Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Talladega Nights (2006)

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Topic: Talladega Nights (2006)

Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 08-20-2006 01:00 AM

CINEMA: Trans-Lux Skyline Cinema, Dillon, CO
AUDITORIUM: 1
PRESENTATION: 35mm by Glamour Shots/I'm going to guess SR sound
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: It basically SUCKED, but I think it was functioning as designed.
RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

Admission is NINE BUCKS to this plex with its crappy 80's style lobby with lines of neon on gallons and gallons of teal semigloss and the cheesy oval "sky" ceiling with randomly placed can lights to represent stars. Really. Can lights in a random cluster. And this is a fairly NEW build. Stadium seating and all.

There aren't even surrounds on the auditorium walls. Oh wait...Yes there are. They're up by the ceiling, ala HITS. And they're mounted sideways.

You wouldn't think it possible for a picture to be TOO bright, would you? But it is. Bright scenes had a halo effect similar to shooting pictures with a soft lens. And a big cyan stripe with what looked like a data stream embedded in it ran down the left side masking throughout the movie.

MY COMPLETE HISTORY WITH NASCAR: Two years ago, my friend Jennifer (no, not Pan) begged me to accompany her to the Brickyard 400. There, I learned the following:

1. NASCAR fans will buy anything you mark a race car number on. Even Ricky Bobby has become ranked as one of the top movers of NASCAR merchandise.

2. Watching a NASCAR race live involves sitting around while nothing is happening, jumping up and screaming as the cars go by (and flashing your tits if you're female and so inclined), then sitting around socializing until the cars flash by again in a couple of minutes.

3. NASCAR fans have drivers they love and drivers they hate on a very deep and personal level. Jen defended this point by saying "It's just like professional wrestling". No, it's not. Professional wrestling fans are in on the joke. NASCAR fans are ABSOLUTELY SERIOUS.

I was surprised at how much I laughed at this. I was even more surprised at the girl behind me, who was bordering on hyperventilating the whole time. Tears streamed down her face. Her boyfriend looked kind of embarassed.

Attendance was solid, even in its third week of release. Literally every ticket sold while I was in line was to this movie. I think NASCAR fans are backing this big because it actually works as a race movie, and most of the characters aren't really that far-fetched.

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-20-2006 01:20 AM

quote: Sam Graham
And a big cyan stripe with what looked like a data stream embedded in it ran down the left side masking throughout the movie.

That would be the soundtrack. Must have an improperly aligned apeture plate-or god knows what else.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-20-2006 02:03 AM

quote: Sam Graham
You wouldn't think it possible for a picture to be TOO bright, would you? But it is. Bright scenes had a halo effect similar to shooting pictures with a soft lens.

That's good old fashioned dirty optics from lazy "projectionists". Odds are the image wasn't even at SMPTE brightness specifications.

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Chris Hipp
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1462
From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas)
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-20-2006 10:13 AM

quote: Sam Graham
I was even more surprised at the girl behind me, who was bordering on hyperventilating the whole time. Tears streamed down her face.

Hey, you can't blame the girl for having good taste.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 08-21-2006 11:25 AM

quote: Sam Graham
You wouldn't think it possible for a picture to be TOO bright, would you? But it is. Bright scenes had a halo effect similar to shooting pictures with a soft lens. And a big cyan stripe with what looked like a data stream embedded in it ran down the left side masking throughout the movie.

I agree with Brad, the "halo effect" is likely flare from a dirty lens or portglass.

The cyan-colored datastream is simply the DTS time code, which is printed next to the cyan-dye analog track. The theatre is likely showing too much width, which should be checked periodically using a test film like the SMPTE 35-PA (RP 40).

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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-21-2006 03:31 PM

quote: John Pytlak
I agree with Brad, the "halo effect" is likely flare from a dirty lens or portglass.

I know we're wandering off the review here, but I had the same halo effect on bright scenes about a month ago... and it turned out to be attributed to a "way out of focus" lamp alignment in the lamphouse.

We just finished our 3rd week of Talladega Nights, and it really brought out a "different" kind of crowd at the drive-in. Only crowd I can remember in 3 years to all "stand and sing" the National Anthem before the movie.

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Gary Crawford
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 200
From: Neptune NJ USA
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 08-22-2006 01:34 PM

We're running the trailer for it now, and will be showing it by Labor Day Weekend. By the looks of the trailer, it will be another two hours of Ferrell screaming.

Perhaps he's an acquired taste that I haven't acquired yet. Reminds me a lot of Howie Mandell and Robin Williams when they get into their 9-year-old-kid who is showing off in front of everyone at the party phase.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 09-04-2006 06:54 PM

Today 9/4/2006, 12-noon, Regal Cinema World 8 in Eugene, House #1, SR-D. The image was bouncy and with too much dirt, the trailers sloppily assembled, intro to the Regal Roller Coaster chopped off. The subwoofer(s) are cranked up way too loud, out of balance with everything else. I heard something that was either a woofer cone bottoming out or maybe clipping. Either way it wasn't good.

Compared to "The Wicker Man" which I saw yesterday, "Talladega Nights" is a masterpiece of fine filmmaking. I laughed my ass off. Some funny stuff here. Better than I was expecting, so 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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Justin Gorka
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 174
From: High Wycombe, England
Registered: Apr 2006

posted 09-21-2006 05:57 PM

Yawn, got I hate previewing films (except British ORIGINAL ones- see Children of Men!)

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