Dear Mulitplexes, shape-up or ship out!
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 10:55 pm
I just got home from a screening of Poltergeist at a nearby AMC Cinema.
The film was great -- fantastic really, and it holds-up incredibly well after 40 (!) years. And it is a testament to how phenomenal a movie Poltergeist is that I was able to enjoy it, considering the surpassingly awful presentation.
I paid $15 to see this movie, and for that price, with digital projection, I was expecting 4K quality.
But this movie looked like crap. The projection was dim, making it impossible to see details in the darker areas of some scenes -- not helpful for a movie with lots of low-key lighting and dramatic shadows.
I don't know what kind of projection lens they used, but there were also chromatic anomalies. And this can't have been 4K, because it looked pretty soft -- not "out-of-focus", but soft, like an old, lower-rez transfer. I also honestly wonder if there was fog or soot or something on either the lens or projection booth window. What I saw actually resembled the quality of those lousy rear-projection HDTV they used to sell in the mid-2000s.
I own Poltergeist on Blu-ray, but I wanted to see it on the big screen again, and as it was just released on UHD disc, I assumed they would be screening the new transfer. I guess not. Or maybe they did but you couldn't tell because they used a cheap lens and dying projection bulb.
On top of that the sound was lousy too, and the levels were unbelievably low -- so low in fact you could barely understand the parapsychologists in that scene where they whisper to each other.
Whatever the reason, I can's see spending this kind of money for such an unacceptable presentation. I wanted to complain, but who do I complain to? The 20-something non-binary pothead with blue hair at the concession stand?
Seeing as theaters took a hit during the lockdown, you'd think cinema owners would be working overtime to improve the movie-going experience. But based on what I saw tonight, it looks more like they've given-up and are just waiting for the business to die (and if it's going to be run like this, it deserves to).
Personally, in the future, I plan to just stay home with my 62" screen.
The film was great -- fantastic really, and it holds-up incredibly well after 40 (!) years. And it is a testament to how phenomenal a movie Poltergeist is that I was able to enjoy it, considering the surpassingly awful presentation.
I paid $15 to see this movie, and for that price, with digital projection, I was expecting 4K quality.
But this movie looked like crap. The projection was dim, making it impossible to see details in the darker areas of some scenes -- not helpful for a movie with lots of low-key lighting and dramatic shadows.
I don't know what kind of projection lens they used, but there were also chromatic anomalies. And this can't have been 4K, because it looked pretty soft -- not "out-of-focus", but soft, like an old, lower-rez transfer. I also honestly wonder if there was fog or soot or something on either the lens or projection booth window. What I saw actually resembled the quality of those lousy rear-projection HDTV they used to sell in the mid-2000s.
I own Poltergeist on Blu-ray, but I wanted to see it on the big screen again, and as it was just released on UHD disc, I assumed they would be screening the new transfer. I guess not. Or maybe they did but you couldn't tell because they used a cheap lens and dying projection bulb.
On top of that the sound was lousy too, and the levels were unbelievably low -- so low in fact you could barely understand the parapsychologists in that scene where they whisper to each other.
Whatever the reason, I can's see spending this kind of money for such an unacceptable presentation. I wanted to complain, but who do I complain to? The 20-something non-binary pothead with blue hair at the concession stand?
Seeing as theaters took a hit during the lockdown, you'd think cinema owners would be working overtime to improve the movie-going experience. But based on what I saw tonight, it looks more like they've given-up and are just waiting for the business to die (and if it's going to be run like this, it deserves to).
Personally, in the future, I plan to just stay home with my 62" screen.