The Official AVS 3D Film (First Run In Theaters) Topic! - Page 4

Topic title edited.

I saw the first 40 minutes of the Last Airbender yesterday. I couldn't take anymore. It's kind of sad the Hollywood is taking mediocre movies and trying to get more milage at the box office by doing a 2D to 3D conversion. A bad movie is a bad movie. Making it 3D does not make it better.

lol @Frankenweenie being filmed in stop motion BLACK & WHITE!

I'm sure as hell not seeing a black and white film in 2010 (or ever!).

Why? What's wrong with B&W? If used correctly it can be extremely effective.

I like color and I especially wouldn't pay the normal admission price for B&W.

I mean B&W isn't even using the ability of the three-chip DLP projectors so why would I pay for them?

I might see it if it were discounted a few dollars.

gasp!!

What I find interesting is that there are no comments here about double and triple dipping! The willingness by 3D advocates to be exploited is amazing. If its 3D we just give them the combination to the safe. Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil!

Most of the 3D movies being released just don't appeal to me and I'm not going to see them just because they're in 3D! Final Destination No. Fifteen just isn't going to do it for me. Maybe the critics are right and 3D at best will be a small niche and at worst just a short lived fad - I hope not, but I don't think Cameron can do it all by himself with his double, triple and so on dip then dip some more methodology. I hope this is just growing pains and it'll get ironed out over the next couple of years.

I loved FD4 3D and can't wait for it to be released on BD3D.

I hated Avatar and will not be seeing the special edition that's only playing in 700 theaters btw.

I feel the same way about both movies. Avatar to me was not a good movie by any stretch of my imagination. It was very, very typical. I went to see it 2x but my opinion did not change.

I went to see Hubble 3D in our local theater which has a 'fake' IMAX setup (IMAX-Lite I guess), and I loved it, definitely looking forward to getting that in BluRay. What was more interesting is that they showed a preview of Legend of the Guardians, which is a 3D movie about... owls. Yes, owls. In armor... What struck me is that that was some of the best 3D footage I have ever seen, not sure whether to be happy about that or be sad that they put such greatness in a movie about owls...

Saw Piranha today. It was fun and campy with lots of blood and boobies. Exactly what I expected. It was great seeing Christopher Lloyd playing a crazy scientist again and I hope Richard Dreyfuss didn't get paid by the line...

I saw Hubble 3D on a full Imax screen when it was first released and agree that it was a great show. If you ever get a chance, make sure to check out Magnificent Desolation as that was another solid Imax presentation.

I saw Avatar 3D today on an Imax Experience screen (I'm one of the 23 people in the country who actually hadn't yet seen it in any format) and I must confess to being a little disappointed. There were a few scenes where the 3D effect really pulled me in (mainly the foliage on Pandora and the military briefing where the theater audience felt like an extension of the briefing room) but for the most part the 3D effect was so subtle as to often be negligible. The story itself was about what I expected; moderately interesting but incredibly derivative with a message that was practically beaten over your head.

Even the 3D trailers were disappointing; Tron and Megamind had virtually no 3D pop or depth at all; Legend of the Guardians looked better but all the extreme close-ups were giving me some eyestrain.

I'm now curious to see Avater on my 3D TV as even the few clips I downloaded and viewed in side by side seemed to give me more depth than what I saw at the theater.

It sounds like you may have the same problem I do and notice 3-D better at home on a smaller screen. Avatar didn;t really work for me, but everything I've seen at home has been fantastic. Go figure.

Its possible as I also find the home 3D experience to be better with native 3D content; but it could also be the Imax Experience presentation (ie: Imax Lite) just isn't what its cracked up to be. I've seen plenty of true Imax shows and my fair share of Real-D 3D presentations and if my memory isn't playing tricks on me the sense of depth was superior to what I got today with Avatar 3D.

Awesome! Christie DLP is my favorite 2D and 3D projectors.

I doubt my Rave will be switching to these anytime soon since they were built like 3 years ago and have all 16 Christie 2K+5 RealD XL systems.

Hi all;

Counting my trip to Cinemark RealD 3D XD theater last week to watch the Special Edition on opening night, I have now seen Avatar 7 times in RealD 3D XD. I also have it in Blu-Ray and have watched it once on my smallish 32" Samsung 720p TV, with a very good traditional Yamaha/ Bang and Olufsen sound system. I'll comment on the 3D experience in a moment, first allow me to rave about the movie.

The Avatar Review:

The ONLY thing I did not like about it was the over-the-top evil capitalist theme. This coming from Cameron, who is the ultimate uber-capitalist!

That having been said, after seven trips and hundreds of dollars for tickets and munchies , I still consider it the best movie ever made. Not just the best sci-fi flick, the best movie. I don't lightly give it that rating.

It's a love story, an epic war movie, a sci-fi extravaganza. It has nearly perfect dialog, the pacing is flawless, each scene flows into the next. It makes me cry, it makes me laugh, it makes me smile ear-to-ear until my face hurts. I *never* fail to get continuous tingles during the "tame the Ikran and fly!" scenes. When Jake and Neytiri fly together I'm am literally moved to tears - *each* time I go. Perhaps my love of flying has something to do with it (I am a private pilot), or my love of mountaineering and rock-climbing.

When Grace dies, the flow into the "lets kick ass" speech to the Navi is perfect. Quarrich is the *perfect* tough, hard-to-kill, sociopathic military bastard, the role is flawlessly acted. Only Papa Dragon would have the courage to not give up when his ship in crashing in flames, get into a suit and jump free, land and get back to the business of hunting Jake - PISSED off and looking for blood.

The film is filled with great little touches like the way Proxima Centauri shows up in one beautiful shot of the cobalt morning sky - small, red and distant. The shadows of the moons on the gas giant line up correctly. The red-glow of the heat-exchangers on the Venture Star. The way 3D is everywhere in the movie - the pictures on the 'fridge, the computer displays, all are 3D. (Anyone who only sees the movie on 2D Blu-Ray would never notice that.) I could go on and on. I bet that anyone like I who is a total sci-fi nut with thousands of volumes of books will see the depth of the research that went into the flick.

The new footage, for the most part, makes the movie better. The Tsu'tey death scene also made me tear-up, and the new "hunt from the air" shots were great and made some of the original flying scenes make more sense. I also liked the quick shots of the results of the Navi attacks on the 'dozers - that pointed up how worried the earthers had a right to be. I only wish the new version had shown Jake hooking up again with his original Ikran after Toruk is set free. I told a friend who is also an Avatar fan that the new version made the love scene X-rated - he scornfully exclaimed "they did not!", but I told him I was not lying, it was X-rated if you were a Navi watching, but not if you are human!

And the music! By itself, it is not super-great. but when coupled with the movie, the resulting art is very, very powerful.

The Theater Experience:

As I mentioned, I've only seen it in Cinemark RealD 3D on the huge XD screen, with the Christie DLP system.

The surround-sound in the XD theaters is fabulous. The volume is literally deafening, but I use my Etymotics Research Er-20 Hi Fidelity earplugs http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.aspx and the result is a comfortable experience for my ears, allowing me to enjoy the chest-pounding bass of the explosions sans pain. Sounds come from all directions in the theater, perfectly coordinated with the action.

As an amateur astronomer, I am a total nut when it comes to focus and clarity. back in the days of film projectors, I would be constantly banging on the door of the projection booth, demanding a re-focus. For Avatar in XD, the focus and clarity was flawless. I always sat in the precise center spot in the theater, with my head positioned along a line normal to the exact center of the screen. There was zero motion blur, no artifacts of any kind. I have to wear the 3D-glasses over my eyeglasses ( I am slightly nearsighted and only wear the eyeglasses at movies, which gives you an idea of how obsessed I am about movie focus.) Yes, the glasses make things seem a bit dim, but by the time the trailers for the other 3D movies were over and Avatar started, I was fully adjusted. Color depth was excellent, and I never saw any pixelation. No headaches or eyestrain.

In addition to the "depth" effect of looking into the screen, there is also plenty of "things between the screen and my face" - falling ash, insects, the heads of the troops and the Navi when they are gathered in groups.

I was going to go again tonight, but to my horror "Machete" had bumped Avatar from the XD screen! NOOOOOO!

Now, all that is available is RealD 3D on the smallest screen in the Cinemark theater, projected from a Barco DP2K-32B. I fumed for a while. I googled around looking, but the closest IMAX 3D theater is in Phoenix, 500 miles away. Too Far. Then I found some threads on AVS, and decided that I could do a service by going tomorrow and watching it on the Barco DP2K-32B and then posting my critique. After all, it still has to be at least a little better than Blu-Ray at home.

I do have one question. In the XD theater and on my Blu-Ray disc, the screen ratio is 16:9. But, I was watching a NetFlix trailer that seemed to be in Scope 2.35:1 . Any comments on this most welcome!

Steve

Avatar 3D was framed and edited in 16:9. The 2D version was created in 2.35:1.

I disagree with everything you said about Avatar lol I hated that movie.

I'm happy that you are a person who actually cares about flawless projection at the movies. I only go to Rave Motion Pictures now after having been to Regal and a couple AMC theaters and finding everything there to be basically crap.