MOVIE COMPANY:Â Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
DVD reviewed by Dennis A. Amith
CAST: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood and more.
DIRECTED BY: Stanley Kubrick
PRODUCED BY: Stanley Kubrick
RATING: R
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0062622
TYPE OF TV SHOW: Sci-Fi
DURATION:Â 2 hours and 19 minutes
2001 is “a milestone film” (Leonard Maltin), a spectacular movie that grows more wondrous with each viewing. Awesome in scope, this “imaginatively staggering [and] uniquely poetic piece of science-fiction” (The New Yorker) explores the mysterious of interplanetary space…and of human destiny. The entire film is a stunning, sensuous marvel – a cinematic experience like no other before or since.
As producer, director and co-writer of the screenplay (with Arthur C. Claerke), Stanley Kubrick brought complex ideas to the screen with astounding immediacy through dazzling special effects that won a much-deserved Academy Award. Moving from the prehistoric birth of intelligence to the emergence of man as pure thought, 2001 is a remarkable achievement – “a quantum leap in quality over any sci-fi film ever made.” (Newsweek)
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby, AC-3
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Interview with co-screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke
• Widescreen letterbox format
KNOWN DVD SECRET:Â None that I know of at this time.
DVD REVIEW:
This movie continues to amaze me. First, the quality of this science fiction movie created in the late 60’s is quite amazing. Also, the cerebral storyline. It’s one of those moves that you can watch over and over again and it may have a different meaning for you.
The use of silence, great special effects and colors is done well in this movie.
I’m sure many of you seen this movie and were either amazed or bewildered by it. It was like watching a great musical theater experience with a dash of horror with the name of “HAL” and guess what? It never looked and sounded so beautiful until this DVD version which has a new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The sound gets high marks and be careful to putting this so loud and having people close by because there are some ear piercing sounds in this movie. As mentioned earlier, the video is beautiful and the colors are still very “beautiful”.
But sometimes the best movies can be the worst movies for some people. As mentioned, this movie is not the typical sci-fi movie that everyone will love. It’s one of those slower paced movies that moves in slow increments and also it’s a thinking movie. I happen to love these type of movies, I know many people who don’t.
So, the movie can be rated differently by viewers but if you liked it the first time, you like it again and again. As for the special features, I wish there was more added but you get the two trailers for “2001” and “2010” and the old interview with Arthur C. Clarke. There is an 8-page booklet but I wish they added this on the DVD. I wonder if there could of been more added, deleted scenes and more but then again, this movie was made back in 1968. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this DVD for true sci-fi fans who have a great imagination, who are great thinkers and can watch a somewhat cerebral movie and have a fun time. The beautiful visuals and audio will hook you.
Again, this movie is not for everyone. My girlfriend didn’t want to watch it. This movie is not for everyone but it’s one of the best true film masterpieces of all time.Â
THE MOVIE:Â A
THE DVD EXTRAS:Â C
THE DVD OVERALL:Â B