I totally apologize for not writing for over two weeks on this blog. If it wasn't lab work, it was school work. If it wasn't school work, it was a sinus infection that made my head feel like someone was squeezing out the last drop of toothpaste from my noggin. But with a majority of these distractions quieting down now, I can get back to more important things, and this is one of them. In the time that I've been away, I've seen 4 movies, but not all were seen in one continuous loop. I'll explain with the first of four reviews.
Almost two weekends ago, the SO wanted to lighten up the memory load on the DVR, and since most of the movies I had kept on it were "boring" to her, it came as no surprise that we would watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. I really don't where to being to describe the plot of this movie, but here goes...
Cue "Thus Spake Zarathustra" theme, which we all know as the theme to 2001, where we see the moon, earth, and sun in alignment. We then go into the "Dawn of Man." This basically entails where primates first learned to use bones as weapons to not only hunt but also to take down enemies. They learn this all-important skill from a huge black bar, or monolith. How this happens, I haven't a clue. But at this end of this phase of the movie, the primate throws his weapon up into the sky and we move to the second phase of the movie, which is untitled.
Described as TMA-1, we are introduced to Dr. Heywood Floyd who travels to Clavius base, which is a U.S. base on the moon. There has been a huge mystery surrounding this base, as no contact has been received from this region in some time. The thought is an epidemic has broken out and killed any individuals there. Dr. Floyd's actual purpose is to investigate an strange anomaly dug up on the moon that emits a magnetic signal. This anomaly is described as "Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One," or TMA-1. When Dr. Floyd and a group of scientists travel to this site, the huge black monolith is the anomaly, which emits a high-pitched signal and the second phase of the movie ends.
Third phase is described as "Jupiter Mission: Eighteen Months Later," or as I like to call it, "I knew we shouldn't have given computers artificial intelligence." Yes, this is where we meet two space pilots headed to Jupiter with three scientists cryogenically frozen until they reach Jupiter, and HAL-9000, the computer that gives everyone the heebie-jeebies. Everything is working fine until one day HAL reports something is wrong with the communications system. When the two pilots start to question HAL, that's when HAL goes nuts. Well, to make a long story short (which I'm sure the SO would like to have known BEFORE we started watching the movie), HAL is turned off and we find out from a video that the mission to Jupiter is because the monolith on the moon was sending the signal to Jupiter.
The final phase of the movie is called "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" or as I like to call it "It's time to do drugs and watch the pretty colors part of the movie." Really, it's totally trippy as we follow the surviving pilot from the Jupiter mission continue his travels to Jupiter, but as he's getting there there are all these weird colors and lines the we see, which are intermittently disrupted by a close-up of the pilot's eye (in weird colors). This goes on for what seems like 10 minutes, until we end up in a room with a slightly older version of the pilot. We follow this version until it witnesses an even older version, until we eventually see the version ready to "kick the bucket" and at this point the monolith returns. Then all of a sudden we see a fetus in a bubble and the musical theme of 2001.
So yeah, totally trippy movie from 1968, when it seemed like it was encouraged to take acid or smoke the mary jane and create a movie, besides using these drugs while watching it. The SO said she had to watch it because it's considered the movie that is the foundation for science fiction movies since its premiere... but she wouldn't watch it again. She said this after the third phase of the movie, when the DVR recording stopped...
Yeah, missed the last twenty minutes of the movie because TCM had it only going for two hours, and the movie is two hours AND twenty minutes long. Kind of a bummer really, because we had to wait until it was on again five days later on another movie channel. Kinda killed the buzz, especially if you were hoping to get the entire experience over quickly. Which I think is how the SO felt, who was just dying during the slow parts of the movie (which is most of it, for her anyways). And the strange singing/screaming when the monolith entered the film...
So at least we won't have to buy the DVD. And even though it is this monumental film, when it first premiered in theatres, it was panned. Only after watching it a second and third time did reviewers give it the praise it has received for over forty years.
Funny story (not really funny at all...for me, anways), the first time I watched this movie was with my father which was not a good idea. Imagine watching this movie with your dad, who's strong in his Christian beliefs and the start of the movie begins with an evolutionary theme. Awkward...
So it's a historical movie for science fiction, but I'm going to guess it's the only time the SO will ever watch it. I think it's pretty cool, at least for the music, but it's going to remain one of this films that only will be viewed by these blue eyes when I have to introduce it to someone naive to the movie. Hoping that will be a long time from now...
Later!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment