mac-forums movie club: vol I - 2001: A Space Odessey

[Village Idiot]

The complaints about the clarity of the film are pretty common. The funnier part is that Kubric REFUSED to discuss what his intentions were and simply stated that it was up to the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

I do know, however, that he was fascinated with extra terrestrial life .. so that may help fill some of the gap. But the basic rundown.. the monolith was placed on earth and caused the use of tools.. which is what brought about the evolution of man. The one found on the moon emanated a transmission (the high pitched squeal when they were taking pictures) that was aimed at Jupiter.. and Dave meets those that placed them when he gets to Jupiter, and beyond.

Now regarding the 'in it's time' type comments, IMO either a movie is good and holds up to viewing or it doesn't. Doesn't mean you have to like em either, but IMO if it relies on a time frame to be relevant, it's a fad

Star Wars was the craziest freaking phenomenon in it's time. Now (the OG three episodes) are still really good movies, but not visual masterpieces.

There's many others I can name that were cultural blockbusters in their time that wouldn't hold very many modern viewer's attentions in today's time. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just that society's views change and what was appreciated then isn't appreciated now.

Look at all the poppy movies that came out of the 80's that people went crazy for that are just another rerun on TV that you're only watching because you're too lazy to flip the channel.

 

[Dysfunction]

yes I remember when Star Wars came out... actually I remember vividly standing in line for hours to see it that summer.. and I really enjoy the (double?) trilogy, but I really do not consider any of them to be fine examples of film In the end they're saturday morning serials.. like Flash Gordon and the Lone Ranger before it. Nothing wrong with that. I can think of many of those films that I enjoy for the sake of escapist watching. That being said, I can't take Better Off Dead or even The Princess Bride to be serious cinema either. As much as I love all of these movies, my oldest daughter really doesn't 'get it' (my middle, however is a complete star wars geek)

 

[eric]

heresy!
better off dead should have won every oscar it could possibly have been up for in the year it was released; and maybe even some it would not have been up for.


VI, last supper was a fantastic movie. what a unique premise, nicely executed too.

 

[Leukeh]

I watched about an hour of this movie and turned it off...I was really looking forward to watching it, I kept hearing all this stuff about it's amazing-ness (for it's time) and really wanted to see it. But I couldn't handle it... everything seemed to take about 4 times as long as any other movie and not much happened. I'll probably finish watching it eventually but I was quite disappointed...

I loved the music though. Very keen to get the soundtrack.

 

[bryphotoguy]

That's what I was thinking Leukeh. A cut scene that should take 5 seconds would take 30 seconds. This leads to an overall drawn out, slow feeling for the movie. I wanted to turn it off like I did the first time but I struggled though.
I reminded myself this a lot of work went into this movie. The "wheel" the guy ran in and where the people were in hibernation was built by hand. That thing must be gigantic. And that's one little set of this big movie. I would suspect there was a lot of innovations in this movie. If I was the director, I too would have drawn out all of that hard work too to display it's glory in '68.
There are plenty of movies out that have no story, go nowhere, but look pretty cool doing it. I am not comparing 2001 to a blockbuster of today- I'm merely wondering at that time in '68, the emphasis was more about making a movie that monumental than the story itself. I guess no different than Titanic. It took loads more money than any movie before it and it was a BIG movie. Look at that movie today and the same feeling you get seeing it in the theatre isn't there.

On a side note- I don't want to give you the impression I saw Titanic in the theatre. I saw it when it was out on video. I am not one to watch churned out blockbusters.

btw, I chose Vertigo. It's a good movie by one of my favorite directors. Good suspense thrillers are my favorite.

 

[Dysfunction]

btw, you guys realize this (it drags out, scenes are too long, there aren't enough direct cuts, etc) has been a very common complaint about the movie since its release

 

[bryphotoguy]

No way!!
Because was complained about before means we cannot? Why watch a 40 year old movie then?

We should be allowed to disscuss any part of the movie even if it's something every critic has ever said about the movie.

 

[Dysfunction]

No, I'm just pointing out that this was also complained about 'in it's time'. Which was a direct response to your question about film in 1968. The issue of when things were made seems to be very big issue at this point. I'm beginning think we should just completely skip anything made prior to 1990 at this point. Sad, it rules out a lot of excellent film

 

[bryphotoguy]

I'd like to watch/ discuss movies I've seen. Three of the five films to chose from for next month I've seen.

I don't have a big problem with the release date of a film but we could capture a larger audience with more recent films.

Maybe we could have one movie from each genre or decade and the one with the highest votes wins. I don't know how these were picked but there from before my time. I don't see a comedy to choose from or a chick flick for the ladies.

I thought there were pages of people that said they'd love to participate in the group but we only have 2 pages of discussion from only a handful of people.

 

[leecho7]

The long takes and little dialogue is what I like about 2001 A Space Odyssey. For me, the film is a very profound statement about the human species. Now I won't bore you guys with my reading of the film, but for me, it really is a masterpiece by Kubrick. There is something haunting yet at the same time hypnotic about the film that still makes me ponder about what this film means to me.
It's difficult for me to talk about my opinions on a film because I tend to really get wrapped up in the visuals, sound, characters and all that. And I tend to read viewings differently, maybe a little too deeply, that might have some people speculate if I'm on drugs.

 

[eric]

i agree with leecho on the impact of the pacing of the film. for me it's almost a whole other character in the film.

also, keep in mind, movies, tv shows, just about everyting was more slowly paced even just a couple decades ago. things really seemed to pick up in the 80s as MTV and other cable networks like CNN, USA, etc started to make their impacts, and then even more so as the internet shortened most people's attention span even further.

for those who are frustrated with the pacing of the movie, i would highly suggest reading the book. you certainly are more actively involved in painting a mental picture of what is happening as the story unfolds. and of course you get more detail that was left out of the film version.

 

[bryphotoguy]

Read a book- are you trying to kill us Eric?

 

[eric]

HA!

i'm a good one to tell others to read. ;P i haven't finished a book in years. i used to read a lot, but now i'm lucky if i can finish one of the longer articles in wired.

 

[louishen]

There's still a lot of bookshops around, someone must be reading them

anyhow, back to the original title

I re-saw 2001 a couple of days ago, very slow, but that was just such a wow film for 1968, the films older than I am and the effects are great, better than many films from the 70s and 80s

 

[bryphotoguy]

Can we please start the new movie early??!!!!

 

[louishen]

Can we please start the new movie early??!!!!

I second that, we need a new movie

 

[eric]

soon. i need to put the poll together for the movie after the next thread.

obvioulsy though, the movie has been pretty well chosen for the next thread.
get out your black fedoras and clean up your tommy guns, fellas.