posted 05-15-2015 06:31 PM                    

quote:

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The Vertigo, Baraka, West Side Story and Lawrence prints that we seem to get every couple of months or so are now really starting to show their age and mileage, sadly.

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posted 05-15-2015 08:00 PM                       

quote: Daniel Schulz

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And hopefully The Master, Inherent Vice and Interstellar can be added to the rotation.

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I'm going to risk being flamed here by opining that judged as movies (script, acting, direction, art direction, music etc.), they're all pretentious, plodding, vastly overhyped on their initial release, met a mainly lukewarm critical reception and would probably be quickly and permanently forgotten if it weren't for the 70mm aspect. All of them have some beautiful cinematography, art direction and costumes in places, which is why the large format does them justice. But now that they're in the second run/rep circuit, anybody booking those movies is going to have to accept that the 70mm geeks will show up to see them, but virtually no-one else. Lord Jim is also a tough sell - it never really achieved the "corny but essential classic" status of Lawrence (despite a lot of the same talent being involved), and even its star (Peter O'Toole) admitted that the movie didn't really work. It's not exactly feel-good family matinee fodder, either! South Pacific, The Bible, Magnificent Men, Cleopatra, My Fair Lady and Dr. Dolittle would at least be a draw for the wider public, and apart from occasional outings at places like the Bradford festival, have barely been shown since the launch of their restorations.

As for Brad's observation, just wait until The Hateful Eight appears! Although BLSI are going to be installing the 70mm stuff in the 100 venues that will be showing the prints on their release day, presumably they're not going to be putting their own projectionists in to operate the entire run. Which means that an existing employee of these places, possibly someone with no film handling experience whatsoever (if the venue went digital several years ago and its last proper projectionists have left), is going to be running a 5/70 platter installation, presumably after a one-day crash course.

And after the run is done, there will be dozens of new venues proudly proclaiming that they can now show 70mm, and trying to get their hands on the remaining prints of other titles...

posted 05-15-2015 08:49 PM                    

quote: Leo Enticknap

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Which means that an existing employee of these places, possibly someone with no film handling experience whatsoever (if the venue went digital several years ago and its last proper projectionists have left), is going to be running a 5/70 platter installation, presumably after a one-day crash course.

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That is correct. Quentin's movie will unfortunately almost single-handedly be murdering the future of film and specifically the 70mm format with this release because it's TOO big...such that it will FORCE people even worse than the concession-projectionists of years past to run them. Never in the history of 70mm will so many prints be shredded at the theaters so fast as this one.

I was actually approached about making one final run of platter safety rings. I can't imagine a Tarantino-length 70mm print being run without them, but ultimately my bet is Weinstein will have to understand the need for them and pony up the bucks. Weinstein should also pony up the bucks to have Kelmar make some 70mm cleaners and send out some FilmGuard to prevent wraps and scratches, but again that's a dollar thing.

If I was coordinating it, I would have the installers build the prints and do a test screening before they left each site. It's one thing to ask people, most of which will have never ran any gauge of film before, to keep re-threading, but to ask them to also assemble the 70mm prints? Oh boy. It's not as if Kelmar couldn't make a 70mm clamp to put around the print that had a padlock hole on it so the installer could lock it up and then release the combination to the theater the day prior to the opening.

posted 06-15-2015 04:35 PM                    

quote: Louis Bornwasser

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"Far & Away" was pretty bad.....until the land rush scenes....Bruce Surtees, Jr. Every bit as good as Lawrence.

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