There used to be a local bar here with a jukebox that, due to some
unresolved anomaly in the Matrix, contained both discs of 'Pangaea'. For a 25 cent investment, you got 45 minutes of electric free-form
experimentation guaranteed to clear out the entire bar.

"(Watch Bob Fosse's "Lenny" if you want to see one way that you can make a movie that's not a "conventional biopic" that still works like gangbusters. Please.)"

Explosions, car chases, and instantly dated pop-culture references would be my guess. And of course Benedict Cumberbatch.

I love this exchange in his first scene; Chandra's just been handed the biggest opportunity of his life, but he's still got room to be amused by an interesting bit of trivia. Balaban's little chuckle to himself sells everything perfectly.

Hyams' greatest strength is getting reasonably well-made movies finished on time, on budget, and with a minimum of fuss. That's not a diss, either; the movies need solid professionals who can get the job done just as much as they need visionary geniuses to push the envelope.

Abso-fucking-lutely. Years ago, I got to see 2001 on a huge screen, and it really does become a completely different experience. I also got to see Blade Runner (without the stupid narration or tacked-on happy ending), Apocalypse Now, and Lawrence of Arabia on the same screen. Hooray for Boston's Coolidge Corner…

Yeah, but the wooden acting and bland dialogue in 2001 were deliberate decisions, made to show that Man had become soulless, bureaucratic, and blind to the wonders of the universe. Ya know, Kubrick being Kubrick.

Monsters… monsters from the Id!

All 2010 really needed was more people bursting like balloons in the vacuum of space.

I wish Clarke had left well enough alone and never written any of the Odyssey sequels, but since he also gave us 2001 in the first place, along with Rendezvous with Rama and Childhood's End among other good works, I can't judge him too harshly either. Besides, those Sri Lankan mansions don't buy themselves.

I'm with you… I love Miles, I love Don Cheadle, and I really love the idea of a biopic that's been blatantly, ridiculously fictionalized. If anything, it sounds like this movie's problem is that it didn't go far enough. I would, ideally, want Miles' made-up adventures to include some of the other musical giants he…

Miles as the Magical Negro? I think I'd rather watch a movie about Miles' reaction to watching that movie.

Anyone watched the crossword documentary 'Wordplay' from about ten years ago? The late puzzlemaker Merl Reagle had a good bit about the squeaky-clean nature of crossword puzzles:

I guess I'm of two minds where 2010 is concerned. On the one hand, 2001 is my favorite movie of all time, and 2010 is (by design) unlike it in every way. It's literal and workmanlike where 2001 was ethereal and poetic, and it takes great pains to explain every last thing where 2001 was happy to let you do most of the…

That part was handled really badly (and wasn't in the book). If you look closely, you can see Max's pod hurtling off into oblivion when Dave emerges from the monolith. I'm reasonably sure he's dead.

Yeah, I don't know why that happened either. I guess either Hyams & Co missed that detail from 2001, or that scene (and that scene alone) was from an earlier version of the 2010 script where Floyd was written as a more devious character.

I've got a soft spot for TMP, shortcomings and all. I'd probably rank it #2 behind Wrath of Khan.

Hey, how many Van Damme movies did YOU direct?

I never really thought HAL's malfunction needed an explicit explanation; I mean, he's a computer, and computers screw up all the time.

Except that in '2001', Floyd's pre-recorded briefing reveals that HAL knew all about the mission's real purpose.