8mm Forum: 2001 A Space Odyssey

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Topic: 2001 A Space Odyssey

Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted December 05, 2008 03:32 PM

Strange how films grow on you the last time I watched this film at the cinema my wife slept all the way through it "except for the intermission" [Roll Eyes]

however after watching it last night on my own [Cool]

I really enjoyed it, prehaps I am getting tired of watching fast action, fast editing films at the cinema.

Watching 2001 gives you a chance to just relax take in the film at an easy pace and enjoy the music with its 5:1 sound track. I am even thinking of making the move to Blu-ray [Eek!]

on the Panasonic VP and buying the disc "very tempted" at the moment [Wink]

.

To think that this film is now 40 years old is amazing, the special effects are as good if not better than anything thats around these days. I always had considered 2001 an unusual film "never could figure it out" but when I watch it now it was a film ahead of its time in so many ways and the passing of all those years seems to make me appreciate it all the more.

Graham.

PS I have the Super8 Scope 2001 trl and consider it one of the best around.

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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted December 05, 2008 04:03 PM

This film came out when I was a freshman in college...it played at the huge curved screen super panavision Paramount theater in Memphis ...only with reserved seats. I saw it in 70mm I believe....and it made such a huge impression me. Enthused me, amused me....got me interested in the music and in filmmaking... I must have gone to see it 5 times...each time bringing someone else. I then bought the plastic models of the ships and space station..and we made our own takeoff of the film....in standard 8mm sound.
In no other movie are you hit with the reality of the vast silence of space....not the noise of spaceship engines...or explosions.... just silence.

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted December 05, 2008 04:57 PM

I saw this one in the theater as a teenager. We got all the way through and the story just kind of stopped, and we said "Is that it?"

Later I read the book and felt the exact same thing.

-The story is subtle to say the least.

However, it is an absolutely spectacular work of filmmaking.

PS: Must have been the 1977 re-release, I was 6 in when it premiered in 1968!

[ December 05, 2008, 06:17 PM: Message edited by: Steve Klare ]

--------------------
All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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James N. Savage 3
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1375
From: Washington, DC
Registered: Jul 2003

posted December 09, 2008 09:43 AM

It's funny how I've gained alot of appreciation for the "slower" movies now.

Back in the 70's I was disappointed with 2001. I even saw it in 70mm- huge curved screen- stereo sound, and I too thought "what's the big deal".

But now, I really like this movie- the music, pacing, and great wide-screen cinematography. I could watch it many times today.

Even other movies that are considered slow paced, like the original "Alien", I prefer much over the fast-paced, explosion-laden stuff that comes out now.

James.

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted December 09, 2008 12:01 PM

While I do like a nice slow moving feature film, I felt that this one was drawn out a little too much. Even the ending I would have trimmed some of those "images; a little, but not
much.

I think that, though Sci-Fi had a little farther (in the terms of special effects) to go, I felt that this was thwe first modernistic "real looking" space opera, followed by the very good "Silent Running", then things seemed to slip back a little, to be turned into high gear with STAR WARS.

It's hard to explain the awe that i felt when i first saw that "Star Destoyer" take forever to pass the shot. I was sold from first shot.

But 2001 was a very good film. i must admit, from a storytelling point of view, I preferred the sequel 2010, which was, In my opnion, equally good. Besides, it had Roy Shcieder, one of my favorite actors, (I have the somewhat rare optical feature version of the film.

--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted December 09, 2008 01:57 PM

I think that the "story", such as it is, was considered very much secondary with this production.

According to Kubrick the film was very much an exercise in sound and vision. Its a film to see on the biggest possible screen and just let it wash over you.

Its a wonderful film to watch stoned [Razz]

- so I've been told!!!!

-Mike

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Rob Young.
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1633
From: Cheshire, U.K.
Registered: Dec 2003

posted December 18, 2008 05:02 AM

Watched this last night on Blu-ray. The detail in the picture was awesome and reveals the level of care and skill which went into this production.

I first saw 2001 on TV when I was 7; sadly the TV version was rubbish and as I'd just seen Star Wars I really didn't get it at all.

Then when I was about 19 I hired a full-length 8mm copy and it wasn't until that 8 foot wide scope image unfolded that I suddenly realised that you are just supposed to enjoy the spectacle of it all (and being a bit older it all started to make more sense [Roll Eyes]

)

The DVD is alright but the Blu-ray version is in a different league altogether, although be warned, it does reveal imperfections in the master material as well as all that sumptious detail.

Still, for a 40 year old film, like I said...awesome [Smile]

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Charles Bramlett
Junior
Posts: 25
From: Atlanta, Georgia
Registered: Aug 2008

posted January 04, 2009 11:00 PM

"I think that the "story", such as it is, was considered very much secondary with this production."

I disagree with that completely.

In fact, Kubrick was so invested in crafting an incredible story for the film that he hired LitSF giant Arthur C. Clarke to collaborate on the film. If he was taking the story lightly, I hardly think he would hire one of the world's greatest living science fiction authors to develop the screenplay and novel for the film.

The film and novel (which Clarke and Kubrik developed in concert) compliment one another very well. I highly recommend both.

I first saw 2001 at an open air screening at Piedmont Park in Atlanta with about 300 other people. Amazing experience.

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted January 05, 2009 12:52 PM

My "2001 Moment" came here in DC when the Uptown Theatre, during one summer, had a 70mm retrospective, and that's where I got treated to it in the best possible way on their (still installed) Cinerama screen.

It's a gorgeous meditation on man/reality/space as much as anything, I find. There is enough story to push the film, but the story gets increasingly subjugated to Kubrick's fantastic visual interpretation of what the story is saying.

And yeah, I think the Blu-Ray of that one might just be coming here too... [Big Grin]

Costco had it for something like $15.

Claus.

--------------------
"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted January 05, 2009 02:12 PM

My opinion is that the story ( Arthur C. Clarke notwithstanding) was a framework on which to hang Kubricks experiment in Sound and Vision.

But, I respect what others may think [Smile]

-Mike

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Rob Young.
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1633
From: Cheshire, U.K.
Registered: Dec 2003

posted January 08, 2009 07:06 PM

Guys, try this book if you haven't already;

"2001 filming the future"

by Piers Bizony

with a foreward by Arthur C. Clark

AURUM PRESS

ISBN 1 85410 365 2

I love this movie more and more the older I get [Wink]

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Bradford A Moore
Master Film Handler

Posts: 272
From: Provincetown, Ma
Registered: Jul 2005

posted January 15, 2009 12:52 PM

I just had to ad Dan Richter who played the main primitive man in the first part is the father of my next door neighbor sasha. I have know him since I was little kid. I almost got him to give a brief speech when I showed 2001 last winter at the film series I do, but he had to be out of town. If your familiar with the film Imagine about John lennon, he can be seen briefly at John's house when the lost hippies show up. He is scratching his head off to the side. In the late 60's he was also a gopher for John Lennon. [Cool]

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