Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: HATEFUL EIGHT

This is topic HATEFUL EIGHT - Digital version in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-04-2016, 07:19 PM:

How I envy many of you who have the opportunity to see HATEFUL EIGHT in 70mm. Because no theatre in Hawaii is playing the movie in that format, I saw it today at the Regal Pearl Highland 12 in house #4 in digital and I was very disappointed with the presentation. First of all, Regal chose to show the movie in a house that had a screen that was not very wide and suited mostly for flat pictures and not scope. When the picture started, the projected image was letterboxed in what appeared to be sbout 2.30:1 and not the full 2:76.1 Ultra Panavision ratio. House #4 has Sony 4K projection but the picture quality was not anything special. Even the sound did not impress me.
The movie however was fantastic and I rate it four stars out of five and I cannot wait for the blu Ray to be released. I know the BD will do the movie justice because it will probably be mastered from a 4K source from the 65mm negative and include both the Road Show as well as the regular theatrical version using seamless branching. I am also expecting the picture to be in the full 2.76:1 ratio on the BD. I also hope it will have reproduction from the program booklet that was giving out at the road shows.

-Claude

Posted by Victor Liorentas (Member # 5272) on 01-04-2016, 09:00 PM:

It's a shame there's no 70mm near you Claude. [Frown]

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 01-04-2016, 09:18 PM:

quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
I also hope it will have reproduction from the program booklet that was giving out at the road shows.

Oh crap. I left mine in the auditorium.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-05-2016, 12:06 PM:

Victor, Honolulu at one time had as many as ten theaters capable of showing movies in 70mm and a lot of movies played in the format here. Up until they converted to digital a few years ago, the Kahala #1 was the last 70mm theatre here but it was removed when the house was converted.

-Claude

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 01-05-2016, 12:45 PM:

Probably landfill? I'm sure theaters wanted to ship projectors off the islands about as much as TWC & BLS wanted to ship one back there!

Sad thought.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 01-05-2016, 01:30 PM:

We have the digital version running in what refer to as our "CPX" house (for this week). It has a fairly wide, curved screen. The picture actually looks beautiful. I still want to see it in 70mm though..

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-05-2016, 02:19 PM:

Claude--if you ever get the chance to see the 70mm version, do it. I know that you would appreciate the significant improvement in image quality (vs. the DCP).

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-05-2016, 04:50 PM:

Scott, I used to travel a lot and it gave me the opportunity to see many movies in 70mm at theaters in San Francisco that were only playing in 35mm in Honolulu. I hardly travel anymore so there is no chance I will get to experience HATEFUL EIGHT in 70mm although I would very much like to do so. Yes, I believe it was the tremendous cost to ship one of the hundred 70mm projection unit to Hawaii and back that resulted in Hawaii not getting a 70mm print. Regal will be opening a new 12 flex at Kapolei in May and I hope they will consider making one of the auditoriums to have the capability of playing movies in both digital and 70/35mm.

-Claude

Posted by Terry Monohan (Member # 8285) on 01-10-2016, 06:39 AM:

Claude**Time to re open the Cinerama Theatre in Honolulu and run the digital Smilebox® version of 'South Seas Adventure' for the tourist crowd during the day on a huge Super Cinerama screen. At night run old 70mm and new print films like H8 plus the latest digital 3-D blockbusters but promote the huge wrap around Cinerama screen way larger and wider then the cheap small Imax installs they have in the Islands.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-10-2016, 12:57 PM:

Terry, I wish that was still possible but sadly, the Cinerama Theatre in Honolulu closed severaL years ago. Although the building still stands today, it was gutted shortly after the theatre closed and converted to a auto parts store. When the theatre closed, the original three strip Cinerama projection equipment was still there and today it is a part of the Archlight Cinerama Dome theatre in Hollywood.
I really miss the Cinerama and it's awesome curved screen, sound and projection. Beside playing the two MGM three strip Cinerama films, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM and HOW THE WEST WAS WON as we'll as a few revival of some of the original Cinerama films, it played all of the single projection 70mm films labeled as Cinerama starting with ITS A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD and all the others as Road Shows. All of the original STAR WARS trilogy played at the Cinerama.in 70mm as well as many others. I used to enjoy the occasional 70mm festival when the theatre would show old 70mm prints like BEN-HUR, 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY, BLADE RUNNER, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and many others.
The Cinerama Theatre would have been a perfect venue for a HATEFUL EIGHT in 70mm if it was still in operation but like the Dome in Hollywood , the theatre would be showing STAR WARS, THE FORCE AWAKENS instead. SAD!

-Claude

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 01-15-2016, 12:14 PM:

so is the narration that mentions the 15 minute 'missing intermission' space not in the digital version.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 01-15-2016, 01:44 PM:

As I recall, that narration is indeed on the non-roadshow DCP; it mentions that about 15 minutes have lapsed but does not mention an "intermission." The cut shows Marco the Mexican closing the piano lid followed by a cut to black then a fade up of Chapter 4's card, "Domerque's got a secret."

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-08-2016, 11:07 PM:

Watching this movie I only have several things to say:

-Not bad. Not amazing but not bad. Worth viewing again? Sure.

-Kurt Russell was the only character I even remotely gave any shits about. Kurt Russell is awesome.

-Tim Roth played the role of Christoph Waltz playing the role of The Hangman. This bothered me. Roth's Waltz impersonation is decent but they should have just had Christoph Walt do the role and Roth play the role that Micheal Madsen played.

-Michael Madsen gave the same exact performance as he did in Kill Bill part 2. This bothered me as well. I don't know if I should blame the actor or the director. Both this and the Hangman role are what happens when you write the script with certain actors in mind.

-That cabin was gigantic. It reminded me of those sitcom houses where everything is way too roomy to exist in reality.

-The score was pretty good.

-Quentin Tarantino narrating was distracting.

-I liked Star Wars more.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 02-14-2016, 04:36 PM:

I've seen this being played on an unmasked flat screen. I don't really understand why people don't want their money back, because it's a joke, and not a good one...

It reminds me of seeing Ben-Hur on an oversized 4:3 TV screen, not a privilege I would pay movie-ticket-money for. And if you try to compensate for the lack of immersion by moving closer to the screen, all you get in return is pixels.

WIDE screen formats and DCI: Definitely no love. When do we start fixing what's utterly broken.