my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film Handlers' Movie Reviews   » Spectre (2015) (Page 2)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Spectre (2015) Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-15-2015 07:17 PM                     Cinema: Carmike Patriot Cinemas 13, Lawton Screen: IMAX Brand Format: Dual 2K Xenon, 5.1 (or is it 5.0?) audio Presentation Problems: Screens this big need 4K. Rating 2.5 stars out of 4. Spectre is yet another fairly routine installment in the James Bond saga. It's well produced and has the usual obligatory ingredients of any globe-trotting action movie. It's is entertaining in fits and starts, but ends up feeling like chewing gum for the eyes and ears. Once the amusement park ride is finished there's not all that much of substance to remember. The biggest problem is Bond is rarely ever in any real danger. For much of the movie's length there's hardly any real dramatic tension. We get to watch a helicopter doing loop-di-loops in the opening action sequence and then get treated to a car chase where multiple copies of two different super douche-bag coupes get beat to shit on the streets of Rome. It's a little fun to watch, but who is actually worried Bond could die in any of that? It's only in the final fist fight with a certain MMA veteran and a freaky scene where Bond is strapped to a chair and menaced with robotic drill bits that things finally get interesting. But his escapes from both situations are fairly predictable. The whole thing gets me thinking about the "Save The Cat!" paint by numbers, clip art movie making process these days. One of the biggest weaknesses in the entire James Bond canon has been this concept where, after some cloak and dagger brinkmanship and difficulty, Bond is politely invited into the super-villain's ultra-douchey lair. Okay, sometimes he manages to sneak in there. But almost always the villain knows what's happening. The Austin Powers movies make fun of this nonsense and how it just wouldn't work in the real world. Why doesn't the villain just kill Bond when given so many chances over and over again? Why not write the movie to where Bond can't afford to give the villain a chance to kill him? Obviously that's a lot more difficult to do. It would require a more clever, less predictable screenplay. And then we have the real world events involving ISIS or whatever the hell it's called. The members of Spectre are rich, have handsome estates, drive über douchey sports cars, yet they can be foiled by one frowning dude armed with a Walther PPK. No one in real life has any practical solutions on how to deal with the ISIS criminal organization. Anyway, moving on to presentation standards. This new Carmike operated IMAX theater has a fairly huge screen. The theater seems just about as big as the Moore Warren IMAX theater an hour's drive Northwest in Moore, OK. It's not decorated quite as nicely, nor is the screen equipped with any curtains like the Warren house. Like the Warren screen, the picture on this one is evenly bright. But the screen is a bit too big for 2K imagery. Things are just a tad bit soft. I think IMAX' new 4K laser-based system would offer a noticeable improvement. Audio quality is typical of many IMAX houses. Pretty loud, noticeably louder than the Moore Warren IMAX. Bass response was pretty impressive, enough to thump the air in my chest and vibrate the seats. One scene late in the movie featuring a building implosion was quite rib-rattling. EQ-wise, not so great. A little harsh, kind of like a rock concert PA system. Surround coverage was lacking. Just two huge enclosures in the rear corners of the room. That's not really any different fundamentally from an average home theater system. Like Mike, I wasn't very impressed with the opening title sequence or song. It was well rendered, but the concept was nothing new. They need to put more thought into those things if they're going to bother with them at all. The one in Casino Royale seemed novel, but it didn't look like any of the other Bond movie opening title sequences either. And, yeah, Century Gothic was a bad font to use. They used a "black" weight of Avant Garde in the end title credits, probably because Century Gothic has only a mere 4 weights to it. quote: Claude S. Ayakawa SPECTRE sounds like like another boring Daniel Craig James Bond Movie. Up until Craig took over the Bond roll, I enjoyed every James Bond movie with their easy to understand plots but the Daniel Craig movies were something else. I liked Goldeneye well enough. But Pierce Brosnan's other Bond movies following that were just silly, stupid crap in my humble opinion. Tomorrow Never Dies had too many ridiculous situations. The World is not Enough and Die Another Day were just painfully bad. The re-boot of sorts in the proper telling of Casino Royale was a very refreshing change. Bond was a little more like the Bond of the Sean Connery era. I didn't care for either of the Timothy Dalton era Bond movies. The Living Daylights was a bit of a snore. License to Kill felt very out of place, almost like it was a Joel Silver produced Lethal Weapon installment -complete with the Michael Kamen music score. The Roger Moore era Bond movies were kind of hit and miss. I think The Spy Who Loved Me was the best out of that group of films. The early Sean Connery era Bond movies, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger in particular, still remain the titans of the entire saga.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-15-2015 08:16 PM                        As we know Blond Bond is about to be replaced by Black Bond, it would have been a good dramatic turn to give into the meme that "James Bond" is the cover name given to each new 007 and kill off Daniel Craig's Bond. That, at least, would shake up the franchise. Not sure if the Fleming estate or the Broccoli estate would go for it.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 11-19-2015 10:56 AM                     ^ oh just hire, Idris Elba - "take my money!" I just rewatched 'Spy' last night (well, the extended 130 minute version) and even THAT had a better song / opening credit animation than 'Spectre'  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-19-2015 03:18 PM                        I think Idris Elba is too famous already, isn't he? Usually Bond guys are sort of small potatoes until Bond makes them superstars. (Outside of Sean Connery, I guess.) Probably has a lot to do with the budget! If they do decide on a black Bond, then maybe they should do the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop reboot with a white guy, because you know Eddie Murphy is going to foul it up. Not because he's black, but because he's so full of himself anymore that he's no fun to watch. I liked him better when he was trying.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-19-2015 04:20 PM                     The James Bond character had a Scottish father and Swiss mother. Not a lot of black people live in either country. About 1% of Scotland's population is black, but the percentage is starting to rise. Idris Elba is from London. Sean Connery is a real Scot (born in Edinburgh). Roger Moore is from London. George Lazenby is from Australia. Pierce Brosnan is Irish. Daniel Craig is another Brit from Cheshire.  |  IP: Logged Aron Toplitsky Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Gardena, CA, USA Registered: May 2012 posted 11-19-2015 10:46 PM                     Saw this last week at a newly converted Digital IMAX at the AMC Rolling Hills 20 in Torrance California. This may be one of the loudest IMAX theaters I've ever been to. It's only a matter of time before someone complains and they lower it. I like a loud presentation but this theater may be pushing it. All of the explosions in the movie were earth shattering! I did notice this new IMAX has new very comfortable thick chairs. It almost feels like there is bass generating from the seat itself. Is that possible? There wasn't much surround activity and like someone on this thread posted, it's a more front active mix. I was a little disappointed in the picture quality. Anyone get to see this Laser Projected? As for the film itself I think it made up for the action that Skyfall lacked, but Spectre was not as interesting of a movie as Skyfall.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-19-2015 11:59 PM                     quote: Aron Toplitsky It almost feels like there is bass generating from the seat itself. Is that possible? With enough sub-bass power it can feel like wind has been generated in the room. Brad Miller's old in home cinema was able to do that. Some theaters do have seats with speakers or sub bass kickers in the seats. If I recall correctly, AMC's "Prime" auditorium seats have that capability.  |  IP: Logged Terry Monohan Master Film Handler Posts: 379 From: San Francisco CA USA Registered: May 2014 posted 11-21-2015 10:06 PM                     Went to see this new Bond film last week in Sparks Nevada on the Imax screen at the Luxury Galaxy Theatre. The whole movie on the large Imax screen was ruined by stray LED aisle lights on the bottom right and left part of the giant screen. The movie was so so. What is so strange on many of these films like on the train fight part of the film in the passenger car and dining car shots no one was on the train in the seats or in the kitchen in the background. The director needed to add some old ladies yelling and cooks in a panic. This part of the film looked so shot on a studio set. This was the first Imax Theatre I have been to that ran boring commercial ads on the screen for 20 minutes with low light just in the middle part of the screen. No masking so I had to see white screen at the top and bottom. On some Imax movies I have seen at times on certain shots the whole screen came on. I guess this 'Spectre' film was just a scope movie blown up to Imax blinds. Some parts did look very crisp but most was soft. With only 2 large surround Imax speakers in the back corners the split surrounds sounded good and not to loud. Time to replace Craig with someone new and younger.  |  IP: Logged Joseph L. Kleiman Master Film Handler Posts: 380 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 11-24-2015 10:45 AM                     quote: Aron Toplitsky It almost feels like there is bass generating from the seat itself. Is that possible? Some IMAX theaters, like the two Jordan's Furniture locations in Massachusetts, have buttkickers installed in the seats.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.