Having watched most of the recent Oscar telecast,I'm left wondering why I watched since the only movie I saw last year that was up for anything was "Interstellar". But given that, I clearly thought the highlight of the whole evening was Lady Gaga channeling Julie Andrews in a way I never would have thought possible.
From the first time I ever saw Lady Gaga my impression was that she has way too much talent to need all of the gimmicky outfits. On Oscar night she certainly proved that impression to be correct. (And doesn't Julie Andrews still look fantastic?). I also rather enjoyed her duet with Tony Bennett at the Grammys, again devoid of goofy outfit. (Though I did feel that she and Madonna were in a contest as to who would have the more spectacular wardrobe malfunction).
Back to the movies: Thinking of "Interstellar" makes me reminisce about "2001: A Space Odyssey". So I watched "2001" over the weekend, and almost 50 years later I firmly believe it is still the benchmark that all Sc-Fi movies are aiming for. The "Dawn of Man" sequence for the most part accurately portrays ape movement. The only part that looks like guys in ape suits is when we first see the opposing tribe sneaking up behind the rocks, looking very man-like in the way they climb the rocks.
But the next sequence, with the exquisitely beautiful waltz between the orbiting "wagon-wheel" space station and the Pan Am Spaceplane is one of the great artistic triumphs in film history. The graceful movements of the two crafts to "The Blue Danube" is not only beautiful but exactly scientifically correct. You have the space station orbiting the earth and at the same time rotating about it's central axis. You have the Spaceplane gracefully arcing up to match the orbit of the Station. As it closes in it starts to roll around it's central axis to match the Station's rotation. All of this is seen from several angles, and it looks great from all angles. Nothing shot before or since so beautifully captures spaceflight.
I was also more impressed with the acting than ever before. I always thought Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood were kind of wooden, but I saw now some subtlety in especially Dullea's performance. You can sense his building rage and concern as he goes to retrieve Lockwood after HAL goes bad, and his fear and awe upon entering the monolith.
I have this excellent movie on Laserdisc as well as DVD. With upsampling to 1080p the picture is breathtaking. I might have to get it on Blu-ray someday as well.
Having watched most of the recent Oscar telecast,I'm left wondering why I watched since the only movie I saw last year that was up for anything was "Interstellar". But given that, I clearly thought the highlight of the whole evening was Lady Gaga channeling Julie Andrews in a way I never would have thought possible.
From the first time I ever saw Lady Gaga my impression was that she has way too much talent to need all of the gimmicky outfits. On Oscar night she certainly proved that impression to be correct. (And doesn't Julie Andrews still look fantastic?). I also rather enjoyed her duet with Tony Bennett at the Grammys, again devoid of goofy outfit. (Though I did feel that she and Madonna were in a contest as to who would have the more spectacular wardrobe malfunction).
Back to the movies: Thinking of "Interstellar" makes me reminisce about "2001: A Space Odyssey". So I watched "2001" over the weekend, and almost 50 years later I firmly believe it is still the benchmark that all Sc-Fi movies are aiming for. The "Dawn of Man" sequence for the most part accurately portrays ape movement. The only part that looks like guys in ape suits is when we first see the opposing tribe sneaking up behind the rocks, looking very man-like in the way they climb the rocks.
But the next sequence, with the exquisitely beautiful waltz between the orbiting "wagon-wheel" space station and the Pan Am Spaceplane is one of the great artistic triumphs in film history. The graceful movements of the two crafts to "The Blue Danube" is not only beautiful but exactly scientifically correct. You have the space station orbiting the earth and at the same time rotating about it's central axis. You have the Spaceplane gracefully arcing up to match the orbit of the Station. As it closes in it starts to roll around it's central axis to match the Station's rotation. All of this is seen from several angles, and it looks great from all angles. Nothing shot before or since so beautifully captures spaceflight.
I was also more impressed with the acting than ever before. I always thought Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood were kind of wooden, but I saw now some subtlety in especially Dullea's performance. You can sense his building rage and concern as he goes to retrieve Lockwood after HAL goes bad, and his fear and awe upon entering the monolith.
I have this excellent movie on Laserdisc as well as DVD. With upsampling to 1080p the picture is breathtaking. I might have to get it on Blu-ray someday as well.