The first movie is...
2001: A Space Odyssey. 1968, MGM/Turner Entertainment
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Douglas Rain
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Buy 2001 at Amazon.
If there has ever been a science fiction movie that could be described as a work of art, it's this one, and it was an easy pick to kick off this project, not to mention that it's a movie that I've seen enough times that I can go ahead and post this entry well before the movie's conclusion. Beautifully photographed, and with amazing attention paid to details (how many movies in space can you name where any action outside takes place with no noise?), 2001: A Space Odyssey is a true classic.
It could be argued that 2001 is the story of the evolution of man, and how he evolves from a primitive, plant-eating beast on the verge of extinction into a higher form of life who does not need tools or any kind of advanced technology, perhaps aided by the unseen alien life forms placing the famous black monoliths at crucial times in mankind's development.
The last half of the film, where the super computer HAL 9000 rebels against its human programmers, forcing astronaut Dave Bowman (Dullea) to rely on his wits to reenter the space craft and disconnect it is one of the truly great filmed sequences, perhaps better illustrating the idea of man versus machine than any other movie.
Highly recommended, although younger viewers may find many scenes with little to no dialogue or action boring to sit through.
Back tomorrow.
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