Superman

[Tommy]

My wife, daughter and I went to see this on July 4th at the Imax theater.

I dont even want to mention the story line itself, to many debates Ive seen on that. But I did want to mention the picture quality itself.

:: Maybe this was the theater itself but I thought the picture quality was horrible. I figured this would be a big budget movie and have lots of effects to look at etc... Instead I though most of the background shots were blurry and the blacks were crushed and lacking of detail.

The parts of the movie that included 3d also seemed to be lacking. Some depth to the picture was noticable but the details of the picture were lost.

So I figured I would ask and see if it may have been different at other theaters?

Spent about $70 on tickets and the snack bar. It made me appriecate my home theater even more. At this rate I think I will be attending actual theaters less and less and will instead invest more into my own home theater.

[Sonnie]

Tommy, did you clean the smudges off the 3D glasses?

For some reason I have not been impressed with the previews.

[khellandros66]

Tommy,

I know exactly how you fell, most of the big 20 screen theaters are run by a bunch of under appreciative teens still in highschool. Not to sy that all teens are this way but I know this from asking the to focus the image, but when I get an answer like eh its still enjoyable right?!?!

Pff its like most retail, companies lack in willingness to pay more drives away the experienced workers and professionals who take it as an artform.

~Bob

[Tommy]

Me and the family always loved are outings to the movie theater. I'd guess we'd go once or twice a month. Lately its just so expensive that its pushing us away. Not that I mind spending the money but I just dont see it as getting my money's worth anymore.

First of all I dislike most of the recent movies comming out. How many re-made movies, comic books, video game movies can they do?

Considering for the four of us it usually costs 70 - 100 $ for tickets and food compared to what it costs to say purchase a low end dvd player or buy pre-viewed dvd's and own them it just doesnt make sense. Also adding in with the hassle of crowds of people, traffic, noise etc...

Anyway I've still never been to an Imax theater and didnt even know about them till I started doing all this HT research so I was interested to go see what the fuss is about. But Prisidon or however it is spelled was showing there for the last month so I waited till Superman came out on it.

We decided to go on July 4th a failed attempt at beating the weekend crowds. We pre-ordered the tickets on July 3rd only to find out that most of the shows for the next day were already sold out. We were forced to go to the 9am show.

So we arrived a little before 9 and see a sign that all shows for that day were already sold out including the 9am show, good thing we pre-ordered. I was really surprised at how many people were there at 9 am. Exactly what I was trying to avoid right...

So the wife goes and gets us seats while I miss all the previews and chance to see the speaker demo for the theater cause Im stuck in the snack food line. I get in just as the show starts. It was packed, I dont think there were empty seats anywhere.

The screen was huge like I heard but I was surprised the seating didnt extend further back then what it did. I thought it was too big for where we were forced to sit towards the front.

Almost immediatley I noticed a small hole in the screen towards the lower left hand side so this was a annoyance for the entire movie. The theater seemed to dark when I went to go to the rest room.

The long aisles with no breaks in them were a pain with a ton of people trying to get by the entire movie

The sound system I thought was less then impressive. When it hit real low freq's even the wife said, the sub at home would have shook the house at that but wasnt even stunning at the theater

Topped with what I already mentioned about the picture quality already which at this point I dont know if it was the movie itself or the theaters projector was a real dissapointment.

The only thing that was impressive was thinking how I already enjoyed my home theater more then going to the actual movie theaters now.

[brucek]

The screen was huge like I heard but I was surprised the seating didnt extend further back then what it did

In my visits to Imax I have found that there is really a narrow sweet spot for the experience and the rest of the seats are quite poor.

The sound system I thought was less then impressive. When it hit real low freq's even the wife said, the sub at home would have shook the house

In their defense, they've got a heck of a large volume to try and pressurize with their sub. But for sure, my home system blows away any theater I've ever been in...

brucek

[Vader]

In fact, the only time in recent memory that I have been impressed with the "theatrical experience" was at Superman Returns in IMAX. To my ears and eyes, the optimal place to be seated is 2/3 the way back in the middle. But in any other theater I have been in recently, my HT outdoes the sound sight unseen, and the picture (even "just" 480p) is better than what I get at the theater. I have to admit that things have improved somewhat from the late 80's-early 90's, where the majority of theaters were little more than large rooms with postcard screens (the equivalent of watching a big-screen TV in a bus?). I remember a movie in the early 80's called "Bachelor Party" (Tom Hanks needed a paycheck, I guess), that had a theater multiplex, where one theater was an 8mm projector in a janitor closet. OK, maybe stuff is not that bad yet, but given the fact that my HT is not even in the same league (to put it mildly) as most here - and still embarasses many commercial venues - that says a lot about where "the theater experience" is headed, IMO.