2001: A Space Odyssey useless beginning?

[jj5206]

i am 16 and i saw this film first on Universal HD and loved every minute...Stanley Kubrick is a brilliant film maker, and he didn't let me down with 2001. I actually bought the blu for 20 bucks and have watched it multiple times since...I think this is an A+ film

[Octavio]

Originally Posted by Mystique

I just got around watching 2001: A Space Odyssey after buying it from Amazon's BOGO a few months or so ago and man that movie is pretty weird. What I felt was so useless was the first three minutes of the film, where the screen was blank and music was playing. What was the intent of that? To waste time? Overall the movie was pretty hard to get into and I never really did.

This kind of posts makes me lose my faith in Humankind

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by jj5206

i am 16 and i saw this film first on Universal HD and loved every minute...Stanley Kubrick is a brilliant film maker, and he didn't let me down with 2001. I actually bought the blu for 20 bucks and have watched it multiple times since...I think this is an A+ film

Was........

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Octavio

This kind of post makes me lose my faith in Humankind

I didn't quite go that far, but I know what you mean.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by Octavio

This kind of posts makes me lose my faith in Humankind

yeah. Did you think the article of affection in "Citizen Kane" was "dumb" (trying not to spoil here, but jeez, if you haven't seen Citizen Kane, crawl out from under the rock already!)

Are Black and White films intollerable to you?

Something's wrong with the world today something something something... Livin' on the EDGE!!! (not sure who sings that 80's craptastic song, but there you go!)

[horseflesh]

I put 2001 on for my 3 sons a few months ago (aged 6, 3 and 2 at the time ) and watching the overture & Dawn of Man segment it struck me that there is absolutely no way that a major studio these days would stump up a huge budget to make the 2001 that Kubrick did; 24 minutes with no dialogue??

[HDJK]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

...
Something's wrong with the world today something something something... Livin' on the EDGE!!! (not sure who sings that 80's craptastic song, but there you go!)

That would be Aerosmith

[Octavio]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

yeah. Did you think the article of affection in "Citizen Kane" was "dumb" (trying not to spoil here, but jeez, if you haven't seen Citizen Kane, crawl out from under the rock already!)

Are Black and White films intollerable to you?

Something's wrong with the world today something something something... Livin' on the EDGE!!! (not sure who sings that 80's craptastic song, but there you go!)

Are you asking to me if I dislike B&W films? or ur question was adressed to the OP?

Just in case: Many of my all time favs are in B&W. Movies like Los olvidados, The Exterminating Angel, The Wages of Fear, Ivan the Terrible, Persona, Double Indemnity, Casablanca, Rashomon, Ikiru, The Nights of Cabiria, Psycho, Dr. Strangelove, Modern Times, Great Expectations (Lean's version), Just to name a few.

[doctorsteve]

People used to see movies in things called Movie Theaters. They were big and dark at first. Then they projected the movie on to a big wall. The beginning of 2001 would have been really neat in one of those theater things...

[bferr1]

Guys, Mystique is talking about the overture at the beginning of the movie. Previous home video editions of "2001" had the word "Overture," but this was added for home video, never a part of the theatrical version.

Mystique, many epic-length films from the '30s through the '60s often had opening music and an intermission, and some (like "Gone with the Wind") even had Exit Music.

Here's what Wikipedia had to say about Overtures:

In motion pictures, an overture is a piece of music setting the mood for the film before the credits start. It does not underscore the credits or part of the plot but is seen as introductory music "in its own right". It is typically accompanied by a blank screen (played with the lights already dimmed and/or with closed curtains) or a still picture and can be several minutes long.

Notable examples are: Gone with the Wind (1939), Lawrence of Arabia, Oliver! (1968), King Kong, West Side Story, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange. 1979 was the last time a major American studio made use of an overture (with the films Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Black Hole, although the film Dancer in the Dark included an overture in the year 2000. Many of these (epic) films also featured entr'actes and exit musics, which, together with the overtures, have often been cut from TV and video releases and can only be found on recent "restored" DVDs. Some of these "incidental musics" were made for roadshow presentation and were cut afterwards for the wide release.

Here's a list (from Wikipedia):

The "Golden Age" Era
Show Boat (1929)
King Kong (1933)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Marie Antoinette (1938)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Since You Went Away (1944)
Spellbound (1945)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
How The West Was Won (1946)
Joan of Arc (1948)

1950-1970
East of Eden (1955)
Oklahoma! (1955)
High Society (1956)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
South Pacific (1958)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Alamo (1960)
West Side Story (1961) (An additional overture, which is not present in the stage version)
The King and I (1961 reissue)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Cleopatra (1963)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Disney's Mary Poppins (1964)
My Fair Lady (1964)
The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
The Great Race (1965) (with chorus)
Grand Prix (1966)
The Happiest Millionaire (1967)
Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
Ulysses (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Ice Station Zebra (1968)
Funny Girl (1968)
Oliver! (1968)
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Sweet Charity (1969)
Darling Lili (1970)
Ryan's Daughter (1970)

After 1970
1776 (1972)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
That's Entertainment! (1974)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Disney's The Black Hole (1979)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005) (Roadshow and Director's Cut versions)

Missing from the list: "Spartacus" (1960)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overture#Film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...with_overtures

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by Octavio

Are you asking to me if I dislike B&W films? or ur question was adressed to the OP?

.

Sorry... directed.... with a very much split-tongue, at the OP

Citizen Kane is one of the all-time greats, I can re-watch numerous times..... but if it's not a crappy remake of a classic, with added CGI etc, it's a big risk for the studio, so they stick to the sure-fire money-makers, and we, as film fans, suffer because of this...... Why re-do the superman films, they were GREAT! Why remake the Ocean's 11 movie, there will never be another Rat-Pack!!!!

[Beta Man]

almost forgot about the score of the original King Kong.... BRILLIANT!

[jj5206]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Was........

i forgot he died...RIP Stanley Kubrick

[Octavio]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Sorry... directed.... with a very much split-tongue, at the OP

Citizen Kane is one of the all-time greats, I can re-watch numerous times..... but if it's not a crappy remake of a classic, with added CGI etc, it's a big risk for the studio, so they stick to the sure-fire money-makers, and we, as film fans, suffer because of this...... Why re-do the superman films, they were GREAT! Why remake the Ocean's 11 movie, there will never be another Rat-Pack!!!!

No problem, mate


Yeah, remakes from classics "usually" sux. i.e: Why to remake "The Manchurian Candidate"? or "Miracle on 34th Street"?

But the one that it's a crime and should be banned is the remake of "Psycho" arghhh Vince Vaughn playing the iconic role of "Norman Bates"???
At least Anthony Perkins didn't see that travesty

[Amel]

watched it few days ago on Universal i think, wasnt impressed, however the monkey scenes were funny as hell

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Aw, c'mon, can't we be a LITTLE harsh with them young folks?
(Especially the HS/College ones being over-judgmental with the classics they've seen for the first time in their culturally-underexposed lives?)

I think ever previous generation has said the same thing about the following generation. These Young folks of today will be thinking the same thing in 20 odd years to what ever current trends has replaced our current trends.

[CptGreedle]

Isn't there already a thread on this?

Can't you just enjoy the music at the opening? Be glad it is there, as it was originally presented.

[SDon1969]

Great, classic flick; the OP mentions the black screen with music, i.e. the "overture". This sets the mood and creates suspense & intrigue, but probably worked much better in a theater as opposed to at home. Same with the intermission. These kinds of things are what made Kubrick famous.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Mystique

I just got around watching 2001: A Space Odyssey after buying it from Amazon's BOGO a few months or so ago and man that movie is pretty weird. What I felt was so useless was the first three minutes of the film, where the screen was blank and music was playing. What was the intent of that? To waste time? Overall the movie was pretty hard to get into and I never really did.

I'm really suprised nobody has posted Kubrick's genius with the first 3 minutes:

(1) OPENING SEQUENCE: lasted 3 mins = from the beginning of earth to start of man: we know its 4 billion (ie. 4000 million years) from history, or 20'ish billion years per second

(2) SHOT OF BONE FLYING TO FLYING SHIP: lasted fraction of second = from start of man to 2001: we know its 4 million years from history: consistent with the time scale of (1)

Kubrick shows in awesome power that we've been around for a fraction of a second, compared to the world being around for 3 mins or so.

[jkwest]

If Stanley Kubrich had changed anything about this film, it would have dramatically altered the whole movie industry. This film, in its entirety, influenced the way every film has been made since.

Think of it as a history lesson....you may not agree with things in the past, but, you cannot deny that they have influenced our present.