Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 5/70mm Dunkirk in Denver

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Posted by William Kucharski (Member # 7246) on 08-03-2017, 02:58 AM:

I just wanted to give a huge thumbs up [thumbsup]

to Greg Babush, the projectionist at the Regal Continental in Denver.

I had seen Dunkirk on premiere night at the Regal Continental and was completely blown away by the film and the presentation. It was everything 70mm should be with the slight exception of the Continental's reflective screen. Truly a wonderful experience that made me thankful I went.

On Tuesday night I decided to see Dunkirk again in 70mm, but this time at the AMC Westminster 24, which is about 40 minutes closer to me.

The theater (house 20) was a decent size, but smaller than house 9 at the Continental, the audio was not properly set up (the volume was too low, the surrounds were much louder than the LCR, and the house had a good amount of slap echo,) and the print itself was not in great shape - no breaks, but what would have been about a 2mm x 3mm rectangle of each frame through the entire print (including trailers) was scratched vertically, in two distinct horizontal lines (imagine two parallel thin horizontal combs over part of the image with a vertical space in between.) Not enough to be distracting mind you, but certainly rather noticeable in bright scenes.

I was so disappointed by the experience that I decided to experience the presentation at the Regal Continental a second time and it was truly magnificent. The print was near pristine (compared to perfect the first night), the volume levels were proper, it was a larger house and it was a much better experience; I'm so completely grateful I went.

Kudos to Mr. Babush and to the Regal Continental for actually caring about presentation, and for taking such care in setup and projection.

(One extra awesome thing about the Continental; while the AMC presentation had the full pre-show run from digital before it, the management at the Regal allowed presentation without any pre-show but rather a show consisting of just the trailers and the film.)

The AMC is ending their 70mm run today, August 3, but the Continental said they'd have it another week so if you're in the Denver area, it's worth it to check it out.

(Don't get me wrong, I don't want to slight the AMC projectionist here, but clearly the Regal's was the superior presentation on every front.)