Sinners 70mm

[Terry Monohan]

Wow this new shot in 70mm Imax film by Ryan Coogler was something else. Watched on the large wide super flat Panavision masked screen on Saturday April 19 at Oakland 's Fox Grand Lake Theatre in the large downstairs theatre. Wish they had a curved 70mm screen at the Grand Lake.

Robert the organist played the Wurlitzer pipe organ before the 7PM Saturday 'Sinners' showing. Probably the only movie theatre in the USA having a pre show organ presentation and 70mm film at the same time. A big thanks to the GL owner Allen Michaan for keeping the Grand Lake Theatre open and running 70mm film projectors with union projectionists.

We are lucky to have two 70mm 'Sinners' film prints playing in the SF Bay Area this week. A Imax showing 70mm at the AMC Metreon in San Francisco and this 70mm film print at the Grand Lake in Oakland CA.

This 1930's vampire movie kept us on the edge of out seats Very entertaining in 70mm. No blow up junk here crisp and clear wide images mostly. Some of the night shots were very dark.

Ryan Coogler is from Oakland CA and will be making some pre show stage Q&A visits at a few of the local cinemas this weekend.

The Grand Lake had huge crowds this weekend for the new 70mm 'Sinners' movie. Many times were almost sold out, So nice to see the huge crowds back at two lobby candy counters. Just like 'Barbie' days.

While I will not give away the plot the film will keep you entertained during the 2 hour 15 minute presentation. Special footage during the credits shown twice and the audience stayed around for these clips.

The stereo surround sound on this 70mm print was over the top. Great effects all during the movie plus 'Sinners' had some good music also. This will be a word of mouth movie to see in the next few weeks.

I will have to try to see it in Imax in San Francisco soon but most shows are sold out now. Too bad the Drafthouse Alamo Sony New Mission Theatre in SF chose not to run Sinner's in 70mm film but are using their new HD Barco projector instead. It will probably look good but I'd take 70mm film any day.

If you have a chance to watch It in 70mm near you go for It. I believe they used Super Panavision 70 and Imax cameras for the filming. The image will be very wide and not so high on the screen.

Attached to the top of the 70mm film print is the new WB trailer for the new Paul Thomas Anderson film shot in 35mm VistaVision 'One Battle After Another' .with Leonardo Di Caprio and Sean Penn. This preview just lit the middle part of the screen up and to me did not look that crisp on the screen blown up to 70mm even though it was shot in VistaVision 35mm stock.

Sinners while having some horror parts It also had some comedy sections mixed in. The audience at the Grand Lake Theatre loved the movie and they responded and jumped in the right places

Quentin Tarantino must have loved the movie. Hope he books a 70mm film print of 'Sinners' at his new Vista Theatre in Hollywood CA.

[Scotty Wright]

Sadly neither 70mm room in Seattle booked it. The SIFF Downtown still has one film projector out of commission and I think it’s on hold to fix until after their film fest in May. I’d be very curious to compare how the film prints look to the various digital options, particularly HDR By Barco or Dolby Cinema.

We showed a dual laser 1.43 DCP at the Boeing IMAX and it is really something to see. They used the IMAX format sparingly, but effectively. There were some clever transitions from the wider aspect ratio to full height. The sound mix was really engrossing as well. Story-wise, I was blown away. It was so much more movie than I expected. It’s a really rich story with so many great performances combined with exquisite filmmaking from every department. I’ve had the soundtrack on repeat since opening night.

We got a 1.43 version to the One Battle After Another trailer as well, so I expect PTA’s film will get a similar film print and imax rollout like Sinners and Joker and Dune.

[Ian Puffenberger]

Quentin Tarantino must have loved the movie. Hope he books a 70mm film print of 'Sinners' at his new Vista Theatre in Hollywood CA.

There are only five anamorphic 5/70 prints, but the Vista did indeed get one of them.

[Jim Cassedy]

. (Edited)Too bad the Drafthouse Alamo Sony New Mission Theatre
in SF chose not to run Sinner's in 70mm film but are using their new
HD Barco projector instead. It will probably look good but I'd take 70mm film any day. - - -
Hope he books a 70mm film print of 'Sinners' at his new Vista Theatre in Hollywood CA.

I believe Drafthouse had previous booking commitments and also some labor/scheduling issues
that would have made it difficult to meet WB's requirements for a 70mm booking. Also, I think that
in this case, they had more of a commitment to run it in HDR, since New Mission has one of only
about 7 HDR systems in the USA, than in 70mm. I agree that I'd prefer 70mm over HDR, but the
programmers had final say in this instance. (And New Mission would have had to come up with a
set of UP-70 lenses and aperture plates which they don't have.)

The HDR and "Standard" DCP aspect ratio, including the HDR version is S-276.

The director made a surprise visit here during a sold out show Friday night. (Well, it was a surprise
to the audience, and even many of the staff here were not told about it until the last minute. I had
known about it for several days since i had to come up with a separate playlist with different trailers
requested by the studio, and also include a static slide image for a quick intro before the movie,
and another at the end when the director was going to show up.) Guests were only told to 'stick
around fora special bonus at the end". The crowed cheered & gave a standing ovation when they
saw Ryan Coogler walking on stage and I brought the lights up. He gave a very nice speech &
thanked them for coming to see in an actual theater, and then spoke a little about his local roots
here in the SF Bay area, and about making the film. I think he hung around the lobby for a few
minutes too, chatting with guests and giving autographs. I think he went over to The Grand Lake
in Oakland on Friday night too.

> Over the weekend I was watching a documentary about some of the old silent film studios
down in Hollywood, and they mentioned that the "Babylon" set from DW Griffith's "INTOLERANCE"
(1916) which was one of the largest film sets ever built, stood exact where the VISTA theater is
today. The theater I'm at was open in 1916- -we probably played it here. ( I may still have the
lenses here for that!)