2001: First impressions - Page 12

I see that 2001 is shown occasionally at various but few sites. How can one find out where ? Chicago or New York are closer for me than LA or Seattle.

Art

I don't really know how you could. Warner isn't advertising it. It was a total fluke that I saw that it was showing in Seattle. I just happened to look at the Cinemerama site yesterday to see if they had any upcoming events and saw the sci-fi festival thing. They do a 70mm film event every year though where they will show 70mm and Cinerama films for about 1-2 weeks. I wanted to go to 2001 during its run last year but I had work obligations, luckily I missed it since it was not the new print. But they also had stuff like Lawrence of Arabia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sound of Music, Baraka, Tron, Ghostbusters and more. There were a bunch of truly shot 70mm films in the lineup and a few blow ups. They also had How the West was Won in true Cinerama three strip and This is Cinerama.

I would just try to find out what theaters near you (or relatively closer) do occasional 70mm showings and subscribe to their newsletter. Probably give you the best chance.

The blow up's in circulation now, are pretty much the best that were out there.

I continue to be surprised that almost nobody knows about the excellent site www.in70mm.com.
They exist for a very long time now and have a page that imo is by far the best way to track worldwide screenings of large format prints and other presentations of large format films:
http://www.in70mm.com/now_showing/index.htm

It also shows the screenings at the Seattle cinerama and they have a sidebar with cionemas that show 70mm prints with some regularity.

A caveat with regard to 70mm Blow-Ups: I have found them to be mostly disappointing compared to the real deal which is 70mm prints derived from large format elements. I remember the first 70mm festival I attended and it showed the two biggest Cameron hits that made it to 70mm Blow-Up, Titanic and Terminator 2, and I couldn't help to be disappointed as the resolution just wasn't there.

Regarding movies shot in 65mm 2001 is notorious for having some of the worst 70mm prints out there, so I hope this will be a good print.

And I would definitely try to catch Tron, as it has been shot VistaVision and 65mm and could look really good.

I thought about Tron but honestly the movie just does hardly anything for me. And having just seen it after the Blu-ray release, I just don't know if I could sit through it again.

Doh! I missed 2001 70mm in my area that was a couple of months ago. Have no idea if it was a new print.

That's the problem with 2001 - you never know if you get a good or a not so good print. Things get more complicated by prints that might look very sharp but that have other issues like scratches and other mechanical damage and those that are in excellent mechanical condition but still flat and soft for whatever reason.

Thanks for posting that! but how is anyone supposed to know of it as I've never seen it advertised.

Often, an interest in a subject can prompt the internet searching thereof.

The Cinerama in Seattle is advertising it as the new print, that's the only reason I knew.

I wouldn't advise traveling very far to go to a 70mm showing in Chicago. The only theater that shows 70mm in the Chicagoland area, afaik, is The Music Box, but its screen is way too small to be able to appreciate the full benefits of 70mm. And those showings are very rare, once or twice a year in a good year.

It also seems that the availability of 70mm films has really dried up. Studios are all about digital now. It seems like the same few big films are floating around, and that's it. For example, Ebertfest has shown Oklahoma!, 2001, Patton, Playtime, My Fair Lady, LOA, Baraka, and Hamlet. But the last three festivals have been without a 70mm film, and I suspect it is because they haven't been able to track down a quality print of a film that hasn't already been at the festival. Three or four times they have scheduled 70mm blowups, but it has never worked out.

I thought 70mm screenings might be of interest for members of this forum, after all for years good 70mm prints were undisputedly the best way to watch many films. But it doesn't matter much as now you know and maybe there soon will be a 70mm screening you can attend and you too can spread the knowledge about in70mm.com to other forum members
There is also a lot to read on the site by the way for people who are interested in large format processes.

I guess it's west coast or bust.


Art

I think this movie could significantly benefit from a restoration/remastering.

Kubrick was meticulous about his filming process and wanted to get the highest resolution image on this production. You can read more about it on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A...pecial_effects

Were did you find that he wanted the highest resolution? The text you linked refered to the special effects and not the live action footage.

You know, after just coming home from viewing 2001 at the Seattle Cinerama from what was advertised as a new 70mm print, I'm not so sure that the current transfer is all that lacking.
I took a lot of notes while watching the film and I will be watching it again at home tonight.
I can you that the film I just saw looked damn close to the screenshots Grubert posted earlier in this thread, specifically the red rocks and Floyd shaking hands at the space station.
The film also varied dramatically in detail from shot to shot.
Overall, I would not characterize the film I saw as consistently sharp.

Thanks Milt for your input. The lighting for 2001 doesnt seem to really be there for demoquality. As I wrote earlier Kubrick seem to have aimed for realistic lighting of the movie over fancy hollywood style. The downside is that its very flat in most shoot.

As for sharpness, people should remember that 70mm gives greater resolution then 35mm, but it also demands more of the lenses since they must produce sharpness over a bigger surface area.

Add this 2 togheter and it partly explain the PQ of 2001.

On the other hand, we can be happy that we have a homevideo presentation that gives us the look of the 70mm version.