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Topic: The Golden Compass (2007)

David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 12-09-2007 06:05 PM

Today at Regal 15 in Eugene, #8. Focus seemed just a little soft. Oh well. Early matinee show, attendance very light.

There is much to like about this movie, including that not everything is 100% explained. Weighty material, but it doesn't bog down the momentum of the story. The CG work is mostly first-rate, especially the ice bears. I could never get it out of my head that it was Nicole Kidman on the screen playing a character. The anti-religion angle of the story is in plain sight to anyone who's paying attention.

I give it 3.25 out of 5 stars. It entertained me but I wasn't blown away.

EDITED to fix a spelling error. I hate it when I do that!

[ 12-10-2007, 09:52 PM: Message edited by: David Stambaugh ]

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Richard P. May
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 243
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 12-10-2007 10:26 AM

I saw GOLDEN COMPASS this weekend at the Academy's Goldwyn Theater. It was projected digitally. In contrast to the above comment about the image being a little soft, this showing could have been 70mm as far as image quality was concerned.

An interesting observation regarding reliability of digital: When the picture came on, I guessed it was digital based on the absolutely steady image during the titles. I looked around at the projection ports to confirm this, and saw a reel revolving on one projector, however the light was not coming from this source, but from the position where the Barco projector is located. At the end of the film, I noticed the same thing, although with a different film projector. In other words, in order to insure no interruption in case of digital trouble, they are running film backup simultaneously with the digital.

As to the movie, it's not really my kind of story, but I enjoyed it more than many others of its type. My wife and son (who saw it at the Cinerama Dome) both enjoyed it thoroughly.

RPM

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Kurt Zupin
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 989
From: Maricopa, Arizona
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 12-12-2007 04:54 PM

I am so far behind on reviews...any way screened this one last Thursday. I have to say I wasn't overly impressed by it, but I also didn't hate it. I'm in a weired spot with this film. I really liked how they did the animals and I thought they did them well. On the other hand I thought alot of the stuff with the "Ice bears" was really badly done. When the two are fighting, watch the bears in the background. They all look really badly done. There heads will be swaying and moving but not in sync with there bodies. Just didn't look right, plus I was waiting for one of them to take a big gulp of Coke at some point.

I'm a fan of Sam Elliot in just about anything hes in and I loved him in this as well. It really looked like Kidman and Craig mailed in there roles, and the little girl did a good job as well.

I think I'll have to see this one more time just to come to a final decision on if I liked it or not.

2.5/5 [thumbsup]

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Paul Burt
Film Handler

Posts: 46
From: San Francisco, CA, United States
Registered: Apr 2006

posted 12-28-2007 12:17 PM

As a fan of the Pullman trilogy, I came to the screening with a lot of misgivings. The book is very rich and deep, and I doubted whether they could get enough of it into the movie to make it interesting. But I think they did a very credible job with the material. The acting was first-rate and the CGI effects, especially the bears, were quite believable. 4 out of 5.

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