AMC Rockaway 16
363 Mount Hope Avenue,
Rockaway,
NJ
07866
363 Mount Hope Avenue,
Rockaway,
NJ
07866
7 people
favorited this theater
Showing 176 - 200 of 1,815 comments
http://www.slashfilm.com/movie-theater-masking/
moviebuff82, why are you posting links to sites that don’t work and nobody really care about? Is it all about your quest to reach 3000 posts??
And it was vibrating and rattling the roof and other parts of the structure like crazy.
I think they have the volume set way wrong at the IMAX here now (or at least on the day I saw Blade Runner) since it sounded way, way louder here than at the Jersey Gardens IMAX or even the Lincoln Square laser IMAX. There is no way the deep bass should have been much louder at Rockaway than at Lincoln Square! It was the loudest I’ve ever heard for any movie ever. So I think my comments about the sound for that movie that I wrote above were based on someone at this theater going nuts and just dialing up everything to 10 and way beyond the already very loud IMAX standards or something. It mean it seemed at least twice as loud as the other IMAX theaters, probably far more. It was nuts. Even out in the exit hall screaming at the top of our lungs we could not hear each other and that was just during the music at the end which wasn’t even as loud as some other parts of the movie.
http://www.abc15.com/news/national/-thank-you-for-your-service-amc-theaters-giving-free-tickets-to-veterans-active-duty-military
Screen 16 (tied for third largest after the IMAX and Dolby, perhaps around a 56'? 1.85:1 screen) had been out of focus to varying degrees (one day it was actually to the point it looked like DVD and then they got it to poor 1080 Cable detail and then to decent 1080p blu-ray level) for a little while but now seems to be 100.000% perfectly focused plus the 4k seems to be working too so it’s looking very sharp now and much sharper and more detailed than any blu-ray.
They also seem to have fixed the Fathom events screen calibration levels (which they show on this screen), for quite some time after the projector broke their the Fathom stuff had had crushed blacks and a bit strong contrast and over-saturation and then it was instead a bit gray blacks and low saturation but then they got it back to perfect again how it used to be some good while ago with dark blacks but no details crushed away and everything looking perfectly set, sadly no sooner did they do that than they seem for some horrible reason to have stopped the Fathom TCM event showings here even though they tend to get the best crowds for many of them here. I mean they literally get sometimes 3x-4x or more people than at the other regional AMC’s for these events.
Not quite sure. I did finally see one at the Dolby here (Screen 9). I haven’t seen one at the GS Dolby (Screen 3), only peaked in twice (once from way down below while something was playing and once from a more normal spot with nothing playing, not really good looks). The GS has more seats, just going by the seating chart you see a lot more. I don’t know that it felt bigger screen wise, although I’d guess it probably has to be with that many more seats across (although seating can be misleading at times, Jersey Gardens would have an 80' if you went by seating but it seems to have the same 65' or so screen as GS IMAX does). When I peaked in at the GS Dolby again I had just come out of their IMAX (Screen 2) auditorium, so that might have made the screen seem a bit smaller, since it was comparing it to tied for the largest in all of Northern and Central NJ.
As far as Blade Runner 2049, I didn’t find the seat vibration here objectional at all for the first half of the film, you could easily feel it a few times, but no big deal, even cool. The last half had some parts where if you had your head against the headrest and back firmly pressed into the seat it probably would’ve been a bit annoying or even uncomfortable at times and knocked a vertebrae or two, but simply sitting forward for those parts made it OK as what came up from the bottom part of the seat wasn’t so bad, sometimes even cool when not done too much. And actually once you did lean forward for some parts, I have to say that it actually kinda blasted you less than the IMAX (Screen 8) here did for this movie where it felt like it was reorganizing your entire innards with intense and weird bass pressure the likes of which I’m not sure I’ve felt before. The IMAX here showed the film SO incredibly loudly. The bass was pulverizing and actually hit you in some ways more uncomfortably than at the Dolby screen here (certainly so long as you just leaned a trace forward during a few bits at the Dolby and especially didn’t have your head on the headrest). When the car drove by in front of his house at the IMAX here it was deafening to kinda over the top levels. I also saw it at Jersey Gardens IMAX and the volume was really, really loud and yet not nearly as loud as Rockaway ran it and your entire brain and innards didn’t feel scrambled inside out. At Rockaway IMAX after a few parts my legs were actually sort of vibrating from the inside out for another 60 seconds after the scene ended, really weird, they had the volume and bass cranked so loud. Nothing like that weird stuff at all at Jersey Gardens (which was by no means quiet, it was IMAX loud).
Anyway despite my fears above based upon what some had said about Blade Runner 2049 and Dolby, I found that simply sitting a bit forward during a few bits made the film perfectly fine at the Dolby here (I guess if you had your back pressed way into the seat and head on the headrest some parts would’ve been out and out uncomfortable but it was easy enough to just lean a touch forward for those parts and avoid a lot of the back and virtually all of the head shaking and what remained came through the seat base and that really wasn’t any problem, probably even let them tune the audible range ultra bass down a bit lower and at times it was kinda cool, sometimes added to it all, sometimes a trace distracting and overdone but really no big deal at all, again with the bit of a lean forward). It was easily the sharpest presentation I’ve seen of Blade Runner 2049 too. I actually wish they had kept it showing on there this week as I’d have checked it out again.
On another note, Screen 10 here has become super dim, can barely make out many details. They run a lot of the big, new release Real 3D showings on that screen. I’m surprised that they have let the Xenon bulb run to such totally burned out levels or replaced it with one way too small for the screen.
Is it worth driving extra mileage for this Dolby theater vs. the Garden State auditorium or are they comparable?
Wow, can’t believe they pulled 30th Anniversary Princess Bride from this theater. This theater ruled for 80s films like that, always packed. Instead AMC puts it at Garden State where 80s stuff gets middling crowds, who cares if that is the flagship theater and there is a high population density there is the people there don’t for this stuff as much?, and Wayne where they get poor crowds for that sort of stuff?
Not like anything is even doing that well in the theaters and they can’t even fit in a single one of the Sunday showings at Rockaway?
I remember once before Rockaway tried to back out of one of the Fathom 80s movies of this exact sort and then they brought it back at the last second and it was practically sold out even despite getting less advertising because of that.
Whoever runs the theater doesn’t seem to get what sorts of 80s stuff this region goes nuts for and what it doesn’t.
This was one of the few of the Fathom events I had actually heard people talking about all over and they pull it.
Stinks, since the screen they run Fathom on here is so much better than at the other regional theaters too and this theater has the best, most fun crowds for 80s movies.
Blade Runner 2049 has so much sub bass that even the IMAX theater here had the seats and floor and ceiling literally vibrating and shaking. I think they kinda overdid the sub bass a touch for this movie. It was to the point that it actually took you out of the movie a bit at times. Felt like someone had speakers set to 8 across the board and then went over to the sub amp and turned it to 10, then removed the stop and dialed it to 12 and then went to the sub subwoofer and set it to 10 removed the stop and set it 18. Not sure I can recall a movie that ever set the balance that much towards subs and had things that should not have insane amounts of bass, have insane amounts of bass.
Wasn’t so fond of that and at times the score seemed to mostly just hitting a few ultra bass notes that you felt as much as heard.
Otherwise, awesome movie.
Regarding the seats, I didn’t even realize they had the rumble feature beforehand. I may not have been paying attention during the demo as we got there just as the trailers started. I could feel vibrations at certain points in the movie where it seemed logical but it wasn’t until about halfway through it that I realized the seats were vibrating. So they’ve either toned it down or I’m not sensitive to it. Be curious to see another high-powered movie there soon and see if I react differently to the effect.
Yeah the laser projection itself is fantastic and the seats are very comfortable.
(if you didn’t try sending in a note about overly loud volume too, every bit helps)
The IMAX screens are always too loud too at every location. Those and Dolby are always set too loud everywhere. Most screens, at most theaters, in general, especially in NJ, the Norhteast and parts of CA, are these days are really, although often not quite as overdone (then again some have poor speaker balance and some will be lower overall by a decent bit but the peaky trouble will be yow). Here, the other screens, it depends, most are too loud as well but a few have the volume set to a good level, reasonably loud but nothing crazy. Comfortable, non-ear damaging.
Did they rumble like mad for Blade Runner 2049, like how during the demo at the start, the chair went nuts for a couple seconds or was it much more subdued?
Did it constantly rumble, like for every deep music note or just a few scenes for a second here and there? Or for extended periods during some scenes?
Some people made it sound like for this film, at least at some other locations, the rumble seats were constantly rumbling and going nuts a lot too. Maybe they were overblowing it or their theater had them set too high or something.
As I said, for Close Encounters, the rumble seats didn’t do much most of the time and when they did it never got totally out of control, mostly it was mild so it didn’t end up being bothersome. But that was an old film.
Yeah I don’t get the point of turning up the volume so loud that stuff rattles and distorts. May as well use $10 speakers instead of $10,000 at that point. It sort of defeats the purpose. But it’s uncomfortable and not great for hearing long term.
alpinedownhiller:
I saw Blade Runner 2049 Saturday at the 11:15 am show – there were about 15-20 other people there. My first time at a Dolby Cinema showing and I echo the words of your post back on 9/29. With just a bit more thought into light placement this would be a 100% winner of an auditorium. The blue aisle lights that go up to the screen cast a blue glow and the red exit light to the immediate left cast a red glow. Also, the high-level sound from the surrounds was causing something in the ceiling to rattle. Plus the overall level was too high, could tell the speakers were starting to distort. The seats did rumble, but I didn’t find it distracting as others have since it seemed they rumbled coinciding with scenes that had heavy bass levels.
Other than the light issues, the image is superb, though it would get even better if the scope screen was masked properly on the top & bottom.
For a $12 matinee ticket and extremely comfortable seats, I can’t complain too much though I hope AMC listens to the note I sent in about the lighting issues.
Has anyone seen Blade Runner 2049 here yet in the Dolby Cinema? I’ve been seeing a lot of complaints by people who went to various other Dolby Cinemas for this saying that they went nuts with the vibrating chair and they were exhausted after almost 3 hours of rumbling and that it constantly took them out of the movie. They said it was all a shame since the projection look astonishing but the volume levels and rumbling were said to be annoying.
When I saw Close Encounters here, the seat rumbling wasn’t that bad, just used a little bit so it was OK. But it sounds like they went nuts for BR 2049??
The original is still a classic.
I was about to see Blade Runner 2049 in the new Dolby auditorium, but now it turns out the IMAX version is stretched to 1.9:1 now not sure which way to go. The IMAX will look bigger, even at the mall, if they use the entire surface area, and at say Garden State or such it will look even bigger still. DOlby does have the 4K and slightly deeper blacks and slightly greater contrast overall (even despite the slightly overly lit Dolby auditoriums) and recling seats for a nearly 3 hour long film. May have to see it both ways plus 3D too. Gah! Wondering which way to take those who might onbly see it once though.
I wonder if more people are seeing Dolby than imax? Dolby is legit while Imax is fake
yeah tickets are $ but it is a pretty cool screen
The downside to this is that tickets are a bit more expensive than Imax.
But the screen does look crisp, pretty big and the contrast levels do look really good over much of the screen so it really does look pretty impressive visually.
Actually the Dolby screen does have some light leakage from the overly bright blue lights all over, same issue with almost every Dolby cinema. So the lower right corner has the black levels washed out to no darker than at any of the regular screens.
That said the middle part of the screen that matters the most gets pretty black and the overall presentation is still pretty awesome.
Just if they set up their theaters a bit more sensibly, get rid of the 3 blue lights on the ceiling, dim the aisle lighting a bit and put buffers on the tops of the blue aisle lights so they constantly catch the corner of your eye it could then be perfect like at some of the IMAX Laser setups, like the one in Reading, MA where they have zero relflectance onto the screen, zero ceiling lights during the show and minimal aisle lighting none of which catches the perhiperhy of your visions while watching the movie.
But again, even as is, still looks pretty cool.
The volume can be way too loud though and some older movies like Close Encounters can have the high frequencies a bit piercing and uncomfortable.
Not sure why IMAX and Dolby insist on over the top audio levels that 100% for sure cause permanent hearing damage if you go to too many showings. So either damage your ears or wear protection and lose a lot of the sound quality.
My predictions were right. On Wednesday of next week Blade Runner the final cut will be shown in 4k regular before the sequel arrives in Imax 2d, Reald 3d, and Dolby.
It’s also the only theater in morris county and northwest jersey to have an atmos sound system which most people can afford to pay for a home theater system and recreate it along with a 4k tv. The next 4k presentation for this theater is Close Encounters 40th anniversary, followed by part one of the It duology the week after. Baby Driver is currently playing in Dolby Cinema. The pilot episodes for Marvel’s Inhumans will be playing in imax this weekend for two weeks before It comes out in imax. My guess is that kingsman 2 will be in dolby and imax with blade runner 2049 next.