2001: A Space Odyssey (film) its initial release. "2001: A Space Odyssey" is now considered one of the major artistic works of the 20th century, with many critics and filmmakers considering it Kubrick's masterpiece. Director Martin Scorsese has listed it as one of his favourite films of all time. In the 1980s, critic David Denby compared Kubrick to the monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey", calling him "a force of supernatural intelligence, appearing at great intervals amid high-pitched shrieks, who gives the world a violent kick up the next rung of the evolutionary ladder". Poet and critic Dan Schneider wrote that "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey "The cyclical evolution from ape to man to spaceman to angel-starchild-superman is complete". The monolith appears four times in "2001: A Space Odyssey": on the African savanna, on the moon, in space orbiting Jupiter, and near Bowman's bed before his transformation. After the first encounter with the monolith, we see the leader of the apes have a quick flashback to the monolith after which he picks up a bone and uses it to smash other bones. Its usage as a weapon enables his tribe to defeat the other tribe of apes occupying the water hole who have not learned how