I remember going to see the sneak preview the week before it opened in my local theater. I saw the trailer so many times that year and had no idea what to expect. It just looked like an interesting film from Robert Zemeckis and Carl Sagan.

I thought the slow reveal of the alien messages and the building of the machine was genius. And the "space travel" Ellie goes through from a technical standpoint was unbelievable. The tension and sound design were insane.

One thing I loved was the hatred many of the people had once the film ended. I love that they expected aliens and this conventional ending that wraps everything up in a bow.

But the thing that makes it more interesting on repeat viewings after all these years is the underlying theme of faith. I was 22 when it came out, still a young man. Now I'm 35. I have studied religion, science, etc. It becomes much more of a personal journey of faith rather than a science fiction film. I agree the romance seems useless.

So I agree its one of the more profound serious science fiction films ever released, but I still think 2001 is on this other level of technical and philosophical superiority... especially in its simplicity of execution, wow.

I am confused about this whole "future" everyone has seen in their blackout. That airport employee told Demetri that he only applied for that job BECAUSE he saw it during the blackout. The vision is CREATING the "future" they saw in their blackouts. If he didn't have that vision that slacker pothead guy would have never had that future because he wouldn't have applied for that job. So it can't be his future.

And I really think Demetri's fiance wasn't walking towards her wedding down the beach, I believe it was his funeral! It was odd that they showed her walking so far away from the group of people down the beach.

And randomness that I couldn't avoid. The bartender was Cassidy in Lost and her name in this show is Kate. Her former husband is named Aaron. Another Lost name. Mark and Olivia have a child named Charlie. Olivia is Penny in Lost. Penny and Desmond have a child named Charlie, but its a boy.

I recognized the geometric building made of triangles, Bank of China, in the background, yep Hong Kong. Why someone in Hong Kong called Demetri who knows, lol

a bunch of snotty people joking about topics of the day having no real point. its not funny to me, lol. It just comes across as arrogant big mouth people who think they are clever and funny... when they are not.

I would not be surprised if the whole Kanye thing was staged in this instant reaction twitter facebook myspace era.

Whether it was real or not, CNN, Huffington Post, and all media outlets on TV and online cover the event as if something of substance happened. The award show is just a publicity event for music and film and they accomplished their goals.

yep, perfect song for a perfect scene, perfect camera tilt to the side to start it off. I purchased the Donnie Darko DVD in 2002 when it came out, after hearing things about it on IFC. Something looked interesting about it, and when that scene came on I got chills also.

And all of the songs in the film seem perfectly matched to Donnie and the story. It is uncanny. Still one of my favorite films of all time.

And Team America, perfect parody, now I have to watch that again, "we're gonna need a montage (montage)" lol.

I remember seeing the posters in the subway stations while I was going to college in NYC. Something seemed interesting, so I taped the pilot. I had no idea the show would be so awesome.

It is the most entertaining and smart shows I've ever seen on TV. The writing is top-notch, as well as the acting, the ideas/themes, the character/story arcs, the mysteries, plot twists.

I highly recommend it.

YAY FOR PROMOTING NOT WATCHING MOVIES. If you have time to write a post about NOT watching films on purpose, you have time to talk about something better... or let someone else write a better post about actually watching a film and sharing an experience.

I wouldn't be surprised if Fox just hired Joseph to pull that stunt.

Also, the show is more concerned with making sure each shot is at least a 1/2 second long full of sound effects taking things out of context... oh and bleeping. Cooking and working at a restaurant is not important. My wife watches it and I can't stand it, lol.

What I thought killed the show was having Nigel speak first. All the couples do these big numbers that were fun and exciting. Then immediately Nigel lectures the dancers and puts the show on pause. Maybe Nigel sticks out more b/c Tony Basil was last in judging. Why do they ask her to judge, yuck.