Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

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Posted by Mike Schulz (Member # 4297) on 11-13-2016, 02:19 AM:

Title: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Location: Arclight Hollywood
Auditorium: Cinerama Dome
Dimensions: 3
Frame Rate: 120

I went to see this earlier today at 11:00am mainly to check out the new tech and see how a movie looks played back at 120 FPS. I must say that I had many of the same feeling that I did while watching "The Hobbit" in HFR. Many of the same issues were there with the main one being the infamous "Soap Opera" look. For me it is quite jarring and while my eyes somewhat adjusted to it after 20 or 30 minutes, it was always present enough to break any immersion. It just does not look cinematic at the high frame rate.

Having said that, the movie itself was also not that great. It had a pretty good cast who I know can handle good material but the script was weak. Perhaps my opinion would be different had I seen this at 24 FPS but the fact that it visually looked like a soap opera, the dialogue also felt like a soap opera most of the time. I think the strongest parts were the actual combat scenes and the HFR wasn't as bad with the faster paced action. Garrett Hedlund was really great and if it wasn't for his character (Sergeant Dime), I would have been bored to death.

Overall, I'm glad I was able to see this at 120 FPS. It was interesting to see how the high frame rate would affect a drama as opposed to a fantasy CGI-laden movie like The Hobbit. I think this was the wrong movie to debut such an expensive new technology and for all of the supporters of it this might have set them back a few more years. Maybe James Cameron's new Avatar movies will put the HFR to better and proper use but I'm a little less excited about it now. For me it doesn't get any better than Dolby Vision EDR at 24 FPS with good 'ole motion blur as God intended things to be!

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 12-18-2016, 09:16 PM:

I was supposed to see this in 120fps at AMC Tysons but the DCP/system couldn't project this correctly. Interesting story, but even without the 3D or the HFR they couldn't mask a rather shallow paint by numbers script that offered no surprises or dynamic characters.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 12-19-2016, 11:50 AM:

while it wont be 120fps the UHD is going to be 60fps AND include the 3D disc version --- I can't include the image link as this site doesn't allow me to, but check out the cover over at blu-ray.com

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-19-2016, 05:47 PM:

While movie productions usually try hard during production and post production to avoid the soap opera look some types of movies or other programs may benefit from the native video look and HFR.

Some movies using a news/documentary style approach with the cinematography may play just fine looking like video. A movie meant to take place in real time over just a couple hours may also work well looking like video. Recordings of music or stage performances have no problem looking like video.

As for the Avatar sequels being produced in 120fps/3D I'm not so sure. Big fantasy movies really seem to depend more on a film look than other kinds of programs. The release dates of Cameron's sequels have been pushed back repeatedly, which brings up worries about the scripts. But we'll just have to wait and see. There was all sorts of doom and gloom stories kicked around about Titanic until it was released and started breaking box office records.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-22-2016, 11:57 PM:

When has anyone ever worried about the script in a James Cameron movie?