2001: a spacey oddity

[jackshoegazer]

Is it just me or is Stanley Kubrick insanely overrated?

I'll give him A Clockwork Orange, that was a fantastic movie. I even read the book by Anthony Burgess, and Kubrick had excellent source material to work with.

However, Kubrick called Eyes Wide Shut his best movie ever. Double-you Tee Eff? It was terrible. I could barely watch. I had no connection to the characters, no sympathy for their plight, the acting was noxious, the plot contrived and shallow. Who is he kidding?

I didn't care much for Dr. Strangelove, though it had some good ideas which, yes, seem common-place and antiquated now. I didn't find The Shining to be anything special, except in the capacity to spawn an obsessively-repeated cultural quip of "Heeeere's Johnny!"

Here's where my big stink is, where I find the feces festering, where the chafe has set in and I'm ornery. 2001: a space odyssey. This is billed as a masterpiece, one of the best movies ever. I swear, it was the worst piece of pretentious, over-hyped, boring shit. I could barely stay awake. It's as if the whole movie takes place in slow motion. Had it come out today, it would be billed as an art film for aging hippies.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of psychedelics and transcendentalism, deep time, the origins of consciousness, and the projection of that into the future as any aging hippy, but I couldn't imagine finding that movie interesting in any way unless I was spending the evening with my head full of lysergic acid diethylamide. Then, I'm sure it's a hoot and I'll find the answers to life, the universe and everything will be much more than forty-two. But to say this is a masterpiece of filmmaking, I must protest.

That movie fucking sucked. Pardon my French. Which is funny because fuck is from the Middle English, attested in pseudo-Latin fuccant.

So perhaps someone out there can explain why I'm wrong, but until then, I cam going to read Arthur Clarke's book and then adapt my own screenplay for 2001, something that people who aren't acid burnouts can enjoy.

Comments

[kiwikat.livejournal.com]

i've seen like.... none of those. just a clockwork orange, and i had already read the book

so i can't really say.

[mananath.livejournal.com]

I actually enjoyed EWS, after a few attempts at watching it. Though it was a few years ago so I can't justify my liking.
I have never been able to finish 2001. The damn thing is just too long, too boring and it seems to go nowhere. Maybe there is a big payoff at the end?

[gutzilla.livejournal.com]

My sister sat through two hours of 2001, only to walk out ten minutes from the end because the overly-long psychadelic landscape sequence gave her a headache.

[gutzilla.livejournal.com]

Full Metal Jacket, Paths Of Glory, Lolita, Spartacus.

Can't comment on Barry Lyndon, but that's meant to be very good also.

In my opinion Dr Strangelove is absolutely brilliant and very, very funny. A Clockwork Orange is totally excellent, and Full Metal Jacket is awesome. You need to see FMJ if you're going to comment on Kubrick.

2001 has monkeys.

[violet-meeks.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you your wrong, though I did like The Shinning

Over all I find him rather pretensious.

[sacredchao23.livejournal.com]

Methinks the Fnord doth protest too much.

[surrealkitten.livejournal.com]

i think i learned from watching 21 grams that the main characters aren't always supposed to be likable. once i got my mind around that i liked eyes wide shut (and a bunch of other movies) a lot more.

and i thought the shining was way better than the book. but i think anything with shelley duvall in it is good.

dr. strangelove is boring as hell. for me it's not because it's been done to death by now, but because it's sluggy and sludgy.

[schmecky.livejournal.com]

I'm not a huge fan either, but I think a lot of the praise for his work has to do with the cultural context in which it was done. Making Dr. Strangelove in the early 60's was pretty bold not just in its politics, but in its choice to tackle it satiracally. 2001 was a landmark in lots of ways - its use of music and silence, its going against the rules for how to pace a film, and at the time, the thought (and creation for the film) of that kind of technology was groundbreaking. (I personally love The Shining.) I think his stuff may not stand up so well as years pass, but at the very least, his style and choices have shaped generations of filmmakers after him.

End of book report :)