10 Classic Movies That Only Pretentious People Like

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

Arguably Stanley Kubrick's definitive work, 2001: A Space Odyssey is an epic journey through the silence and sterility of space and the dangerous implications of technology. Like so many movies after it, 2001 is really all about humanity's mortality pitted against the intelligent design of our own creation: the computer. Although 2001 is a beautiful and powerful movie, it has all the components of a "timeless" classic that alienate itself from the laypeople. The first 30 minutes we watch what is supposed to be the dawn of man. What we really see is a bunch of men acting-a-fool in chimp suits, playing with animal bones in the desert when suddenly a black monolith appears, all set to Aaron Copland's Fanfare For The Common Man. How profound. After what seems like hours of various classical symphonies played over long, long, long takes of space and people walking upside down in monochromatic space suits, the main computer, HAL 9000, goes haywire and succumbs to the hands of space pilot Dave while singing A Bicycle Built For Two. What follows is a psychedelic acid trip through Willy Wonka's tunnel that lasts for a good 20 minutes. Beautiful and creepy? Yes. The makings of a classic? Only to those with their noses held haughtily to the sky.