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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: Thor: The Dark World
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 11-06-2013 05:51 PM
For me, the start of the movie got interrupted by broken 3D glasses. One of the polarizers was blurry and a replacement was needed... Although the replacement resulted in a clearer vision, the 3D was just plain bad and therefore just an unnecessary distraction. Why go trough the pain and have people wear glorified sunglasses if you don't do anything interesting with the format?!
I watched this in Dolby Atmos and although it does have an Atmos soundtrack, it didn't sound like it. Just like the stereoscopic 3D, the experience remains flat and rather boring. The mix totally ignores the possibilities of the format, so no need to go see this in Atmos, 7.1 or even 5.1 would be perfectly fine for this lame mix.
No less than three screenwriters were necessary to complete the screenplay of this movie. To me, that's a bad omen... And at least one of them must have been playing Portal quite recently.
The result is a mix of different styles and a generally uninteresting story, even the climatic twist at the end deserves no spoiler tag, as you can see it coming from light years away.
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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 11-08-2013 11:04 AM
CINEMA: AMC Council Bluffs 17, Council Bluffs, IA
AUDITORIUM: 11
PRESENTATION: AMC Recline-O-Vision Mystery Meat Digital (2D)
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Picture slightly out of focus
RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)
I've resolved my own complaint about the footrests on the reclining chairs (how it comes up first so if you want to recline without the footrest, you're screwed) by realizing that I can still put my feet on the floor even with the footrest up because it isn't as wide as the chair. I know you're all terribly relieved.
THE PLOT: An old enemy awakens. Wackiness ensues.
I loved the first Thor. The moment I really fell in love with that movie was the scene where Thor and Jane sit atop her New Mexico lab and he explains the realms to her. That's when she really falls for him. It's far more subtle than when they effectively recreate the scene in the sequel and she says "I like how you explain things". Yeah, we know. It suddenly felt sort of forced. And that's true about most of the quirkiness of these characters over the first movie, though Thor hanging his hammer on Jane's coat rack was absolutely hilarious.
Couple that with a mind-numbing plot, murky action sequences, and a not terribly impressive CGI world, and you end up with a decent couple of hours, but not a really great couple of hours.
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Connor Wilson
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 190
From: Sterling, VA, USA
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 11-09-2013 07:42 PM
Alamo Drafthouse One Loudoun, Ashburn, VA
11/09/2013, 2:55 pm show
Auditorium #6
Presented in Sony 4K, RealD 3D, Dolby 7.1*
Issues: Dim 3D, left side of screen was darker than right side
While Iron Man 3 had a direction in the plot, Thor: The Dark World seemed to be numb. Fight, Talk, Fight, Plot, Fight. Not as good as the first film. The 3D was here and there, a bit blurry at times. Interesting to note that although it was shot with the Arri Alexa, they used anamorphic lenses while the camera's sensor was set to 4:3. This should gain higher resolution, but the DI was 2K so to heck with that!
Rating: 4 out of 10
*The Alamo in Ashburn is supposedly 7.1 on all screens. This movie had a bombastic sound mix, not like the thunderous mix for the first film. It sounded like a 5.1 movie, no back surround activity. It wasn't that clear. I read Marcel's Atmos experience, and what I was trying to say came out of his/her mouth. Thor: The Dark World doesn't have a lame mix, but it could've been improved.
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Michael Kurtzke
Film Handler
Posts: 45
From: Ashburn, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2013
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posted 11-10-2013 12:10 AM
Hey Connor, Michael from the Alamo here with answers!
quote: Connor Wilson
Presented in Sony 4K, RealD 3D, Dolby 7.1*
Issues: Dim 3D, left side of screen was darker than right side
I will just say this. Our 3D houses are a major embarrassment.
I think that they went with too high of a gain on our 3D screens.
Also, the exhaust fan in #6 died last month and when they replaced it, it just never seemed to pull as much air as it used to. This causes massive flickering if I push the 4.2kW lamps past 80%. A lamp running at 80% + Bad Screen + Sony 3D = embarrassing image. For the next location, since they want to stick with Sony, I'm pushing for Dual 320's in any 3D house.
quote: Connor Wilson
*The Alamo in Ashburn is supposedly 7.1 on all screens. This movie had a bombastic sound mix, not like the thunderous mix for the first film. It sounded like a 5.1 movie, no back surround activity. It wasn't that clear. I read Marcel's Atmos experience, and what I was trying to say came out of his/her mouth. Thor: The Dark World doesn't have a lame mix, but it could've been improved.
We do have 7.1 in every house. However, I actually never received keys for the 7.1 version in two of our houses. Those houses [3 and 6] have the Sony 320's instead of the Sony 515's.
It was a lame mix. And the picture is very soft, even in 2D. Overall, not an impressive movie.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-18-2013 10:01 AM
Cinema: Harkins Theatres Bricktown 16
Screen: Cine Capris
Format: 2K 'scope, 2D, Dolby Atmos
Presentation Problems: Slightly fuzzy image
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
Thor: The Dark World is a serviceable, but not great, entry in the lead-up to the next Avengers movie (complete with an end credit teaser involving Benicio Del Toro). I liked the first Thor movie considerably more than this one. There's some decent scenes of action and spectacle, but hardly of any of it gives a lasting impression. Some of this is due to audience members having zero doubt about the main characters surviving the movie. Add to that some obvious problems with suspension of disbelief -like one Azgardian gatekeeper being able to take out a huge enemy fighter ship by leaping on it and stabbing it with a sword. Nah, action movies today don't have to be plausible at all; they just need to look cool, that's all. Some of the plot turns are very predictable. The Dark Elves seem like something lifted from a bad Star Trek movie. Some of the plot feels a bit forced, or even stupid, for how certain turns of events happen. Some could have been easily prevented, but then we wouldn't have much of a movie then, would we?
Tom Hiddleston, as Loki, steals virtually every scene that includes him. Fortunately, Loki makes the movie more interesting. Chris O'Dowd (from Bridesmaids) is wasted in the role a would-be human love interest for Natalie Portman. Stellan Skarsgård gets to run around in his tidy whities.
Given some of the other comments, I suspect the slightly fuzzy image quality I observed to be a fault of the videography and 2K resolution digital intermediate. I watched the movie in 2D. So imagine the converted 3D image might have been even more fuzzy.
We watched the movie in the same Dolby Atmos-equipped theater where we saw Gravity. Hardly any of Thor: The Dark World sounded like it was mixed in Atmos at all. There were a few hints of creative surround use at times and some bursts of deep bass from different corners of the room at a few points in the movie. But overall this was the least impressive Atmos mix I have heard to this point.
Honestly, the mix of Thor: The Dark World was a let down right from the start. The Harkins Bricktown 16 theater played the Dolby Atmos Amaze trailer prior to the show. The Amaze trailer was pretty impressive. It really showed off the highly layered capabilities of Atmos. To go from that to a Marvel Studios logo that sounded like the meat had been cut from the tonal range was fairly sad.
If a movie production is going to bother creating a Dolby Atmos mix, and even putting the Atmos logo on the poster, they need to actually use the freaking format. The Thor mix is pretty much Atmos in name only.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 11-19-2013 03:13 PM
quote: Bobby Henderson
These days most one sheets only want to mention IMAX and RealD brands and nothing else.
I don't think Dolby Atmos has much of a chance long term it will go the way of EX and 7.1, I thought Dolby was pushing 7.1 more recently but I could be wrong.
The studios push IMAX because they use IMAX as the launching pad for many of the big blockbusters. There is absolutely no doubt, IMAX makes the studios money and they do create enough awareness.
I just watched Thor in Atmos in an AVX Theatre using ReadD 3D, seriously, before the show started we saw a feature presentation ad, the realD recycle your glasses ad, an AVX ad and then the Dolby Atmos ad. Way too much crap to confuse the customer.
In the past, we would see 70mm Dolby 6-track, maybe THX as well, in either way it got the point across that you were hearing Dolby sound.
For Dolby to be successful, they will need to adopt the IMAX approach and that is to brand the auditoriums as a Dolby 3D theatre with Atmos. Without the branding the customer just won't care. They are on the right track with the branding of the Dolby Theatre in L.A. but they will need to do this at the multiplex to be successful.
I know a lot of people can not stand IMAX for what they have done, I for one hate the LieMax experience, but it is pretty obvious that the IMAX marketing is pretty damn good and consumers are responding.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-19-2013 04:24 PM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I don't think Dolby Atmos has much of a chance long term it will go the way of EX and 7.1, I thought Dolby was pushing 7.1 more recently but I could be wrong.
Why would Dolby Labs be pushing 7.1, particularly after Atmos has been introduced? That doesn't make any sense. There's nothing brand-specific about 7.1; it's "plain" linear PCM audio. Dolby has nothing to gain from promoting that. The "Dolby Surround 7.1" branding scheme is something Dolby should never have launched. At least Atmos is a Dolby-specific audio format.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
The studios push IMAX because they use IMAX as the launching pad for many of the big blockbusters. There is absolutely no doubt, IMAX makes the studios money and they do create enough awareness.
Movie studios used to be real big about using the THX brand. Now they don't bother since hardly any theaters still participate in the THX certification program. Remember all those THX-certified Laserdiscs and DVDs. They've hardly bothered with that on Blu-ray (and I don't see how it could even apply on quality compromised movie streaming). The same kind of abandonment can happen to IMAX. Right now the theater chains and movie studios are playing along. A few years from now the situation could be starkly different.
In terms of digital cinema, IMAX doesn't bring anything unique to the experience. Dual HDTV resolution DLP projectors? Any theater chain can install that without paying big bucks to IMAX for their brand. Powerful sound systems? Again, any theater chain can do that without paying IMAX. On top of that, IMAX' concept of theatrical sound is not very good, especially in terms of surround field coverage. It's inferior to Barco's 11.1 format. And it's grossly inferior to Dolby Atmos' object based sound format.
The money being made in IMAX branded theaters is largely incidental. IMAX branded auditoriums in the typical multiplex have higher seat counts than the rest of the theater's rooms. Add to that the hefty price premium. The people who are actually searching out the IMAX brand and deliberately paying extra for digital IMAX shows really don't know just what they are buying.
IMAX at least appears to be doing something about the projection end of things with 4K laser projectors being developed, but not yet installed. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that IMAX has an absolutely exclusive deal on using laser-based projectors. If any theater chain can install their own 4K laser based projectors without paying the extra expense to involve IMAX they going to do so in increasing numbers.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
In the past, we would see 70mm Dolby 6-track, maybe THX as well, in either way it got the point across that you were hearing Dolby sound.
The newspaper stack ads and theater marquees were the main things promoting 70mm and 6-track Dolby magnetic sound back in the 1970's and 1980's.
In all of the 70mm features I have seen, I never saw one with a trailer that promoted the 70mm film format. THX trailers? Yeah, those would play regularly. A Dolby format trailer was rarely seen in analog presentations. I've seen Dolby SR trailers played before shows only a couple times. Dolby Digital trailers on 35mm were far more common, but that also depended on the movie theater chain. Some chains used them regularly; others didn't bother.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I just watched Thor in Atmos in an AVX Theatre using ReadD 3D, seriously, before the show started we saw a feature presentation ad, the realD recycle your glasses ad, an AVX ad and then the Dolby Atmos ad. Way too much crap to confuse the customer.
As opposed to 20-30 minutes of movie trailers, TV commercials, etc? At least the viewers know by the time they start seeing ads for RealD or whatever they can anticipate the movie is finally fixing to begin.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
For Dolby to be successful, they will need to adopt the IMAX approach and that is to brand the auditoriums as a Dolby 3D theatre with Atmos.
Dolby Atmos doesn't have to be tied to Dolby 3D or any specific theater branding scheme to be successful. The only thing Dolby Atmos needs is more movies mixed to fully utilize the process. The Dolby Atmos Unfold and Amaze trailers are great demonstration clips. If more movies are produced in Atmos the way Gravity was and the viewers associate it with those Atmos trailers then it will create enough positive impact to spread good word of mouth.
Dolby Atmos wouldn't be going anywhere if every Atmos mix was like the one I heard in Thor: The Dark World.
I'd like to know just how much a movie theater has to pay IMAX in terms of licensing fees before it even builds/converts an auditorium to IMAX branding. I have a hunch it costs more than going with an in-house DIY "large format" brand, installing dual projectors and well configured Dolby Atmos capable sound system.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I know a lot of people can not stand IMAX for what they have done, I for one hate the LieMax experience, but it is pretty obvious that the IMAX marketing is pretty damn good and consumers are responding.
If you got down to the real truth most customers probably wouldn't care, know better or know the difference between IMAX Digital, RPX, ETX, XD, AVX, etc. They're just wanting to see the movie on a big screen. The mere existence of all those also-ran premium priced big screen houses show a weakness in the IMAX Digital business model.
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