High level movie nerdery on display, in full IMAX resolution with Mike Russell who just came from an IMAX screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark in a bit of a tailspin. Not because the movie was bad – that movie could NEVER be bad – but because he found himself watching the movie the wrong way; looking for nits to pick, looking for itches to scratch. But would he have done that if the marketing for this release hadn’t promised that it’d be the hands-down finest presentation this classic film had ever seen? A trip down the rabbit hole of expectations, reality, and how theater owners and content providers have been equally enticing and confusing when it comes to what you’re actually paying money for when you pay for their brand names. Also discussed – what’s left on the docket for 2012 so far as films go, and which of those will be must-see, opening weekend fare.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
You can pay $17 to show your kid Raiders for the first time, but only if you also do the following. That morning or the day before, you buy a puppy and give it to your child. You let them bond for a few hours and then you take your child aside and say “We’re going to go see a very good movie today. You are going to be very quiet and watch the movie, because if you make any sound at all, when we get home I am killing the puppy and you are going to watch.”
That’s how you do it.
Well, YEAH.
I work at a theatre, and finally got around to watching “Raiders” in IMAX last night. That weird shimmery stuff with Sapito was there; I thought I saw it a few other times throughout the course of the movie, too, but this may have just been my imagination.
Overall, it looked great, but there were a few scenes that seemed a wee bit darker than it felt like they ought to.
I’d speculate that the conversion to IMAX may have been a big-time rush job. From my perspective, this rerelease came out of NOWHERE. I am a relatively well-informed guy when it comes to movies, and the first inkling I had of it happening was when we received a new bookings sheet about three weeks ago. There was a line on it that said on 09/07, we’d be opening something called “IMAX Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
“WHA…?!?”, says I.
So, to me, it feels a bit like something that just came out of nowhere, and sometimes that equates to rush-job.
Either way, great movie, and it was fun as hell watching it again on a big screen.
OMSI announced starting 9/21 for $6 they will have a true 70mm IMAX print of Dark Knight Rises. I remember like Bobby, not liking Attack of the Clones, but that was likely because the source for that movie is natively 2K. I’m not a fan of the dome, but it was one of the few theaters to get that prologue screening and for $6 I can’t complain.
Fuck books and people under 21! Go Cort!