2001: A Space Odyssey (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

This movie is very obtuse in it's grand meaning. It's one of those moves that's better if you sit back and burn one or eat a handful of magic mushrooms. In fact, that's how the studio re-marketed it after it was released and had very few seats sold except for those filled by stoners. They had new movie posters that I can't remember the exact wording but it referenced a ultimate trip or something like that. I suppose if you live in New Mexico where it is legal to have mushrooms it would be very cool to watch a movie like this. There isn't much dialog and the best dialog belongs to the infamous H.A.L. artificial intelligence computer. His name is in reference to I.B.M. because if you go up one letter in the alphabet on each letter in the acronoym that's what it spells. At the time there weren't all these computer hardware and software companies I.B.M. was it and obviously made some like the director Stanley Kubrick paranoid. In general I love his movies and this one doesn't dissapoint. He is the director's director. His films tend to speak a lot though visuals so as to make you interpret the film as much or (in 2001's case) more.The art direction and special effects are way way ahead of it's time. No Robbie the Robot here. Except for the lasers the art direction isn't any worse then Star Wars which came out 8 years later. It's really hard to believe this movie is from the 1960's when you see how great everything stands up to time all limitations considered.As of this writing it's been awhile since I've seen this movie but since Amazon has emailed me 3 times to review it even though I don't have it yet I figured I'd just go with the broader sense then the specifics of this movie.Too me it's getting more and more ridiculous to buy movies with everything on demand and how good it looks but this is one of the few movies that is a mush have in your blu-ray collection. It's always in the top 100 movies list and there is good reason why. It's a movie that lets you sit back and contemplate without having to engage your attention for every spoken word or miss the meaning of the movie. You can easily watch it with a friend and have a conversation about the film while it is playing (another reason why stoners like it so much).If you like classic cinema, trippyness, thought provoking cinema by one of the masters of 20th century film-making you cannot go wrong with this film but of course I'm biased because I like all of Kubrick's work. Anyway, Amazon always has it cheap so that should be incentive as well.Buy it and you will not regret it.Edit* By the way I see a lot of reviews saying this movie is too slow. If you think this is slow don't go anywhere near the far inferior sequel 2010. Talk about a snooze fest!

So much to take in and relate to. Like 'The Shining' By Kubrick as well, this goes well beyond just the genre of a movie; this is just set in space, but the life lessons run abound. I love the theme in both those movies of the whole "don't worry. things are going to be ok..." when it becomes obvious things are not. HAL is the most maniplutive force in films; you can't try to defeat him, he will do anything in his power to destroy you. He will lie, he will spin any story to get what he wants. HAL reminds me of Grady in "The Shining".....he will tell you what needs to be done and why he thinks so, regardless of what the other characters are thinking.HAL even tries his last resort, decepetively telling Dave "I'm Afraid. I Can Feel It. My Mind Is Going...." while Dave is dismantling HAL. He keeps repeating he is afraid, but he was really afraid of was being brought to a form of justice and removal altogether. Tries to appeal to human sympathy but fails. Jack tried that in 'The Shining', telling Wendy she hurt his head real bad and needs a Dr after she locked him away in the kitchen dry goods storage room after he tried to kill her. So desperate but sadly so common, movie or otherwise....The last 10 minutes in '2001' with Dave experiencing the layers of his life simply an amazing experience personally.This film again just confirms the Kubrick brilliance, and should be def. noted the people he surrounds himself with every film to make the vision happen deserve equal praise; they make sure he gets what he wanted in a film, actor or otherwise; It makes them ALL stars in the movie. Just so happy to see the enthusiasm and talent in all his films. There is always something below the surface just waiting to be seen and appreciated....

I first saw this film when I was 14, in the year it came out - and to say I was dazzled, confounded, stirred to my soul, is understating my reaction. Certainly I didn't understand its depths at that point, but the surface alone was enough to captivate me & make me think. Since that time, several decades have passed, and I've watched it many times over, gaining more with each viewing.The wildly divergent opinions in the previous reviews tell a story all their own, and demonstrate what a cultural & philosophical Rorschach test this film truly is -- love it or loathe it, there don't seem to be many neutral responses to it. It's definitely not a film for those with short attention spans, or those who want to stay inside a very secure comfort zone. Comfort is the last thing it offers!No need to offer a synopsis. Even if you haven't seen it yet, its themes & images are known to just about everyone -- the apes, the monolith, HAL. Anyway, this isn't a typical narrative. It's much more of a symphonic poem than a regular plot-driven story -- you should surrender yourself to it. The slow, measured pace is integral to understanding it on a deep, visceral level, because it takes the viewer outside of ordinary time, allowing us to set aside the distracting speed & information overload of everyday life.So, we're in cosmic time here, an oceanic infinity where the everyday no longer applies, where swarms of byte-sized factoids are irrelevant. In a way, it's like meditation -- slowly shutting off the chatter of the monkey mind, so that we gradually become aware of something far more immense & vast.It's not a thrill ride of sensation & immediate gratification. It's intensity of experience, building gradually & inexorably to a crescendo, a breakthrough of perception. Rational, logical explanation isn't the point while watching ... although afterwards, you'll have plenty to think about & discuss with others!That discussion will cover a lot of ground, too -- the origins & ultimate fate of humanity, the nature of the universe, the essence of the sacred, the limits of technology, dehumanization, the meaning of existence -- and that's just the start. It offers questions, not answers, and challenges all who watch it to search for those answers themselves, within themselves.The depth psychologist Carl Jung once said that the hardest thing in the world for anyone to do is simply sit alone in an empty room with his or her thoughts. "2001" puts you in that room, just as it put Dave Bowman in the same room. A safe, familiar, but sterile room -- and he emerges from it reborn, ready to grow into his expanded universe. Like any great work of art, that's precisely what this film offers each viewer. As in Rilke's poem "Archaic Torso of Apollo," it tells the viewer, "You must change your life." Whether you choose do so is up to you.To those who find it boring or meaningless -- wait awhile, then give it another try. Sooner or later, life will have you asking, "What's it all about?" Slow down, reflect, and you may find that the film opens up to you at last.Most highly recommended!