Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Zathura (2005)

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-29-2005, 09:55 PM:

Today, 5:00PM at Cinemark 17 in Springfield, House #17. Played in analog sound. I walked half a mile to tell the ticket taker, who always seems to be command central there, but he looked at me like I just handed him a bag of warm dogshit. It stayed in analog, and not very good analog. Very audibly distorted during loud passages. And the print looked like CRAP. Very grainy, washed out colors, lack of detail, not very steady. Reel 2 had intermittent black blotches on the left side of the image. [thumbsdown]

If all films looked like this I'd say BRING ON DIGITAL PROJECTION.

This movie is not really very good. Some of the special effects were not very special, like the lizard suit aliens. Some scenes were not paced very well and the actors were trying too hard. I managed to stay for the whole thing though. I didn't hate it but I wouldn't recommend it.

** out of ***** from me. It's possible that with a top-notch print and presentation I might give it another half-star though.

Posted by Wolff King Morrow (Member # 2226) on 11-05-2005, 06:52 AM:

Ok, so I spent most of the 2nd part of the movie wondering where I had seen that guy before... Who is that guy?? Oh, its Dax from MTV's Punk'ed.

This movie is quite violent in terms of sudden loud crashes, so having the DTS cranked up made for some pretty tense moments. I kept thinking these kids would be emotionally scarred for life after playing this board game. They both barely escape horrible death after horrible death multiple times. Think "Jumanji" only with less plot and more violent destruction.

Beyond that, I really identified with the younger kid and how his brother treated him at the beginning of the movie. It was almost eerie how close the dialog matched my brother and I of the same age.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 11-07-2005, 12:26 PM:

Afew months ago we ran this film for the director in HD DVCAM-SR on a NEC IS8 2k projector. It looked outstanding and it was loud.

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 11-07-2005, 05:34 PM:

I will agree that the print was grainy in some areas. I will also agree that they did a hell of a job with the sound at least in DTS. It was a bit predictable but I thought overall the movie was decent. Not as good a Jumanji and unlike Jumanji you never really cared to much about the characters. This film was really missing that Robin Williams presence. Although I had already guessed the "twist" near the end (as the more or less gave it away with a couple of close up shots) They never really explain exactly how it was possiable or at least what led to "events" repeating themselves.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 11-11-2005, 01:58 AM:

I found the boardgame, tee's, books, and beanies that were shipped to be more impressive than the film. Reel #5 was full of black sludge on it. The alien scene was way too long, and got boring. I think that any 8-12 year old boy will enjoy the film, but anyone else will be bored silly. The Zathura tin game in the film is really neato (bet ya haven't heard that word in awhile).What a kewl house, I WANT TO OWN IT!!!!! Our print was very sharp, with one reel lacking much contrast. Otherwise, I was impressed by the quality of the image, but not too overly impressed with the movie. Good matinee material.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 11-14-2005, 12:39 PM:

I was actually quite disappointed with this film. I wasn't driven to see it by the previews, but a lot of critics liked it so I gave it a chance. Well, I am now re-evaluating my opinion of some critics. It was OK, but certainly didn't soar. I agree with others here, the print looked awful (grainy, washed-out, very dupe-looking). Also, the UA East hills Mall in Bakersfield had a vertical THICK green scratch running down the left hand side of the image throughout the entire film! DTS digital sound was adequate, however.