The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Putting a number on your expiration date is ridiculous. My Dad is 80 and he still drives over the speed limit. Without an oxygen tank.

glad to hear he's doing well and keeping the peddle to the metal!

however, since some of my life goals are ever to get married and / or have kids, when i reach 65, it's not like i will have any major connections via family which will eliminate a major reason to keep the lights "on". and while i might be in shape and maybe feel good, i will be 65, which will be depressing (hell, being almost 23 is depressing - and shut up, i know you're older so i shouldn't say anything, right?! ) and not something i will enjoy lol

[Marcus Wright]

Originally Posted by Hep

Are you a little starved for attention?

Usually if you do keep any record of my posts (which I highly doubt you do) you should know that I make long reviews with scores that most people agree with. So, I am not starving for attention.
I would guess you are actually starving for attention with this post of yours.

P.S. This movie was just too weird as far as I am concenred.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

glad to hear he's doing well and keeping the peddle to the metal!

however, since some of my life goals are ever to get married and / or have kids, when i reach 65, it's not like i will have any major connections via family which will eliminate a major reason to keep the lights "on". and while i might be in shape and maybe feel good, i will be 65, which will be depressing (hell, being almost 23 is depressing - and shut up, i know you're older so i shouldn't say anything, right?! ) and not something i will enjoy lol

I'm starting to think that goals are the most overrated and possibly damaging motivational tool ever devised. Sure, having the goal of losing ten pounds is fine and all(most goals are harmless and sometimes necessary on the surface), but it's what happens when you reach that goal that's important. Do you really feel better about yourself, or do you simply feel good because you reached your goal and accomplished something? My motto these days is: Do the thing for the love of the thing. The rest works itself out just fine without you building up the expectations of the "result."

[Hep]

Originally Posted by Marcus Wright

Usually if you do keep any record of my posts (which I highly doubt you do) you should know that I make long reviews with scores that most people agree with. So, I am not starving for attention.
I would guess you are actually starving for attention with this post of yours.

P.S. This movie was just too weird as far as I am concenred.

That's my point, the short review, the uncharacteristically controversial score...ah hell, I was just playing with you neighbour .

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

I think i'm in total agreement with you here on the bolded part. It's just hard for me to say that abandoning all that research would show "growth" on his part. More like giving in to oblivion. It seems his wife and his work were the two most important things in his life. His wife is gone. So, what does he do now, just give up or feel guilty about those missed moments forever? Good stuff guys. Really good. Maybe Darren will give us "The Fountain Returns?"
I kid. I kid.



You keep your precious death. I wanna live!!! For i am selfish.

Good discussion--I'm really glad that you enjoyed the film and it meant something to you! I hope the cliff notes version of my interpretation gives you a better understanding/appreciation for it, even if you don't subscribe to it. As for Aronofsky, I actually have his commentary for the film on my computer (which practically everyone that's put forth a theory hasn't had the chance to listen to) and while it doesn't provide any sort of conclusive theory, it does lean towards what I present (for what it's worth). Interesting listen.

[Riff Magnum]

I just realized something.

I HATE REVIEWING MOVIES,

but the discussion i enjoy.

I especially hate reviews like this:

TRON
3.14/5


Gee thanks, Ebert!! I've officially been enlightened.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Good discussion--I'm really glad that you enjoyed the film and it meant something to you! I hope the cliff notes version of my interpretation gives you a better understanding/appreciation for it, even if you don't subscribe to it. As for Aronofsky, I actually have his commentary for the film on my computer (which practically everyone that's put forth a theory hasn't had the chance to listen to) and while it doesn't provide any sort of conclusive theory, it does lean towards what I present (for what it's worth). Interesting listen.

I loved listening to him talk on "The Wrestler" extras. He seems like one of the good ones, ya know? He's good people as my Mom would say.

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

I just realized something.

I HATE REVIEWING MOVIES,

but the discussion i enjoy.

I especially hate reviews like this:

TRON
3.14/5


Gee thanks, Ebert!! I've officially been enlightened.

LMAO. Nice

[BladeRunner2007]

JCVD 4/5

Say what you want about Van Damme, but his performance is excellent in this movie.

Blade II 4.5/5

Great sequel that does everything right and at some points even exceeds his predecessor.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

I just realized something.

I HATE REVIEWING MOVIES,

but the discussion i enjoy.

I especially hate reviews like this:

TRON
3.14/5


Gee thanks, Ebert!! I've officially been enlightened.

haha, you know, i've kind of been feeling the same way. even though once i get started and the ball gets-a-rollin' it gets oddly fun, but when a film ends i always kind of feel like, "ugh. now i'm gonna end up spending the next 30 minutes writing a review for this" instead of just doing something else.

it's so bad with the majority of films, but still an annoyance at times.

i'm most sick of giving scores to films. i'm beginning to not understand the correspondence. i mean, i understand 5/5's, 1/5's and 0/5's, but all the middle ground is lost on me. even though i still give numeric scores i do like my seven-tier system better than a number score, so i may drop that for future reviews.

although for those short reviews you hate, i hate them too, but maybe those people who write those craptastic, "very" insightful reviews hate writing reviews too so that's why they post stuff like that

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Same thing here. The gravity-defying motorcycle chase looked sweet at first glance.

Last time I saw it was the Blu-Ray, and high def wound up revealing how awful some of the SFX were. The motorcycle chase looked pretty bad on BD. I figure it was probably slapped into the film as an afterthought and had no time for proper rendering, and it wasn't as smooth as I remembered.

Without good-looking SFX, what does it have going for it?! Actually I do remember a few good ideas and bright spots in the story...it's just rather uneven.

My main problem with the look of Ultraviolet after seeing it on Blu-ray was the fact that the main villain's face was so smooth/waxy that it looked ridiculous. I didn't notice that when I watched the movie on DVD, but I'm not chalking it up to DNR.

It still had Milla kicking butt going for it, but that can only take it so far. I'd still probably watch it again someday, but it will never be in my collection.

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

When is Romulus going to watch Triangle?

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

maybe he did but lost his marbles

I lost my marbles a long time ago.

[Show spoiler]

I've actually been watching some epics with my friends. We finished The Thin Red Line tonight, will be finishing Bridge on the River Kwai and Dr. Zhivago over the next few days. Triangle will come next week.

Once school starts up in two weeks it'll be interesting to see how much spare time I have for films. I have 3 film screenings a week over a course of 12 weeks, so I'll be raking up 36 films in that time period. Being a college student, I'll probably make room for 1 extra movie for the movie discussion thread but probably wont' watch anything outside of that since I want to live life a little... only got 2 years of my college experience left.

[Diesel]

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

• 2005 | PG-13 | 140 Minutes
  
  
• Director: George Lucas
  
  
• Starring: Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor
  
  
• Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Revenge of the Sith is my #3 among the Star Wars films. I only score one of the films above a 4.5 (Empire) and have two at or below a 3.5 but I still LOVE the series as a whole even if a few of the individual films aren't all that good. It's because of the overarching story that I enjoy so much.

The story is pretty well known I'm sure.

[Show spoiler]Anakin needs to fulfill his decent into the infamous Darth Vader, the Emperor needs to take over the Galaxy and the Jedi have to go bye bye.

I tagged it just for the heck of it, I doubt there's more than a handful of people around here that DON'T know that (I think CZAR hasn't seen them).

Revenge of the Sith is much improved over the previous film where the actors aren't as wooden and some of the dialog isn't as bad (though, I do mute the audio every time Padme gives the "your breaking my heart" speech I just can't listen to it).

None of the acting is great, but there are a couple that do a pretty good job. McGregor is really good even with some of the stuff he has to say in these three films. And Ian McDiarmid is really good as well and is actually pretty creepy.

Everyone else is for the most part in the "meh" category. Which in the case of Christensen is a step up from the previous film.

I really wish these three had a better director than Lucas; he's not exactly very good at getting good performances out of his actors. He's also not the greatest dialog writer out there
He should have crafted the story and the details but let someone else work out the actual spoken dialog; he's a great story creator though, just let others put the actual words down on the page for your actors to say Georgie.

Those two things are issues throughout the trilogy in varying degrees and could have easily been fixed if he had been called on some of his stuff or let others flesh out his stories into the final screenplay.

Despite those things though, I still highly enjoy this film. Getting to see everything come to a head...even if some of it felt a rushed and should have played out better across the three films. They could all be improved a lot, but as it stands Revenge of the Sith is still a really good movie in my opinion; however it, and the two before it (and even Jedi) could have been a lot better.


Rating - 4.25/5

[Batman1980]

So Diesel saw Episode III again eh, what happened to episode IV? Always thought IV was a touch over-rated, even if it is the first movie, 70% of it nothing really happens, takes SO long to get going. Still give it about a 4.5/5.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by Darth Anakin

So Diesel saw Episode III again eh, what happened to episode IV?

What do you mean?

I watched and reviewed III. Next I'll watch and review IV.

[Batman1980]

Surprised Diesel already switched avatars back. Tomorrow -
Apollo 13 4.5/5
Armageddon 3.5/5
Army of Darkness 3/5 this is probably the most disappointing one I will see tomorrow, then again I may like it a lot more soon.
Maybe the first Austin Powers as well, marathon almost in full swing now.

[menaceuk]

Devil 3/5
2010
Director:John Erick Dowdle
Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Well going in to this I had very low expectations, After all it does have influence from M. Night Shyamalan, which isn't a great thing.

How ever I Did enjoy it for what it was.The whole confined space and dark were fine but typical Cliche and "Cliche" is the best word to describe this movie.

I hated the Ending too

[Show spoiler] Why did he have to forgive him ? Seriously, Why couldn't he have gone for revenge and killed him.How the movie ends suggests all evil is the work of the devil and yet that is total horse crap as Humans/people are capable of such terrible things.

Also at the end was it implying that man was God ? or simply that god exists because the good people can do/be.

How ever I Did think the movie did a good job of keeping you guessing who was doing these things which keeps you at least interested till the end.

[Monkey_Boy]

"2001: A Space Odyssey"

Never saw it before, but was pretty sure of what to expect after seeing clips of it all over the place in pop culture. Haveta say, it didn't start out all that well. Not sure what was with the total blackness with what sounded like an orchestra getting ready to play for well over the 3 minute mark. (Which I "got" a little later when ALL we get is music as a spacecraft docks with a spinning space station for what seems like hours on end and again when they're on the pod headed for the moon base and AGAIN when...-- the man sure took his time on this one, didn't he?). At first I thought there was somethin' wrong with my LED edge-lit HDTV! Then an MGM logo pops up and I'm thinkin', "Finally! The movie is about to start!", but then I'm forced to watch ape-men doing ape-like things amongst several tapirs for 20 minutes! (What was with those damn tapirs anyaway? Weren't there other animals available in the late 1960's? Or was he implying that tapirs and ape-men were the peak of evolution at this point?) No dialogue. No subtitles. No narration. It was like watching "The Star Wars Holiday Special" when Chewie's family was onscreen without Han to interpret! (For those who haven't seen it, there really are several minutes of wookies howling over and over without interpretation. U-N-B-E-A-R-A-B-L-E-!) I must type, that this wasn't the best opening to a film called "2001: A SPACE Odyssey". Not saying that the scene was pointless (even though it does seem rather... pointless), but it coulda been condensed a tad. What's wrong with opening to the ape-men waking up to the giant, blank domino (like in The Simpsons when Homer's dreaming) and then start in with the senseless beating of bones and the murderous devouring of sweet, tasty tapir flesh? Although, I gotta say that there were some continuity errors during the tapir slaughter; You see the ape-man raise his arm -bone in hand- and lower it, and then you see tapirs drop, but in the longshot, you don't see him surrounded by the carnage that he has wrought, only bones. Don't know how Kubrick missed that glaring detail... oh well, ain't no none of us peoples perfect.

There are several things about this movie that actually take it down a few notches from "Masterpiece" status, in my opinion. I've already made mention of the long while we spent with the ape-men and the fact that space travel is extremely slow and tedious. (Especially when they docked with the moon base! Where was the editor?! Did they never hear of dissolves and wipes?!) The acting before the "18 Months Later" mark reminded me alot of those old training videos employees are forced to watch before a new job in the "exciting field of fast food". And what was up with the intermission just when things were gettin' good?! That just broke up the tension as I sat and listened to music while staring at a black screen (once again). Was he aiming for a 2 1/2 hour movie and felt he had to pad the hell outta this thing with loads of pointless footage set to music? I mean, c'mon! I also had a problem with Dave's reaction to his boy suddenly twirling by his porthole. There was no hurry in his step. He just calmly walked to the ladder, descended with no eagerness and calmly asked HAL "What happened?" as he, at a snail's pace mind you, gets into the next pod. I was all, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, MAN?! HE'S FLYING OUT INTO SPACE! HE'S FREAKIN' DYIN' OUT THERE!" It's the one time George Lucas shoulda been on-set to hollar, "Faster and more intense!" There is no emotion in Dave's face at all. He's acting as if this is just routine! And when HAL doesn't let him in what does he do after chasing this guy down? He just lets him go without any real regret, making it completely pointless for his even going out there in the first place.

What's really crazy is that we spend alotta time watching stuff slowly happen, but when it comes time for HAL to become EVIL HAL, it's lightning fast. It presents a problem to the astronauts, they aren't sure if it's right and believe it's best that they shut it down, it decides to kill 'em for it. I kinda expected there to be a bit more between them before murder became apart of the equation. I gotta add that HAL's pleading was quite hilarious, though! ("I'm feeling much better now, Dave. Take a stress pill and sit down for a moment." ) What leaves a gigantic question mark in this is why didn't they shut him down in this way before? What was with ol' boy goin' outside? I dunno. Maybe I missed sumpthin'. It just seemed completely illogical for them to continue to trust this computer with their lives after they felt they couldn't speak where it could hear them. So after HAL is deactivated (surprising me at how quickly that whole thing was summed up. I expected most of the movie to be Man vs Machine/Dave vs HAL! How disappointed was I? Quite a bit. Brings back painful memories of "Dragon Wars"; I expected awesome dragon-on-dragon action and ended up with the usual man vs dragon scenario we've always had. And awful acting like a mug!), we go into a trippy lightshow that morphs into a lava lamp and then-- Wait. Was that ***** that slid into frame from the right for a sec? It doesn't indicate otherwise, so I'm forced to belive that it is. Anyway, later we get to look at landscapes through the Predator's helmut. Kinda cool, but I have no idea what the Predator has to do with this movie. After several minutes of nonsense that would probably be more enjoyable on acid, we end up in a futuristic apartment with antique furniture. Dave looks outside the pod and sees a man in a spacesuit. A closer look reveals that it's him! With (latex) wrinkles! Then he walks around and sees an older man eating dinner. The older man turns around and it's him again! The older man gets up and sees an EVEN older man laying in bed. Once again, close up reveals it is Dave. (The surprise is gone at this point.) Then he starts pointing. And then we see the big, blank domino. In his flippin' bedroom. What happens next? I have no friggin' clue! He just turns into a fetus-baby thing and is then thrown out into space to hover over Earth, for which I can only assume to one day devour our world to satisfy his ever growing hunger as he becomes Galactus: Destroyer of Worlds! This "monolith" must be some incarnation of evil the likes of which only Cthulhu knows the words to describe it!

As with most future sci-fi movies, this one was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off, but predicted a few things we have today. Like using a credit card in a phone, but video phones? In 2001? I don't THINK so! It's good to see they got the children of the era right. That little girl on the phone was EXACTLY like my daughter when she's on the phone; taking too long to answer your questions and unsure of how to talk. Adorable! I wonder how he knew a child would behave like that decades later... Kubrick was a flippin' directorial genius! I gotta admit, I laughed my ass off at the (rather complicated) instructions for using the bathroom. I also found it amazing that each astronaut had their very own iPad (he was a decade off there, but that's still pretty close)! I've read that you can watch porn on 'em, so watching a news broadcast would logically be the next step after we were done using it for porn. (When would that be? Only our Dark Lord Cthulhu knows for sure!) Oh, I did think the velcro-on-the-bottom-of-socks idea was a rather funny way to keep the stewardess from floating around the ship.

In conclusion, I just don't get how this movie is a sci-fi masterpiece. I enjoy strange, surreal movies, but this one was just too wierd to the point that it was utterly baffeling by the time I reached the end. I've been all over the worldwide web and have encountered all sorts of people with all sorts of problems with movies; from editing and pacing to character development and just making some damn sense. I find it strange I've never encountered anyone who has said anything like that about this movie. I mean, what if Anakin showed as much emotion as Dave and then just turned into an old man several times over and then transformed into a giant fetus-baby thing? Or what if there were extremely long shots of slow ships moving slowly to music most commonly heard in cartoons? Or what if there was an intermission just when Palpatine revealed to Anakin that he was indeed a Sith Lord? I truly doubt people woulda cried "Brilliant!" at any of that. I could definetly see how this movie influenced Ridley Scott's "Alien" and other sci-fi greats, but it just wasn't all that great unto itself.

For the second time, I give a movie my rating for when I had no idea what just happened. A rating I've only given one other movie; "Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street" with its CONSTANT singing.

WTF

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Boy

"2001: A Space Odyssey"

Haveta say, it didn't start out all that well. Not sure what was with the total blackness with what sounded like an orchestra getting ready to play for well over the 3 minute mark.

That was a close up of a monolith.

[Hep]

Originally Posted by Monkey_Boy

"2001: A Space Odyssey"

[Show spoiler]Never saw it before, but was pretty sure of what to expect after seeing clips of it all over the place in pop culture. Haveta say, it didn't start out all that well. Not sure what was with the total blackness with what sounded like an orchestra getting ready to play for well over the 3 minute mark. (Which I "got" a little later when ALL we get is music as a spacecraft docks with a spinning space station for what seems like hours on end and again when they're on the pod headed for the moon base and AGAIN when...-- the man sure took his time on this one, didn't he?). At first I thought there was somethin' wrong with my LED edge-lit HDTV! Then an MGM logo pops up and I'm thinkin', "Finally! The movie is about to start!", but then I'm forced to watch ape-men doing ape-like things amongst several tapirs for 20 minutes! (What was with those damn tapirs anyaway? Weren't there other animals available in the late 1960's? Or was he implying that tapirs and ape-men were the peak of evolution at this point?) No dialogue. No subtitles. No narration. It was like watching "The Star Wars Holiday Special" when Chewie's family was onscreen without Han to interpret! (For those who haven't seen it, there really are several minutes of wookies howling over and over without interpretation. U-N-B-E-A-R-A-B-L-E-!) I must type, that this wasn't the best opening to a film called "2001: A SPACE Odyssey". Not saying that the scene was pointless (even though it does seem rather... pointless), but it coulda been condensed a tad. What's wrong with opening to the ape-men waking up to the giant, blank domino (like in The Simpsons when Homer's dreaming) and then start in with the senseless beating of bones and the murderous devouring of sweet, tasty tapir flesh? Although, I gotta say that there were some continuity errors during the tapir slaughter; You see the ape-man raise his arm -bone in hand- and lower it, and then you see tapirs drop, but in the longshot, you don't see him surrounded by the carnage that he has wrought, only bones. Don't know how Kubrick missed that glaring detail... oh well, ain't no none of us peoples perfect.

There are several things about this movie that actually take it down a few notches from "Masterpiece" status, in my opinion. I've already made mention of the long while we spent with the ape-men and the fact that space travel is extremely slow and tedious. (Especially when they docked with the moon base! Where was the editor?! Did they never hear of dissolves and wipes?!) The acting before the "18 Months Later" mark reminded me alot of those old training videos employees are forced to watch before a new job in the "exciting field of fast food". And what was up with the intermission just when things were gettin' good?! That just broke up the tension as I sat and listened to music while staring at a black screen (once again). Was he aiming for a 2 1/2 hour movie and felt he had to pad the hell outta this thing with loads of pointless footage set to music? I mean, c'mon! I also had a problem with Dave's reaction to his boy suddenly twirling by his porthole. There was no hurry in his step. He just calmly walked to the ladder, descended with no eagerness and calmly asked HAL "What happened?" as he, at a snail's pace mind you, gets into the next pod. I was all, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, MAN?! HE'S FLYING OUT INTO SPACE! HE'S FREAKIN' DYIN' OUT THERE!" It's the one time George Lucas shoulda been on-set to hollar, "Faster and more intense!" There is no emotion in Dave's face at all. He's acting as if this is just routine! And when HAL doesn't let him in what does he do after chasing this guy down? He just lets him go without any real regret, making it completely pointless for his even going out there in the first place.

What's really crazy is that we spend alotta time watching stuff slowly happen, but when it comes time for HAL to become EVIL HAL, it's lightning fast. It presents a problem to the astronauts, they aren't sure if it's right and believe it's best that they shut it down, it decides to kill 'em for it. I kinda expected there to be a bit more between them before murder became apart of the equation. I gotta add that HAL's pleading was quite hilarious, though! ("I'm feeling much better now, Dave. Take a stress pill and sit down for a moment." ) What leaves a gigantic question mark in this is why didn't they shut him down in this way before? What was with ol' boy goin' outside? I dunno. Maybe I missed sumpthin'. It just seemed completely illogical for them to continue to trust this computer with their lives after they felt they couldn't speak where it could hear them. So after HAL is deactivated (surprising me at how quickly that whole thing was summed up. I expected most of the movie to be Man vs Machine/Dave vs HAL! How disappointed was I? Quite a bit. Brings back painful memories of "Dragon Wars"; I expected awesome dragon-on-dragon action and ended up with the usual man vs dragon scenario we've always had. And awful acting like a mug!), we go into a trippy lightshow that morphs into a lava lamp and then-- Wait. Was that ***** that slid into frame from the right for a sec? It doesn't indicate otherwise, so I'm forced to belive that it is. Anyway, later we get to look at landscapes through the Predator's helmut. Kinda cool, but I have no idea what the Predator has to do with this movie. After several minutes of nonsense that would probably be more enjoyable on acid, we end up in a futuristic apartment with antique furniture. Dave looks outside the pod and sees a man in a spacesuit. A closer look reveals that it's him! With (latex) wrinkles! Then he walks around and sees an older man eating dinner. The older man turns around and it's him again! The older man gets up and sees an EVEN older man laying in bed. Once again, close up reveals it is Dave. (The surprise is gone at this point.) Then he starts pointing. And then we see the big, blank domino. In his flippin' bedroom. What happens next? I have no friggin' clue! He just turns into a fetus-baby thing and is then thrown out into space to hover over Earth, for which I can only assume to one day devour our world to satisfy his ever growing hunger as he becomes Galactus: Destroyer of Worlds! This "monolith" must be some incarnation of evil the likes of which only Cthulhu knows the words to describe it!

As with most future sci-fi movies, this one was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off, but predicted a few things we have today. Like using a credit card in a phone, but video phones? In 2001? I don't THINK so! It's good to see they got the children of the era right. That little girl on the phone was EXACTLY like my daughter when she's on the phone; taking too long to answer your questions and unsure of how to talk. Adorable! I wonder how he knew a child would behave like that decades later... Kubrick was a flippin' directorial genius! I gotta admit, I laughed my ass off at the (rather complicated) instructions for using the bathroom. I also found it amazing that each astronaut had their very own iPad (he was a decade off there, but that's still pretty close)! I've read that you can watch porn on 'em, so watching a news broadcast would logically be the next step after we were done using it for porn. (When would that be? Only our Dark Lord Cthulhu knows for sure!) Oh, I did think the velcro-on-the-bottom-of-socks idea was a rather funny way to keep the stewardess from floating around the ship.

In conclusion, I just don't get how this movie is a sci-fi masterpiece. I enjoy strange, surreal movies, but this one was just too wierd to the point that it was utterly baffeling by the time I reached the end. I've been all over the worldwide web and have encountered all sorts of people with all sorts of problems with movies; from editing and pacing to character development and just making some damn sense. I find it strange I've never encountered anyone who has said anything like that about this movie. I mean, what if Anakin showed as much emotion as Dave and then just turned into an old man several times over and then transformed into a giant fetus-baby thing? Or what if there were extremely long shots of slow ships moving slowly to music most commonly heard in cartoons? Or what if there was an intermission just when Palpatine revealed to Anakin that he was indeed a Sith Lord? I truly doubt people woulda cried "Brilliant!" at any of that. I could definetly see how this movie influenced Ridley Scott's "Alien" and other sci-fi greats, but it just wasn't all that great unto itself.

For the second time, I give a movie my rating for when I had no idea what just happened. A rating I've only given one other movie; "Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street" with its CONSTANT singing.

WTF

I see you need some perspective on 2001. There are many people who will join you in saying this movie was too slow. Personally, I think the movie has aged very well. Unfortunately, our society has done some evolving of its own; we have grown accustom to fast edits and Bay-esque explosions. This is a movie from the 1960’s. The music at the beginning of the film is called an overture, popular in 1960’s cinema. Deliberately slow cinematography was commonplace. This film is widely accepted as one of the most accurate portrayals of space travel, period. You mention that “space travel is extremely slow and tedious”. It would be. If you want the audience to experience reality, and put them in the middle of the events, this is how it is done. I can only assume a larger portion of the movie watching public when it was released had longer attention spans than we typically do today. If you have ever seen Baraka, you will know that imagery and music is all that is needed to create a mood, elicit an emotion and forward a narrative. Voiceover work for ape-men is not required.

One of the major themes of the movie is evolution and extraterrestrial life. If you go back to movie and consider the monolith, the human ancestors, Dave, HAL, and the star-child, it all starts to make some sense. If you want to read more about the basic themes of the movie, places like wiki have a good general synopsis.

PS: if you willingly decide to watch a musical horror film, please don't be surprised when it involves singing!
PSS: with a handle like Monkey_Boy I would have expected a better reception for 20 minutes of ape-man footage .