2001 : A Space Odyssey

This Stanley Kubrick movie written in tandem with Arthur C Clarke was a cultural milestone. The highest grossing movie of 1968 the movie was a huge success and continues to be considered as one of the most momentous films ever released.

For me, it was a miss. Maybe I am not deep enough, maybe not knowing what to expect and getting less than anticpated, whatever it was it just was weird.

Kubrick tried to accomplish much without dialogue. The first scene entitled The Dawn of Man had no dialogue as it centered on apes. The last scene as well featured no dialogue as well.

The central question of the movie are the monoliths. They appear in pretime, our found on the moon, in space outside Jupiter and then at the end of our astronaut's bed. They are not explained.

Nothing is explained. Hal was interesting. The computer that has gone crazy and the references to Hal are all through are cultural. Clearly the movie has been cultarlly relevant.

However for me it was a serious disappointment. I just did not get it.

Spartacus

This 1960 Movie won four Oscars. Directed by Stanley Kubrick this movie was a good representation of the famous story of a Roman slave revolt.

The movie is a three hour epic and I watched it over a period of a week. However the length the movie moved quickly. The cast was very strong. Kirk Douglas plays Spartacus, Lawrence Olivier plays Crassus, Jean Simmons ( a very pretty woman ), Tony Curtis as an excaped slave, Charles Naughton as Graccus who in Roman history was the advocate of the Plebes.

Winning the Oscar for Supporting Actor in this movie was Peter Stinov who plays a slave trader. It was a winning role and he was very beleivable as one who always seeks a financial advantage no matter which side he plays. As a person watching the movie fifty years out it was strange to me as Ustinov in his accent and tone reminded me like nothing so much as David Ogden Stiers from Mash.

A great movie