Comments on: Million Dollar Movie

By: matt b

matt b — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:20:11 +0000

I am staunchly in the pro-2001 camp. It never bores me – not the apes, not the trippy light show, none of it. I always find my mind engaged, either just by the poetry of the images or the ideas at work.
I don’t generally like movies *like* 2001, but I love 2001, so go figure. I think you gotta be Kubrick to pull something that audacious off.
There’s also a lot of visual wit in the film – the ads, the zero-gravity toilet, the blue danube waltz as the phallic space craft approaches and enters the space station, et al.
It’s not a film for everyone, and that’s just fine by me.

By: The Mick536

The Mick536 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:29:14 +0000

I appreciate hearing the reactions of the Banter crowd regarding 2001.It remains one of my favorite movies of all time. I have not seen it in 10 years, but I will based on the comments. Without putting my foot in my mouth or dating myself, just let me say that a lot of your reactions come from the fact that some of you were not 20 in 1968. What a year. I am not going to lecture about the 60′s, heaven forbid, since I still don’t understand them and won’t try until someone explains the View Nam war to me.

I was in Philly for the summer when it came out, either finishing my junior year at Penn following my graduation. We would go to the theatre, get high, and sit up close,like in the first row. I must have seen it 10, 15, 20 times. Who knows, maybe 30 or even 100. The music, the colors, Arthur Clark. Still don’t trust HAL. And what is a monolith.

By: Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO

Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:51:10 +0000

I love 2001, and Kubrick in general. I recall ferocious arguments in college as to his worth as a director (strangely, as Emma mentioned, Doritos and the munchies were involved..). I always felt if Kubrick were European, he would be more highly regarded within the film-as-art crowd.

By: cult of basebaal

cult of basebaal — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:37:02 +0000

Overall, 2001 isn’t my favorite Kubrick film (that would be the nearly untouchable Dr. Strangelove) but it remains one my favorite movie going experiences.

Seeing it at the Cineramadome was truly revelatory, seeing it on the big screen really requires seeing it on a BIG SCREEN and there really isn’t any better than the ‘Dome.

Words really fail me in trying to impart just how gorgeous and powerful 2001 still remains, some 40+ years after it was shot and released, which of course, is strong evidence in favor of that movie’s high placement in film-making history.

By: cult of basebaal

cult of basebaal — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:18:21 +0000

Plenty of good stuff in the IMDB trivia section:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/trivia

By: cult of basebaal

cult of basebaal — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:12:53 +0000

[17] From IMDB:

Originally, Stanley Kubrick had Stuart Freeborn create a primitive but more human-like makeup for the actors playing early man, but he couldn’t find a way to photograph them in full length without getting an X-rating from the MPAA, since they had to be naked. So Kubrick went with the hairy monkey model instead. With the exception of two baby chimpanzees, all were played by humans in costume.

Also, from IMDB:

Rock band Pink Floyd was at one point approached to perform music for the film. However they turned it down due to other commitments. Yet they retain a connection with the film: much like The Wizard of Oz (1939) and “Dark Side of the Moon”, it is said that Pink Floyd’s song “Echoes” from the album “Meddle” can be perfectly synchronized with the “Jupiter & Beyond the Infinite” segment of the film. See links section for details.

It works quite well, though it’s not quite as synchronized as the DSotM/Wizard of Oz pairing …

By: The Hawk

The Hawk — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:46:22 +0000

I didn’t think they were supposed to be apes, but ape-like, missing link-type beasts. I guess it depends on what you mean by “ape” …

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:05:00 +0000

15) He used to live in the same building on 86th street as IB Singer and my high school therapist, Miriam Kerster, a Jew from Toronto who was friends with Shwerner, Chaney, Goodman.

He was all-schoolyard. Didn’t know about the Yankees but it makes sense him coming from the Bronx.

By: Emma Span

Emma Span — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:04:43 +0000

Meanwhile, Bob Timmerman points out via Twitter that Kubrick was a huge Yankees fan, and had taped games sent to him in England. And according to a colleague in this article – http://bit.ly/8YFP1b:
—

“…the filmmaker began using baseball analogies. Mr. Kubrick, who was born in the Bronx, was a fervent fan of the Yankees.

”He always used baseball terms with me,” Mr. Senior said. ”He said: ‘Forget what you’re watching. It’s time to go to bat on the movie.’…

…”To say he was reclusive is not true,” Mr. Senior said. ”He didn’t want a photo spread about himself in Hello magazine, but he was aware of everything going on and especially with what was going on with his beloved New York Yankees.”
—
Who knew?

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:55:36 +0000

[13] Good point. The worst effects in the whole film are the awful ape suits. The space stuff holds up pretty well, visually, but they couldn’t make a realistic ape. Go figure.

By: Ken Arneson

Ken Arneson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:13:51 +0000

I think the problem with 2001, to some extent, is that it is, in a way, dated. A lot of the ‘wow’ factor with the film is in how realistic the special effects were compared to anything that came before it that you didn’t mind these long sequences. But now that sort of thing is so common now it’s taken for granted. Heck, it was common just 10 years after 2001 came out–the first Star Trek movie failed primarily because it assumed that, as in 2001, the simple awe-inspiring beauty of outer space was sufficient to keep you entertained for long stretches. Filmmakers now know that doesn’t work anymore (if it ever did)…a film like Avatar creates an entire realistic planet but barely lets the action slow down for even a second to look around.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:52:15 +0000

[9] I believe that, though I used to nod off at the Film Forum a lot: small, hot rooms with poor ventilation, and I used to go after work a lot.

By: Emma Span

Emma Span — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:46:38 +0000

[5] [7] Don’t do it, Cliff – you’re a father now – you have so much to live for!

By: vockins

vockins — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:37:52 +0000

Incredible film.

It is most certainly not a movie about characters. If you want a movie about characters, there are hundreds of thousands of options.

By: rbj

rbj — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:11:49 +0000

[5] Oh yeah. Boring Lyndon bored me when it came out — and it had fighting and nekkid breasts.

I do enjoy 2001, though the ending is weak. The key to it is watching it in the theater. It needs the big screen.

By: The Hawk

The Hawk — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:15:56 +0000

I like 2001 quite a bit, [2] especially the last part (which I don’t think is incomprehensible. The Star Wars Holiday special? Now that’s incomprehensible). [5] I also like Barry Lyndon, which I’ve seen at least twice. I don’t mind the pace of these films, though I do mind Ryan O’Neal a bit.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:51:44 +0000

[5] Yeah, I haven’t tried that yet, though I’ve been kind of debating it for more than a decade now.

By: Jon DeRosa

Jon DeRosa — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:15:17 +0000

I don’t have enough sympathy for 2001 to muster up a worthy counter, but I do like it. And the value of not being like everything else, a fresh take on a genre or topic, excuses a lot of sins for me.

And HAL is a terrifying and inspired creation. Even if you don’t go for the movie, HAL’s worth your time.

By: Jersey

Jersey — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:14:32 +0000

If you thought 2001 was boring, wait til you see Barry Lyndon.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:10:40 +0000

Emma, I think you’ll fine more people agree with you than disagree. I’ve never actually made it through the whole thing despite several attempts. I think I’ve seen it all, I always get to the end of the movie, but there’s much involuntary napping along the way.