4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
8 Year Old Me: What is this movie supposed to be about? Does anyone know? Anyone? It gives me a headache trying to comprehend. The first third of the movie is a bunch of stupid monkeys throwing a bunch of stupid bones at a big black slab. The next third is a decent space movie, but nowhere near as awesome as, say, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The last third is... I dunno, a Pink Floyd music video? It just makes no sense. At all. Skip it and watch a good space movie instead.
22 Year Old Me: This is a perfect example of a movie that is better without an explanation. I find it much more enjoyable to argue over the meaning than to have it explained. See, there's totally a meaning to it. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a novelization of the film which pretty clearly lays out the meaning. But does an understanding of a film necessarily improve the viewing experience? Absolutely not, as this movie proves to us. In addition to the opportunities for amateur philosophising about the movie and its meaning, the film is also a treat for the eyes (as I've
written about before) and for the ears. The sparse dialogue, replaced with a classical music soundtrack, provides us with some of the most enduring moments in film history - not to be missed.