sidsun27 This movie came back a long time ago and till date no one ever attempted to make a film like this becus they knew the audience would call it a copied crap! As this is a masterpiece, many other directors can only take this movie as an inspiration but not try to replicate this . If so then the situation was going to be like, when the oldboy 2013 came out!

Wes_Dean 2001: A Space Odyssey is a peculiar movie, no, peculiar is too negatively connoted and does not measure to this masterpiece; 2001: A Space Odyssey is a unique, transcendental, mind-blowing experience.For it to be one of the most memorable cinematic moments of your life, you have to watch it in certain conditions. I personally first watched this movie on DVD, in my couch, on a TV, with a normal sound system. The memory I recall from my first viewing was good, although it didn't meet my expectations. Because when you see everyone saying that this movie is a masterpiece, unique in its genre (what I actually said in the beginning) you then have high expectations and you do not only expect for the movie to be good, you are also hoping for emotions, sensations you can only feel while viewing this movie. Unfortunately the emotion, the little je ne sais quoi, didn't come to me nor to my living-room. But the enigma of the whole movie started to germinate in me, I wanted to understand what I had witnessed. However, the little seed only germinated and never blossomed.The day Kubrick's masterpiece blossomed was the day where I finally went to see it where it should be watched and where all movies exist, live and die, in that dark room where the simple act of pushing a door and sitting down gives you the power of becoming invisible to others and yet embark on a journey with anyone who decided to sit in the dark with you. Yes, the movie theater. I can still remember the state I was in when the credits started rolling: shaking like a leaf, my blood whirring through my entire body, hands shaking, leg muscles tensing up; I had just experienced a whole new feeling. The silences (sometimes boring) didn't of course miraculously disappear, but I can tell you, just changing sound system, I rediscovered this film. I recall hearing about a nun that would've watched the movie and never experienced such a religious trance, she felt close to God. I can understand her, although I am not religious at all, this movie has this inexplicable power, puts you under a spell.Kubrick also confirms by that movie, once again, that he is a master to his art, he excels and imposes his visionary style and ideas that are still relevant today. But to fully have a thorough 2001 experience, you should watch it at least two times but you must watch it at least once in a movie theater. So enjoy the fact that there are rereleases of the movie the 50th anniversary to discover something that is yet unknown to your emotional spectrum.

praymondmurray There is not much new I can say that hasn't alredy been said in regards to the plot points and themes of Kubrick's magnum opus, so I won't even try.What I will say is that I saw this film at a cinema in Belfast where it is being screened to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its original theatrical release.I have seen 2001 many times on a TV screen and always enjoyed it. How can you not love a film with HAL? But seeing it at a cinema was a completely different experience and I was simply astonished by what I saw. Here is a film 50 years old and it looked mint. The set pieces are incredible and all I could do was marvel at what I was looking at. It really gave me a new appreciation for what Stanley Kubrick and everyone involved in the production crew achieved. As I said already, I have nothing new to say regarding the overall themes of 2001: A Space Odyssey but one thing I will do is recommend that if it is being screened in a cinema near you, seize the opportunity to watch this masterpiece on the biggest stage of all, where it belongs.

siwyaf This movie came out in 1968. I saw Dr. Strangelove on TV at that time and was blown away to find out there was such a director who wasn't afraid to make a politically satiric movie about the cold war. I originally saw 2001 in an old palace type of movie theater in Boston, got stoned in the lobby, with a friend before going in and only anticipated the light show at the end. It was so good that it left you thinking what the heck is he saying at the end. I read the book and just liked the beginning about the ape who was more contemplative than the others. At the time there was a book out called On Aggression and was interesting and popular because of the Vietnam War. Today this movie is too long for the younger show me now generations. I still think this is the best movie that was ever made about actually encountering alien, super intelligent life. I'm still wondering if Kubrick is saying it was an alien life form or spiritual awakening that is portrayed in the end. I'm glad he was into using the classical music sound track because it does take you away from the dumb human dialogues that come out in some SF movies today.