Rating: 
Summary: A true classic
Review: This film stands alone as the only film that i know of that depicts space as realistically as possible. all other filmakers who make Science Fiction movies have failed to present the one most obvious thing that you DO NOT have in space. THERE IS NO SOUND IN SPACE! THERE CANNOT BE ANY SOUND IN SPACE! Kudos to Kubrick for showing how it really is in space. I guess we have Lucas to blame for that as he made space exciting with those Tie-Fighters chasing the Millenium Falcon. I would love to see Star Wars with sound taken out whenever there is a shot in space. that would be TRIPPY!but anyways, i diverge, back to 2001. this is one of the true classics of the ages and one of stanley kubrick's best, if not his best. it delves deep into a new mythology surrounding the mysterious monolith. what could it be? what influence did it have on human evolution? it also has some of the most suspenseful scenes in modern filmwork with HAL 9000 and Dave dueling it out in space near jupiter.
Rating:
Summary: Jupiter and Beyond the Infinate
Review: There have being like 450 reviews written on this film here by viewers, some call it a masterpeice and others hate it because it's boring, confusing and the HAL computer has more character than any of the human characters. Personally I can only say that I feel that this film is obsolutely perfect, it's cinematic power in it's most awesome purest form. No other film strikes the same chord inside that this film reaches. Space Odessey is an enigma, awe inspiring and full of mystery just like the monolithes that are featured in the film. I saw this film many times before I fully understood everything that was going on and only did so after talking to someone who had read the book, but there is no true need to full undstand the film and I feel that even the sharpest mind cannot fully grasp the idea's presented in this film on first viewing alone. This is a concious decision by director Stanly Kubric. He was a perfectionist and I must say that he has achieved perfection with this film. The deliberate pacing of the film that turns most people off, creates a true sense of monotany and cold bleak reallity of space travel in the viewer. The inexplicable space monolithes, their purpose unknown, instills that dreamy and gleefully optermistic idea's of the possiblities of space travel and discovery at the time the film was made. The 'aliens' behind the monolithes are never seen only heard for a brief period when ashtromnaut Bowmen is held in their 'zoo', thus alowing our imaginations to create them. The psychedelic trip sequence, representing travelling across unimaginable distances in space, is an amazing example of pure visual beauty with the haughnting and effective music is truely hypnotic and closer to the closed eye visual experience of a trip than anything else put on film I have ever seen. And the fact that HAL has more warmth than any human characters successfully trasmits the concept of humanity giving way to technology more than any 'Terminator' type scenario ever could. The success and worth of a film in my opininion lies in how greatly viewing it affects you inside. It may sound like a cliched remark, but 2001: A Space Oddessey is a supreme assault on the senses. Every film with a loud sound tarck and some explosions is touted as an assualt on the sense, but here Kubric truely acheives this. You feel the chill of space, the excitement of discovery, the presence of unfathonable potential and mystery from life not of this planet, all these sensations an are brought out of the viewer when Kubric intends. If you are willing to see this film with an open mind, I have no doubt that you will find it a most rewarding experience. Nothing else will leave you as mesmerized as this inspiring feast for the senses.
Rating:
Summary: A film that has gone further than any other.
Review: Film-goers must realize that 2001 is a visual narrative -- something a film should always be. The trouble in understanding it comes from the habit of watching the usual offering of movie fare that is, for the most part, dialogue based. The viewer must slow down and look carefully at the images in this masterpiece to be filled with its power. For example, in the latter half of the film, when the space pod holds the astronaut in its arms, an alarming image appears. Is this not a modern-day pieta? Only, who is God now? Who is the creator? Who is the creation? Please take the time to watch it. It will be well worth it!
Rating:
Summary: A poetry of the cosmos.
Review: This movie defies all description. At once one of the greatest Science Fiction movies of all time, it also stands as a piece of existential poetry. It grasps the audience in a way to absorb them into the character of "Hal" but away from the human characters who are made into more of a robot Hal is. Kubrick leaves it up to interpretation just what exactly the meaning of the "monolith" is making the audience try to go beyond the realms of their reality to something else (explaining everything was what really ruined the "sequel" to me).
Rating: 
Summary: Why do this movie get so many stars?
Review: I was derrible dissappointed the first time I saw the movie. Many years later when I saw the movie again the feeling just deepend. And when I read the text in the reviews that gives it five stars, it is embarassing. - It seems like political correct talks that someone has lulled themself into believing it. - The movie has some great scenes. But I think the baloney about it may make someone red faced ten years from now.
Rating: 
Summary: Not an accurate portrayal of 2001
Review: I didn't get this movie one bit. It wasn't like last year at all. I lived through the year 2001 and as far as I know none of this stuff happened. When you make a documentary about a year you should at least show things that actually happened.
Rating:
Summary: HAL steals the show
Review: I could write so much more than 1,000 words on this movie, but that would only put it down. Words cannot describe this galactical journey into sci-fi. Just watch this milestone in sci-fi moviemaking.
Rating:
Summary: I can't make any sense out of it.
Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' has some brilliant sequences along with some of the most uninteresting characters and dialogue I've ever seen and heard. It is a visual treat, but doesn't make any sense. People have tried to debate the meaning behind it, but that's only Kubrick's trick.
Rating:
Summary: This film paved the way for Star Wars!
Review: This is the great crossover film that made it O.K. to like sci-fi. Prior to this, sci-fi was limited to old Buck Rodgers serials, with the minimal to nonexistent budgets that made the special effects look like a middle school science project. This film broke all of the rules. You know the story: a black monolith appears to a bunch of missing links, and when the planet align, they become intelligent and stat using tools. Fast forward to a hypothetical 1999 where they discover a similar monolith in the crater Tyco (that is the bright one on the moons southern hemisphere, with a lot of splash lines from the impact), which sends a radio signal out to Jupiter. By 2001, the government hasn't released any information about the monolith or alien contact, notwithstanding the Freedom of Information Act. They have, however, built a ship designed to make the journey to Jupiter to investigate. We know the story: Hal goes crazy, and kills the crew, except Dave Bowman, with his Mona Lisa smile, who takes a pod into the monolith at Jupiter. He goes thought the star gate, and experiences a cosmic LDS trip, and arrives in a neo-Rocco room where he ages, and eventually is brought to the next stage of human evolution via our good friend the monolith. This film tapes into the late 1960's excitement of the space program and the ever-enticing idea of human progress and potential. Couple this energy with the spectacular cinematography and supra-standard special effects, and by all accounts this film is a winner. NOTE: There are two DVDs, one with the painting of the space station, which is the one I am reviewing, and another with Kier Duella's lovely mug, which I am not reviewing. This DVD is the re-mastered and restored DVD, with the film and soundtrack being upgraded from the other DVD. The down side is that they have taken the interview of Art Clark fielding question from NASA team members before the movies released. I am torked off that this was taken off of this DVD, since I am a fan of such things. I recommend getting the other DVD if you like those things. By the way, if you don't like or don't understand this film, please do not take your frustration out on my reviewer rank or me.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, good DVD
Review: If you're someone who is looking for movies where "things blowed up real good", this isn't a movie for you. If you're someone who likes those scenes in murder mysteries where everything is revealed, don't get this movie. Things happen, you watch and think about them, but very little is overtly explained. I have my own ideas about what is happening in 2001. And my thoughts have changed over the years as I've watched it again and again.
2001 is the most "visual" movie I have ever seen. You can watch this with the sound down and not miss much of anything. The dialog, where there is any, is mostly small talk that has little to do with what's going on in the movie. As a movie that is meant to be SEEN, it needs to be seen in the best detail possible. I first had 2001 on VHS tape. That was okay... until the Laserdisc. Wow.
Now, there's DVD. It's widescreen and for the most part, the images are clear and detailed. I have an older DVD player and there was some artifacts in the scenes with very strong contrast.
This was one of the first movies I bought for DVD back in 1998. There's not much in the way of "extras": just a cute menu idea and a documentary that was available on the Criterion Laserdisc. I understand that any new version of 2001 would have to be cleared by the Kubrick Estate (i.e., not likely), I am disappointed that there couldn't be a little more in terms of the making of the movie. The effects don't look dated (except that none of the spaceships swoop and hardly anything blows up); in fact when you realize that the astronauts jogging around the Discovery were not cleaned up digitally, they really were running around 360 degrees... it's amazing. How about some explanations of how they dealt with weightlessness with indefatigable stunt performers, how a three story hamster wheel was built in England, maybe Arthur C. Clarke talking about some of the "educated guesses" they had to make in terms of what was known in the mid 1960's, or some commentary from Douglas Trumbull about the slit-scan process?
Just an aside: if you get the chance to see 2001 in the theatre, I can't recommend it enough. The new 70mm print is incredible. The detail is unbelievable (I hope I can still watch my DVD after that!). This is more than a science-fiction film, this is a truly great film.
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