Movie Corner – November 2018

By HOWARD McQUITTER II
oldschoolmovies.wordpress.com
howardmcquitter68@gmail.com

This year, 2018, marks the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick”'s masterpiece or, one of them anyway, “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), a treasure of science fiction/ drama although a film in this day that may not be fully understood, at least at the ending.

(One can honestly say, Kubrick”'s “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”[1964] is also a Masterpiece.) Mr. Kubrick”'s “2001: A Space Odyssey” is a major example of his ambivalence about technology and its future for humanity. Kubrick (like myself) grew up during the” Cold War” when “The Cuban Missile Crisis” and threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed to be on the verge of breaking out. Kubrick”'s film is based on Arthur C. Clarke”'s “The Sentinel.” Both men collaborate on the screenplay to be made into four movements.

Yet, to this day the visuals are still mesmerizing with everything done mechanically (no CGI back then). Maybe Kubrick and Clarke”'s outer space adventure somehow forecast the landing on the moon the next year — 1969 — when Mission Commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both Americans, plant the American flag there.… Read the rest “Movie Corner – November 2018”