what are your top ten favourite films?

"And the Stargate sequence is by no means as "free form" as some believe. It's a very coherent narrative on its own. One simply needs to wrap their mind around it."

Not exactly "free form" no but it was very close to the term. The use of color and color order on planet tints as relevance to color code numbers and its resemblance towards moods and music was genius. However as well crafted as I believe the scene was it was also over exaggerated. Its the type of over exaggerated approaches you feel in art sometimes which does not limit the piece by any means but allows it to fully expand itself. However when you have such limiting scenery it doesn't really expand itself but rather show you the same masterpiece over and over again essentially making you bored with the piece even before the viewing is over. I just feel had he made that scene 10-15 minutes shorter it could have had the same effect yet also be something that would be far easier to revisit as a true work of art at a latter date. Instead Stanley's necessity to setting himself far... far apart from the rest when he could have just settled with far which I felt would have worked a lot better and allowed me to place a 10/10 on this piece rather then a high 9/10.

(The next time I view it I will see if it had that same lasting effect it had on me for so long. I think I will probably hit it for a 10/10 just because I do remember the ways it impacted me on a artistic level.)
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An old Hollywood saying goes...
"If it's not on the page, it's not on the stage."

[deleted]

"He argued that Kubrick's challenge was to come up with a cinematic equivalent of the inconceivable psychological shock and dislocation that would accompany an encounter with a highly advanced alien species. He did it remarkably well, I think."

Either that or just the entire travesty of the life consuming aspects of time travel(in words, wasting more time of your life then originally intended). I am not sure if Kubrick's focus was even to create a psychological shock of a new species experience rather then to create the psychological horror of time travel itself. That's just what I believe.

Anyway I saw it as fluid scene movement really it's just like I said before you only need to look at a painting so long or watch a exercise routine enough to figure out what it does and what it all means. A few minutes after that sure just to keep the image alive but 10-15 or even 5 minutes shaved off could have done wonders in itself. I just feel had he done something like that he could have had something comparable in terms of depth to 81/2.

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An old Hollywood saying goes...
"If it's not on the page, it's not on the stage."

[deleted]

Time travel might be a bit off but I never saw it as a shock equivalent to contact with an alien species but rather just the psychological effect of space travel. Contact with the alien technology helped the out come acting as the reason behind his escape but I believe that wasn't the major factor troubling him psychologically. Once he had escaped contact with the monolith he didn't realize how life consuming space travel was until he was well underway.(Not Time travel but space travel which I ment to say). Something of a trapped in a canister form of feeling enough to create a claustrophobic effect of horror that I got when I was watching Space Odyssey which I felt was a fairly good experience but not perfect.

It's the reason why everyone has different points of views when it comes to film. Some people might think Casablanca needed fixes when I believed it was perfect when others would believe 2001 was perfect when I felt it could have used fixes. It's really the problem you get when you talk about art one likes one piece another likes something else. Something like 2001 would be difficult for me to watch 100 times since I felt it could have used a bit of a touch up when something like Casablanca I could easily watch 100 times over just due to its sheer ability to create entertainment.

I however can understand your choice entirely on being protective of Space Odyssey if I saw it 100 times I would probably love it to despite the fact I saw flaws in it from the start. I also noticed you placed Fantasia, West Side Story and Juliet of the Spirits as some of your top picks all really amazing films. I wouldn't argue with Fantasia or Juliet of the spirits. You just can't beat Mickey mouse to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas, you could just feel the presence of Walt's dream being visualized on screen. Asides from that however as much as I loved West Side Story didn't you like Singin in the rain better? Aside from the moody experience West Side Story opened up I just feel that Singin' in the rain was a better musical I was just wondering what you thought about that.
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An old Hollywood saying goes...
"If it's not on the page, it's not on the stage."

[deleted]

I see your view entirely and I just happened to rewatch 2001 and I had to give it a 10/10 not because I believed the contact with the alien species at the end but because the one scene I felt was far to long was actually shorter then I last pictured it. I remember seeing it as a 30 minute scene when it was actually only a 10 minute scene. That being said cutting out 10-15 minutes would really murder it thus I feel that much time is just the perfect amount to give that effect of seclusion and claustrophobia for the viewer.

As for the hotel room well heres my opinion. I didn't see it as a hotel room at but rather a different set for the space shuttle. Allow me to elaborate.

If you were ever confined in a small space over a long period of time you would realize that the space you have is actually a lot more then what it originally started as. It shows a growing adaptability to the point that you begin to even live with that space as if it were normal.

The occasional shock/head turn movements resembled the insanity of claustrophobia after being left in a cage for so long unexposed to humanity.

The color of the spacecraft in comparison to the walls of the hotel (when shown side by side with the scene) explained that they are both the same thing.

In end the spacecraft becomes the hotel room. It is where he would live, sleep, eat and die.

Then in the end to cut to a scene back in space which may seem like a fluent switch since the entire film was based around space even though the switch of a completely white hotel room to a completely black universe may call for an abrupt switch.

My opinion is that it was a fluent switch not because the entire film was based in space and then the hotel room but because we never left space in the first place.

Anyway here it is -2001:Space Odyssey 10/10*

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An old Hollywood saying goes...
"If it's not on the page, it's not on the stage."

[deleted]