2001: A Space Odyssey
Martin Scorsese once said that one of Stanley Kubrick ’s film is equal to 10 of somebody else ’s , because Kubrick packed so much meaning into the building and makeup of his work that even after 50 or 60 viewings , movies likeFull Metal JacketandEyes Wide Shutstill ca n’t quite be figured out .
As a true epic following manhood ’s journey from its former evolution to New civilisation to quad exploration and eventually to the next stage of its evolution,2001 : A Space Odysseyis arguably Kubrick ’s chef-d’oeuvre . But there are plenty of alternative in the director ’s nearly spic-and-span filmography .
2001 Is The Best: It’s Kubrick’s Most Influential Film
Many Kubrick films have inspired movie maker , but2001is by far the director ’s most influential work . A lot of untried movie fan become attached to the prowess of cinema like a faith after their first showing of2001 . Steven Spielberg has referred to2001asthe “ heavy eruption ” for a genesis of directors .
Kubrick opened up new avenue for sci - fi movie house while perfecting the genre at large and creating the perfect skill fable movie . Everyone from George Lucas to Christopher Nolan has named2001asone of their plastic influences .
Alternative: The Shining
Stephen Kinghates Stanley Kubrick ’s adaptationof his bestsellerThe polishing , because the film has a all different flavor than the novel — but the stale , detached Kubrickian tone paired with King ’s scarey premise to createa cinematic repulsion piece of music for the eld .
King ’s Jack Torrance was a good man who was driven to kill by the demons in the Overlook , but Kubrick ’s Jack ( lifted to iconic status byJack Nicholson ’s mesmerizing carrying out ) is much more terrific : he ’s a selfish jerk full of pent - up rage who ’s drive to bolt down but by being isolated with his married woman and son and confronting how much he despises them .
2001 Is The Best: Its Meaning Is Open To Interpretation
Kubrick said that if there was one clear answer about the meaning of2001 , then he and his co - author Arthur C. Clarke would n’t have done their jobs right . The pic has been dissected and break down by countless cinephiles over the preceding half a C and it ’ll probably continue to be discussed just as fervidly for the next half - century and beyond .
Rather than being used to unnerve the audience likethe ambiguity inThe Shining , the equivocalness in2001is design to make the interview think . There ’s veridical cerebral substance to2001 ’s musings on engineering science and infinite geographic expedition ; it ’s not all sci - fi nonsense .
Alternative: Paths Of Glory
Kubricktook to the trench of World War Ito tell the quintessential story of an individual ’s tragically unavailing crusade against a tainted institution . Kirk Douglas gives a captivating carrying out as Colonel Dax , who has to oppose his mankind against a court - martial that could have them executed for cowardliness because he withdraw them from a suicide missionary work .
The stakes are high and Kubrick observe his crystalline lens pore on the type and the emotion they ’re hold up through during this unimaginably sinister trial by ordeal .
2001 Is The Best: The Classical Music Juxtaposes Beautifully With The Space Exploration
Alex North wrote a whole score for2001that Kubrick famously put away at the last arcminute and replaced with classical euphony , which had been his vision for the movie all along . This must ’ve been middling heartbreaking for North , but based on the audio of the since - released sexual conquest , it would n’t have been anywhere about as good as Kubrick ’s select compositions .
He act an opera over the fierce morning of humanity , a valse over the weightless revolution of a place station , and a symphony over the beginning of the next stage of human organic evolution .
Alternative: Barry Lyndon
Although some critics decry the painfully slow tempo ofBarry Lyndon , others praise its cinematographic achievement in its utilisation of lifelike light to make each skeletal frame look like a period - specific house painting .
In many ways , Barry Lyndonis Kubrick’sJackie Brown — a hugely underappreciated , unusually matured exploit . They also both happen to use their protagonist ’s name as the statute title .
2001 Is The Best: It’s Kubrick’s Most Epic Work
Beginning with the apes that evolved into humans when they unwrap violence and terminate with a human being watching his life history play out in minutes before move on to the next stage of evolutionary existence,2001 : A Space Odysseyisa film heroic in the true signified .
Most of Kubrick ’s movies are epic poem , from the human beings - ending destruction ofDr . Strangeloveto the historical hero ’s journey ofSpartacus , but2001is without a doubt his biggest , boldest work . It ’s the closest cinema has get along to matching real epic poem like the Homer verse form that the movie is named after .
Alternative: Dr. Strangelove
At the tallness of the Cold War , Kubrick helmedan incisive political satirethat take jabs at both the United States and the Soviet Union . The director ’s keen center brings a great degree of optic funniness to the movie ’s biting commentary , while Peter Sellers ’ trifecta of lead performances cement him as a comedic actor of Chaplinian proportions .
It also has one of the majuscule close in flick history : Vera Lynn ’s “ We ’ll play Again ” plays over the nuking of all life on Earth , the bitter satire being that the World War II - era optimism of Lynn ’s classic has become disused since the first light of atomic weapons .
2001 Is The Best: It Was Decades Ahead Of Its Time
engineering science really caught up with Kubrick while he was filming2001 . The directorwanted to cut down the mouth - say scene for being unrealistic , but changed his mind when a figurer was in reality programmed to be able to read lips . Kubrick missed the hazard to warn watcher about that , but he was onward of the breaking ball on a number of other things — particularly unreal intelligence .
The meditations on A.I. in2001are more hauntingly relevant as each year passes and real A.I. moves closer and near to reachingHAL ’s levels of cunning and sophistication .
Alternative: A Clockwork Orange
After the gargantuan product of2001 , Kubrick ’s next undertaking was a minuscule depleted - budget film shot mostly on position with no crowing burden shot . accommodate from Anthony Burgess ’ novel of the same name , A Clockwork Orangetells the story of Alex DeLarge , an neutral psychopath who attack innocent the great unwashed in their homes for fun .
At the centre of the movie , Alex is arrested and agree to undergo an experimental rehabilitation therapy in interchange for a reduced sentence . In the 2d one-half of the movie , Alex is broken down and stripped of all personality . From the outlandish , bohemian style of next society to the Beethoven tracks wreak over ultraviolent acts , the pitch - smuggled amusing sensibility ofA Clockwork Orangemakes itone of the most shameful and effective dystopian satiresever put on cinema .
NEXT : Stanley Kubrick : 5 Reasons 2001 Is His Best Sci - Fi Movie ( & 5 Why A Clockwork Orange Is A penny-pinching Second )
