Next Saturday a local arthouse movie theatre is airing it so I'll be seeing it on the big screen, which is a treat I can hardly wait for; I should freeze myself in a glacier in order for the week and a half to pass faster. I missed it four years ago and fate has kindly allowed me another opportunity to see it in such a venue.
Never read the books, save the first chapters of the second to pass the time in a location where it happened to be laying about. It is my understanding that the books are Arthur C. Clarke's vision whereas the movie is really Kubrick's baby. For instance, apparently it is explained in the books that HAL receives contradictory orders and that leads to his breakdown, a quintessential human computer error and not the fault of the machine. However Kubrick's intention was to show that with the development of intelligence also comes the possibility of madness, of which HAL succumbs to. I do agree that the basic understanding of the plot - man as an animal, prey even, given the ability to make tools by the monoliths, fast forwarding to the point where man has reached the apex of what tools can bring him, and so the monoliths come again to further advance mankind - really aids in the appreciation of the picture. Damn, I can't wait, I go now to pace.
Part of the reason I haven't read the books or watched the second movie yet is that I don't want to pollute my mind with its interpretation. Not sure if I'll change that position after I re see the film.