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

Many think that "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is one of the greatest films of all time, and even some think that it's the greatest, and I can say that this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece is one of my favorite films of all time! Everything in this film is absolutely beautiful. The stunning visuals, the harrowing plot, the haunting music, the lush cinematography, the beautiful directing by none other than Kubrick. "2001" is way more than a film. It's a cinema masterpiece like no other, just like Kubrick's other films, like "A Clockwork Orange", or "The Shining". This film is simply one of the greatest. The thing about "2001" is some think it's one of the best, and some think it's one of the worst (although very few, and I don't know why they would hate it so much), but the reason that they hate it is for it's slow pace and that there's only about 40 minutes of dialouge in a 2 1/2 hour movie, but the scenes without dialouge, with slow pace really show the beauty of the film, and only Kubrick could have made each and every scene a masterpiece. If you see it for the first time, you might not like it, but the second or third time you see it, you'll most likely be blown away by the beauty (although in just my first viewing, I absolutely loved it). "2001" is an epic sci-fi that questions life on other planets and human destiny, that apparently gets affected whenever a striking black monolith appears. You may not understand this film fully the first time, but the beauty of Kubrick's films is that it takes a few viewings to understand Kubrick's message, and it's amazing."2001" is broken down into four sections, "The Dawn of Man" where it shows what the title suggests. It shows ape-like humans who learn to fend for themselves. It's about 20 minutes. "TMA-1" shows a Pan-Am space plane orbiting Earth. It focuses on Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) going over plans for a trip to Clavius Base, which is on the moon, with a large number of other members to the very futuristic ship. It's about 35-40 minutes "Jupiter Mission: 18 Months Later" shows spaceship Discovery One, with 2 members, Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), and 3 other members in hibernation. On that ship is a very intelligent computer named HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain), who eventually wreaks havoc to the ship. It's about 55 min.-1 hour long. Finally, "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" shows Dr. Bowman's psychadelic and frightening trip through space, which includes the "Stargate sequence", showing flashing lights moving forward for a few minutes, following the next few minutes of cosmic phenomena and strange landscapes that actually kind of creeped me out (I saw this film in the dark), leading to the ending. It's about 25 minutes, leading the film to 2 hours and 28 minutes, including the 3 minute overture, intermission, and exit music, along with ending credits.The special features on this two-disc special edition of "2001" are pretty good, but they felt sort of repetitive to me. The Disc 1 comes with the film, along with a commentary by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood and the theatrical trailer, and then there's the disc 2. The first special feature is titled "2001: The Making of a Myth". It's about 45 minutes long. It's narrated by James Cameron, and shows different people talking about the making and legacy of the movie. It was pretty good. "Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001" is about 20 minutes long and is another film that talks about the legacy of the movie and different film critics, including Roger Ebert (when he could still talk), praising the film. It's really not much that the earlier featurette hasn't said. "Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001" is 20 minutes of Keir Dullea, the main star of "2001" speaking about the film and what Arthur C. Clarke, the author of "2001" wrote and said about it. It also includes black-and-white audio footage of Arthur C. Clarke. It was a pretty good featurette, but I really like the 60's vintage featurette "2001: A Space Odyssey - A Look Behind the Future". It's about 20-25 minutes and it shows the film being made including footage of Stanley Kubrick. It's one of my favorite featurettes. "2001: FX and Early Conceptual Artwork" is 9 minutes long and shows Stanley's wife, Christiane Kubrick, talking about the artwork and paintings made for the famous "Stargate" sequence in the film for 3 minutes, and the rest shows the original sketches and paintings. It's pretty cool. "Look: Stanley Kubrick!" is 3 minutes long and shows a montage of photos Stanley Kubrick shot in his few years before directing when he was still working for "Look! Magazine". Here, you see Stanley's extreme talent for photography, which definitely influenced his creativeness in directing. The real treat here is the 1 hour, 17 minute audio-only interview from 1966, where Jeremy Bernstein interview's Stanley Kubrick, titled "Audio-only interview with Stanley Kubrick". Here, he talks about his childhood, his photography days, his first movie, "Fear and Desire", and later on, talks about each and every one of his films, leading up to "2001", which was still in production at that time. It's extremely interesting and worth listening to. I think it's the best featurette on the second disc."2001: A Space Odyssey" is a truly beautiful, mesmerizing, and amazing film that everybody should see, and it's brilliance just can't fit into the 6000 characters that Amazon reviews allow. All I have to say is, if you haven't seen this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, see it now! And see it multiple times after that. It's one of the greatest.

First off, this movie is a visual masterpiece,and it is so in a timeless manner. The special effects, imagery, an contrasts are second to none. In my opinion, it the very best of Kubrick, and hence of all time...I saw this film for the first time close to 13 years ago, in 2001, when I was 12. It came on TV and for 5hours (including comercials) I sat bewildered in front of the TV screen.This is a movie that engages you not through constant action, movement, and diverse scenes flashing before your eyes, rather through an unique and captivating mode of storytelling. You must not take you eyes off the screen or allow audio distraction.Nobody can grasp everything in one sitting, and often times this film requires several viewings to grasp all the details.I use it to determine whether a girl is "date-able". Always I claim that I've not seen it since I was a kid. Any answer to the question "what did you think?" is valid, with the exception of "boring" or "it makes no sense", as these are signs of narrowminded-ness.With regards to the monolith... people often use the term evolution, however this is incorrect. Evolution does not occur in an individual organism, rather in a population over LONG periods of time.The monolith is enlightenment or inspiration. It is an unknown or enigma, that broadens the mind of those who encounter it. It free's the imagination in an attempt to explain it and allows for an unconventional thought process. The thoughts become ideas, and the ideas technological advancement (Which over long periods may result in evolution). It happened with the Australopithecus leader, with the astronauts on the moon, with HAL, with Bowman, and finally with anyone who see the movie... This was Kubrick's goal, to inspire our imagination and allow us to interpret the film in our own ways.Though most of themes are quite agreed upon, there are still many ambiguous shots and many details that must be payed close attention to. Nothing is random, if it's in the shot it is because Kubrick wanted it to be, and had a purpose for it. The neutrality of the soundtrack and scores provide our subconscious minds with emotions and and our conscious mind with thoughts uninfluenced by emotive audio. Kubrick wants us to interpret the movie in our own way and hopes to inspire us with the monolith, and to give us a neutral environment through sound or lack thereof.