AFI Silver Theatre

I should have written that Ryans Daughter and Cheyenne Autumn were shown in English but with Swedish subtitles. Googling, I don’t see any other prints reveal themselves as being shown anywhere so I’m going to guess the AFI Silver simply didn’t bother to list it that way?

AFI’s 80’s film retrospective line up looks good. They’ve got “Batman”, “Star Trek IV”, “Willow” and “Temple of Doom”, but not one in 70mm. I remember seeing/experiencing all of those in 70mm. The surround track during Doom’s Thuggee sacrifice sequence..the time warp surround in Trek IV..the siamese dragon fire coming at, through and behind you from Willow and James Horner’s playful, heroic score. Batman, I don’t remember anything grand, except for the loudness of the Batmobile in motion and the Prince track.

They’ve got “Lawrence of Arabia” in 70mm, once again. One would think they’d book 2001 again, too, but maybe the 4K version coming later may be worth waiting for.

If they can get them.. ‘The Untouchables’ in 70mm would be great, “Gandhi” is epic with its real crowd scenes of thousands. ‘Top Gun’ would be great, too, but they’ve got it in digital. Hopefully, the transfer is good and they play it up loud. The beginning sequence with the jets taking off, Giorgio Moroder’s score transitioning to Kenny Loggins' ‘Danger Zone’ was sooooo awesome.

The calendar shows they are booking 1984’s ‘Starman’ in 70mm in March. Of many of that year’s films, this wasn’t really a favorite. I saw it in 35mm at the now closed College Park theater and fell asleep during it. My sleeping during part of the movie had more to do with the fact I worked the night before and my friend kept begging me to drive him to catch a matinee. I remember the reviews of the movie being similar to ET but for grown ups. Let’s hope the presentation yields something more memorable than the other 70mm films shown here of late.

Having glanced at the October calendar, it appears they have booked a 70mm print of ‘Ghostbusters.’ As often as I have complained about proper surrounds..I remember seeing this at the Uptown in ‘84 when it opened and there is a really cool..scary scene when the Ghostbusters come upon a 'librarian’ who does not ‘know’ she is dead and tries to shush our heroes into silence. They cut to the jabbering heroes and in the next cut we see the librarian turn from an old marm to a skeletal ghost. The accompanying sound effect is part subwoofer and growl for like 2 seconds that is surround..and out our heroes go scrambling away in fright!

I’m going to make plans to see the movie and if they play the sound all up front like they have and this scene is ruined, I’m going to complain.

My brother and I watched “Closed Circuit” yesterday afternoon in #3. Although advertised on the website as a DCP (and the trailers were digital), we were pleasantly surprised when the feature itself turned out to be a 35mm print.

what a surprise yesterday afternoon to see ‘The Last Unicorn’ not only in DCP (on screen 2) but to get to meet author/screenwriter Peter S. Beagle in person. The presentation while advertised as a 35mm print turned out to be an actual DCP – the Park Circus logo was the immediate indication the literal second it displayed on screen. The colors looked fantastic, slight cel imperfections were retained and not scrubbed, DNR’d to death in typical Disney Home Video fashion (i.e, the current ‘The Sword and the Stone’ bluray is a primer on how the DNR transfer can destroy the original film look and create a flawed ‘video’ presentation). The 5.1 mix was equally impressive, notably in it’s wide dynamic range. It also came in great play when ever Schmendrick used his magical power, sound would swirl into the surrounds.

Enjoyed today a beautiful print (4k DCP) of restored Hello Dolly! at AFI Silver in auditorium 2 since aud 1 not yet DCP equipped. Curtain opened, slides shown, then movie began. Halfway thru intermission slide, music, I went to buy popcorn, returned in 2 minutes, and movie had begun already! That was not the right period of time for an intermission! After movie ended, curtain closed, and more music (as appropriate). The sound seemed to be behind screen, but was excellent. I asked beforehand, and was told it would be a 2.39 aspect ratio, which it seemed to approximate. Blu Ray online says 2.35. Since other 70mm films (Lawrence of Arabia, Cleopatra) were put into 2.20 ratio (same as 70mm) for DCP and Blu Ray & these films would’ve been shot with 2.20 lens (right?) why would Fox have cropped Hello Dolly! at top & bottom to place it on a 2.4 aspect ratio for DCP & Blu Ray? Regardless, it was a very enjoyable screening. The movie looked gorgeous on the big screen & sounded great. I had never seen it in a movie theater before today.

well in terms of the mixes of Hyde Park this is what blu-ray.com’s review says about the mix:

“Hyde Park on Hudson features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that is fairly modest in its sonic ambitions and therefore doesn’t offer much “wow” factor in terms of tremendous immersion or surround activity. Dialogue is almost uniformly anchored in the front channels, leaving the surrounds to capture some well done ambient environmental effects and the charming minimalist score. There are occasional moments of sonic activity, notably when Roosevelt marauds through the countryside in his specially equipped roadster, and, late in the film, when the King and Queen attend a picnic that has Native American performers as well as a gaggle of guests. Those moments are really nicely alive and utilize the surrounds quite smartly. Fidelity is excellent though dynamic range is relatively limited.”

and ‘Anna Karenina’

“Anna Karenina’s stirring DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track throws open the theater doors and embraces every nuance of the film’s sound design, from its windswept fields to its spacious ballrooms, crowded train stations, hushed drawing rooms and beyond. Rear speaker activity is all at once subtle and engaging, using directional magic and cross-channel seamlessness to great effect. The resulting soundfield is satisfying and expansive, drawing the listener onto Wright’s very literal stage and giving them the freedom to stroll from scene to scene. LFE output, meanwhile, grants gravitas and presence as needed, lending its weight to chugging trains, thundering horses and other low-end elements. All the while, dialogue is clear, intelligible and perfectly prioritized, dynamics are rewarding and Dario Marianelli’s Oscar-nominated score surges and relents with poise and power. All told, Anna Karenina sounds as magnificent as it looks, and arguably even better.”

~

it’d be strange that the 35mm prints of these films would be inferior and have less sound elements. I noticed that the 35mm prints of ‘Les Miserables’ had really subdued surround sound, but the 7.1 mixed DCP was dramatically different and better.

In SILVER 2. It would be near impossible to turn off the surrounds. They played at whatever level they were recorded. Perhaps with the even coverage, you just don’t pick them out as well.

I know that in the heyday of 35mm Dolby Digital sound, you could tell when the surrounds weren’t turned on, if the trailer wasn’t in surround you could bet the feature wouldn’t be either. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’d go out to an employee during the trailers and say – the surrounds aren’t on – ugh, how frustrating. Secondly, you could also tell when you were listening not to the digital track when the reel change would occur, if there was an audible tick, it was the analogue track. Digital LPCM audio is less faulty. Although over at the Angelika I’ve noticed twice two flaws, one where one trailer was encoded with so high, I had to cover my ears. Last week during the trailers before ‘Blue Jasmine’ the audio was distorted and sounded like the front left channel was frizzing out, thankfully someone got up and told someone and the audio got fixed.

Okay, Steve. I hear you. Its just that my memories of 70mm from the 80s is so entrenched because of the sound more so than the picture. ‘2001,’ ‘Lifeforce’ and maybe a few others aside, what they’ve shown at AFI should have exceeded my experiences from way back then given the fact this venue is state of the art and is THX-certified.
Maybe the projectionist having come across a movie with no projection instructions should just err on the side of caution and hit the surround button. :) Dialog from LC/RC can’t be so bad as long as the character is on the right of the screen or left. Just my 2c.

Aww Howard, you’re so kind. I’ll periodically check the AFI website… :-D I make that statement cheekily as a veiled threat. In a good way.

The Powerball is up again this week. If I win, maybe I’ll buy the AFI Silver, myself. :)

You know this site is full of cinephiles (is there such a word?), like most of us on the site, who are passionate about movies and the experience, who know which venues have curtains and who doesn’t use them and are aware of what makes a good presentation, its just that when things are not right, you just want to go fix/run the operation yourself.

For example, when they run these special event movies, at least have some kind of introduction. How difficult is it to have a staffer google or IMDB some info about say, Cleopatra. I can remember off the top of my head that that movie was, at the time, one of the most expensive movies ever and probably still is accounting for inflation. Trivia like that that most people don’t know that would gain some appreciation from a film.

I’ll surrender my soapbox, for now, to check out whats showing at Landmark.. :)

Jodar…I can assure you, the surrounds are calibrated to the proper level in all three theatres. They only play what is recorded on the film/video. Most home systems have the surrounds goosed up because people love to hear them but that doesn’t make it right.

As to the films coming with instructions…sadly no. One has to do a bit of investigation in order to decide what NR and format to use. A possible mistake is to play a mono-surround movie in stereo surround. For 70mm magnetic, this would have the surrounds seem like they are off or very muffled as only the frequencies below 500Hz play. For a DTS-70 movie, it is up to the soundtrack supplied and matching the format. Typically they have done a standard 5.1 mix and/or a traditional “Todd-Ao” mix with 5-screen channels and mono surrounds. If a DTS-70 had the wrong format selected…you’d hear dialog out of the surrounds or the reverse, surrounds out of LC/RC.

The inspection sheet they fill out when a print is checked in should really reduce that chance though. They really do try to get the format correct and don’t just guess.