I'm the only one in my family who likes Kubrick's 2001

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My parents consider it to be the most boring film they've ever seen, due to the slow pace and overall "weirdness". As I said, I'm probably the only one in the Bible family who loves it... Well, me and my uncle anyway. There are certain beauties to 2001 that is usually overlooked by today's audience: its superb attention to detail, rich symbolism, the works.

I think 2001 looks amazing on Blu-Ray disc even though it's over forty years old.

I love it also. The slow pace (we need a :snail: emoticon here!) is appropriate, because it allows me to take in all the rich visuals and the wonderfully selected soundtrack without having to concentrate too hard on the dialog and plot.

Your parents probably hate the opening sequence ("The Dawn of Man") because it contradicts the teachings of the Book of Genesis (hence its "weirdness"), and perhaps that poisons the rest of the film for them.

P.S. If they hate 2001, they'll *really* hate A Clockwork Orange.

I liked the quiet -- seems like modern movie makers are afraid of having a single scene that doesn't have action and loud noises in it. There's nowhere to 'take a breath' and just absorb the ambiance.

I'm very fond of 2001 and pretty much all of Stanley Kubrick's films.

Stanley Kubrick is a god, I loved 2001, I find alot of people tend to think of it as kind of slow and boring but not me

My initial reaction to seeing 2001 as a child was very much the opposite. I hated the movie. But not because I thought it was boring! Rather, I found the images and the long stretches of silence to be so powerful that I couldn't get them out of my head and I wasn't able to get to sleep that night. Dave was so incredibly, utterly alone at the end of the movie that I found it terrifying.

Now, I have to admit that I seem to be finding that as an adult, I am growing to like and appreciate a lot of the movies that disturbed or scared me as a child, and I think that 2001 is probably in that category. I think I am able to detach myself from the movie a little more and see it as a work of art.

I don't like it because I can't make any sense of it. But then, I missed the beginning... Why does he end up in a big bed and then floating in space as an embryo? What's that all about? Was that explained earlier?

I just find the story boring and the climax unexplained. Because they don't really do any character development, I don't care about any of the characters. I think the whole HAL thing is out of place and unneeded.

Had I been an adult to see it when it first came out, I'm sure I would love it unconditionally. It has great style, symbolism, beauty. But this isn't the 60's. And the sexism grates on me like fingernails on a blackboard. It takes me out of the movie because I have to keep reminding myself "it was the 60's, everybody thought that way back then". But even though it was and everybody did, it still grates. I hate seeing the stewardesses (certainly not "flight attendants") who are subservient 1960's stewardesses but with different uniforms. I hate that it never even crossed anyone's mind that a woman could be an astronaut. Watching it with modern eyes, it simply amazes me (in a bad way) that both the book's author and the film's director could envision this grand future but it never once crossed their minds that perhaps in the future, women wouldn't be subservient little handmaidens who were unable to do most jobs.

Stanley Kubrick's sexual politics have always been rather questionable. See A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, Lolita or even the Vietnamese prostitute in Full Metal Jacket.

It isn't explained anywhere in the movie. According to the book (which was written as the movie was filmed), his memory is being read out by the monolith in preparation for the next evolutionary step.

I enjoyed the movie, probably saw it 5-6 times. I rarely watch movies today, because of the noise and pace.

I strongly suspect Kubrick was being satirical. Humanity pushing itself to the limit with space exploration, meanwhile taking all our social problems with us and being utterly ignorant to them.

Best film I've ever seen.

2001 is the first and last science fiction movie in which action in space is completely silent (no sound). Which is correct, since outer space is virtually a vacuum. One can see why sound is provided in every subsequent movie. Action in outer space w.o. sound is as dramatic as the drying of paint on yonder wall.

ruveyn

I watched 2001 a few months ago and I didnt like it but I liked A Clockwork Orange.

The beginning with the apes I liked.

It's probably that there's no dialog for the first 30 minutes or so. I saw it when it came out in the 60s, and I just thought it was neat. Back then, everyone watched it high because of the (then) incredible video sequence going through 2 strips of gels at incredible speed...;0

Say what you like, it got Sci-fi out of using restocked V-2 footage, and to ships that looked at home in outer space...