81 2001: a space odyssey

Mankind finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, artifact buried on the moon and, with the intelligent computer HAL, sets off on a quest.

"Open the pod bay doors, HAL." "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

This is a great movie for many reasons, HAL for one a great villian that you actually for some odd reason feel pity for. The other is the visual style of this movie. I particularly like the end in the white room. I like the white room scene a lot!
This is also a great movie to watch when looking for inspiration on using space and time not in the since of outer space but looking for elements in a movie or story where you just let the story breath and the audience take it all in, slowly, the oppisite of MTV. At any rate this is a great story and a great odyssey.