Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Dark Knight Rises 15/70 TAP-style review thread

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Posted by Connor Wilson (Member # 6088) on 07-21-2012, 09:36 AM:

For anyone who has seen The Dark Knight Rises in the 15/70 IMAX format, post your experiences here.

IMAX Theater at Palisades Center Mall, West Nyack, NY
4:00 pm showing, Friday, July 20, 2012

Projection was clean and steady. Light output was correct (unlike when I saw MI4 at Lincoln Square). No splices on the film. Just a very clean, and pleasing presentation. There were little holes on the screen (not on the film) that kind of appeared and disappeared, moved up, etc. That is just common for IMAX screens of that type. Sound was decent, not very excellent throughout. It was probably either the mix of this film compared to MI4, or the sound system was inferior to the one in Lincoln Square. The projectionist did something annoying which is what I dislike about this IMAX. During the credits, he cuts into the PA system and tells us about exits and how to exit. Ugh. He also cut off the DTAC system at the end of the credits, so we don't hear the last few bars of Hans Zimmer's score, and into to the non-sync system, so we hear Hans Zimmer's score from The Dark Knight. Kind of funny to think about it.

The picture quality for the IMAX sequences was just stunning, even the special effects shots in that format. I couldn't tell a quality/grain difference when there was a 15/70 effects shot. Nolan and his crew are really talented when it comes to film quality. The DMR sequences were also good looking, better looking than those of MI4. You can definitely see some grain in those shots, but that's a given when you blow up a film from a 35mm source to a giant screen. I liked how some of the DMR shots looked really good, perhaps those select few shot in 65mm.

The sound quality didn't blow my mind the way MI4 did. Maybe it was where I was sitting, way to the right of a crowded theater. During some loud sequences, the dialogue wasn't that intelligible. It sounded surprisingly worse than Inception in the Airbus IMAX Theater (also 15/70) at the Udvar-Hazy Center. Perhaps Palisades doesn't have that good of a sound system than Airbus and Lincoln Square?

Overall, this was definitely worth the trip to West Nyack to see this movie in 15/70 IMAX. If you can, travel to see this in 15/70. It's breathtaking.

Posted by Shawn M. Martin (Member # 6762) on 07-26-2012, 03:04 AM:

Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
4:00 pm, Wednesday, July 25, 2012

I bought tickets over a month ago for yesterday's 4:45 showing at the Samuel C. Johnson Theater at the Museum of Natural History, but at around 1:30, as my brother and I were about to get on the train to go there, I got a voicemail from them saying the print was damaged (the whole thing was scratched--they still played it), and they offered to switch the tickets for another theater or another day.

Since we were already there, I called back and switched to the 4:00 at the Lockheed Martin, which is just a short walk across the Mall. The woman who called me, Pauline Bonilla, was very nice and apologetic. She refunded the four dollar fee (two per ticket) I originally had to pay for buying over the phone.

For those who are still planning to see this at the Johnson, they will have a new print for tonight's (Thursday's) night shows.

I'd been to the museum before, but not the theater. My brother and I were second in line and were able to get great seats. There's nothing like having six stories of screen in your entire FOV without somebody's head in front of you. Surprisingly the show wasn't sold out--there were around 250, 300 people, and the theater has 487 seats. The projection was excellent, on par with Mission Impossible 4 at the Udvar-Hazy Center and the Johnson. The IMAX scenes were incredible. You could hear people saying "wow" during the big aerial shots. The 35mm anamorphic scenes blew up very nicely. I liked being able to pick out the regular 65mm shots as well.

The sound was best during the opening sequence, with the vibration from Bane's plane flying over the CIA plane. (What an audacious stunt this is too--I'd already seen it twice during the prologue on MI4, but it blew me away like it was new.) Bane's dialogue, which if you saw the prologue was obviously redubbed after people complained, was clearest in this scene, and when he's reading Gordon's letter. Not so much in other parts, like his first fight with Batman.

I remember the projectionist cutting into the credits to talk about the exits during MI4 at the Udvar-Hazy--it was an Asian guy with a strong accent, and he got a laugh from the audience. They don't do that at the Lockheed, or the Johnson if I remember right.

The movie itself is good, not great; probably the second best after The Dark Knight. Absolutely worth seeing in 15/70, if only for the sheer spectacle. Moves like a shot too. I haven't felt a 2 hr. 45 min. movie pass by that quickly since The Aviator.

There's also a great caption during the credits: "THIS MOTION PICTURE WAS SHOT AND FINISHED ON FILM".

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 07-26-2012, 08:55 AM:

I wonder when the print got damaged because I was at the 4:45 show on Tuesday (24th) - and noted nothing that looked scratched. Of the three Smithsonian IMAX screens, the Johnson IMAX screen is my favorite - the seat are better raked. Personally I've noted heads in my FOV at the Lockheed more than I have at the Johnson. I might be wrong but I think the Johnson screen of the three is also the largest, at 60X90.

quote: Shawn M. Martin
Bane's dialogue, which if you saw the prologue was obviously redubbed after people complained, was clearest in this scene

hah! I still thought the final ADR'ing of Banes voice was atrocious

I also noted the "THIS MOTION PICTURE WAS SHOT AND FINISHED ON FILM" [beer]

Posted by Joseph L. Kleiman (Member # 3097) on 07-26-2012, 10:21 AM:

Conner, the Palisades sound system should be top notch. The theater is one of three fully owned and operated by IMAX.

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 07-27-2012, 04:54 PM:

UA King of Prussia IMAX
Thursday July 26, 7:00 PM Show

Sold out show. The image was great except a few times early in the film it looked like the lamp dimmed for a fraction of a second. Could have been an issue with the print. It didn't last long enough to analyze. The print was otherwise in excellent condition with adequate light on the screen. My dad complained that they make movies "too dark" but it wasn't the presentation. Some people think everything should look like a network sitcom. The sound was excellent. Some of the dialog was...well...mumbled - but that's not the fault of the sound system. All in all a very pleasant experience. Brief review in the review thread. I can highly recommend seeing TDKR on this screen.

Posted by Frederick Lanoy (Member # 5416) on 07-28-2012, 08:12 AM:

Saw it on BFI IMAX (London) in 70 MM.

Big screen (1.44) and big sound. We have three trailers in Digital IMAX and i noticed no difference with 2 K trailers i show in my cinema with Barco's projectors.

Then IMAX 70 mm. All the "real" IMAX scenes and shoots are amazing. Prefect focus and somes scenes are much more impressive in IMAX thanks to the very high resolution and 1.44 aspect ratio.

The only thing i don't like was "the silver screen effect" with a hot spot on the middle of the screen.

Very good film by the way despite Marion Cotillard.

Posted by Victor Liorentas (Member # 5272) on 07-30-2012, 02:48 PM:

I bought reserved seats dead center 3rd row from the back at the Toronto Scotiabank 15/70 Imax.One of 3 in Toronto.Screen looks about 6 stories and is silver.
The presentation was visually fantastic! Perfect focus and minimal dust particles during the show!Lamp align was great but of course the silver screen gives a hot spot with darker edges.

This is the way to see this movie!The 35mm and 70mm DMR shots were excellent. The Imax footage is breathtaking!I love the movie and never found the switch from 35mm to 70mm distracting at all.
The sound was WAY too LOUD! The eq sounded like the high frequencies were boosted and it was painful to listen to! It's possible if they turned down the volume from maybe 10 to 7 it would sound just right.Not sure if the eq is wrongly boosted or if the insanely loud level makes the higher frequencies seem boosted.In other respects it sounded great when quiet scenes played.
I spoke to the head GM after the show and complimented the Imax theatre but urged them to turn it down.I urged them to go in and listen which they admitted they had never done.They were very nice and grateful for my feedback.Gave me free passes which I didn't want. I could tell they were impressed with my explanation of what to loud is.It was not an opinion so much as a plea for MERCY to save every patrons hearing! I believe this movie has issues on top of that regarding action and music effects being very loudly recorded.It's still great sound but maybe a little too aggressive?
Maybe Banes muffled voice is behind the eq being boosted and the volume set too loud but anyway I did my part to get them to turn it down. My 4 friends agreed with my volume complaint to management and 3 of us are in the business so they took us seriously.
Bottom line is wow! What a great way to watch The Dark Knight Rises! [beer]

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 07-31-2012, 11:12 AM:

AMC Star Fitchburg 18 & IMAX on 7/26/2012 at 3:20pm

No trailers, no policy trailers, no ads. Movie started promptly at 3:21pm. It was almost jarring, as the intro stuff is so common that it's almost like a "get settled in" transition time. I would have appreciated a "This is IMAX" promo or something to warm up the crowd and show off the screen and sound system.

Sometime before MI4 in December, a reflective screen must have been installed, as I noticed the sheen again as I did during that showing. It's distracting, but the hotspots weren't very noticeable during the show.

The picture quality was pretty good, but every once in a while, a dust speck would dance across the screen. Since the image is so large, this speck of dust was quite noticeable, even though I'm sure it was quite small. No scratches were evident, which was appreciated.

Unlike the Prologue sequence that appeared before MI4, Bane's dialog in the first scene was much more understandable. There were still times when I couldn't understand him, but whatever was missed didn't seem important.

I thought the sound quality was decent, but there were only a few times when I felt that it was impressive. Maybe this means that the sound mix was conservative (or restrained because of the reported dialog issues from the Prologue), but given the subject material and past experience with The Dark Knight, I expected to be more impressed than I was. When an explosion happens, or the helicopter lifts off in close proximity, I want to feel the thuds in my chest, like a bass drum in a parade.

It's quite possible that multiple viewings would provide a better perspective. However, given that this movie theater is a two-hour drive one-way, that's not likely to happen.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-28-2012, 12:52 PM:

I finally watched The Dark Knight Rises for the first time yesterday, having held out for a chance to see it in 15-perf 70mm film projection.

I wasn't able to make it down to Austin, TX to see it at the IMAX theater there which has been showing film all along. Instead, I had to wait until my trip to Colorado Springs to visit family. We watched the show at the Cinemark Carefree Circle IMAX theater off Powers Blvd there.

Presentation quality: good, but not perfect. The projected image was bright and steady, although the brightness was a little uneven, very good in the center but a little dim in the corners. Not too much flicker. There was a little bit of debris on the film at the beginning and end credits. A tiny bit of debris got on the lens in the upper right corner of the frame at one point but blew away after awhile. Perhaps my biggest complaint is the focus wasn't lined up quite as good as it should have been. The picture was sharp, but I know it could have been sharper. I realize a lot of the IMAX filmed footage was shot with low depth of field, particularly a lot of the darker scenes. If I give the movie another viewing before heading back to Oklahoma I'll ask if the projectionist can try adjusting the focus a little better.

I guess Cinemark doesn't have any film-based IMAX movie trailers, TV commercials and other crap to stick on the print. When the house lights went dark at 2:40pm the main feature started immediately. Very nice. Of course, this would screw any of those legions of movie-going procrastinators who like to show up well after start time thinking there will be 30 minutes of previews.
[thumbsup]

The audio quality was acceptable but not really great. The EQ was a bit on the harsh side, but I think that's pretty typical of IMAX sound systems. Pretty good bass response, but I heard one bass driver that was clearly damaged. Theaters like this aren't built to deliver surround sound capable of good front to back fly-by effects since the surround speakers are way up in the upper back corners of the ceiling. I forgave that since I was more interested in the native 15/70 film projection.

I didn't have nearly as difficult a time understanding Bane's dialog as others have had. It is a bit muffled. The bass is over-emphasized for dramatic effect. But the dialog was still crisp enough where much of it was understandable.

Regarding the movie itself, I thought it was pretty good. Not quite as good as The Dark Knight, but I'll likely buy the Blu-ray disc anyway. My parents liked this third installment more than The Dark Knight.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 08-28-2012, 10:06 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
much of it was understandable

too bad all of it wasn't

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 08-28-2012, 11:42 PM:

Well I finally got my chance to go downstairs and see it with my son on Monday night at Sydney IMAX and WOW what an experience! Our seats were back row and close to centre. Light was as even as possible on a silver screen.

The sound was clean, even with Bane's deliberately distorted dialogue and there were many times when the concrete floor shook due to the sub bass! The IMAX filmed image was razor sharp on the 117ft wide screen.

Australian IMAX theatres were all built with almost dead acoustics. Black tissued faced fiberglass materials being mounted several inches out from all walls. I am sure that this makes a notable difference to inteligibility compared to other venues and cinemas.

This one will get a second big screen viewing before I buy the blu ray to complete the collection. A great last epic hurrah for film.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-28-2012, 11:48 PM:

Bobby, there wasn't room to run trailers on the prints of DKR. The print came to the edge of the platter as is.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-29-2012, 02:10 AM:

quote: Cameron Glendinning
Our seats were back row and close to centre.

Of course, it is probably a matter of personal choice (or didn't you have choice after all?), but why do you choose to sit in the back when you're going to watch a movie on the biggest IMAX screen in the world?

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 08-29-2012, 03:58 AM:

This IMAX theatre is really unlike any other, The 36 metre wide image is projected from only 22 metres away. I was sitting 21 metres away from a 29 metre high IMAX image. It was personal choice but with most of the film made in 35mm I err towards the back.