Chris Nolan Saving Movie Theaters

James0b57 said:
... Another one that was more memorable, because it was surreal, was 2001: A Space Odyssey. Fantastic restoration, and the sound during that space warp travel towards the end was intense in a good way. But what was surreal, was the lead actor was there in the crowd. I was watching him, watch himself, watch himself old.
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You sat next to HAL 9000?
 
HAL was in the projector room.

It was David, played by Keir Dullea
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Trying to think of my favourite moments in a theater.

‘Jurassic Park’ was pretty memorable. Was in the South Pacific. Some friend’s parents ran the one theater on the island. Talking during the film was pretty common there. Was a good time. That theater had soda and snacks for the same price as every other shop on the island.

But i think my favourite theater was in China. Cost was low, but unfortunately the films were illegally sourced, i believe. Not sure, i wasn’t fully aware of it all back then. But it was a very small theater that would play Laser Discs. Never had previews there. Cost 50¢ a ticket. Theater sat maybe 30people. I actually like the “intermission” when they flipped the disc. Because they were likely bootlegged, we got movies before the National theater, so, in a weird way, our “dollar” theater was where we saw new films, and the official theater played foreign films much later, and it was generally pretty worn out and scratched.

Imax was fun the first time, but ultimately, i am with DLD, and prefer home theater. My favourite moment at Imax was meeting the def couple and our brief interaction, and i liked the fact that they went for the “sound”. That rumble is difficult to find anywere else but Imax. Shaking the whole house is one thing, shaking a stadium sized theater is another!

Lately, i’ve really enjoyed the small communities of film makers and cinephiles here in LA. We share, join, and seek out all kinds of ways to watch documentaries, art, and independent films. That community is fantastic.

I do recall the age where we’d go as something kids do. Though, i felt the movies were a backdrop to everything else, like going to get icecream, or whatever was popular in the US for kids back then.

The dine in theater where i knew the staff was great. Though short lived, as i moved again. But getting hang out with muchadoboutnothing friends, and drink and watch films for free half the time, was like living a sitcom.

But possibly my favourite theater experience wasn’t even at a theater, or even a movie. So maybe this doesn’t count. But growing up, my parents and their friends got together and shared slideshows and talked about the images of travels and life from a decade or two prior. Never quite had a movie ever cover as much range.

We may lose some of the more mid tier theater businesses, but there are plenty of ways to enjoy “cinema”, and i don’t think that will ever go away, as long as we have community in the first place, and not the other way around.
 
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I first started in electronic retail in the fall of 1986. A huge store, with ~ 60,000 ft sq of floor space and restrooms. I recall the video department setting up home theater systems. A 27" TV, a hi fi stereo 4-head VCR, a package stereo system with small rear speakers and either a "Top Gun" or "The Temple of Doom" playing on every one of those systems. This was new and most walkers-by were just floored by the audio, as the VHS video quality was "just OK".

As to the movies, 1970's were my favorite era when Kubrick, Allen, Spielberg and Scorsese were making great films, films about humanity, not the CGI laden Saturday morning cartoons. These days, I'll might catch something on TNT or Telemundo and just shudder about what has become of the industry.
 
I used to go with my family in the 70s and early 80’s to travel-logs. These essentially were travel film presentations by usually a couple ( almost always called Mitzy and Fred). I saw them in 2000 seat auditorium in presented on Sunday afternoon by a Masonic group. It was silent 16mm , they would play a record in background and narrate over the record. Greek islands, Acapulco, ireland, etc. without fail a donkey would always try to eat Mitzy’s hat even in the streets of Salzburg. As cheesy as this was it still made me believe that it was possible to make films and get paid. I don’t remember what was typical pay on that circuit ( my dad told me at the time) but it seemed like a ton of money to me. The shows were free paid for by organization.
 
DLD said:
I first started in electronic retail in the fall of 1986. A huge store, with ~ 60,000 ft sq of floor space and restrooms. I recall the video department setting up home theater systems. A 27" TV, a hi fi stereo 4-head VCR, a package stereo system with small rear speakers and either a "Top Gun" or "The Temple of Doom" playing on every one of those systems. This was new and most walkers-by were just floored by the audio, as the VHS video quality was "just OK"...
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Correction. Dolby Surround was then often just in stereo because people didn't want to run a separate wire - WAF and all - and even that was impressive. Those with the tiny rear speakers were 3 Channel, where the system had to have a Dolby Surround equipped receiver or, in case of a high end system, a special sound processor. By late-1988, Dolby ProLogic added a center channel for the dialog and one had to have a fairly high end receiver for that. IIRC, Pioneer 920 was the go-to model for a general consumer at $900.
 
Paul F said:
I watched the virgin run of a 70mm print of the 1989 restoration of Lawrence of Arabia in a full-sized private theater. It was a marvelous experience. It was a pinch-me moment.
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I've seen it a few times in good cinemas. It is indeed breathtaking.

Here's a few...

Apocalypse Now REDUX when it got a theatrical release. The cinema happened to have broken AC and it felt like you were there in the jungle sweating it out....

Silent Light at the Sydney Film Festival. A visually poetic optically finished film by an ANTI-D.I director. It was beautiful, shot mostly with a 35-3 open gate and with Lomo Anamorphics, optically printed and finished, complete with in-camera time lapse sequences. It was a near religious experience seeing how good that film looked projected in the most ideal conditions. At that point in time, digital had largely taken over, but it was mostly 2K DCP. Here you had an optical from start to finish honest to god anamorphic answer print and it was pristine and stunning and gentle reminder that even though digital had taken over, it was more about cost than tech advantages. I happened to bump into the director afterwards and we talked a lot about the way he made that film and it was literally hand made in a very traditional way.

Il Conformista was a visual revelation.

Visions of light, a documentary that cemented my decision to one day become a cinematographer.

Soy Cuba I knew nothing about this film and went on a whim to see it when it was restored and literally my jaw was on the floor for most of the film.

JB
 
Paul F said:
I watched the virgin run of a 70mm print of the 1989 restoration of Lawrence of Arabia in a full-sized private theater. It was a marvelous experience. It was a pinch-me moment.
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Damn! Sounds amazing!

I’ll admit, i didn’t see that film until a couple years ago at the Egyptian. Dang it, made me fall in love with movies all over again.
 
John Brawley said:
Silent Light

Il Conformista was a visual revelation.

Visions of light, a documentary that cemented my decision to one day become a cinematographer.

Soy Cuba I knew nothing about this film and went on a whim to see it when it was restored and literally my jaw was on the floor for most of the film.

JB
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I’ve not seen these, they sound fantastic. Will try to find some copies, or maybe later on, after some months, get a group of friends to watch together on a big screen.
 
DLD said:
most walkers-by were just floored by the audio
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Even though VHS picture quality was limited, VHS Hi-Fi audio was a different animal. The old audio track is a thin line along the side of the tape. Hi-Fi audio, in contrast, is recorded in diagonal stripes across the full width of the tape, like the video.

"Hi-Fi delivered flat full-range frequency response (20 Hz to 20 kHz), excellent 70 dB signal-to-noise ratio (in consumer space, second only to the compact disc), dynamic range of 90 dB, and professional audio-grade channel separation (more than 70 dB). " --- Wikipedia

Because of this, some microbudget music studios recorded to VHS (no picture, just sound), and I have read that it is actually better quality than two-track reel-to-reel audiotape.

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My father set up our living room like that: a Hi-Fi VCR into his receiver and speakers. Raiders of the Lost Ark sounded great! But with our 27" TV, surround sound was too incongruous and actually pulled us out of the movie. Surround sound only works for me in a theater where it's dark and the screen takes up enough of my angle of view. Otherwise I prefer the sound only in front of me, to match the picture.

But this discussion reminds me that sound is at least as important as picture, and I still have a little soundbar underneath my 50" TV.
 
combatentropy said:
Even though VHS picture quality was limited, VHS Hi-Fi audio was a different animal. The old audio track is a thin line along the side of the tape. Hi-Fi audio, in contrast, is recorded in diagonal stripes across the full width of the tape, like the video.

"Hi-Fi delivered flat full-range frequency response (20 Hz to 20 kHz), excellent 70 dB signal-to-noise ratio (in consumer space, second only to the compact disc), dynamic range of 90 dB, and professional audio-grade channel separation (more than 70 dB). " --- Wikipedia

Because of this, some microbudget music studios recorded to VHS (no picture, just sound), and I have read that it is actually better quality than two-track reel-to-reel audiotape...
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Yes, some well heeled buyers used HiFi VCR's as a pseudo reel-to-reel. The problem was in the video tape quality vs. the reel-to-reel and the quality of the build of VCR's vs. reel decks.

The third variable was that a upper-middle cassette deck - not talking about Nakamichi or the nAD - was cheaper than a HiFi VCR and more ubiquitous.

And the fourth, by the time the HiFi prices came down, so did the CD players, which provided superior sound and convenience. Plus, you could play discs in your car or in a portable boombox/player.
 
James0b57 said:
He is so disconnected.

Time has past for the 90’s era movie theater. It has to evolve.

And i for one will not be jumping to spend time in a closed room with a hundred or more people for 3hrs (because he only makes long movies now), just not going to do it.

If art is to be an essential part of society, then it has to have some relevance.... movie theaters do not hold that value at this time, pandemic or no.

I remember going to the theater prior to the internet, and before HD. Definitely was an important part of society back then.

Now? I like it, but i don’t see it as essential in its current form. The model for theaters and the content is far too commercial to be worth saving. Like newspapers, if we all carry a reading device, why waste the resources to make giant paper sunday papers?

Movie theaters should not be trying to hold onto the glimmer of cultural relevance it once had. And the insult is that the business model has not changed, but doubled down on 90’s theater experience.

In the 90’s, it was the pinnacle of technology and a way for the masses to share in a cultural experience and ideals. But the business aspect was lazy because it knew we had no other option, and prices began to go up, while experiences didn’t. Shortly after the internet and cellphones altered the way we shared information, and that made the theater experience just a preference, and no longer essential.

Now here we are in a pandemic aware society and theaters are still trying to get hundreds of people to hot box in a closed room together.

Consider this, if a movie theater experience with popcorn and a drink can cost roughly $25, and one could buy a sound system for $500, and get 90% of the theater experience from their home on the 60” tv they already own, then what exactly is a film shot a year or two ago going to help us feel when we have so many other ways of experiencing shared experiences? $25 in 20 times will afford some one a fairly good sound system. And you don’t even have to worry about bedbugs or some stranger talking over the movie.
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Whole heartedly agree with this.

I also think moving away from these big conglomerates bridges the gap for Indi filmmakers producing non commercial content and takes away the monopoly power of these big major studios. This pandemic has certainly allowed us to see we can function with watching movies online while eating our cheap bag of popcorn at home. So no sir I will not be showing love to these theaters that only priced gauged me and my family when they knew we had no other options.
 
reem12 said:
Whole heartedly agree with this.

I also think moving away from these big conglomerates bridges the gap for Indi filmmakers producing non commercial content and takes away the monopoly power of these big major studios. This pandemic has certainly allowed us to see we can function with watching movies online while eating our cheap bag of popcorn at home. So no sir I will not be showing love to these theaters that only priced gauged me and my family when they knew we had no other options.
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Woah, fantastic thoughts!

Yeah, i am really excited for the future of media, story telling, art, and the community surrounding it!
 
From that article " AMC refused to show any more Universal movies when cinemas reopen. ". People say the stupidest things. Universal has the movies and AMC has the popcorn. Gee, I wonder how that will work out.
 
Paul F said:
From that article " AMC refused to show any more Universal movies when cinemas reopen. ". People say the stupidest things. Universal has the movies and AMC has the popcorn. Gee, I wonder how that will work out.
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well now
 
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