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This topic comprises 9 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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Author
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Topic: Gravity
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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.
Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004
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posted 10-06-2013 04:08 PM
CINEMA: AMC Council Bluffs 17, Council Bluffs, IA
AUDITORIUM: 7
PRESENTATION: RealD 3D, AMC Recline-o-Vision
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
RATING: Three stars (out of four)
THE PLOT: Space cadets make a service call. Wackiness ensues.
THE GOOD NEWS: If you've been hoping for a movie where Sandra Bullock grunts a lot, this is your lucky day.
THE BAD NEWS: It's not a porno.
It is, however, quite a ride.
The cinematography, despite the Oscar calls for Bullock, is the real star here. There's a lot of amazing shots that seem to be uninterrupted for long periods of time, following Bullock and Clooney fluidly through space in varying motions, many circular. If you get queasy with dizzying motion easily, I'd suggest skipping the snack bar. But suspense-wise, this one absolutely holds your attention without overstaying its welcome. It was a smart move to get in and out at around 90 minutes.
Well worth the bother.
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Connor Wilson
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 190
From: Sterling, VA, USA
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 10-06-2013 06:38 PM
Regal Kingstowne Cinemas 16, Alexandria, VA
10/06/2013, 3:10 pm show
Auditorium #1
Presented in RPX, RealD 3D, Dolby Atmos
Issues: No proper masking for scope films (as expected in RPX/ETX/AVX setups), minimal flicker towards the end.
Two star actors, one other actor. You don't need that big of a cast to make a great movie. But the cinematography standed out greatly. I felt like I was in space. Takes in this film seem to take its time (the opening being 17 minutes without any cuts), and it never felt boring. The Dolby Atmos sound mix incredible, definetly the best yet. It further immersed me in the story, as did the 3D. Soon to be a timeless classic. Loved it.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 10-07-2013 03:37 AM
The story of this one is paper thin, but story clearly not the selling point of this movie. Don't go see this on a small screen with mediocre sound, it will not deliver the whole potential.
There are probably a gazillion goofs in this movie, regarding the way it depicts space and current technology, but this one is probably the first one since Apollo 13 that gives a shot at making it feel real.
The trailer is false advertising, in the movie, there is no sound in space. This must be the first motion picture in a long time, that gives a try at depicting (near) weightlessness in a realistic manner. Also, the depicted cockpits and instrument panels all look a lot like the real thing.
It almost makes you forget questions like: Is it plausible for the IIS, the Hubble and the supposedly Chinese space station really to be in such short range from each other?
As for the show itself, I really loved it.
I've seen it in dual projector 3D and Atmos on a large scope screen (I've seen Riddick here before, the experience was mediocre at best). It's really the preferred way to see this. The only thing that I could wish for is 4K 3D.
quote: Geoff Jones
I saw this on the big "Cine Capri" screen at the Harkins Northfield (4K 2D), which has become my go-to theatre since Regal F'ed up the Continental.
AFAIK there are no 4K 2D DCPs around? The movie wasn't shot in 4K anyway. That's also why I opted for the 3D version straight away. Besides me not being the greatest supporter of stereoscopic 3D, it really worked in this movie.
quote: Geoff Jones
However, the image seemed slightly "misaligned." It seemed as if everything had a greenish edge to the bottom right and a reddish edge to the top left. It was very minor, and mostly visible in onscreen titles, but it was new - this was not happening earlier this summer at WWZ and MoS.
A common problem with all multi-DMD projectors and one of the biggest issues in Digital Cinema. Over time, the color convergence will stray off, it can usually be easily adjusted, but rather often this gets unnoticed for months or even years. It seems to be hard, in a world were projectionists are an almost extinct kind, to keep equipment well adjusted...
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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 10-07-2013 12:23 PM
Carol, I'm not a person who typically piles on, but . . .
quote: Carol May
Where was the suspense? Where was the rush? Where was the tension?
Seriously? Seriously?!?!
quote: Marcel Birgelen
It almost makes you forget questions like: Is it plausible for the IIS, the Hubble and the supposedly Chinese space station really to be in such short range from each other?
No, it's not plausible at all, and that is why viewers who know something about outer space will fly up out of their seats in protest; the Hubble and the ISS are nowhere near each other; the Hubble is about 350 miles above the equator, the ISS is about 250 miles over Russia. But, show me the science fiction film that doesn't have such leaps in science and logic. You're gonna be hard-pressed to find one.
But Gravity is still a terrific picture, very tense and moving at the same time. Most of the movie is Bullock alone, and I thought she nailed it. Clooney not so much, in fact this is one of the few movies that I thought he was actually miscast in. Too much annoying square-jawed bravado for the role. The scene about 3/5 in where it appears that the Bullock character has given up was really spoiled by his character (even in the context that he appeared in).
But this is still great bang-for-the-buck movie going. By all means see it in 3D, something that I don't ordinarily recommend, it truly adds another, ummm . . . dimension to the film.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-07-2013 01:41 PM
Cinema: Harkins Theatres Bricktown 16
Screen: Cine Capris
Format: 2K 'scope, 2D, Dolby Atmos
Presentation Problems: None
Rating: 4 stars out of 4
Gravity is a really good thriller and roller coaster ride of a movie. It's not real deep in terms of character, despite the Oscar buzz over Sandra Bullock's performance. She does a good job of rising above the visual effects and getting the audience to empathize with her predicament. George Clooney plays the same strong male type character he has played in so many other movies. The drama and tension in this movie is all about characters trying to hang onto something and not run out of air while all hell is breaking loose. A few scenes really had me squirming in my seat.
The visuals were pretty awesome. I don't think I missed too awful much watching the movie in 2D. One bad thing about 3D: it makes big things seem small due to exaggeration of the 3D effect. 2D on a huge screen gave the movie a better sense of scale (I just wish it had been produced in 4K). A hell of a lot of work went into the CGI models and how they were torn apart by bits of space junk hitting at high speed. The cascading domino effect of destruction was spectactular and even had a certain beauty about it. The practical sets (space ship interiors, etc.) were well crafted. Alfonso Cuarón and Emmanuel Lubezki did a great job orchestrating all the spinning, rotating camera shots. There's little, if any, shaky cam crap in this movie. Still, I could see some viewers getting queasy watching the show.
Steven Price's music score was pretty effective. Gravity is one of very few science fiction movies to observe the fact there is no sound in space. The music score created some of the emotional noise needed for many bits of space debris silently demolishing a space station.
I had a tough choice over where to see Gravity: either in 2D on the only Dolby Atmos equipped screen in Oklahoma or any number of 3D equipped locations in Lawton or the Oklahoma City area. There was probably a one week window for seeing Gravity in Dolby Atmos; some other new release would likely be moved on that screen next Friday. Gravity would likely play in various 3D formats for at least a few weeks.
I'm glad I picked the Atmos show. Gravity made great use of Dolby Atmos' capabilities right from the start. Elements of headset chatter tracked all over the theater from various spots on the side and back walls (and the ceiling) to any point on screen. The combination of ceiling surround speakers and front stage speakers allowed some dialog elements to seem like they were floating in front of the screen. Sound element positioning and layering in this mix simply blew away what is possible in a conventional 5.1/7.1 mix.
IMHO, IMAX needs to shit can its "laser aligned" sound system, which typically features just two big speaker cabinets in the top rear corners of the room. They need to make a deal with Dolby and put Atmos in its theaters.
BTW, the "attached" trailer for The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug had an Atmos mix. All the trailers that preceded it were in regular 5.1 with rather unimpressive EQ. When the new Hobbit trailer started the sound quality got a huge boost (much more powerful sub bass and more layered sounding audio). The Dolby Atmos trailer played after that and drew a lot of "wow" type responses from the audience.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-07-2013 10:57 PM
That's pretty ridiculous if Regal Cinemas is going to the effort & expense of installing Dolby Atmos but doing next to nothing to promote it.
If any executive from Regal happens to be lurking on this forum I have a message for him: the Dolby brand name has a hell of a lot more prestige and history than the "RPX" thing, which smacks of wannabe IMAX or THX style branding. The RPX thing isn't going to persuade me to drive out of my way, much less pay a price premium, to experience it. I didn't pay anything extra above the standard admission price to watch Gravity on the Cine Capris screen in 2D with Dolby Atmos sound.
Some of this gets back to my complaints about how poorly Dolby Atmos is being marketed to the general public.
When my girlfriend and I watched Gravity we sat through the credits so I could see if any mention of Dolby Atmos would be listed. Nope. The logos for Dolby Digital, Datasat Digital and SDDS were listed -as if there's actually very many theaters left able to play those lossy compressed 35mm film sound formats. As far as I could tell none of the movie posters for Gravity or any of the movie's marketing material carried a Dolby Atmos logo. The "see it in RealD and IMAX 3D" branding is prominent. There is nothing mentioned about Dolby Atmos in any of the ads.
I did find a couple videos with Gravity director Alfonso Cuarón and sound re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay talking about the movie's sound design and how Dolby Atmos opened up new creative possibilities. Cuarón called Atmos a dream come true for what he's been wanting in a movie sound format. You have to go out of your way to find those videos. I doubt if any of that material will end up on the Blu-ray.
A few days ago I rented Iron Man 3 on Blu-ray. That one had the Atmos logo on the end credits. Some of the posters carried a tiny Dolby Atmos logo positioned above a tiny Dolby Digital logo. Of course, the IMAX 3D branding took huge prominence on the poster.
I think Dolby needs to step it up a few notches with how it is promoting Atmos. I think any movie that is mixed in Dolby Atmos needs to feature the Dolby Atmos logo more noticeably on movie posters, TV commercials, etc. even if that means shoving the Dolby Digital brand out of the layout to give Atmos its well-deserved prominence.
To this day, I still don't understand why IMAX and RealD get such overwhelmingly favorable treatment in movie advertising over other formats like Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, etc. I think Dolby Atmos is the most revolutionary thing to happen with movie theater sound in over 20 years. Atmos deserves a hell of a lot more attention.
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-08-2013 10:53 AM
quote: Geoff Jones
I want to see it again and it's been a long time since I have felt that way. Recommended.
Same here! Next time I'll try it in 3D, but I'm not looking forward to some of the gratuitous stuff they did. Even in 2D it seemed gratuitous to have Clooney zipping near and far, or to linger (quite unnecessarily) on a floating teardrop, and what was up with the frog?
I would LOVE to do a double-feature of this and Apollo 13.
quote: Carol May
Where was the suspense? Where was the rush? Where was the tension?
Jane, you ignorant slut! ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
quote: Sam Graham
The cinematography, despite the Oscar calls for Bullock, is the real star here.
The visuals -- I wouldn't give ALL the credit to the cinematographer. There's a TON of CGI going on here.
The 2D screening I attended (AMC 11 in Bloomington, IN) was marred by being noticeably out of focus. I went up to the screen during the credits to verify. And when I looked up at the booth I saw -- DUAL IMAGES BEING PROJECTED.
However, despite what this article says, the image was not dim. In fact, it appeared over-lit! Note that I say "appeared" over-lit. I'm not sure -- could be that the contrast wasn't that great. Blacks weren't black but, then, the highlights seemed kinda washed out too.
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Here's the text from that collider article:
Movie Theaters Continue to Rip-Off Patrons with Incompetent Projection of 2D Movies
by Matt Goldberg
While theater owners moan and make empty threats in response to the studios’ premium VOD Service, they’re doing nothing to make the moviegoing experience any better for patrons. The Boston Globe’s Ty Burr discovered that theaters are bringing the poorly-lit experience of 3D to their 2D movies. Theaters are misusing their digital project equipment and leaving in the 3D lens when they should be swapping it out if they’re showing a 2D movie. Burr found the issue not only at the AMC Loews Boston Common on Tremont Street but also at Regal Fenway where regular brightly lit 35mm prints of Water of Elephants and Madea’s Big Happy Family where playing against their own poorly-projected versions. The problem across theater chains appears to be Sony’s new 4K Digital Projectors and leaving them on when playing a 2D film
A professional projectionist explained the problem with the lenses:
He explains that for 3-D showings a special lens is installed in front of a Sony digital projector that rapidly alternates the two polarized images needed for the 3-D effect to work.
“When you’re running a 2-D film, that polarization device has to be taken out of the image path. If they’re not doing that, it’s crazy, because you’ve got a big polarizer that absorbs 50 percent of the light.’’
So how can you tell if you’re getting the correct brightness level?
There’s an easy way to tell. If you’re in a theater playing a digital print (the marquee at the ticket booth should have a “D’’ next to the film’s name), look back at the projection booth.
If you see two beams of light, one stacked on top of the other, that’s a Sony with the 3-D lens still in place. If there’s a single beam, it’s either a Sony with the 3-D lens removed or a different brand of digital projector, such as Christie or Barco.
So why aren’t theaters fixing the problem? For the same reason they don’t do anything about patrons who are chatty or text on their cell phones: it takes time, money, and manpower.
James Bond, a Chicago-based projection guru who serves as technical expert for Roger Ebert’s Ebertfest, said issues with the Sonys are more than mechanical. Opening the projector alone involves security clearances and Internet passwords, “and if you don’t do it right, the machine will shut down on you.’’ The result, in his view, is that often the lens change isn’t made and “audiences are getting shortchanged.’
First off, if you’re not listening to a movie projectionist named “James Bond”, you’ve already failed on so many levels. But no one is asking theaters to retrofit theaters or change the entire way they do business. The fix is a couple of competent employees who should get paid a little extra for their expertise and skill with the 4K projectors (pictured right) so they can do what movie theaters were designed for: showing movies. While theaters make their business at the concession stand, no one is going to the snack bar of an AMC or a Regal Cinemas for the cuisine.
When reached for comment, both AMC and Regal, the nation’s largest theater chains, were half-hearted in their explanations. Here’s what a spokesman for Regal had to say:
“Patron response has been overwhelmingly positive toward digital cinema and all of the associated entertainment options provided by this technology.”
Really? Are people going up to the managers and high-fiving them for the awesome projection job? I’d like to see that.
And here’s a comment from Dan Huerta, Vice President of Sight and Sound for AMC:
“Obviously, if we know there’s a 2-D movie that’s going to be shown through a 3-D lens, we would have to make sure that the manager or a technical person could make the call.”
So it’s not the company’s fault. It’s the responsibility of the manager or “technical person” (which is what I’m sure it says on their business card), and to an extent, I agree with that. But it looks like neither company is willing to address the problem on a wide scale and are either pretending it doesn’t exist or passing the buck on to individual managers (as if the managers didn’t take their orders from corporate).
The obvious solution would be for patrons to complain every time they see an under-illuminated picture. I’ve pretty much given up on getting theaters to project 3D films at the correct luminosity. The bulbs are expensive, theaters are cheap, and they don’t expect the majority of audiences to know any better. But when it comes to 2D, this is a problem that comes down to sheer laziness. Nothing new has to be purchased. The expertise costs money but so does any profession. Why promote incompetence?
And yet consumers have to shoulder some of the blame because they may not notice or even care. Also, do you really want to get out of your seat, track down the manager, and stop the movie so they can adjust the lens? The better solution is to sit through the movie and then afterwards complain to the manager about the issue. They’ll most likely give you a free pass in order to shut you up. But if they have to give out enough of those passes because every screening has them getting bothered by unhappy patrons, it might just make them change their ways. Or they’ll just jack up prices at the concession stand because that’s the only thing they’re good at.
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...and speaking of "jacked up" concession prices...
Ticket (2D).................................................$7.50
Small Popcorn and Small Bottled Water.....$10.25
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