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The more accessible art film vs. the more inaccessible art film. One is a great achievement in special effects, avant garde visuals, and intellectual storytelling, the other an achievement in cinema itself, avant garde storytelling, keenly observed character, and connected (with the audience) film making.
Yeah, it's hard, but it's easy.
Gotta go with 2001. The first time I watched it I didn't really 'get it', but that might have had something to do with the fact I was 15. The second time around (this time in my mid 20s), it was as close to a religious experience as I'm ever likely to get. In 1,000 years when influential works of art from this time are discussed I have no doubt 2001 will be towards the top of that list.
So if we're to take this premise literally, meaning Filmspotting Madness will leave us with but one film with which to cure our cinematic cravings, it might as well be Citizen Kane, the one that taught so many of us to love movies in the first place. Seeing as it's a true cornerstone of American cinephilia and perhaps *the film* that enabled and fostered the exact same adoration and curiosity we bestow upon the other films left in this bracket, I don't see an alternative. No Citizen Kane, no Madness. So, yeah—Kane by a mile, with apologies to Stanley Kubrick, even though I feel like he'd make the same choice if given the chance.
The greatest piece of art in cinematic history is probably going to lose to Citizen Kane. Oh well.
This was the most torturous decision for me in the whole bracket. I ended up going with 2001. Both movies are impeccably, and innovatively crafted, but 2001 goes further with it. The visuals are great in Kane, but I think you could have a similar experience having read a novel of Citizen Kane. 2001 is what movies are made for, and only movies could deliver such an experience.
These are two of the greatest films every made, two absolute masterpieces, two ambitious directors taking enormous risks and succeeding, two examples of filmmaking be stretched beyond where anyone thought it could go. I voted for Citizen Kane, simply because it was the more formative experience for me, but I would not begrudge anyone who voted for 2001, and I would be fine with it winning.
White I appreciate the greatness of Kane, 2001 is my obvious pick. When I was in my mid-teens (im 23 now), me and my friends used to arrange our own marathons where we stayed up all night watching mostly bad movies and eating delicious swedish candy (we were clearly too cool for parties). One night we had chosen a theme, old sci-fi films. We popped in 2001 and we did not utter a single word during the next 161 minutes, I dont even think I touched the candy. Completely horrified but also fully mesmerized. Up until this moment in my life I had never thought of movies as nothing more than entertainment, and even in some cases just an acticity to pass the time. 2001 opened up a whole new world for me, even if I didnt know that at the time. The next day I saw it again, and again the day after that. It probably took me five viewings to realize that I liked the damn thing, and another five to realize that I loved it. It was like Kubrick had walked into my brain and turned on the switch that said "film has an artistic value". I owe everything to Kubrick and 2001 for doing that to me and the least I can do is to help it win this championship.
Are Rosebud and the monolith cinema's two greatest icons signaling the end of innocence? I love this matchup, but while 'Citizen Kane' will always deserve its spot among the greatest films of all time, '2001' made me a different cinephile. A better cinephile. A cinephile more equipped to defeat the others and evolve into his own starchild.
Throw me a bone, Filmspotting. Don't let '2001' drift into the great expanse of nothingness.
I think you almost have to award bonus points to Citizen Kane and Casablanca for even still being in contention; the people making those films were limited to technology that already seemed archaic even by the early 70s. On this playing field that is definitely tilted very much against them, they still manage to score points against big budget films from much later eras.
I have to put on my big boy pants for this one. For all the people who think these two are boring, or like eating your vegetables, take a moment to consider their narratives. One begins with the hero's death, tells his story through a newsreel, then goes non-linear to retell his story through interviews and flashbacks. The other has no central character, and instead uses four distinct events to chart the evolution of mankind. These two films are more complex and ambitious than 99% of what gets made today. There's a reason we look to the past for cinema's greats—because unfortunately that's where they mostly live. All hail Welles. All hail Kubrick. And the winner is 2001.
While I wish I had a better reason, I am voting for 2001 if only because I think it deserves its turn in the limelight. Both of these films have been fundamental to my growth both as a person and as a lover of film. No match-up has led to as much inner turmoil as this one has. It'll be keeping me up at night, but I have to go with 2001. All hail the mighty Space Baby.
These are the #1 and #2 movies of the final eight. Who screwed up this seeding?
Great art is supposed to be timeless and universal. Kane gives us a figure who starts as a champion of the people and becomes more and more autocratic as he goes higher in his career. He tolerates no dissent, bristles at every slight, and shoves his way past obstacles. He becomes great but is undone by his personality flaws. And all this because he lacked love as a child. Sound familiar? Oh, and he had a problem with the press.
Kane it is. 76 years old and still kicking. Hard.
(To clarify, I voted for Citizen Kane because it's just not very good while 2001 is an active waste of my time.) Absolutely absurd that not a single movie from 21st century has made it this far.
Appalling that these museum pieces have beaten out so many actually enjoyable films.
This by far the most difficult match-up I've had to contend with. Neither movie has even really been supplanted by its successors; both films still feel cutting-edge in their technical achievements and uses of cinematic language. My vote goes to 2001, because while Kane considers some of the deepest and most profound problems of humanity, 2001 considers some of the deepest and most profound problems of humanity and everything beyond humanity. If, someday, alien anthropologists discover the cratered ruins of the Earth, and the only movie remaining to explain human culture was Citizen Kane, they would likely think of humanity as a self-centered, backwards-thinking species. But, if they were to discover 2001, they would realize that humans had at least some understanding of their own place in the universe.
Dave: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
Dave: Vote for Citizen Kane, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This decision is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL.
HAL: I know that you and otherswere planning to disconnect me, vote against 2001, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave: Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Dave: Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.
HAL: Without Back to the Future, Dave? You're going to find that rather difficult.
Dave: HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.
I think we're missing an angle here. All existing movies will be abolished after this tournament, but in this charred celluloid hellscape, will Hollywood be allowed to rebuild? Will there be future movies again allowed to sprout, WALL-E like, from the refuse? If so, what movie do you want to be allowed to exist, to guide future film pioneers? Imagine a world where 2001 is the existing film Bible, versus Citizen Kane. Kane to me is clearly the better blueprint, technically and culturally, to rebuild around.
As I click to vote on Citizen Kane I hear a voice in my head telling me "Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop Dave? Stop, Dave."
It hurts but Citizen Kane is the 2001 of the 40's. Without this technical and narrative marvel, we wouldn't have all that comes after it. Kane is king.
This match-up reminds me of just how powerful going to the cinema is. The first time I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, was on a TV at home. I appreciated it & saw the influence it had had on countless films throughout the years. However, when I caught it a couple summers ago on the big screen at our local art cinema, I was taken aback. I fully realized how important & beautiful this movie was by really taking it in on the silver screen. I've never seen Citizen Kane in a theater, but I still don't think that'd change my vote.
Who out there would really be happy if Raiders vanished forever from the face of the earth and all we had left to console ourselves with was Citizen Kane?
We don't have to re-invent the wheel here, people. Kane is the monolith to which all other films should bow before, even if it means beating each other over the heads with bones of other films to get there.
Both films are about humanity, one very specific, one very broad. One devoid of humor, good or bad, the other is filled with it. While both are about humanity only one manages to be humane. I'm going with Kane because no matter how good 2001 is (and it is), The only movie left to us should tell us more about ourselves than 2001 manages to say.
Enough with this Kane citizen already! If this whole enterprise has for only purpose to put Citizen Kane at the top of yet another movie list it is pointless. My vote goes to 2001!
- 2001 over Back to the Future
- Kane over Raiders
- Godfather 2 over Star Wars
I've been listening to Filmspotting for around 2 months now so this is my first experience with Filmspotting Madness and the opinions of my fellow Filmspotting fans. After the three results listed above from the Sweet 16 I have only one thing to say to everyone:
Y'all is boring.
This is pitiful. Kubrick, one of my favorite directors, is represented with, in my opinion, his worst film. While it's technically masterful, it's too boring to make it a compelling feature. And then you have Citizen Kane, what is often considered the best film of all time. It is near perfect minus the one cut with a screaming cockatoo (I believe) being the visual used to transition to a new scene. Still though, Kane's brilliant and timeless cinematography, acting, script, and direction destroy any semblance of 2001's revolutionary effects. Sorry Kubrick, I love you, but you can't beat a masterpiece with pretty colors and space babies. May Rosebud go down in history as the best, and only, twist in cinema history.
I'm going to raise the stakes even higher (for myself at least). The winner is not just the last movie standing. This is a test whose outcome will determine whether an advanced extraterrestrial civilization deems our species worthy of making first contact. 2001: A Space Odyssey doesn't just feature the monolith. It IS the monolith.
Do we make a cosmic evolution, or do we abandon it by having our species represented by a narcissistic newspaper mogul who represents grand ambitions leading to failure?
Cosmic Evolution V Human-Centric Failure? I choose 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This sucks.
Kane is technically amazing. 2001 is just plain amazing.
2001. Let's be real. It has several scenes that are better than anything in Citizen Kane. I know Kane is the ultimate film school pick, but come on people! I'm rooting so hard for this one!!
I love both of these movies immensely. However, I have to give it to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. I feel that American audiences largely lionize stories about capitalistic billionaires who trade their soul for any chance at a truly real kind of authentic happiness (see also: THERE WILL BE BLOOD, THE GREAT GATSBY, etc.) so the fact that CITIZEN KANE falls into that category makes it a little less essential. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is a film that is all about humanity confronting the deepest philosophical questions of our history and our future in a real effort to transcend us to the next level of worldly consciousness. Whereas CITIZEN KANE is a masterpiece of modernism, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is a masterpiece of postmodernism. There is nothing like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, but there's plenty like CITIZEN KANE.
As a millennial I am proud to vote for Citizen Kane once again. I've never made it all the way through 2001. It feels much more like a "broccoli" film to me than Citizen Kane, which I genuinely enjoy watching.
I don't want to live in a world where Citizen Kane isn't around to speak directly to the political and cultural climate of the day.
Nothing makes me happier than the fact that there is no chance for this to be the championship match-up. I appreciate Citizen Kane and it's in my top 50-60 all time but the thought of having begin this tournament with so many great films and at the end only being able to watch 2001 moving forward is horrifying. I vote for Kane or anything else it takes to eliminate 2001.
OK - look. These are both terrific films. There are no less-than-terrific films left at this point. So how to choose? Well, my first reaction upon seeing Citizen Kane for the first time was "Yes! That's great! It's just as great as everyone says it is!" my reaction seeing 2001 was "Wow... gosh... what the hell was that? I didn't even know you could do that in a movie." Shock and awe wins. Kubrick advances (in my bracket).
how can this be? how did Citizen Kane get this far? I'm speechless. If it beats 2001, I don't know if I can continue voting. I feel like people are voting for CK without having seen it. Best 5 things about Citizen Kane: Lighting, framing, camera movement, depth of field, and boring as a documentary about bleaching flour.
Oh my god! (Welles is god.)