Planet of the Apes and 70s Sci-Fi

I didn't mention it because I figured it was just assumed to be the greatest by all folks smart enough to use a keyboard and the internet.

2001 is as close to a transcendental piece of art that film has ever produced. It is- by far- one of the most profound and meticulously created films ever made. It's truly a work of great vision- it's rare to see films made at this kind of level.

But then there's Solaris, which is like the much more human and spiritual double of 2001 and it is IMO just as good- but for different reasons. There's at least five scenes in it that are just so devastatingly amazing that they really make calling lesser films "great" seem pointless. The astronaut's report in the beginning is just a static shot- on a TV screen at that- of a man delivering an account of what he saw on Solaris and it's absolutely chilling, evocative, mysterious and haunting. Yet we never see anything like that. Then there's the floating sequence. And little things noticed like the lack of a button on a shirt.

Imagine pitching either of these films to a studio today- "We want to do a three hour science fiction film in which very little actually happens, but is about concepts such as human evolution and nostalgia. We either never want to show anything in space, but if we do it will be in slow motion with classical music. Oh, and the whole thing starts with neanderthals."

Michael Barnes wrote: Imagine pitching either of these films to a studio today

They do get pitched, and they occasionally get made. Bill Murray wanted to do Razor's Edge and got it, by promising to do a blockbuster comedy film. He left to film Ghostbusters the day Razor's Edge stopped shooting. Most films that are "out there" are done in exchange for other more profitable efforts.

Bomber makes a point, though you need a secret decoder ring (and a rubber glove apparently) to get to it. I gotta be honest, I think 2001 is only marginally a science fiction film because the science has very little impact on the story line. Granted Hal was interesting. I haven't seen it in over 20 years and I don't think I can judge it fairly since I was likely in my mid-twenties the last time and wasn't capable of fully grokking the magnitude of it. I'm not certain I am now either, because I'll admit it had little impact on me. Maybe I need things spelled out a little more clearly. I think Solaris (which are you speaking of by the way?) hit a little closer to home.

S.

Columbob wrote:

ldsdbomber wrote: 5 pages in and no one has mentioned 2001, the greatest FILM of all time. YOu all lose.

Shellhead on page 3.

Edit: Plus the fact 2001 is a 60s movie and the thread's about 70s SF.

Planet of the Apes is from 1968. So is 2001.

Planet of the Apes was given special recognition for the makeup effects in that year's Academy Awards, possibly because a number of people thought the apes in 2001 were actual apes.



Also, I think the science in 2001 is very relevant to the plot. It's pretty easy to take voice-activated computers for granted these days, but we're 13 years past that depiction and Siri still isn't half as smart as HAL.

She often tries to kill me, so score one for accuracy.

Not Sure wrote: Planet of the Apes is from 1968.

Yeah, but I didn't see it until 1974.

2001 puts me to sleep every time I try to see it. Every damn time.

Greatest movie of all time? Hardly.

I think a lot of people sing the praises of 2001 because everybody sings the praises of 2001 and they don't want to look stupid. It's dull! There I said it. Dull like a butter knife. It's long way long terribly long. And that 20 minutes of psychedelic colors at the end...that's like far out man...if I was on acid.

I will say that the effects for the space scenes were outstanding for their time but otherwise I couldn't care less about 2001.

There should be a channel that starts 2001 every night around 10 or 11pm. It would get massive ratings for people having trouble falling asleep. It knocks me RIGHT out, like a light. I know an astronaut is about to get coldly murdered in a few minutes and I can't keep my eyes open.

You won't be able to pitch to a studio today a movie with neanderthals cuz the Christian lobby will have none of it.

Michael Barnes wrote: I didn't mention it because I figured it was just assumed to be the greatest by all folks smart enough to use a keyboard and the internet.

2001 is as close to a transcendental piece of art that film has ever produced. It is- by far- one of the most profound and meticulously created films ever made. It's truly a work of great vision- it's rare to see films made at this kind of level.

I'll admit that 2001 was kind of the elephant in the room; it seemed so obvious that it didn't need mentioning.

2001 is definitely a transcendental film, but I would also add Mallick's Tree of Life (it has some structural parallels as well).

I love 2001. My wife is convinced it's the most boring movie ever made. But I still love her, wrong though she may be.

Edit: I don't think there's a lot of in-between there. It doesn't have a lot of folks going, "Eh, it's okay." It's either The Awesomest Movie Ever Made, or The Dullest Movie Ever Made.

ldsdbomber wrote: I don't know, could you stimulate your own prostate with a condom wrapped frozen turd from your wifes ass as a display of sci fi space docking?

I don't know, are you going to act like an adolescent asshole in every comment now? Wtf, man? I used to like reading your
posts.

repoman wrote: 2001 puts me to sleep every time I try to see it. Every damn time.

Greatest movie of all time? Hardly.

I think a lot of people sing the praises of 2001 because everybody sings the praises of 2001 and they don't want to look stupid. It's dull! There I said it. Dull like a butter knife. It's long way long terribly long. And that 20 minutes of psychedelic colors at the end...that's like far out man...if I was on acid.

I will say that the effects for the space scenes were outstanding for their time but otherwise I couldn't care less about 2001.

Even though it was a '60s movie, I brought up 2001 a few pages ago because I firmly believe that it kicked open the door for all the ambitious and interesting science-fiction movies that came along in the '70s. 2001 was ambitious as hell and had a huge impact on mainstream culture. In hindsight, it seems obvious that a Cold War era audience would be enthralled by a well-done movie set in space. Beyond that, the movie had a very epic scale, in terms of cinematography, scope of the story, the music, everything. And that transition from thrown bone to space station was brilliant and riveting, leapfrogging all of human history in a moment.

All that said, yes, 2001 is also long and suffers from some serious pacing problems. Both times that I saw it, I dozed off during part of the psychedelic colors sequence. But that doesn't make 2001 a bad movie. It is a mixture of greatness and dullness. Appreciate the great parts and tolerate the slow parts. It's a classic like Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Savor the first six minutes or so, because they're brilliant, even if you don't like classical music. The rest is still good, just not amazing like the first movement.