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“Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

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131–140 of 169 posts

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#131
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The film, especially the original theatrical release that has the voiceover, echoes Film Noir and 1940s cop movies that you may not have seen, but many people in the 1980s would have had in memory. The sequel follows the visual style of the original, but it doesn't have the film noir feel. It's tone is much harsher. In the original the characters are able to find some meaning in their lives, and even find love or red…

> In the original the characters are able to find some meaning in their lives The sequel does the same at the end, isn't it? Father and daughter are reunited, and K finds meaning in the struggle. > it doesn't have the film noir feel That would have been gimmicky. It was innovative when the original was released but it's now been done to death.

>The sequel does the same at the end, isn't it? Father and daughter are reunited, and K finds meaning in the struggle.

I should have said 'escape' rather than 'meaning'. In the original Deckard and Rachael escape the dystopia. In the sequel it feels like there's no escape from the confines of the film. Even the daughter is still in her cage at the end.

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#132
The monolith really works as a Visial metaphor for the Cinema screen. Just as the movie starts as we are staring at the monolith ready to go on a literal space Odyssey.

It's a shame so many re-releases "fixed" the faux screen jump when Bowman nearly touched the edge, and instead shattered the glass. It really is brilliant, a movie within a movie.

All through the film there are so many rotating monoliths it's incredible that we never get the hint that the upright position of the monolith as it is presented is incorrect.

Even the actual end leaves us starting at the monolith, with the profound music.

If you dig for interviews you'll see that Kubrick always said that the simple surface story is the simple alien device that transforms man.

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lawrence of Arabia is supposed to be an immersive, "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" epic historical drama film which won Best Cinematography. But I couldn't avoid constantly glancing at the time and my notifications, when I watched it on a smart watch screen that also displayed a bar across the top showing the time and my notifications.

Serious question: How is it possible to view Lawrence of Arabia on a smart watch?

I can only assume this was a joke. Either way, I laughed.

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#134

I've watched 2001 twice in my life. Once on my laptop screen, and once in a theater. Wildly different experiences. On a laptop, it was maddeningly slow. I couldn't bear that scene where the spaceship docks on the space station while the Blue Danube Waltz played. Excruciating. I wish there was more explanation, as my mind was wandering watching this dull film. In a theater, I experienced a completely different film.On…

Kubrick shot it using Super Panavision 70 film and it's supposed to be seen in theatre for the immersive experience. Sadly there are only a handful of theaters that can screen 70mm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_70_mm_films

I love to geek out on this film so this thread is a welcome respite.

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had the same experience with The Shining. On my PC, it's a bit plodding and slow, but on the big screen, it's a completely visceral and intense experience like no other film I've seen.

Lawrence of Arabia is supposed to be an immersive, "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" epic historical drama film which won Best Cinematography. But I couldn't avoid constantly glancing at the time and my notifications, when I watched it on a smart watch screen that also displayed a bar across the top showing the time and my notifications.

I grew up around Washington DC which had some fine large screen theaters. One had a curved screen (the Uptown, IIRC, movies were all in 70mm format) so if you sat in the first few rows, the screen almost wrapped around you. IMHO, the only way to appreciate some of these great movies (2001, Lawrence of Arabia, How the West Was Won) is to see them on a large screen. IMHO, you just don't get to see how spectacular the cinematography is when you watch on a TV or a small screen theater. Unfortunately, most of the large screen theaters have disappeared.

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#137
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can’t recommend this highly enough for its complex (for TV) treatment of strong AI.

I tried a few episodes and thought it was stupid. I'd love to be wrong, so please tell me it gets better. I'm willing to give it a second chance.

The "crime of the week" never really gets any better, and since it was an ABC drama it needed to hew pretty closely to that formula. From S02 onwards they start building a mythology about the machine and where it comes from etc, but since it's a 22-episode season it'a _really_ slow burn.

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#138
post #87

Have revisited 2001 recently. Particularly the scene just before Intermission. Where HAL is reading the lips of the astronauts in the pod. It just really holds up. Apart from the genius editing and sound design. It feels even more a cautionary moment for modern minds on AI. As it must have been to American audiences during the height of the Vietnam War era. Ridley Scott's original Alien and Blade Runner remain immens…

I recently watched the original Blade Runner with a bunch of friends; none of us had seen it before. Immensely watchable was certainly not the general opinion. A few of us decided it was worth watching only because it set the background for the new Blade Runner. We're probably missing some cultural element that meant it didn't elicit quite the same reaction as it did for you and I'm very curious what that might have…

I recommend Psycho Pass, a Japanese animation set in a future were an AI assigns a score to each citizen that determines how likely they are to become criminals. If the score gets too high they are... removed (or in some cases secured and put to use).

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be fascinating to watch the Clarke cut. The spartan ambiguity of Kubrick's cut almost certainly makes it the better film, but to see A Space Odyssey from such a different creative perspective would nonetheless be a revelation. I wonder if prints of it still exist in a vault somewhere.

You can get a flavour for it in 2010 , which had several production advantages and generally better acting from better-known actors. Roy Scheider as Heywood Floyd (compare him to William Sylvester's Heywood Floyd in 2001) does several voice-overs and there is a lot of unrealistic dialogue for expository purposes. There was plenty of discussion about what went wrong with HAL 9000 and whether HAL 9000 was fixable, alth…

I note that 2061 and 3001 are still available if we want to see what a remake of the full series could be like.

Re: “Close to tears, he left at the intermission”: how Kubrick upset Clarke (2017)

#140
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stephen King is publicly critical of Kubrick's treatment of "The Shining", mostly about its unchanging and one-dimensional characters. While I expect "2001" would not have been improved by a lot of explanatory voiceovers, I think "The Shining" would be seriously improved by Jack not being obviously crazy right from the first.

Most authors complained about it yes. Burgess accused Kubrick of not having understood a single word of "Clockwork Orange". Nabokov was the most gracious when he said that while Lolita was a very good movie, he didn't recognize his original work at all :) I think it's a very difficult exercise to adapt a novel. Should you literally put on the screen what is written in the book ? What's the point ? You're not creating…

the cohen brothers are excellent at adapting books to films.
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