The endless and mostly negative comparisons made between Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey are perhaps justified when you consider that Nolan himself has cited Kubrick's masterpiece as a huge influence on his latest film. Of course, failing to live up to the same standards of such a seminal work of cinema is nothing to be ashamed of - 2001 is, after all, the benchmark by which all sci-fi with grand ambitions is measured. Still, when watching Kubrick's epic it's not hard to see why this is such a superior film - Kubrick's grasp of and approach to the philosophical themes, culminating in nothing less than the evolution of human consciousness, is played out with a notable degree of ambiguity which has led to countless scholarly - and amateur - interpretations. The evolution of life, mankind's hubris and the final encounter with the transcendental object at the end of time (as Terence McKenna may have put it) make 2001: A Space Odyssey a true masterpiece and one of the greatest movies ever made. The universe has never been presented in such a beautifully mysterious manner. Do you agree or disagree that the films on this list are better than Interstellar? Why not post a comment below and let us know?
