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Movies / On DVD / 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey

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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

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Reviews Counted:11

Fresh:9

Rotten:2

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: One of the most influential of all sci-fi films -- and one of the most controversial -- Stanley Kubrick's 2001 is a delicate, poetic meditation on the ingenuity -- and folly -- of mankind.

Runtime: 2 hrs 39 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: A four-million-year-old black monolith is discovered on the moon, and the government (while hiding the situation from the public) sends a team of scientists on a fact-finding mission. Eighteen... A four-million-year-old black monolith is discovered on the moon, and the government (while hiding the situation from the public) sends a team of scientists on a fact-finding mission. Eighteen months later, another team is sent to Jupiter in a ship controlled by the perfect HAL 9000 computer to further investigate the giant object--but on this trip something goes terribly wrong. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is a masterpiece of filmmaking. Director and (with Arthur C. Clarke) co-screenwriter Stanley Kubrick has created a visual and aural spectacle that stands as one of the greatest achievements ever put on celluloid. The film begins with the "Dawn of Man" segment, about the evolution of apes, and then ventures into the future, taking a look at what the world might be like in the first year of the 21st century. Kubrick's film is a triumph of technological storytelling, with stunning sets and a brilliant, overwhelming soundtrack. Long dialogue-free scenes sparkle with indelible images backed by powerful orchestral music, culminating in an unforgettable, inscrutable tale of birth and rebirth, human evolution and artificial intelligence, the past and the future. [More]

Starring: Keir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood, Daniel Richter

Starring: Keir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood, Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter, Robert Beatty, Douglas Rain

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 23, 2007

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Reviews for 2001: A Space Odyssey

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1 - 11 (sorted by date)
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The film's projections of the cold war and antiquated product placements may look quaint now, but the poetry is as hard-edged and full of wonder as ever.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/08/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It was a freshening attitude then, though its long-term effects haven't been all to the good.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/08/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
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It is an extraordinary, obsessive, beautiful work of art.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment 1 Comment
07/20/02
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
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Yup, you guessed it -- a religious experience.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment 1 Comment
11/21/01
Glenn Lovell
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News
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Now, seen in the actual 2001, it's less a visionary masterpiece than a crackpot Looney Tune, pretentious, abysmally slow, amateurishly acted and, above all, wrong.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment 65 Comments
11/02/01
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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[Retains] its artistic magnificence after more than 30 years.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
11/02/01
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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2001 compares with, but does not best, previous efforts at science fiction.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 14 Comments
02/13/01
Robert B. Frederick
Robert B. Frederick
Variety
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A cold, majestic motion picture, a movie that seeks to remind us of the vastness of space and our relatively insignificant place in it.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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Somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 4 Comments
01/01/00
Renata Adler
Renata Adler
New York Times
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The film creates its effects essentially out of visuals and music. It is meditative. It does not cater to us, but wants to inspire us, enlarge us.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 2 Comments
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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I assumed that this was what all movies ought to be: treasures for moral and aesthetic contemplation that did not provide all their answers on first contact.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Scott Rosenberg
Scott Rosenberg
Salon.com
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