I'm going to see 2001: A Space Odyssey tonight on the big screen

[VaderBomb]

One of my all time favorites screened via 70mm print in a giant theater with a balcony.

I'm going in four hours early to snatch front row and center on the balcony. I've never been this excited to go to the movies!

[Hanley!]

I don't envy you. Fucking hate that film.

I guess seeing it on the big screen would make a big difference to the experience though, given how much of it is visual. Hope you enjoy yourself anyway, man. It can be fun to watch one of the classics on the big screen.

You might appreciate this: myself and @Kirbi just got back from a double feature in the Irish Film Institute down town. It was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid followed by The Sting. Both very good films.

[Matteo]

Enjoy it, sir. I had the pleasure of watching a pristine 70mm print late last year, and it was inarguably the most evocative, visceral, redolent theatrical experience of my moviegoing life. The last thirty minutes, in particular, were just indescribable in terms of what feelings it engendered. I still think about the film at least 2-3 times per week. Here was my review:



Evocative. Hypnotic. Captivating. Enthralling. Immersive. Not many people in their lifetimes will have the opportunity to see Stanley Kubrick's arresting masterwork in 70mm, the way the filmmaker intended it to be seen. The theatre I attended last night is the only one left in Australia that still is capable of projecting 70mm prints. It is - and always has been - increasingly rare, but even moreso now in an era of digital projection and distribution. This specific print of the film was held in high esteem by Keir Dullea (the actor who plays Dave) himself. In fact, he contended that it was the best 70mm print of the film he has personally seen since 1968, the year the film was released.

Words can not articulate my experience. This is film. This is cinema. Very few works in the history of the medium have been shot on 70mm, and those that have are seldom projected in its organic negative format. I had the opportunity to view Kubrick's masterpiece in its full, unabridged, uncompressed, untarnished form. And it was remarkable. It honestly made me appreciate the work on a whole new level (which I thought was impossible). Watching the last half hour of the film, in particular, is something I'll never forget - the sheer level of ambition and artistry on display is almost unparalleled. Kubrick once said a film should be a progression of moods and feelings, and that's exactly what he captures here. The more I think about this film, the more I come to the realisation that it's not supposed to appeal to the intellect as much as it supposed to appeal to our emotions and feelings. Even filmmakers Stanley Kubrick admired like Robert Bresson have echoed similar sentiments. At its core, it's incredibly open and demands very little from its audiences.

Watching this on the big screen took you into space. Into the boundless, immeasurable, abstruse black vastness. Into the storms of dynamic colours and dimensions. Below is the theatre I attended:



Sitting on the top story, positioned right in the middle, there was no better place to sit and escape. It was truly a remarkable experience and indescribable on the whole. This is the most zealous of all works that I have seen and perhaps shows humanity at its most curious, explorative, and, ultimately, human. Perhaps no work - before or since - has captured the same level of artistic and ambitious scope as Kubrick's feature.

[VaderBomb]

Holy. Fucking. Mother of all Christ.

2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen. 70mm film print with restored audio and a set up of five speakers behind the screen as Kubrick originally intended. This is how you watch a film. Seeing Kubrick's masterpiece on the big screen was a life affirming moment for me and was absolutely the greatest filmgoing experience of my life thus far.

The past few great films that I've gone to see in theaters (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Thing and Zardoz) were all met with inappropriate laughter. To the extent that I felt as if I had to make a speech before the audience. This time the speech wasn't necessary.

There was some sort of divine intervention this night. There was a blood supermoon in the night sky. Not only that but a lunar eclipse as well, one that I got to experience before, during the intermission and after the film was over. I can attest that there is nothing more magical that walking outside during the intermission of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, looking up to the sky and seeing a blood red luna being eclipsed by the shadow of mother Earth.

Olivia, Jarrid, Gabby and I headed into Somerville, MA on a Sunday night in late September (the 27th to be exact). We ate some incredible burritos from Anna's and headed over to the theater when we were finished. We flooded in early and snatched up the balcony seats, front and center in the most beautiful theater that I've ever seen a film in. Somerville's main screening room is a sight to see itself.

There we are, front row and center, giddy for what we're about to see. The projectionist comes out and explains to the masses how special of an event that this was that we were about to take part in. A drunken cyclist is sitting directly behind me. A drunken old man resembling a fully grey haired pro-wrestler Stan Hansen sits behind him. The old guy is talking over the projectionist. The cyclist drunkenly calls him out and the old guy ends up throwing the cyclist's jacket over the balcony. The cyclist punches the old guy square in the face which is followed by a total beat down from the old guy. We all interject ourselves and separate the two men. Another filmgoer verbally forces the cyclist to move his seat. This is what I mean about divine intervention.

Both of these men could have potentially been disruptive during the film which would have ruined the viewing experience for everybody in the theater. But instead, the universe put these two men together and both were kicked out. It was like seeing the two shittiest wrestlers in the Royal Rumble get eliminated immediately as the match started. The aftermath of the fight was beautiful. All of us in the balcony were so happy that the negativity was over just before the film started that there was this hyper-respectful camaraderie within us all. Nobody talked. Nobody laughed. We all sat there in wonder and had the greatest film-going experience possible.

Words cannot express how incredible it was to see this perfect film on 70mm with the correct audio set up, in the best possible theater with the best possible crowd. Tonight was a life affirming moment and one of the greatest nights that I've experienced in this universe.