2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

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Floyd
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#126 Post by Floyd » Fri Jun 22, 2018 2:39 pm

I see. Makes sense jsteffe. Made the color a more of today look to appeal to those people they believe it appeals to.


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Drucker
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#128 Post by Drucker » Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:50 pm

StevenJ0001 wrote:
Fri Jun 22, 2018 2:07 pm
But Nolan was closely involved with the UHD version, wasn't he? I am presuming the color timing will essentially be the same as the new prints--am I wrong?
I really get the impression that Nolan's project with the film was independent of any other restoration efforts.

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hearthesilence
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#129 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:07 pm

WB just emailed a promo with this:
WBShop wrote:In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey is coming to 4K Ultra HD on October 30.

Building on the work done for the new 70mm prints, the 4K Blu-ray with HDR presentation was mastered from the original 65mm camera negative, and produced in close collaboration with award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, Dunkirk). The 4K Blu-ray includes a remixed and restored 5.1 DTS-HD master audio track, as well as the original 1968 six-track theatrical audio mix formatted for 5.1 DTS-HD master audio.

CJG
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#130 Post by CJG » Thu Jul 05, 2018 6:07 pm

Has this been linked to already? It's a video which includes a previously unseen (unheard, really) interview with Kubrick where he discusses the endings of 2001 and The Shining. There's also a lot of footage of the Kubrick estate, interviews with Vivian Kubrick, etc.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#131 Post by Roger Ryan » Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:03 am

CJG wrote:
Thu Jul 05, 2018 6:07 pm
Has this been linked to already? It's a video which includes a previously unseen (unheard, really) interview with Kubrick where he discusses the endings of 2001 and The Shining. There's also a lot of footage of the Kubrick estate, interviews with Vivian Kubrick, etc.
That's not the Kubrick estate we're seeing, but Kubrick's offices at EMI Elstree Studios. Astonishingly, this footage was reportedly shot for a Japanese documentary about paranormal activities and the filmmakers were only interested in Kubrick because he had just completed a film about the paranormal! I have no idea how they thought they could work this footage into something with that angle, but it's a wonderful time capsule nonetheless. The footage was probably shot in October, 1980 (both The Shining and The Elephant Man were in release in the UK that month). As a YouTube comment notes, the car carrying the video crew crosses over the famous Abbey Road crosswalk in front of EMI's Abbey Road studios near the beginning of the b-roll, which would be on the way when traveling from London to Borehamwood where the Elstree Studios are.

By the way, the set seen on the sound-stage where The Shining was largely shot is most likely from the 1981 thriller Venom!

GoodOldNeon
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#132 Post by GoodOldNeon » Tue Aug 21, 2018 5:57 pm

So, I saw the new 4K DCP version of 2001 tonight, and I thought it looked very yellow. I've seen some people suggesting that the pronounced teal/yellow seen in the trailer was added by whoever edited the trailer itself, but the version I saw tonight was definitely closer in colour to the trailer than to the 2007 Blu-ray. The most striking and distracting example was Dave walking down the "white" hall (c. 0:47). That said, it was still great seeing the film on the big screen for the first time.

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hearthesilence
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#133 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Aug 21, 2018 6:08 pm

The 70mm print making the rounds this year was kind of "yellowed" too - none of the whites (and there are plenty given the number of practicals used) were 100% pure white.

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Roscoe
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#134 Post by Roscoe » Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:39 am

The new non-restored restoration from Christopher Nolan is noticeably dimmer. Those gleaming white sets are downright dingy, and certain details get lost in the gloom -- a sharp little "we're in deep shit" glance that Bowman shoots to Poole before they get into the pod is now obscured in dimness and grain, and in the film's finale a lot of detail is gone -- Bowman at the table is a vague black mass of grain with Keir Dullea's head and hands.

I'm hoping this doesn't become the go-to version from now on. I'm holding on to my old Pre-Nolan Blu-Ray, that's for damn sure.

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tenia
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#135 Post by tenia » Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:50 am

Crap, I might have to buy the older version then. I have a Warner Kubrick DVD boxset which I never really upgraded, because many of the Blu-rays were looking like minimum upgrades with obvious better releases to possibly come (like for A Clockwork Orange and its 4K master sitting somewhere at Warner). It proved me right for Barry Lyndon, which I bought from Criterion. I expect 2001 to follow through this new release and prevent me to double dip but that would be too easy, I guess...

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Roscoe
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#136 Post by Roscoe » Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:57 am

If they'd just come out and say "folks, this restoration is based on Kubrick's detailed notes on color timing and picture sharpness" that'd be one thing, but it just seems to be "hey, Christopher Nolan likes it this way so here you go."

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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#137 Post by CSM126 » Sun Aug 26, 2018 3:55 pm

Watched this in IMAX (4K DCP). I didn’t notice anything particularly yellow other than the hallway to the pod bay, which was nicotine yellow. But that was it. It looked quite lovely.

That’s my review of the film itself, too. It looked lovely. Otherwise, it disappoints me. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces are round. Outside of the ending (which I just hate in all it’s vague meaninglessness), the film is entertaining enough, and exceptionally well-made, of course. But for me it just all falls apart when it hits the wormhole. It feels like a case of shit we have no ending, make up something crazy. Ironically, I find it to be the least trippy section of the whole film.

So it’s my least-favorite Kubrick (of those I’ve seen). I’m glad I saw it in the proper venue at least once. If I ever have a chance to see it in true 70mm, I will.

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tenia
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#138 Post by tenia » Sun Aug 26, 2018 4:49 pm

I always thought that 2001 isn't actually so hard to decipher, and when I bought the Kubrick Archives book from Taschen, there is in the 2001 section the reproduction of a letter sent by a viewer to Kubrick. In it, the viewer basically broke down the movie to explain most of its meaning in a very simple way, showing how indeed the movie isn't at all such a complicated jigsaw puzzle and isn't vague at all in its conclusion.

It's not to say it's very clear straight from the first viewing, but in a way, it feels to me like a movie like The Tree of Life : in the end, many elements are based on typical psychological allegories and theories, and aren't so complex. They're closer to poetry than something very out of reach.

I'm quite eager to revisit with this knowledge now more and more in mind.

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dda1996a
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#139 Post by dda1996a » Sun Aug 26, 2018 5:24 pm

I concur, as it's really far from complex narratively and after a bewildering first watch at around 14 my last two rewatches showed what a rather simple story this is (I saw the resto a week ago). But simplicity isn't the same as hard to watch, which I think is what confuses people. Luke the rest of Kubrick's films the story is rather simple but his hefty execution is what makes it challenging. I still shiver at the whole astronaut in space section, with its alternating space silence and frenetic breathing.
I still prefer Barry and Paths but this is a masterpiece

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CSM126
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#140 Post by CSM126 » Sun Aug 26, 2018 5:33 pm

I have no difficult seeing what they were getting at. I just don’t think what they did adds up to what they think it does. To expand what I said earlier: It’s like looking at the cover of a jigsaw puzzle to see the solution and then opening it up to find all the pieces are round. It’s not going to fit together like someone thinks it will.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect the film for its technical skill and there are stretches that I like. I don’t hate it (I used to), I just don’t enjoy the whole.

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Big Ben
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#141 Post by Big Ben » Sun Aug 26, 2018 6:15 pm

The ending is readily explained in the book and has been available for forty years but folks tend to forget that Clarke wrote a tie in. The monolith's advance evolution to a certain point when an individual is exposed to them. This first happens with the proto-man in the beginning and later with Bowman. The Star Child is simply the next stage in human evolution (Homo Novus/Homo Superior etc). Everything that occurs in the last twenty or so minutes is said evolution taking place and culminating in the birth of this new species. What the film DOES leave out is the Star Child detonating nukes. The film certainly lacks context but I agree with tenia that it's closer to poetry. There's no real mystery here but I understand people's trepidation. The other major complaint is that the film is rather dry. It was to my understanding that was intentional though.

Clarke would continue the narrative in multiple books. 2010: Odyssey Two (Also made in a film.) 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey. If you thought 2001 was nuts wait until you read about the HAL9000/Man fusion.

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CSM126
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#142 Post by CSM126 » Sun Aug 26, 2018 6:49 pm

Oh I read all of them. I liked the books better than this film, honestly. At least in the books I felt like an actual plot was happening. The movie is more like Kubrick saying “trust me, something happened” as the credits roll.

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Lost Highway
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#143 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Aug 26, 2018 7:06 pm

The dawn of man sequence and the concluding act tend to get focused on most in discussions, but for me the meat of the film is the midsection. It’s basically one long suspense sequence where HAL plots against the astronauts and they struggle to survive. I always feel that everybody who thinks the movie is slow or dry watched a different film for me, because the main bulk of the movie is a tense survival thriller.

I also never thought the end was hard to decipher. I get the evolution aspect but what I find most striking is that Bowman is faced with an alien race which genuinely is so alien, it can’t be understood. It communicates and acts in was which alters his reality.

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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#144 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:50 pm

HAL does commit the worst acts of the film but the other point of view (aspects elaborated on in 2010 but also present in the silent whispers between Dave and Frank in 2001) is that the astronauts are plotting against HAL! And the computer has been driven homicdal by the strain of having to juggle and reconcile conflicting demands made of it by the humans back on Earth versus the astronauts in its care.

(Isn't 3001 the book where Frank Poole is retrieved from floating cryogenically frozen in space and revived? So in some ways HAL did not kill him at least, although of course the intent was there and the rest of the crew were killed!)

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Big Ben
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#145 Post by Big Ben » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:05 pm

colinr0380 wrote:
Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:50 pm
(Isn't 3001 the book where Frank Poole is retrieved from floating cryogenically frozen in space and revived? So in some ways HAL did not kill him at least, although of course the intent was there and the rest of the crew were killed!)
Yes it is. Turns out he was cryogenically frozen or something. Bowman and HAL also fuse into a single entity. If you thought 2001 was weird read 3001. HAL is made into a far more complex machine in later novels. He's not just a homicidal AI.

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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#146 Post by Zot! » Mon Aug 27, 2018 4:06 am

In case anyone still needs the ending explained, here is Mr. Kubrick to do it for you
I really like 2001, and the ending works for me. If anything seems weak to me it's the City Symphony/Fantasia-esque Pan-Am flight sequence, and similar scenes that would appear to serve no purpose but to showcase the lovely effects work.

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dda1996a
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#147 Post by dda1996a » Mon Aug 27, 2018 4:23 am

I feel like it's more to explore the beauty and possibilities of space flight. It didn't feel like fx for fx sake. Also that haunting editing in the end where Bowman ages is just beautiful. This film is cold because Kubrick gives each scene its deserved time, but I always find the Hal vs Bowman part hilarious at first and one of the saddest scenes a second later. Kubrick's humor always gets me. But I find almost every film of his funny (Barry Lyndon is 50% comedy 50% tragedy for me)

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mfunk9786
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#148 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:01 am

If anything aggravates me about film fandom in general in the last [insert amount of] years even more than superhero films becoming their own self-serious genre, it's people ragging on SFX for the sin of merely existing at all. Are we really questioning the validity of the SFX sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey now?

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tenia
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#149 Post by tenia » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:04 am

I'm not sure people are ragging on superhero movies SFX for "merely existing at all".

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mfunk9786
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Re: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

#150 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:06 am

I think you're mashing together my two pet peeves, they weren't meant to be combined.

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