Sunday 30 January 2011

2001: A Space Odyssey


More like marmite than you'd think.

Lover: Taken from IMDB
"For all those bewildered by the length and pace of this film ("like, why does he show spaceships docking for, like, 15 minutes?"), here's a word you might want to think about:Beauty.Beauty is an under-rated concept. Sure, you'll often see nice photography and so on in films. But when did you last see a film that contains beauty purely for the sake of it? There is a weird belief among cinemagoers that anything which is not plot or character related must be removed. This is depressing hogwash. There is nothing wrong with creating a beautiful sequence that has nothing to do with the film's plot. A director can show 15 minutes of spaceships for no reason than that they are beautiful, and it is neither illegal nor evil to do so. '2001' requires you to watch in a different way than you normally watch films. It requires you to relax. It requires you to experience strange and beautiful images without feeling guilty that there is no complex plot or detailed characterization. Don't get me wrong, plots and characters are good, but they're not the be-all and end-all of everything. There are different KINDS of film, and to enjoy '2001' you must tune your brain to a different wavelength and succumb to the pleasure of beauty, PURE beauty, unfettered by the banal conventions of everyday films."All art is quite useless" - Oscar Wilde."

This is quite a dramatic review but i can see where they are coming from. Sadly most people go to the cinema to be entertained not see "lovely art". I'm not liking the tone of the review either, there is nothing wrong at all with finding this film boring, there i said it! i find 200 and bloody 1 an over long, achingly slow paced sci-fi which is only worth seeing once.

Hater: Taken from IMDB
"I'm sorry, good music and cool special effects do not make a good movie! What the heck? I mean, I saw this movie when I was a kid, and I didn't like it. Now, I have a growing appreciation for movies, and I wanted to write a comment from a more grown up point of view. I had 2 hours to spare and I watched this movie, I swear I nearly went insane. I normally put on the subtitles, in case I miss something or misunderstand the dialoug, 89% of the movie is silent! Apes?! I could just go to the zoo and say I saw this movie! I could watch "Star Wars" and say I saw this movie! It's the same friggin' thing. I'm not trying to be so harsh on this film, but how can anyone find this entertaining?! How?! Unless you are 150 years old, that is the only way I could understand. Geez, people. This movie is so out dated and needs to be thrown away, especially from the top 250! Why are so many bad movies on top 250?! I'm getting sick of these over hyped movies! 1/10"

a little harsh, as the film does have good points. it is beautifully shot and full of great ideas, it's just soo slow and long its boring. Unlike the first review this is the flipside of the whole "is cinema an art form or form of entertainment argument?"

What i thought:
Now before a lot of film buffs get in a big strop, I’m not saying that Stanley Kubricks Sci Fi Epic is a bad film. I watched it only for the second time yesterday and this time was struck by how terribly slow moving it is! I’m not denying that it’s a beautifully shot film with the music to match; there is also no denying how groundbreaking it was. I did however find myself wanting to fast-forward through some of the long drawn out sequences that whilst accompanied by brilliant music, do start to get a bit tedious. All of this in a film that’s around 2 and half hours long!

All I’m saying is that repeat viewings do it no favours…

Available on DVD and Blu-Ray now
Running Time: 141 mins
Cert: 12

No comments:

About Me

My photo
"Films are Loved, Films are hated. I'm here to help you decide where you stand..." I also do web work including a good knowledge of HTML, ASP, using the adobe web package and a strong understanding of SEO, Google Analytics.