Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Where can I see the best film presentation in DFW?

This is topic Where can I see the best film presentation in DFW? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 01-17-2005, 03:10 AM:

Here's the deal:

I'm fed up with watching shitty presentations at just about every theatre I've been to in the Fort Worth, Arlington, Mid-Cities and even Dallas area.

My theatre is great, and our presentation quality is pretty sweet (if I do say so myself [Big Grin]

), but sometimes I want to watch films someplace other than where I spend 40 hours a week!

I know there are a bunch of North Texans in here, so please, where can I go to see a film that doesn't have horizontal, vertical, base, emulsion, platter scratches and loads of dust, that isn't ghosting, that doesn't have a misadjusted aperture plate, that doesn't have a flickering bulb, and that does have a steady image?
(Yes, I've experienced all these things and more around here [Mad]

).

I don't know which theatre Brad runs, but I'm pretty much 100% sure that that'll be the one to go to.

Any suggestions?

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-17-2005, 04:26 AM:

Email me and I'll find a time to give you a tour. I'm not sure it is for film purists though, since it is a "dinner and a movie" place. Some people don't care for it, some love it. As far as other places to go, honestly there really isn't much around here anymore now that Northpark is gone.

Posted by Ben Holley (Member # 2247) on 01-17-2005, 04:55 AM:

quick question for brad and emma, what theatres do you guys work at?

to the question at hand, the only theatres around here I like to go to are the angelika in plano (ethan harpers theatre) and the legacy in plano(paul konens theatre). I'm always the oddball who goes to the random late showings on a tuesday night to avoid crowds but at the legacy you still have the wiseass teenagers. I cant think of a single thing north of plano thats worth going to. You have the mckinney theatre that would drive you crazy (melted dousers, crappy diodes, and annoying teens...everyday is a battlefront for me) and farther up there you have the sherman theatres. I've been to the dollar theatre up there and found it to be good for a dollar theatre. I doubt the new sherman is worth the drive but i'm sure there is someone who can attest to how it is [Smile]

. I havent been to the Rave in denton yet but will get around to it this spring for sure.

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 01-17-2005, 05:58 AM:

Check out AMC MEsquite 30 before too long. I'm sure it will get trashy again pretty soon. You may still be able to catch the remnants of a Chris Hipp presentation, but you better hurry.

I can handle that tour if you don't have the time Brad [Wink]

Posted by Don Sneed (Member # 955) on 01-17-2005, 06:38 AM:

I think the three best in the DFW area are Rave Motion Pictures at North East Mall in Hurst, Rave in Hickory Creek near Lewisville & AMC The Parks...

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-17-2005, 10:57 AM:

Ft. Smith, AR

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-17-2005, 12:58 PM:

Avoid the AMC Mesquite 30. It has those horrible AMC suck screens (and I thought the ones in Denver were bad) and that awful AMC sound.

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 01-17-2005, 01:53 PM:

What was the last movie you saw there Joe? I am guessing it was around a year ago at the minimum. I kept the presentation up pretty good there, you can ask Brad his opinion if you think I am jsut tooting my own horn.

As for the suck screens, that was not on Emma's list but we replaced half of them in the past 6 months with Harkness screens, yes they are still suck screens but they dont look as bad as they did.

As for the sound, well it is not the Film-Tech screening room, but trust me, it is/was a lot better than most of the theaters around here.

Of course now that I am gone it will probably go downhill very quickly, oh well.

Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 01-18-2005, 12:12 AM:

I've not been to the Rave North East Mall yet, but a couple of our good projectionists left us to work over there! [Frown]

Thanks for the suggestions! I wonder if I can find time to see a movie now that school has started, hmm...

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-18-2005, 01:41 AM:

How will the sound go downhill now that you are gone? Did you fuck with the EQ or somethin' and think that others will fuck with it in your absense?

No matter how good the projection may be, it is all destroyed by the suck screen and ceiling mounted speakers.

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 01-18-2005, 06:45 AM:

quote: Emma Tomiak
I know there are a bunch of North Texans in here, so please, where can I go to see a film that doesn't have horizontal, vertical, base, emulsion, platter scratches and loads of dust, that isn't ghosting, that doesn't have a misadjusted aperture plate, that doesn't have a flickering bulb, and that does have a steady image?

Emma did not say she was concerned with Suck screens and ceiling mounted speakers. This thread is not about what makes a 100% perfect presentation. I am not saying that I disagree with you about the screens and the sound setup. However, that is not the point, the point is that the DFW area generally has poor quality presentation, as I am sure most other areas do as well. When I was running the theater it was one of the better theaters to go to if you wanted a decent presentation. If you cant stand the torus screens then you could always go to Cinemark hollywood and watch a movie without it.

By the way, there are only 6 out of the 30 screens there that have torus screens. The rest are perforated with standard speaker setup, of course they are EV but I won't get into that.

Just out of curiosity joe, Which theaters have you seen movies at here is Dallas and aside from the obvious (film-tech screening room) which one(s) had the best presentation in your opinion?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-18-2005, 09:22 AM:

I usually avoid any AMC theater these days regardless of how good or bad the EQ may be. Mounting the surround speakers up in the ceiling is a very bad practice. As I have complained before, the sound in a typical AMC screening room is just effectively two channels. One in front of you and one on top of your head. That sucks ass.

I know AMC is doing this stupid shit just to save a few bucks. It's a lot easier to feed some speaker wires up to speakers mounted in a drop ceiling than to run them in the side walls. In doing so, they can count on film fans like myself to not spend money there.

Overall, I don't know why the hell it has happened. But very obviously the quality of presentation standards on average industry wide has dropped. Back in the early to mid 1990s, I would usually encounter good to excellent presentation quality in most digital sound equipped theaters I visited. Today such an occurence is pretty rare. Today, I can only count on finding good presentations at theaters maintained by people I know. IMHO, that's pretty troubling considering the somewhat unclear future the exhibition industry faces.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-18-2005, 01:48 PM:

Chris - I got a tour of the Mesquite 30 and I have seen Brad's theater in Plano. We also went to some UA theater (forget what it was called... I think it was just called "the UA") to watch a crappy movie. The Plano is the best. That UA was OK but it was quite old. I've also wandered through the Magnolia.