What concerns me about the Senator survival is the mention of mainstream programming at this Landmark. They should stick to their usual art house fare. If the Senator ever closes becuase of Landmark, I’ll never patronize them again, even if they’re the only place in town booking exclusives.
Last night, my friend and I attended the 8:30pm show of Blade Runner. I printed several copies of Bill’s Clearview coupon and presented it to the cashier, who looked at it with some puzzlement. I had a fleeting fear that she was going to accuse me of fraudulent coupon manufacturing in spite of my best efforts at tweaking settings on my Phaser color laser printer :) But she took it and discounted our tickets. Thanks, again Bill! We arrived before 8pm to a sparsely filled theater that eventually filled up to probably 75% of capacity by showtime. When the ticket taker took our tickets, I made it a point to him that we drove 235 miles to see this movie in “your magnificent theater” and expect the film to be played loud and to not disappoint us. He smiled and said “don’t worry, it will be played loud.”
The house lights dimmed, the curtain closed and opened and the show began with the Ladd company logo, to the applause of the audience. They forgot to play that wonderful Dolby Digital Cinema 5-4-3-2-1 trailer that I love and remember at this theater.
Oh well. Back to the movie. The restoration effort yielded quite an impressive presentation from the simple but bright white title credits to the excellent visual FX work by Doug Trumbull’s EEG facility. Now tell me why, why on earth that little movie about a caca looking alien WON 1982’s Oscar for Visual FX over this film just boggles my mind. The LA landscape, dark, murky depressing with those Egyptian-inspired superskyscrapers and those cool looking spinner cars!
Not to be nitpicky, but I did notice a ‘hiccup’ or sorts (I’m trying to remember now writing this after having only 2 hrs sleep in the last 30 hrs) in the scene preceding Deckard’s initial encounter with Rachel. It was sustainable enough to notice and at second thought, I thought it may have been an intentional subliminal message :) (Buy more Clearview popcorn and soda maybe?) Towards the end, at the bottom of the screen, I could see some spotting. Probably most will not notice. Perhaps it was the projector and not the transfer, itself.
In the interrogation scene, based on my recollection from previous viewings, what I believed to be the replicant give away was the way its pupils reflected off of indirect light. A reddish hue? In the Final Cut, Rachel’s eyes don’t have that give away. They’re just natural color.
Overall, I thorougly enjoyed the movie again. Having not seen it in 70mm during its initial run does not give me proper reference to compare the ‘experience.’ Knowing that the FX were shot in 65mm does give credence that the 70mm cut would be superior though. The audience enjoyed the presentation, too, as applause went up as the credits rolled. It was interesting to hear discussion of the movie by patrons filing out. As I mentioned in a previous post, it would have been great to have a moderated discussion by a production person with the movie, or even a local movie critic, or maybe even a well spoken cinephile on this film. As we exited the theater, the ushers thanked everyone for coming, to which I thanked them for a great time at the movies.
If members are allowed to put in lousy shoebox multiplexes, why not an IMAX? It seems whatever the favorite theater is a member favorite gets added. Oh well. Well done, Howard. You deserve at least a free movie pass and popcorn. :)
My last time seeing Blade Runner (director’s cut) was at DC’s Uptown in ‘91 or so. I hope the presentation is nice and loud. When I saw Revenge of the Sith here in '05, it was a weekday matinee and it was PLENTY LOUD for the handful of patrons that were there and I loved it. It had the best presentation of that movie bar none, digital or the select EK vision premier print they supposedly had at the Senator.
For the purists who know, or for those who have seen the movie on video AFTER seeing this new cut, what are the differences other than what has been mentioned so far?
From prior listings, I believe have at least two auditoriums equipped for digital projection. Whether or not they are of the new Sony 4K variety is not known. I’ve had the privilege of attending many free screenings here as a part of their E Movie Club. The screens, seats and auditorium sizes are decent enough and expectations aren’t really that high given the type of programming they have here. You aren’t going to see Lawrence of Arabia or 2001 here in 70mm. My only complaint with the place is the fact that the restrooms are far away from the auditoriums to where you enter the downstairs entrance.
Less competition is NOT good. While I’ve never visited Cinema Arts, I do see their showtimes in the paper and have visited their website. By the number of shows they have 5-6, they MUST be doing well in comparison to the rest given the fact that 4 showings is the norm for many movies.
I know I posted a comment about this a few years ago, but I’ll repost it again.
My first experience with the IMAX 3D was with this dinosaur film back in 1997. There was a brief intro about the special glasses that are cleaned their in house. The film, itself, reminded me a little of Jurassic Park, of course, but I don’t recall that it was a dino chaser-type of movie. I believe it was more of a National Geographic-type historical look at them in the museum and back in the day.
The next time I was here was to see later that year (or was it ‘98) to watch “Meet Joe Black” which we were late to see because we could not decide what to see. Trivial, yes, but what I do remember of that showing was that we got split up and I had to sit by myself way in the front next to two guys making out with a rose stem sticking out of the cup holder next to me.
Nooooooooo! I hope not. Shirlington, at least to me, seems like its better situated. They just built a whole new living complex of apartments, condos and shops. I haven’t been to Shirlington since Jan but the place was rather packed then. It would be a shame if they closed it, but the fact is there isn’t much competition for that type of programming within 10-15 miles.
Since the other closed venues are retail outlets, at least the Embassy has a chance of coming back. If they had programming like San Francisco’s Castro, I’m sure this would have been more successful.
At least the Embassy is still there (for now) with a possibility of coming back as a theater. I thought the Visions Bistro was a good idea even though I visited the place once or twice.
With the two nearby Landmarks and the Shirlington across the river, I think there’s enough screen coverage for independent films. Besides, the screens at Dupont weren’t special to begin with anyway.
What happened to the other comments that were on this page? I know I wrote at least ONE here.
To be honest, I never enjoyed coming to this place as the theaters were probably the smallest anywhere. The first time I saw a film here was to see one or Margaret Cho’s concert movies, which drew a sold out crowd and was enjoyed by all. The theater had stereo speakers around the auditorium but there was no sense of the filmed theater’s ambience or echo reproduced for the movie. It wasn’t much more enjoyable than watching it at home. The last time I saw a movie was when Jerry Seinfeld did a movie of his stand-up routines back in ‘02 or '03.
While it is always sad to lose a theater that has been around, I don’t think I’ll be missing this one when it goes but I do feel for the surrounding community that regularly patronized it.
I’m a little lost about how websites earn money with the clicks but can you enlighten us as to how the ads will benefit CT? I’m guessing you get paid ¢ per click. If that’s the case, then for those of us who can’t contribute a lot, can just click on all the hyperlinks to generate more $ for the site.
I don’t think so. The Crown Theater website still has showtimes listed for today. From the looks of it, they have state-of-the art projection, THX cert and sound. If the theater has been close “for a year” then who is operating it then?
This is great news. Now is this the old 2K projection or a will they employ the newer 4K one? Either way, it looks I’ll be trekking up to NYC sometime during its run.
Not to go off topic, again, but we should clarify that THX isn’t a sound system, per se, but standards set to ensure that a theater reproduces sound heard by patrons the way the original film’s sound engineer intended them to be heard. These include things like speaker placement, air conditioning duct placement, wiring standards and so on and so forth.
A theater with Digital Sound (DTS, Dolby Digital, EX, SDDS) with THX certification is the superior and preferred venue for me and cinephiles alike. Bleh. Cinephiles..almost sounds dirty doesn’t it? Like pedophile. Movie connesuer? I don’t know, but you understand what I’m saying. :)
When I saw “Underdog” at the AMC Hoffman in Alexandria, VA, they have a wonderful and very bright DLP set up there and they played the trailer there. Its probably the brightest picture I’ve seen so far in the DC Metro area, but I have yet to experience some of the new DP installs in a few other places.
Lorenzo, if you’re the Manager of a theater, why not turn down the volume then? Then you’d have people like me complaining that its not loud enough. :) I suppose its a never ending situation. Not sure what to say. Sorry.
Okay okay. Come to think of it, the floor space that is there now could well have massive storage space behind and beyond it to where the actual seats and screen were. Much like the KB MacArthur/CVS layout is today.
I’m wondering if this theater had a second level that was large enough to have a small balcony like the MacArthur eventually had when it was triplexed in ‘83.
Lorenzo, out of curiosity, have you approached management about your issue with the trailer/movie loudness? If so, what has been their response? And how frequently do you actually go see movies in a theater?
I go to at least one movie a week, if not more, depending on what is out there, who goes with me and where and the time of the year. To be honest, I look forward to previews more so than sometimes the very movie I paid money to see. For the most part, I think trailers are themselves an art form because you have to sell your movie by condensing the final product into a minute or sometimes less depending on what stage the movie is in production.
As far as your hearing loss, I’m sorry to hear that you chose to go almost deaf by playing loud music during your youth. If the sound levels in movies are bothering you now, may I suggest ear plugs be worn so that other patrons, like myself and TheaterBuff can enjoy our loud previews, the loud but tonal varied and superb THX Sound trailer, the equally loud DLP and Qualcomm trailers and, finally, the featured movie presentation.
“Loud” is subjective. For some it may be just right especially to getting those chatterbugs to be quiet before the movie starts. You know to whom I refer to and there’s almost at least one in every theater and at every showing. With the proliferation of pre-show ads, they can play them softly since most patrons may not pay attention to them anyway. Then when the previews start, crank it up. If the theater is state-of-the-art with DP and/or THX, let them crank it up to show off the theater’s capabilities.
What concerns me about the Senator survival is the mention of mainstream programming at this Landmark. They should stick to their usual art house fare. If the Senator ever closes becuase of Landmark, I’ll never patronize them again, even if they’re the only place in town booking exclusives.
Last night, my friend and I attended the 8:30pm show of Blade Runner. I printed several copies of Bill’s Clearview coupon and presented it to the cashier, who looked at it with some puzzlement. I had a fleeting fear that she was going to accuse me of fraudulent coupon manufacturing in spite of my best efforts at tweaking settings on my Phaser color laser printer :) But she took it and discounted our tickets. Thanks, again Bill! We arrived before 8pm to a sparsely filled theater that eventually filled up to probably 75% of capacity by showtime. When the ticket taker took our tickets, I made it a point to him that we drove 235 miles to see this movie in “your magnificent theater” and expect the film to be played loud and to not disappoint us. He smiled and said “don’t worry, it will be played loud.”
The house lights dimmed, the curtain closed and opened and the show began with the Ladd company logo, to the applause of the audience. They forgot to play that wonderful Dolby Digital Cinema 5-4-3-2-1 trailer that I love and remember at this theater.
Oh well. Back to the movie. The restoration effort yielded quite an impressive presentation from the simple but bright white title credits to the excellent visual FX work by Doug Trumbull’s EEG facility. Now tell me why, why on earth that little movie about a caca looking alien WON 1982’s Oscar for Visual FX over this film just boggles my mind. The LA landscape, dark, murky depressing with those Egyptian-inspired superskyscrapers and those cool looking spinner cars!
Not to be nitpicky, but I did notice a ‘hiccup’ or sorts (I’m trying to remember now writing this after having only 2 hrs sleep in the last 30 hrs) in the scene preceding Deckard’s initial encounter with Rachel. It was sustainable enough to notice and at second thought, I thought it may have been an intentional subliminal message :) (Buy more Clearview popcorn and soda maybe?) Towards the end, at the bottom of the screen, I could see some spotting. Probably most will not notice. Perhaps it was the projector and not the transfer, itself.
In the interrogation scene, based on my recollection from previous viewings, what I believed to be the replicant give away was the way its pupils reflected off of indirect light. A reddish hue? In the Final Cut, Rachel’s eyes don’t have that give away. They’re just natural color.
Overall, I thorougly enjoyed the movie again. Having not seen it in 70mm during its initial run does not give me proper reference to compare the ‘experience.’ Knowing that the FX were shot in 65mm does give credence that the 70mm cut would be superior though. The audience enjoyed the presentation, too, as applause went up as the credits rolled. It was interesting to hear discussion of the movie by patrons filing out. As I mentioned in a previous post, it would have been great to have a moderated discussion by a production person with the movie, or even a local movie critic, or maybe even a well spoken cinephile on this film. As we exited the theater, the ushers thanked everyone for coming, to which I thanked them for a great time at the movies.
If members are allowed to put in lousy shoebox multiplexes, why not an IMAX? It seems whatever the favorite theater is a member favorite gets added. Oh well. Well done, Howard. You deserve at least a free movie pass and popcorn. :)
My last time seeing Blade Runner (director’s cut) was at DC’s Uptown in ‘91 or so. I hope the presentation is nice and loud. When I saw Revenge of the Sith here in '05, it was a weekday matinee and it was PLENTY LOUD for the handful of patrons that were there and I loved it. It had the best presentation of that movie bar none, digital or the select EK vision premier print they supposedly had at the Senator.
For the purists who know, or for those who have seen the movie on video AFTER seeing this new cut, what are the differences other than what has been mentioned so far?
$2 off! Wow, that will help offset the cost of gas from DC :) Hey, every little bit helps. I’m looking forward to a screening Monday.
From prior listings, I believe have at least two auditoriums equipped for digital projection. Whether or not they are of the new Sony 4K variety is not known. I’ve had the privilege of attending many free screenings here as a part of their E Movie Club. The screens, seats and auditorium sizes are decent enough and expectations aren’t really that high given the type of programming they have here. You aren’t going to see Lawrence of Arabia or 2001 here in 70mm. My only complaint with the place is the fact that the restrooms are far away from the auditoriums to where you enter the downstairs entrance.
Less competition is NOT good. While I’ve never visited Cinema Arts, I do see their showtimes in the paper and have visited their website. By the number of shows they have 5-6, they MUST be doing well in comparison to the rest given the fact that 4 showings is the norm for many movies.
One of the theatres was 70mm capable.
I know I posted a comment about this a few years ago, but I’ll repost it again.
My first experience with the IMAX 3D was with this dinosaur film back in 1997. There was a brief intro about the special glasses that are cleaned their in house. The film, itself, reminded me a little of Jurassic Park, of course, but I don’t recall that it was a dino chaser-type of movie. I believe it was more of a National Geographic-type historical look at them in the museum and back in the day.
The next time I was here was to see later that year (or was it ‘98) to watch “Meet Joe Black” which we were late to see because we could not decide what to see. Trivial, yes, but what I do remember of that showing was that we got split up and I had to sit by myself way in the front next to two guys making out with a rose stem sticking out of the cup holder next to me.
Nooooooooo! I hope not. Shirlington, at least to me, seems like its better situated. They just built a whole new living complex of apartments, condos and shops. I haven’t been to Shirlington since Jan but the place was rather packed then. It would be a shame if they closed it, but the fact is there isn’t much competition for that type of programming within 10-15 miles.
Since the other closed venues are retail outlets, at least the Embassy has a chance of coming back. If they had programming like San Francisco’s Castro, I’m sure this would have been more successful.
At least the Embassy is still there (for now) with a possibility of coming back as a theater. I thought the Visions Bistro was a good idea even though I visited the place once or twice.
With the two nearby Landmarks and the Shirlington across the river, I think there’s enough screen coverage for independent films. Besides, the screens at Dupont weren’t special to begin with anyway.
What happened to the other comments that were on this page? I know I wrote at least ONE here.
To be honest, I never enjoyed coming to this place as the theaters were probably the smallest anywhere. The first time I saw a film here was to see one or Margaret Cho’s concert movies, which drew a sold out crowd and was enjoyed by all. The theater had stereo speakers around the auditorium but there was no sense of the filmed theater’s ambience or echo reproduced for the movie. It wasn’t much more enjoyable than watching it at home. The last time I saw a movie was when Jerry Seinfeld did a movie of his stand-up routines back in ‘02 or '03.
While it is always sad to lose a theater that has been around, I don’t think I’ll be missing this one when it goes but I do feel for the surrounding community that regularly patronized it.
I’m a little lost about how websites earn money with the clicks but can you enlighten us as to how the ads will benefit CT? I’m guessing you get paid ¢ per click. If that’s the case, then for those of us who can’t contribute a lot, can just click on all the hyperlinks to generate more $ for the site.
I don’t think so. The Crown Theater website still has showtimes listed for today. From the looks of it, they have state-of-the art projection, THX cert and sound. If the theater has been close “for a year” then who is operating it then?
This is great news. Now is this the old 2K projection or a will they employ the newer 4K one? Either way, it looks I’ll be trekking up to NYC sometime during its run.
Not to go off topic, again, but we should clarify that THX isn’t a sound system, per se, but standards set to ensure that a theater reproduces sound heard by patrons the way the original film’s sound engineer intended them to be heard. These include things like speaker placement, air conditioning duct placement, wiring standards and so on and so forth.
A theater with Digital Sound (DTS, Dolby Digital, EX, SDDS) with THX certification is the superior and preferred venue for me and cinephiles alike. Bleh. Cinephiles..almost sounds dirty doesn’t it? Like pedophile. Movie connesuer? I don’t know, but you understand what I’m saying. :)
Now why can’t AFI on the East Coast do something similar? You West Coasters have all the fun! WAAAAAAA! Something isn’t right here. :)
When I saw “Underdog” at the AMC Hoffman in Alexandria, VA, they have a wonderful and very bright DLP set up there and they played the trailer there. Its probably the brightest picture I’ve seen so far in the DC Metro area, but I have yet to experience some of the new DP installs in a few other places.
Lorenzo, if you’re the Manager of a theater, why not turn down the volume then? Then you’d have people like me complaining that its not loud enough. :) I suppose its a never ending situation. Not sure what to say. Sorry.
$25 is on its way. :) Sorry, I can’t do more but hey, that’s like 2 movie tickets and a soda!
Okay okay. Come to think of it, the floor space that is there now could well have massive storage space behind and beyond it to where the actual seats and screen were. Much like the KB MacArthur/CVS layout is today.
I’m wondering if this theater had a second level that was large enough to have a small balcony like the MacArthur eventually had when it was triplexed in ‘83.
There are bad neighborhoods everywhere. That doesn’t mean there couldn’t be one here.
Lorenzo, out of curiosity, have you approached management about your issue with the trailer/movie loudness? If so, what has been their response? And how frequently do you actually go see movies in a theater?
I go to at least one movie a week, if not more, depending on what is out there, who goes with me and where and the time of the year. To be honest, I look forward to previews more so than sometimes the very movie I paid money to see. For the most part, I think trailers are themselves an art form because you have to sell your movie by condensing the final product into a minute or sometimes less depending on what stage the movie is in production.
As far as your hearing loss, I’m sorry to hear that you chose to go almost deaf by playing loud music during your youth. If the sound levels in movies are bothering you now, may I suggest ear plugs be worn so that other patrons, like myself and TheaterBuff can enjoy our loud previews, the loud but tonal varied and superb THX Sound trailer, the equally loud DLP and Qualcomm trailers and, finally, the featured movie presentation.
“Loud” is subjective. For some it may be just right especially to getting those chatterbugs to be quiet before the movie starts. You know to whom I refer to and there’s almost at least one in every theater and at every showing. With the proliferation of pre-show ads, they can play them softly since most patrons may not pay attention to them anyway. Then when the previews start, crank it up. If the theater is state-of-the-art with DP and/or THX, let them crank it up to show off the theater’s capabilities.