Spider-man 2 Re-Mastered for IMAX blew my mind.
I caught the digitally re-mastered IMAX version of Spider-man 2 this weekend. It was completely amazing. Highly recommended. Well worth the money. I never see movies twice, but this is completely a new experience from the 35mm version. You actually feel like you are in the movie. People in the audience were audibly reacting to the swinging scenes. Judging by the talk after the show, everybody there was very, very impressed.
I brought a friend with me that hates going to the movies. He is more of a dvd kind of guy... but after the movie he was immediately asking what was coming out in IMAX next. The experience is so much more intense than the local mutiplex, and you know that you are going to get the best movie going experience available before buying the ticket (I hate those small crap screens at the multiplex)
For those of you who don't know...
They have recently started re-mastering films for IMAX theaters. They take the 35mm print, scan it into a computer using some kind of laser scanning technology, and then use proprietary software to blow the image up to IMAX's 15/70mm- all without loosing quality (and the technology seems to get better with every movie).
Basically this gives you a picture that is 3 or for times as big as the best multiplex screen. It is HUGE. The sound is also WAY better than a regular theater. Some IMAX theaters sometimes show 35mm films blown up on their IMAX screens. This is not an IMAX movie. The quality is horrible- out of focus, not bright enough and so on.
As for edits, the films do not differ from the original 35mm. The first couple films released were edited, but the IMAX theaters have since been upgraded to handle feature length films.
Okay... so I am an IMAX fan! Check it out for yourself. www.imax.com
I brought a friend with me that hates going to the movies. He is more of a dvd kind of guy... but after the movie he was immediately asking what was coming out in IMAX next. The experience is so much more intense than the local mutiplex, and you know that you are going to get the best movie going experience available before buying the ticket (I hate those small crap screens at the multiplex)
For those of you who don't know...
They have recently started re-mastering films for IMAX theaters. They take the 35mm print, scan it into a computer using some kind of laser scanning technology, and then use proprietary software to blow the image up to IMAX's 15/70mm- all without loosing quality (and the technology seems to get better with every movie).
Basically this gives you a picture that is 3 or for times as big as the best multiplex screen. It is HUGE. The sound is also WAY better than a regular theater. Some IMAX theaters sometimes show 35mm films blown up on their IMAX screens. This is not an IMAX movie. The quality is horrible- out of focus, not bright enough and so on.
As for edits, the films do not differ from the original 35mm. The first couple films released were edited, but the IMAX theaters have since been upgraded to handle feature length films.
Okay... so I am an IMAX fan! Check it out for yourself. www.imax.com
Comments
Eitherway, it looked way better, made the characters actually look like they were in their environments, which was my biggest gripe with the regular release.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
Did they edit it? I remember when I saw Attack of the Clones in IMAX, they edited otu a good 30 minutes of it. Didn't make any sense.
Eitherway, it looked way better, made the characters actually look like they were in their environments, which was my biggest gripe with the regular release.
I wonder if that was a problem with the film prints generally.
I saw AOTC first as a 35mm print and was just horrified. It looked shitty, which gave me reason to brood on the absurd dialogue and hideous acting.
I then saw a digital presentation-- non-IMAX, just a cinema grade video projector.
And all of a sudden I liked the stupid thing! The digital projection was so much more vivid and solid that I was really drawn into the action set pieces and world building, which went a long ways towards helping me to blot out the dumb shit. I think that ILM is doing astonishing work that isn't really being seen to its best advantage (there's what, 20 or so digital projection venues in the country?).
Originally posted by ipodandimac
oh so the ridiculously FAKE city fly-throughs looked even bigger! hooray!!!
dude, we know you're the one person who didn't like the movie. it's okay... we forgive you.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
Did they edit it? I remember when I saw Attack of the Clones in IMAX, they edited otu a good 30 minutes of it. Didn't make any sense.
Eitherway, it looked way better, made the characters actually look like they were in their environments, which was my biggest gripe with the regular release.
No edits anymore... they had to upgrade the equipment to handle longer films... In the case of attack of the clones though... an edit was a good thing i am sure
Originally posted by rlindeman
Never seen an IMAX film before... is the ticket price about the same or is it more?
The ticket price is a little bit more... I paid 11.50... but it's really worth the premium. If you try it once, I'm pretty sure that you will want to go again.
Seeing the movie in IMAX really makes a difference in how you perceive the film. Sometimes you actually had feelings of motion. Pretty neat.
The IMAX 3D version of the Polar Express will be awesome.
Originally posted by chych
I think IMAX films have a time limit due to their reel size so a lot of films have to be edited (at least omnimax has this limitation). I watched Starwars II in Omnimax actually, certainly was interesting but eventually you got tired of moving your head and looking at a pixelated image (they were pixelated).
Yeah... they don't do the editing anymore. Theaters received upgrades to handle longer films. Omnimax would suck for a DMR movie. Of course I think that most movies kinda suck in the Dome format.
I did not see Star Wars, but the CGI in that film looked bad to me in HDTV.
BTW... supposedly the DMR technology keeps getting better and better. They are talking about using it to make regular tv stuff into HDTV. Kinda cool.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
Did they edit it? I remember when I saw Attack of the Clones in IMAX, they edited otu a good 30 minutes of it. Didn't make any sense.
Why have the action interupted with tepid, unconvincing love scenes?
Originally posted by Placebo
Why have the action interupted with tepid, unconvincing love scenes?
haha.. you are correct sir
I wasn't bowled over with Spiderman 1, but from all accounts, this second one is better.
Originally posted by satchmo
Saw Gladiator on IMAX. The opening battle scene was awesome...as were some of the Colisseum fights.
I wasn't bowled over with Spiderman 1, but from all accounts, this second one is better.
Gladiator would be sweet. One thing you may, or may not care to know...
The Gladiator you saw was 35mm shown on an IMAX screen. Very cool... but no where near as cool as a true IMAX DMR film. You might have noticed that the 35mm film was dark and seemed blurry. The DMR process takes the 35mm film and uses computers to blow the image up to 15/70mm (10 times as large). The image quality is really amazing and immersive.
The only DMR films I know of are... Apollo 13, Star Wars attack of the clones, Matrix 2 and 3, Harry Potter 3 and now Spider-man 2.
Films before the Matrix were edited shorter due to equipment limitations. Starting with the Matrix the equipment was upgraded to allow for the unedited films to be shown. Also... Supposedly the quality of the DMR process has come a long way since Apollo 13... the image quality is amazing now.
I highly recommend checking out Spider-man 2 in IMAX. It really enhances the movie going experience. Also Spider-man 2 is much better (to me) than Spider-man 1. I was really not into the 1st one.
So yeah... give it a shot... If you were impressed with a 35mm blow-up than a DMR will be off the charts for you.
Speaking of things being enlarged, it just creeped into my head imagining a classic porn being remastered for IMAX. Now that would be an IMAX EXPERIENCE, lol!
Originally posted by Ichiban_jay
I think the IMAX near us has edited copies of Spiderman 2, the time has been cut by 20 minutes so that the equiptment doesn't overheat and explode (last part added by me
Ichiban,
I posted the question to a forum of IMAX projectionist and they said none of the theaters are showing edited copies of Spider-man 2... its the full deal... though the theater equipment may well explode at anytime
I can't wait for Polar Express IMAX and I really hope the next pixar movie is made IMAX, if not I am sure I will see it in digital.
Originally posted by Dogcow
I saw Matrix 3 and Harry Potter 3 in IMAX and thought they were great. Between IMAX and DLP theaters I can't stand watching "normal" film anymore. There are two theaters with DLP in my area and I will only see a movie if it is in digital. I saw finding nemo in digital and film and the digital version was just amazing.
I can't wait for Polar Express IMAX and I really hope the next pixar movie is made IMAX, if not I am sure I will see it in digital.
I've never seen a DLP film before. I've heard some relatively negative reactions to it though... maybe I will check it out now
I know sony just released 4k projectors that are twice as good as current 2k DLP projection equipment. I read somewhere that the newest, best digital projection equipment can only handle a resolution of about 1.3 mega-pix (i know its the still representation but its easier). To project an image of IMAX size and quality would take 36MP. FYI I'm no expert about this stuff.
Thanks for the recommendation! You should catch Spider-man 2 by the way... best DMR release yet.