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My God, It's Full of Stars*

If I had to pick my top, number one favorite film of all time, I'd have to say 2001: A Space Odyssey (with maybe The Killing being a close second). I'm pretty much a giant Kubrick nerd, and have got pretty much all his films on DVD, and now, starting to get them on Blu-ray.

In fact, the only one I just haven't yet sat and watched is Barry Lyndon. I should, but haven't yet found the mood. Back to the story...

So, with some Christmas gift cards, I picked up 2001 on Blu-Ray. If I had to sum it up in a word: Wow. If you are a Kubrick fan as I am, this (and all his other movies, of course) warrants making the move to next-gen DVDs. 2001 is available as either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

In high-def, you see so much more detail. I saw pieces of spaceships and backgrounds I had never before seen. When Dr. Floyd is going to Clavius and his ship is being lowered into a hanger, I had noticed previously that there were people in the sides of the hangers in rooms, but I had never before really been able to see them clearly and what they were doing. In the bottom left, the screens in that room are changing as the ship comes down - it's not just a matte painting. That's just one - I found myself standing very close to the TV in order to scan around and see as much as I can.

And the stargate sequence - amazing. All the special effects, especially the space stuff - really stand up in HD. You can't see matte lines or other effects - much of it looks more real then CG effects we see today.

The point - Kubrick was obsessive about his details. Nothing was left to chance and I can only imagine the amount of work that went into creating this entire universe - even small details like rear projections of people milling about (I saw it when Floyd first enters the hanger of the space station - on one of the sides people are even upside-down - incredible!).

I've got an anniversary edition of 2001 Limited Edition Collector's Set, if you'd like to buy it let me know.

* - Geek note. Bowman never says this line in 2001. It's in the book, and referenced in 2010, but never in 2001.

Posted by Mike at January 3, 2008 7:23 AM | Add to del.icio.us