2001: A Space Odyssey: The greatest sci-fi movie ever?

Possible spoilers:

What really made me consider this at first, was the way the classical music was implemented. The monkey scene, for example, was probably the best use of music in a movie (along with visuals) ever. Richards Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" really made the scene feel like a sense of achievement on behalf of the monkey, and the camerwork, in the way it was shown in almost slow-motion just made it seem amazing!

Another few scenes I would pick out with great use of music are when the space shuttle's travel through space. Normally, watching a ship travel through space at a very slow pace (lul rhyme) would be extremely boring. But everytime, classical music would played. "Oh the horror, the pain of it all!", you think. But I think otherwise, as this use of music made the scenes seem poetic and majestic. Stanley Kubrick is a genius!

Oh, I also forgot to mention it has a great story, also.... :|

Ok, I've put an arguement across. Now discuss.

Blade Runner PickGlove243

Blade Runner PickGlove243

Nice, any particular reason why? Or are you going to leave it at that...

[QUOTE="PickGlove243"]Blade Runner super_mario_128

Nice, any particular reason why? Or are you going to leave it at that...

Well you've got to admit, Blade Runner is an amazing movie as well...

Well, actually, I haven't seen it. :(

I'd just like to know what makes it better than 2001. Without spoilers. Like, great story? Visuals? Music (unlikely)?

[QUOTE="PickGlove243"]Blade Runner super_mario_128

Nice, any particular reason why? Or are you going to leave it at that...

The imagery, the setting, the ending (don't want to spoil it for anyone.)

It's overall a very good movie.

[QUOTE="super_mario_128"]

[QUOTE="PickGlove243"]Blade Runner PickGlove243

Nice, any particular reason why? Or are you going to leave it at that...

The imagery, the setting, the ending (don't want to spoil it for anyone.)

It's overall a very good movie.

Director's cut ending or normal ending?

Blade Runner PickGlove243

Director's Cut.

Probably, yeah.Darth_Tyrev

[QUOTE="PickGlove243"][QUOTE="super_mario_128"]

[QUOTE="PickGlove243"]Blade Runner Junkie_man

Nice, any particular reason why? Or are you going to leave it at that...

The imagery, the setting, the ending (don't want to spoil it for anyone.)

It's overall a very good movie.

Director's cut ending or normal ending?

Director's Cut

definitely a contender... that black cube should be voted the greatest villain of all time lol, the music thats played with it is like fear in sound

I agree with the music and the villain being great features, but I still found it hard to watch with the movie's extremely slow drive. Then again, I've only seen it late at night on Turner Classic Movies.Benny_is_here

same :) only i watched in the day. i film is definitely slow, you have to be in the right mind frame, for example, i couldn't watch fistful of dollars with out getting all rallied up into a western frenzy lol

I found it to be extremely boring. Seriously, i dont know why people love it so much.AAllxxjjnn

Arthur C Clark just died.ThaSod

[QUOTE="AAllxxjjnn"]I found it to be extremely boring. Seriously, i dont know why people love it so much.blackngold29

I watched the whole thing. I was bored to death, it didn't even keep my interested enough to WANT to analyze it.

I ordered the movie last week from eBay. I plan to watch it on Friday night!

[QUOTE="blackngold29"][QUOTE="AAllxxjjnn"]I found it to be extremely boring. Seriously, i dont know why people love it so much.AAllxxjjnn

I watched the whole thing. I was bored to death, it didn't even keep my interested enough to WANT to analyze it.

like i said, you have to be in the right mind set, you'ev got to watch it like your watching art. other than that it is very slow

definitely a contender... that black cube should be voted the greatest villain of all time lol, the music thats played with it is like fear in sound

hip-hop-cola2

How could you possibly say that the Monolith is a villain? Did you somehow miss the part where it gave us intelligence?

[QUOTE="hip-hop-cola2"]

definitely a contender... that black cube should be voted the greatest villain of all time lol, the music thats played with it is like fear in sound

MrGeezer

How could you possibly say that the Monolith is a villain? Did you somehow miss the part where it gave us intelligence?

[QUOTE="hip-hop-cola2"]

definitely a contender... that black cube should be voted the greatest villain of all time lol, the music thats played with it is like fear in sound

MrGeezer

How could you possibly say that the Monolith is a villain? Did you somehow miss the part where it gave us intelligence?

and that intelligence got a monkey beaten to death with a bone lol. i thought film portrayed our intelligence as a bad thing, especially with HAL (i think that was its name, the red eye computer). kind of a mixed message, because there was definitely technology and intelligence portrayed well.

and the black cube still has a haunting soundtrack lol

I think it could be argued that the Monolith is also a villain, not in the sense that hip-hop-cola2 meant. But in the end, it was our intelligence that created HAL. Though that's a stretch.
SempiternalFett

me win!

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"][QUOTE="hip-hop-cola2"]

definitely a contender... that black cube should be voted the greatest villain of all time lol, the music thats played with it is like fear in sound

hip-hop-cola2

How could you possibly say that the Monolith is a villain? Did you somehow miss the part where it gave us intelligence?

and that intelligence got a monkey beaten to death with a bone lol. i thought film portrayed our intelligence as a bad thing, especially with HAL (i think that was its name, the red eye computer). kind of a mixed message, because there was definitely technology and intelligence portrayed well.

and the black cube still has a haunting soundtrack lol

I think it could be argued that the Monolith is also a villain, not in the sense that hip-hop-cola2 meant. But in the end, it was our intelligence that created HAL. Though that's a stretch.
SempiternalFett

me win!

Its been a while but iirc, in the books, the monolith is amoral, neither good nor bad.

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"][QUOTE="hip-hop-cola2"]

definitely a contender... that black cube should be voted the greatest villain of all time lol, the music thats played with it is like fear in sound

SempiternalFett

How could you possibly say that the Monolith is a villain? Did you somehow miss the part where it gave us intelligence?

It's a huge stretch, and I'd say it's downright wrong. Because it was only after we'd taken the next step and created intelligence ourselves that the monolith showed up again and adavanced us a second time. What we did with HAL represents EXACTLY what the monolith did to the cavemen, and that is why the monolith appeared to us again.

The monolith is not a villain, it represents the betterment of our species through science. The monolith IS in fact a DEVICE created for the purpose of helping species to transcend their humble origins. It is a GIFT to us.

[QUOTE="AAllxxjjnn"]I found it to be extremely boring. Seriously, i dont know why people love it so much.blackngold29

No, you either get it or you don't. It's my second favorite movie ever, only beaten by Taxi Driver.

I don't think it's really fair to call anything 'the greatest', but it definitely is a very good movie. I'm a big fan of Kubrick too, and I usually think that the way he employs music is quite masterful. I know it was an obvious touch to add, but A Clockwork Orange's use really was very tasteful when it could just as easily have been very contrived, though his use of sound in Full Metal Jacket begins to get a little too dramatic for me, but certainly the audio in the Shining is solid through and through.

[QUOTE="SempiternalFett"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"][QUOTE="hip-hop-cola2"]

definitely a contender... that black cube should be voted the greatest villain of all time lol, the music thats played with it is like fear in sound

MrGeezer

How could you possibly say that the Monolith is a villain? Did you somehow miss the part where it gave us intelligence?

It's a huge stretch, and I'd say it's downright wrong. Because it was only after we'd taken the next step and created intelligence ourselves that the monolith showed up again and adavanced us a second time. What we did with HAL represents EXACTLY what the monolith did to the cavemen, and that is why the monolith appeared to us again.

The monolith is not a villain, it represents the betterment of our species through science. The monolith IS in fact a DEVICE created for the purpose of helping species to transcend their humble origins. It is a GIFT to us.

I am one of those people that stopped 2001 without finishing it. And I don't even plan on watching it again. And its not that I can't "appreciate" the movie as an art. I loved The Fountain for gods sake :P.

It was just something about the whole setting and feeling of the movie that basically turned me off. I don't know how else to explain it. I thought Blade Runner was alright, but even then I'm not much of a fan of that movie. But I really love Sci Fi. I guess I'm more of an Aliens and Star Wars kinda guy.

2001 is certainly the most intelligent sci-fi movie ever made, and you can see it's influence on Star Wars, but the last half hour of the film made no sense. It was like Kubrick was trying to be too obtuse to make you realise that 'hey sci-fi films can be serious too!'

I think Clockwork Orange is much better.