Then I feel bad for you guys. Hell, in CT there's a THX certified theater right by my parents house. Now, that's no guarantee of anything but it does help. I don't know what you see when you go to your theaters but damn, I can't imagine it being that bad.

The last time I walked out of a theater was in 99 because a theater in CT was showing Phantom Menace and the center channel was blown...so they decided to make all the other channels louder. But again, we got our money back. No harm, no foul. And that was 7 years ago.

I've never had a problem in NYC with presentation in any of the first-run theaters, though. It's always usually top notch. Again, I've had some problems with rude people but that's not what I'm talking about here.

Can somebody please close this thread?

Actually I don't think its a case of the theaters being that bad, but rather the projector setup being that good.

BTW, I've been thinking of visiting NYC (sometime this year probably). Any advice on what theaters are the best? Also, I know you're into the arts scene over there... any recommendations on shows not to be missed?

Let me summarize this tit-for-tat that everyone's having and wrap up this useless back and forth argument.

First off, digitalfreaknyc (oh, the irony of your username in the context of this argument) is correct:

A properly equipped theatre showing a pristine print will be better as a technical audio and video presentation than any home theatre using conventional DVD or HD media. That's right, any. And that is a fact.

However, awmurray is also correct.

The experience of going to a theatre where the audience is uncooperative, the environment distracting, and the picture and sound is less than stellar will never be as good as watching something in the comfort of your own home. It doesn't matter if the print is pristine and restored if the projectionist is using an old bulb. And what of the SDSS surround sound? You can't hear it when you have two precocious ten-year olds who are here with their parents to see an R-rated horror movie.

DFNYC, you have to realize that you are in one of the only two cities in the U.S. which are a film lover's haven. When Saraband came out you probably had your choice of three or four theatres to see it at. Two of them might even be within walking distance. Was the Indiana Jones retrospective anywhere else? If it was, I can bet you it was in LA. I live in one of the most populated suburban areas in the U.S. and I can tell you that finding a good theatre experience requires guesswork and luck. Finding a great one is a rarity.

The fact of the matter is that economics prevent almost any other city or area in the US to have the theatres and movies that you have. They can simply not make any money over the long term. This is why Brokeback Mountain played on an average of 75 screens for an entire month. A dedicated audience does not exist for small independent pictures (if you can count a $14MM budget and Focus Features / Paramount Pictures as "independent"). And that audience needs to exist for the theatre experience to thrive.

So I hope you two realize you're on opposite ends of the scale and theatre owners and studios realize what is necessary to bring that gap closer. (It can never be bridged).

I think what a lot of people are saying basically comes down to 'theory' versus 'practice.' In theory, sure, a movie theatre experience is superior. Most people, however, don't have access to the sort of controlled theatre environment digi-nyc apparently has. Or if they do but don't know it, they don't want to risk the evening out and the 5-12 bucks a ticket to try to find it.
In theory, I would love to go a theatre that is quiet, has comfortable seats, has an excellent, clear picture, has good balanced sound, has subtitles, has good soundproofing so I don't hear the dialog from the movie next door, and has some sort of standards so I don't hear someone talking on the cell phone or commenting on every frame of the film. In practice, I, and most other people, don't have access to that. If I'm going to spend 5-12 bucks on a ticket and put up with the crap most theatregoers do, I'd rather spend a few bucks more and buy the dvd, which I could then resell; or spend a few bucks more a month, and rent "unlimited" dvds from Netflix or BBO to then watch when I want.

If the 'perfect' theatre experience scores 100, and the 'average' experience for Joe Moviegoer scores between 60-85, I'll stick with DVD/home theatre's score of 90-95.

Oh, and of course, DVD's are not "evil". Ideally DVD would serve as the other side of the coin to theatres. IF the theatres/industry would get in gear and make their product attractive again.

Bus,

That's exactly what I'm trying to say. I'm not taking into account the many factors that may degrade quality as those aren't constant.

The 3 Indy movies are being shown at the Ziegfeld which is (if i'm not mistaken) the last single theater movie house in NYC. It's also one of THE best places to see a movie ANYWHERE. Absolutely fantastic. My responses have obviously been colored from that experience on Saturday but it also proves how great going to the movies can be: seeing a near-perfect film with a great print, great sound system, extremely large theater with a near packed audience the was composed of adults AND children and only cost $7.50.

Hey, Digital.....saw Indy too this weekend? At the Ziegfeld???

Yup. Saturday.

I was at all 3

I only stayed for the first two...Since I saw Last Crusade myself in the theaters. I was too young for Raiders and Temple of Doom on first run.......

And, I left early to drive back to Albany...well worth the trip though. They were great prints, all things condsidered, especially Raiders. My brother and I were arguing how many times it was shown.....must have been stored away somewhere, because it looked damn good for 25 years old.

I LOVED the audience too....if every movie experience was like that, Id go all the time.....cheering, applauding, etc....

Exactly. There are variables, and those variables need to be taken into account in any discussion. Not too many successful debates can be grounded in the absolute. If you're not willing to accept the fact that everything is relative, you'll keep..



-JP

Same here. I saw Last Crusade 3 times on it's first run and this was my first time seeing a print since 89. Temple I saw for the first time last year here in nyc. Raiders I've seen twice...once on RI and once here last year or the year before. To be honest, that other print was even better than this one. The Raiders that had been shown was a brand new print struck and was making the rounds.
There's a theater here that shows movies at midnight every week. That's where I caught Raiders and TOD. Raiders was sold out the night I went. They often have new prints of old classics.
You should have let me know you were coming. Always cool to meet other talkers.

Yeah, that would have been cool. I drove down and met my brother (lives in Queens) and went in for the first 2...

My first time (ashamed) at the Ziegfeld....not a bad little experience :-)

How was the crowd for Last Crusade? There was a noticible drop from Raiders to Temple of Doom, but not as much as I expected. (Still rather good)

I live in queens too

The Ziegfeld is THE place to see movies, especially those midnight showings of the Star Wars movies when they were premiering. I was there for Phantom Menace and I have to say that the experience was light years better than the movie ever could have been. The theater shook when the movie started.

LC had about the same amount of people as TOD. The print wasn't as good but it was still great. I'm sure a lot of people here would have found something to bitch about.

I overheard the theater manager talking to someone and she was saying that this was the best turnout they've had since they started doing this "classics" series. Personally, I think it's a GREAT idea. I'm going to go see some of the others to support and hope that they continue it. I'll defintely be checking out Alien since I've never seen it on the big screen.

I said the statement was ignorant, not you. And yes, I'm not open-minded and accepting of bad ideas, and yours certainly quallifies as such. You seem to be under the illusion that only those in lower income brackets make noise in theaters. Or do you just want to get rid of them, and you're using this as your excuse? Are you saying that people that are better-off financially do not talk in theaters? I stand by what I said, your statement was ignorant and poorly thought-out.

I saw this on the huge screen at DC's Uptown theatre in 70mm a few years back and it was amazing. On a the 'big screen' it is tremendously better than the home video experience.

Where in Queens?

Yeah, I was all geeked up to go, since hearing all the stories of Phantom Menace, etc. It certainly didnt disappoint.

And, I overheard one of the ticket-takers that they are thinking of making it a second-run/classics theater from now on....which would rock. In between the first two my brother and I were trying to put together other "themes" they could do in a day (Star Wars, obviously....if its even possible, Back to the Futures, etc...)

I have to say, I did get giddy at the 2001 and Lawrence of Arabia trailers, too...

So you're saying you're fortunate enough to live in a town that lets you bring whatever you want to eat? Lucky you. Around here, we have a Star Theater in the local mall, and we usually eat lunch at one of the mall diners before seeing a film. God forbid we don't want to walk to the other side of the mall to put our leftovers in the car, the theater employees throw a shit fit if we dare walk in with our leftovers in a bag w/ our items from shopping.

Movie prices? Matinees are getting expensive also.

$10 might not be a big deal to you, but it is to others. Stop acting like everyone is in your financial bracket.

Astoria.

yeah...it looks like this will be a permanant thing. I really hope they do it. They'll still make money booking it for all the big Hollywood premieres as well. You'll see there are dates on schedule where it's blacked out and I assume that's what it will be used for.

I'm SURE they'll do Star Wars days...possibly one trilogy one week and then the other, the next week. I've already done all 3 of the OT back in Boston in the early 90's (my first time seeing Empire on the big screen) but I would definitely do it again there.

Did you fill out a suggestion card? I couldn't think of much. The only movie in my top 10 that I've never seen in theaters is Se7en. I doubt they'll ever show it. But I'm sure they'll get around to Jaws (never seen any of the sequels in the movies but have seen the original 3 times) and Superman (again, never any of the sequels but seen the Director's cut twice) and ET and the rest. And I'll be there for all of them.

And yes, seeing the trailers was mega-sweet. That's just something they didn't have to do but did and hell, there may be people out there who haven't seen some movies (i've never seen 2001 or LOA) and may be interested simply from seeing those old trailers.

My financial bracket!?!??!?!!

LOL

I'm an actor living in NYC. Give me a fucking break.

And I'm not talking about bringing a meal into the theater. I'm talking about bringing my own candy and soda or whatever. Damn. Go to Rite Aid, pick up some skittles for 88 cents and call it a day.

There are always ways of getting things cheaper if you know where to look.

I believe SNL recently released an instructional video mentioning as much. I think they may have specifically recommended Dr Pepper and Red Vines candy as possessing a taste that no sane person could resist.

Nice, hes in Astoria too..nice area.

I would love to see them do your suggestion... Classics/Big movie premiers....the crowd was great, they really loved it, which was good to see.

The possibilities are endless as to their showings....a lot of the time second-run theaters are a little inferior technologically, but not here...

Love to see Seven Samurai, if thats possible....Raging Bull, Godfather, the possibilities are endless...

I completely agree...I heard their idiotic remarks last night.

im sick of hearing the bitching and whining about ticket sales being down....DVD sales are excellent right now and they are ALL making a killing.

NOW, they cannot settle for us waiting for movies to come out on DVD. They want us to spend $10 per ticket to see it in the theater AND THEN spend $20 on the DVD when it comes out. Bull shit.

I spent $3500 on a 61 inch DLP television. I love watching movies at home on it. Ive been to a few theaters that do not even compare!! They have crappy sound, dim pictures, annoying theater goers and so on. Ill reserve going to the theater for big movies like Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter and the likes. Most of the rest, ill spend the money to rent or buy the DVDs.

Hollywood, take it or leave it....quit bitching! No one in hollywood is hurting.

Too clarify my statement earlier, I think the hometheater can't compare with the theater in terms of size and volume.

I'm not picky about A/V quality. I just have never seen a home theater that could match the HUGE screens at a big multliplex or the impact of the sound systems they have cranked way up.

And I make sure to go to either weekday afternoon or late night or weekend morning shows and thus have few problems with audiences. Only negative is the ticket price, but catching matinees helps with that as well.

d,

While I agree that the quality of a DVD (at this stage) will never compare with the big screen.

...It is one hell of a great substitute.


By the way...

Last night, my family and I watched "Walked the Line" in the comfort of my living room with a decent setup.

After watching the film... I realized at that moment, no movie theater could offer me the same experience.

True, but there are too many uncontrollable variables.

I went to see the Producers a couple months ago. The screen was tiny (when normally most of this theater's screens are large) and the sound was muffled. The crowd was thin, so the audience reaction was dense.

Terrible experience.

ON THE CONTRARY, at my house, I can control the picture, sound, audience and refreshments.

But, I still go to the local DLP theater for some movies. The presentation there is usually very good. This is also why I usually see a movie the first weekend if I go to the theater. A. The audience is probably excited about seeing it and will shut up and B. Its probably in the best screen at the theater.

Too bad most movie theaters arent that great anymore.

We want prenup!! We want prenup!!