Just finished the marathon that is watching the 1968 Kubrick classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" with both of my kids. Their incredulity, bewilderment, and begrudging enjoyment mirrored my own. The scenes were even longer, ponderous, and slower-paced than I remembered (and I remembered them as painfully slow).
In a surreal realization, I suddenly recalled that I only ever watched the movie all the way through once before and that was in the famous Atlanta Fox Theater. My Grandfather, Dad, Uncle, and I went and saw it together on the 15 year (?) anniversary of the movie (making me my son's age today). Another timeless moment connecting the generation after me with the generations before. I remember that an MC introduced the film. He came onto the stage from a lift below the stage playing on an organ. I recall asking my grandfather what it all meant after it was all over and he said "I think it was about God." I remember being old enough to not agree and also to know better than to say so.
During today's viewing, we noticed so much inspiration George Lucas got for his 1977 Star Wars: the long shots of long ships, the landing bays, the heavy breathing soundtrack, the primitive digital displays, along with so much more... There's the original, hard-to-access work of art and then there's the universal work of entertainment.
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