speaking of ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ Landmark’s website is advertising for it’s DC theaters that the film will be opening down at the Lincoln Theater (!?!) next Wednesday: “whAAAAt?!”
the only ‘War Horse’ DC engagement I see so far is over at Landmark Bethesda. I already saw ‘Hugo’ (in 3D and in 7.1 surround sound) anyway, so it’s a moot point for me. The Avalon doesn’t need 3D conversion but it’d be nice if they get a 4K DLP / 7.1 system to really push it toward’s state of the art status.
interesting to see the theatre desperately advertising ‘Hugo’ on it’s webpage as “Projected in glorious 35mm 2D” – obviously since Scorsese shot it in 3D. 35mm 2D might seem as a letdown. Shame that the Avalon was supposed to get both ‘The Descendants’ and ‘War Horse’ but didn’t – at least they successfully booked ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
they are also weighing in the cost/budget for the eventual digital conversion of both screens – sad but true, 35mm is on it’s last legs – and for one studio 2012 is the last year they will strike movies in film (35mm) print form
yet I’ve never had any (… any) problems with Cinemark’s Egyptian XD screen – every film I’ve seen there has been great – no issues with dodgy projection and the sound is top notch – if it just wasn’t so far away I’d frequent it a lot more. As for Henry Cavill, I think he’ll make a great Superman – can’t wait for that version of ‘Superman’
I might be a broken record on this subject but the ETX screen always seems to be problematic in one way or the other. The screening of ‘Immortals’ was downright embarrassing – for the first screening of the day on opening day, the projectionist was calibrating/ repositioning the dual projector system literally right in front of us the audience for a good fifteen minutes. For the first ten to fifteen minutes of the movie the projected image was doubling, then it was fixed by dimming the light output – eeesh, not good. The 7.1 sound flawless. Both ‘Immortals’ and ‘Hugo’ took fantastic advantage of the fact that the aspect ratio of both were 1.85 meaning that the image took up all the screen – floor to ceiling, wall to wall – one word: “wow!”. Now for ‘Hugo’ for the most part the image okay, bright, colorful, yet the bottom projector didn’t seem focused – which resulted in the image to look slightly fuzzy and less detailed – this was very evident in long distance shots. The film’s 7.1 soundmix on the other hand, again flawless – I hope the mix gets an Oscar nomination, it’s that good.
8K is closest to 70mm. 35mm is around 3.5K Personally I don’t see how 8K works on 2K systems since there are more pixels on the former than the 2K can actually produce, but that’s how it’s being shown at Seattle’s Cinerama. 4K can and does work for 70mm features, but really 6K, at the least, is adaquate to retain the resolution and clarity of 65mm photography.
@ GregF: The Cinerama’s facebook page denotes the projection at 2K. Why though Warner’s did not create a 4K DCP of ‘Ben Hur’ to take advantage of the film’s original 70mm photography is bewildering.
the only person that’s been commenting on the Uptown has been little ol' me :) Would it kill AMC to book and show the DCP of ‘Ben Hur’(recent 8K restoration) that was shown at the NYFF and Seattle Cinerama.
I assumed they were referring to the 8K restoration of the film, current digital projector are not able to output at 8K, the highest (at the moment) is 4K. Given that the Cinerama has installed a Christie Solaria (4K) projector this should look amazing.
‘Brothers Grimm’ I know was shown on MGM-HD – I didn’t see it, but I assume a film to hidef transfer been done. ZiegfeldMan: was ‘Ben Hur’ at Alice Tully Hall, DLP or actual 35mm?
that’s too bad about the audio – the only thing I noticed about the AFI Silver presentation was the dialogue in one scene veered off of the center channel – which is wasn’t supposed to do
I really really do not understand why AMC can’t book the alternate programming that other theaters seem to get – the biggest head scratcher is that the rerelease digital presentation of ‘Ghostbusters’ should be on the huge Uptown screen, since well, it’s initial DC engagement was here … and in 70mm no less.
it’s 7.1 but not Dolby. Cinemark’s XD screen is also 7.1 but also not Dolby installed/certified. I saw ‘Lion King’ (3D) on the ETX screen – and wow, what a disappointment – the 3D was mediocre, but the audio, notably the bass was practically non-existent. The presentation of ‘The Phantom of the Opera Live from Royal Albert Hall’ was another instance where the audio was terrible – not AMC’s fault – but nearly all the sound came from the left speaker – the surrounds were only used for the audience clapping and one instance where the Phantom’s voice comes from the rear.
@ Bill – the extra instruments are helped a lot by the addition of the two extra front speakers – wish more ‘newer’ musicals were mixed as such – resurrect SDDS 8-channel sound !!
I think the industry wants theaters to make the conversion, but it’s interesting that Landmark Theaters specifically it’s cash cow location – Bethesda Maryland has NOT changed over from 35mm. The AFI Silver likewise favours 35mm, even though all three screens have DLP. The Avalon projects DVDs once in awhile but again, being an non-profit theater – it books almost exclusively 35mm.
@ aabner – the Embassy is now the AED Globe Theater, I isn’t going to happen but I wish CVS would leave the McArther location and convert it back to a theater – what a loss for that neighborhood. I hadn’t realized that the building was up ‘For Sale’ til I drove by it this afternoon – there are a lot of stores that closed in that neck of Wisconsin Ave. it’s really sad. Know anyone would be interested in converting it back to a theater ?? I’d help.
apparently the restoration done on the bluray edition of ‘Ben Hur’ is having a digital projection presentation at the Alice Tully Hall this coming Saturday (as part of the New York Film Festival) – October 1st.
I thought the surround sound was tad better than the film quality – but not by that much. The image was bright, with dark blacks and had vibrant colors. The surrounds never sounded subdued – when ‘Master Control’ was derezzing at the finale, the soundlevel was escalating to a spectacular noisey explosion. For a 11:45pm movie on a Friday night though, the audience was very low – which was unfortunate.
speaking of ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ Landmark’s website is advertising for it’s DC theaters that the film will be opening down at the Lincoln Theater (!?!) next Wednesday: “whAAAAt?!”
the only ‘War Horse’ DC engagement I see so far is over at Landmark Bethesda. I already saw ‘Hugo’ (in 3D and in 7.1 surround sound) anyway, so it’s a moot point for me. The Avalon doesn’t need 3D conversion but it’d be nice if they get a 4K DLP / 7.1 system to really push it toward’s state of the art status.
interesting to see the theatre desperately advertising ‘Hugo’ on it’s webpage as “Projected in glorious 35mm 2D” – obviously since Scorsese shot it in 3D. 35mm 2D might seem as a letdown. Shame that the Avalon was supposed to get both ‘The Descendants’ and ‘War Horse’ but didn’t – at least they successfully booked ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
they are also weighing in the cost/budget for the eventual digital conversion of both screens – sad but true, 35mm is on it’s last legs – and for one studio 2012 is the last year they will strike movies in film (35mm) print form
yet I’ve never had any (… any) problems with Cinemark’s Egyptian XD screen – every film I’ve seen there has been great – no issues with dodgy projection and the sound is top notch – if it just wasn’t so far away I’d frequent it a lot more. As for Henry Cavill, I think he’ll make a great Superman – can’t wait for that version of ‘Superman’
I might be a broken record on this subject but the ETX screen always seems to be problematic in one way or the other. The screening of ‘Immortals’ was downright embarrassing – for the first screening of the day on opening day, the projectionist was calibrating/ repositioning the dual projector system literally right in front of us the audience for a good fifteen minutes. For the first ten to fifteen minutes of the movie the projected image was doubling, then it was fixed by dimming the light output – eeesh, not good. The 7.1 sound flawless. Both ‘Immortals’ and ‘Hugo’ took fantastic advantage of the fact that the aspect ratio of both were 1.85 meaning that the image took up all the screen – floor to ceiling, wall to wall – one word: “wow!”. Now for ‘Hugo’ for the most part the image okay, bright, colorful, yet the bottom projector didn’t seem focused – which resulted in the image to look slightly fuzzy and less detailed – this was very evident in long distance shots. The film’s 7.1 soundmix on the other hand, again flawless – I hope the mix gets an Oscar nomination, it’s that good.
8K is closest to 70mm. 35mm is around 3.5K Personally I don’t see how 8K works on 2K systems since there are more pixels on the former than the 2K can actually produce, but that’s how it’s being shown at Seattle’s Cinerama. 4K can and does work for 70mm features, but really 6K, at the least, is adaquate to retain the resolution and clarity of 65mm photography.
I actually liked these theaters. Too bad, Landmark didn’t convert it to play the foreign, independent films that AMC doesn’t book at the Mall.
@ GregF: The Cinerama’s facebook page denotes the projection at 2K. Why though Warner’s did not create a 4K DCP of ‘Ben Hur’ to take advantage of the film’s original 70mm photography is bewildering.
the only person that’s been commenting on the Uptown has been little ol' me :) Would it kill AMC to book and show the DCP of ‘Ben Hur’(recent 8K restoration) that was shown at the NYFF and Seattle Cinerama.
I assumed they were referring to the 8K restoration of the film, current digital projector are not able to output at 8K, the highest (at the moment) is 4K. Given that the Cinerama has installed a Christie Solaria (4K) projector this should look amazing.
‘Brothers Grimm’ I know was shown on MGM-HD – I didn’t see it, but I assume a film to hidef transfer been done. ZiegfeldMan: was ‘Ben Hur’ at Alice Tully Hall, DLP or actual 35mm?
wasn’t the New York City Film Festival screening of ‘Ben Hur’ a 4K DLP digital presentation? or was it 35mm – I assumed it was the former.
a Fanthom event ?? oh those screenings looks like crap. This event should be a full blown 4K presentation like the recent ‘Taxi Driver’s’ screenings
that’s too bad about the audio – the only thing I noticed about the AFI Silver presentation was the dialogue in one scene veered off of the center channel – which is wasn’t supposed to do
I really really do not understand why AMC can’t book the alternate programming that other theaters seem to get – the biggest head scratcher is that the rerelease digital presentation of ‘Ghostbusters’ should be on the huge Uptown screen, since well, it’s initial DC engagement was here … and in 70mm no less.
it’s 7.1 but not Dolby. Cinemark’s XD screen is also 7.1 but also not Dolby installed/certified. I saw ‘Lion King’ (3D) on the ETX screen – and wow, what a disappointment – the 3D was mediocre, but the audio, notably the bass was practically non-existent. The presentation of ‘The Phantom of the Opera Live from Royal Albert Hall’ was another instance where the audio was terrible – not AMC’s fault – but nearly all the sound came from the left speaker – the surrounds were only used for the audience clapping and one instance where the Phantom’s voice comes from the rear.
@ Bill – the extra instruments are helped a lot by the addition of the two extra front speakers – wish more ‘newer’ musicals were mixed as such – resurrect SDDS 8-channel sound !!
I think the industry wants theaters to make the conversion, but it’s interesting that Landmark Theaters specifically it’s cash cow location – Bethesda Maryland has NOT changed over from 35mm. The AFI Silver likewise favours 35mm, even though all three screens have DLP. The Avalon projects DVDs once in awhile but again, being an non-profit theater – it books almost exclusively 35mm.
@ aabner – the Embassy is now the AED Globe Theater, I isn’t going to happen but I wish CVS would leave the McArther location and convert it back to a theater – what a loss for that neighborhood. I hadn’t realized that the building was up ‘For Sale’ til I drove by it this afternoon – there are a lot of stores that closed in that neck of Wisconsin Ave. it’s really sad. Know anyone would be interested in converting it back to a theater ?? I’d help.
apparently the restoration done on the bluray edition of ‘Ben Hur’ is having a digital projection presentation at the Alice Tully Hall this coming Saturday (as part of the New York Film Festival) – October 1st.
I thought the best alternative programming this year was the presentation of ‘Stephen Sondheim’s Company’
I thought the surround sound was tad better than the film quality – but not by that much. The image was bright, with dark blacks and had vibrant colors. The surrounds never sounded subdued – when ‘Master Control’ was derezzing at the finale, the soundlevel was escalating to a spectacular noisey explosion. For a 11:45pm movie on a Friday night though, the audience was very low – which was unfortunate.
saw ‘Tron’ last Friday in 70mm and wow! it both looked and sounded great!
for last night’s first screening of ‘Stephen Sondheim’s Company’ they used the screen curtains at the intermission – thumbs up!