As much as I have issues with 2001 space odyssey, it is a technical marvel for its time.

Same. I still appreciate modern effects tho but those old movies really impress me. Have you seen The Johnstown Flood? That one kinda blew my mind

I can still find modern special effects interesting enough if I find them aesthetically interesting – as though a lot of thought clearly went into them. I understand there were minimal hurdles to translating that vision to film, but it's the vision itself I appreciate.

I also definitely get the same feeling you do watching older films and especially stage plays, where the constraints of the medium make it even more impressive.

Precisely.

Part of the awe of watching movies (The so-called movie magic) is that at the same time as you're in awe of the film, there's a part of you in awe of how much collaborative work it took to create that stunt/effect/miniature, etc...

There's no magic anymore when one can just do the same thing in Blender at home if they had enough time to learn.

How do you feel about something like Fury Road, where they make a point of including practical effects?

Same. I watched Citizen Kane for the first time a year or two ago, and some of the shots blew my mind. Like how the fuck did he do some of that shit?

‘Man With a Movie Camera’ is great for this.