I'm stuck in bed the next 4-5 days. Help craft my journey into a deeper appreciation of film.

UPDATE: Just watched 2001. So I have a question... Do I just fail completely at this whole "better appreciating film" quest if I flat out hated that movie? I mean to the point where it made me frustrated that I was watching it, numerous times?

I don't think it's necessarily that I don't like or "get" Kubrick. Tree of Life is one of my favorite movies. I am more than capable of appreciating the monument to special effects this was for 1968. Its projection techniques, all the spaceships, scientific accuracy (or at least relative to 1968), Carl Sagan-approved alien dominoes, etc. I can appreciate using limited dialogue to tell a story. And that it skirted around practically every major tradition of then-modern film making. I can appreciate that this movie, for nearly every objective reason you could possibly think of, was not only groundbreaking, but one that has lent itself to every major science fiction film since.

I still hated watching it. There was never anything to attach on to. As soon as we got the vibe and reason of one set piece, it was on to the next. The only remotely intriguing character is HAL, who doesn't even matter to the overall "plot" of this two and a half hour long movie. I say "plot" because there really isn't one; Kubrick wanted to break convention so badly, as I said, there was nothing to grasp onto. Dave had the emotional range of a peanut. He was basically a hollow shell of a thing to make dance, because from what I could tell, Kubrick wanted to DO COOL THINGS more than he wanted to TELL A STORY.

Kubrick's obsession with showing certain mundane, totally unnecessary scenes in real time is one of the most infuriating experiences I've ever sat through. And it's not for a lack of patience; if something interesting is happening, I'll watch it for 12 hours. But ask me to sit here listening to breathing sounds for five minutes while this space pod literally just turns around and docks the entire time? No. Not when he just skirts by major moments, like Frank being knocked into space. How did it happen? I DONT KNOW, I WAS TOO BUSY WATCHING PAINT DRY FOR THE LAST 14 MINUTES!

Sorry for the rant. I just honestly haven't been this upset by watching a movie before.

/r/TrueFilm Thread