Rating: 
Summary: Definitive DVD!!
Review: This is the reason to buy DVD! 2001 has always been one of my favorites, and I was not disappointed by this transfer. The soundtrack is outstanding and the picture is crystal clear. Even the reds in the cockpits, which are usually a bit blotchy in VHS, are now perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Still great after 30 years!
Review: When, as a 15 year old, I first saw this film, I was blown away with the music and the special effects, though a little confused by the ending. That didn't matter, as speculating about the meaning with other 2001-ophiles kept me enthralled for hours. The years have not diminished my admiration for the masterpiece that Kubrick produced. Nothing I have seen since comes close to replicating the realism of the sets or the science they were attempting to illustrate (when was the last time you didn't hear wild noises from a passing spaceship?). I had been very apprehensiive after placing my order for the DVD and only then reading the negative reviews that the quality of the transfer to DVD was poor. Fortunately my worst fears were unrealised as I found both picture and sound quality to be excellent. 2001 is still one of the great experiences of cinema! Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Good DVD quality, Bad movie!
Review: The picture and the sound effect of the movie is great. the story itself *****, much worse than I expected.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Have
Review: I would give this movie a 4.5 star rating if possible. The picture was excellent (I use componet video outputs to a front projector) but unfortunately I would have liked more than Dolby Digital Mono although Pro-Logic did a good job. Seeing the movie in DVD was sure a much better experience than in all other previous incarnations. Especially interesting are the extras it comes with.
Rating:
Summary: Theatrical Experience !
Review: I have a front projection system hooked up through the component video inputs, also a Dolby Digital Receiver> I have copies of this movie in VHS and laserdisc and must say that the DVD blows them away. The experience was akin to being present at the original showing back in the 60's although with improved sound dynamics. I suggest following up this movie with 2010, which is also on the DVD format. A total trip !
Rating:
Summary: Great film, horrible film stock for the DVD
Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the greatest films ever to come out of Hollywood. Be aware that it is not a film everyone will like. If you hate 'artsy' films and prefer your Science-Fiction to have lots of action, melodrama and the like then this isn't the film for you.Let me make a couple comments about the DVD - this is a movie that desparately needs restored. The underlying film has scratches, spots and other problems. You feel like you are in an arthouse watching a decade old patched together copy of the film. The film is in space quite regularly but the way they've digitized things there are numerous digital artifacts that are VERY noticeable on the black background. I'm also disappointed in what they included on the DVD. There is an interview with Arthur C. Clarke but not the documentary that I believe the laserdisk version had. Buy it if you want it right now - otherwise wait a couple years for the *real* edition for DVD.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Magical Movie Ever Made!!
Review: I love this movie! I have watched it countless number of times and I still see something new evertime I view it. In my opinion, Kubrick creates a new style of filmmaking, perfectionist style. I love the fact that it took him and Arthur C. Clarke 4 years to make this movie. They take into consideration every aspect of the future, including pens and shoes, and give us the most startling portrial of the nature of the human race. The music is amazing and the cinematography is gorgious, but the real star is HAL. The fact that he can talk to you with a calm soothing vioce while leaving you to die in the viod of space shows us that there can be cold-blooded killers that are not human, or even alive. Yet dispite his homicidal tendencies you still symathize with him. The only regret I have is that I was not around to see it back in '68, what a experience that must have been.
Rating:
Summary: A monumental milestone in the history of cinema.
Review: What can I say about this film that hasn't already been said by all the other fanatics who agree with me? Seeing it in a theatre is an amazing experience, but watching this video edition at home with the lights off was a wonderfully close second; just make sure to watch it with good audio-video equipment to maximize the effect! More than one of the greatest works of audio-visual science fiction, this is one of the very great classic films in the history of cinema. This is a brillianly fruitful result of a collaboration between Arthur C. Clarke -- one of the great minds in science and science fiction -- and Stanley Kubrick -- one of the world's great film makers. Science fiction is always much better when written by a scientist than when it is not. This film portrays interplanetary space travel in a much more believable way than do so many other science fiction adventure films. There are no loud explosions in a vaccum, there are no Anglophonic apes or aliens, and thank God for that! The silence of space is made more pleasant by a great score of classical and experimental music. This soundtrack is matched perfectly with the incredible cinematography. This movie takes its time in developing its themes, so it is frankly for thinking people with good attention spans whose minds are not turned to blubber by the rapid fire editing of rollercoaster ride angles as seen in MTV videos. It is the film's very subtlety and understatement in terms of its pace, acting, action, etc. which gives it its awsome power. As long as you are willing to pay attention and soak it in, it is breathtaking, staggering, mind-boggling, and conciousness expanding, but not boring. Much of its plot and meaning are mysterious and ambiguous, and that provokes much thought and discussion among members of its audience long (I mean weeks, months, years) after the actual viewing of it. I've seen the film many times, including this video version at least twice, and it still impresses and amazes me and my friends and family. The attention to detail, science, and special effects was so far above par for its time and so ahead of its time (production was in the mid to late 60s), that many films which followed for years after were released in its shadow. Even its portrayal of the distant past (in the first part of the film) was absolutley remarkable in its realism. Though useage of dialogue, action, character interaction, and conflict is sparse in this film, each is used very powerfully at times. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood are each respectively excellent as Mission Commander Dr. David Bowman and Astronaut Dr. Frank Poole. While I can't remember who does the voice of on-board computer HAL 9000, this voice's effect was perfect in its blend of eerieness and calm, soothing pleasantness. The dynamic interactions between these three characters, and the manner in which their interrelationships move from routine harmony, to tension, to all-out conflict creates one of my favorite cinematic subplots. Out of the ensuing conflict and crises, the Bowman character emerges as a hero of remarkable courage, resolve, and resourcefulness, but disarming humanity. Even the machine HAL is a convincingly humanoid (psychologically, that is) character who displays charactarisics ranging from kindness, to curiosity, to paranoia, to ruthlessness, to fear. I highly recommend this film and/or video.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie Ever!!!!!
Review: Undoubtably the finest cinematic masterpeice in Sci-Fi history. The techniques used to bring us this movie were years ahead of their time. Working with blueprints and theories that had not been realistically tested in space, the physics and appearance of life in space have stood the test for three decades and are likely to remain so until we colonize space. From the opening overture to the final glimpse of the Star-Child, the movie portrays man's history as merely a blink of the eye on the cosmic scale and a Space that is not about dogfights in futuristic spacecraft or battles with hostile aliens. On the contrary, the uneventful voyage from the Moon to Jupiter is described in a daily routine until a fatal error causes the computer to malfunction. This ho-hum existence is the first 75% of the entire film. Once the reason for the voyage is established, the next hour and a half is a montage of eye candy as the technical wizardry of Douglas Trumbull and Wally Veevers is displayed in every frame. The ending may seem ambiguous to those who prefer cut-and-dry endings, but it fits the complicated close to the novel written by Arthur C. Clarke. If the movie is too much to handle read the book, then watch it again. You'll see new stuff each time you view it. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a visual masterpiece and a true Sci-Fi classic. Even casual movie buffs should not pass this on by.
Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful Transfer
Review: I have a midrange system. 35" RCA TV with RCA connections between my receiver, TV and DVD player...and this movie looked phenomenal. I literally could not understand how the visuals in this film were done 30 years ago. Very few movies now can pull off cinematography like this. The DVD is visually stunning. Which is a good thing, because the story is slow, ambiguous, and heavily reliant on visuals to carry the pace. An important film, a milestone in cinema, and a movie you really need to be in the mood for to enjoy.
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