2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick's milestone sci-fi epic is often obscure, sometimes tedious but never less than visually impressive. From the opening sequence in which prehistoric man learns to use a bone as a weapon to the breathtaking struggle on board a spaceship between astronaut Keir Dullea and rogue computer HAL (voiced by Douglas Rain), this is a long and confusing ride. Punctuated by glorious classical music, 2001 asks more questions than it answers and the ending is infuriatingly ambiguous - but for all its arty pretensions, this is still a mesmerising piece of cinema which was three years in the making. William Sylvester and Leonard Rossiter co-star. The sequel, 2010, followed in 1984