was a joy as I poured different things into it.

If you liked the style of 2001 - the excellent cinematography -slow, menacing shots balanced like the composition of a classic painting- and the feeling that you are more of an observer of the story than it being delivered to you with a bow tie on top, I highly recommend all of Kubrick's films.

P.S. The Art of Interstellar beings with Nolan talking about seeing 2001 as a kid. He definitely doesn't avoid it's impact - how could you? I'm just happy we finally have something made in the last twenty or more years that can actually stand up to 2001's visuals. :)