Why So Blu?

I just got back from this and it was fucking awesome! I'm definitely going to see it again.

There should be a review thread for this because I don't want to use spoiler tags. Come on now.

DJariya

I would make a review thread, but I don't know how to populate the poll with stars.

dex14

Brian T

I was actually surprised how much movement is involved in these seats. The movement's not slight at all, but it's also not really distracting if you've willingly paid for the experience, and depending on your tolerance, of course. We tried them for the first time as a lark at the last AVENGERS movie and were rather impressed. Plenty of hydraulic movement up, down, rocking and tilting forward and back, vibration and thudding during the impacts, etc. Obviously, the effects are exceptionally well-matched with the events on screen. Definitely worth it at least once, but we wouldn't make a habit out of it.

Obviously it's designed with a certain kind of movie in mind. ALITA certainly seems like the type (although YouTube has reaction videos for various types of films). We did sit in the regular row behind the D-box seats for a different movie later on and were surprised at how much of the vibration and thudding effects (without the rocking) were distributed to the surrounding seats.

As I said, though, it's a once-in-a-while thing and entirely an option, or just for the hell of it. And yes, the "theme park" experience is very much intentional. I can see why it's popular in many overseas countries where cinema-going isn't as deeply entrenched as it is in the west.

The main exhibition chain here obviously realized that the limited D-box seating sections in their regular cinemas were attracting significant usage on crowded nights and in blockbuster movies for them to justify the creation of a "4DX" cinema here in Toronto where the D-Box + 3D experience is "enhanced" with actual wind and air blasts, mist, rain, thunder and lightning, snow (!), scents (smell-o-vision!) and even back and leg "ticklers" presumably for creepy films (William Castle would be happy). Haven't tried this yet, but we're very much planning on it at least once.

https://www.cineplex.com/Theatres/4DX

4DX is a Korean technology, which explains the presence of Lee Byung-hun in their promo:

<iframe width="450" height="265" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F8Xj9xe2DiM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

At the moment, ALITA is the film being shown here, and I'm sure its makers -- especially Cameron -- had this kind of experience in mind, at least in part, while they were making it.

Mind you, the Zucker Brothers predicted this whole thing 40 years ago :

<iframe width="450" height="265" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rjm_zmBoxjw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

RichC2

$8.7m yesterday (which includes $2.4m from Wednesday previews), that's not bad actually.

Happy Death Day 2U is having traction problems though, but that had a $9m budget.

Mike86

DRG

Saw this tonight and thought it was fantastic. I liked that the futuristic setting felt like a living place and wasn't just another bland dystopian hellhole like Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner, etc. The Alita character and effects worked for me. There were a few minor issues I had, but nothing major. I hope this does well enough for a followup.

Alan Smithee

I hope it does well just so it brings back interest in REAL 3D (and this was actually shot in 3D, none of that conversion nonsense). Almost tempted to go to a theater to see it, but the ones here really do suck. Ideally I'd like to see it with both 3D and D-Box, but only one theater has showings with both and it's one I've sworn off forever (common-width screen, no masking, and consistently dark picture.) Another theater has one screen with D-Box in 2D and another in 3D with no D-Box!

Mike86

Draven

sye46

mwbmis

I'll be the wet blanket then. I wanted to like it, but I thought the love story portion of the movie was really bad. The first half of the movie survives it, but then in the second half it gets so eye rolling, cringeworthy stupid that it overwhelmed pretty much anything good that the rest of the movie had going on.

Mike86

Why So Blu?

I have not finished the manga but I took it as

LorenzoL

D-Box also has a movement feature and it’s not just a rumble. I watched Rogue One in a D-Box theatre and it featured jerking motions during the space battles.

Decker

TomOpus

Every movie has a happy ending.

DJariya

The love story angle was fine IMO. There have been other movies in the past where an artificial intelligence has sought to become more human and even developed some type of feelings. Alita's romance with Hugo felt very organic and didn't feel corny or weird.

Why So Blu?

Agreed. They're also teenagers, if anything, there's that hokey romance angle because they're dumbass teenagers.

Mike86

E Unit

Koby

So Alita: Battle Angel [2019] was actually pretty good. Only a few small differences between the anime OVA and the movie and imo the added scenes were definitely for the better as the OVA felt very choppy and rushed, while the movie worked. There was a little bit in the 2nd quarter of the film that kind of dragged for a moment, but it picked back up and overall we liked it.

If you thought the "love story" was bad in the live-action, you should have seen it in the original anime OVA. The movie at least tried to build it somewhat.

Obi-Wanma

I saw this today with my 9 year old twin daughters we all really liked it.

As a wrestling fan, the ending felt like Alita pointing to the WrestleMania sign though, lol.

fujishig

Uh, I haven't seen the movie, but

Koby

They specifically mentioned during the movie she has a human brain. It's not a spoiler. The very synopsis of the manga, anime, and movie literally mentions she is a "cyborg" which infers she was once human.