Comments from RogerA

Showing 126 - 150 of 335 comments

RogerA
RogerA commented about Astor Theatre on Nov 20, 2015 at 6:02 pm

The Astor auditorium was very plain and drab. When they did the Todd-AO install they ripped out all the boxes the stage and put in a screen that was wall to wall.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Nov 20, 2015 at 5:59 pm

Well I wont go to an AMC theater to see a cropped picture bad sound and out of focus picture on a postage stamp screen. At those AMC theaters some usher who has never handled film will thread it push the start button and walk away. There will be more than one botched show.

The only auditorium at the Arclight with a 70mm projector (yes just one 70mm and it isnt even a good one) is the Dome. They had to rent a projector for The Master to run in one of the smaller houses.

The New Beverly is a grind house not a roadshow theater.

If they were serious about running roadshow they would run in a real theater with a large screen like The Shrine.

The Village in Westwood still has 70mm projectors so that is a possibility. Of course those projectors have not been used for years.

This isn’t a road show its sounding more like an abortion If it was really a road show they would put in a real theater and run it reel to reel but I guess those days are gone forever.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Nov 19, 2015 at 8:53 pm

Then why is the arclight not selling tickets for Star Wars beyond December 24th? There are no advanced sales for Star Wars in the Dome for dates after the 20th of December. If they are not gonna run Hateful in the Dome then they should run it in the Shrine the Dolby or some other large venue. It would be stupid to roadshow it in some small theater.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Nov 17, 2015 at 1:15 pm

It looks like the Hateful Eight may go into the Dome and star wars get moved to a smaller screen. Star Wars is also going into the Chinese in IMAX

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 12, 2015 at 10:14 am

Star Wars will be an IMAX release. The IMAX version and the 70mm blow up will made off a 4K digital intermediate. So Star Wars will be in IMAX theaters the Hateful Eight won’t be in IMAX. There is a big difference between IMAX and Ultra-Panavision. The Hateful Eight was shot on 65mm and I hope to see a print right off the original negative. The Hateful Eight only needs to be in a few theaters like The Dome so the people who really care about seeing it in 70mm can see it. Why would the Dome want to play Star Wars when it will be at the Chinese and Universal?

Most of the theaters have junked their film projectors. So now they have to rent film projectors to show film there are very few full time 70mm screens left. There are not that many big screens left any more. As Long as The Hateful Eight is in 70mm on a big screen in any theater within 100 miles I will go there to see it! The majority of people will just be happy with the digital version.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 5, 2015 at 2:21 pm

It’s the only theater designed for ultra panavision. I expect they will run The Hateful Eight in 70mm film. That will be something worth driving 100 miles to see.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on May 31, 2015 at 9:02 pm

theater management has always been tight with the buck so no wonder they never got top quality people to work for them. Skilled projectionists are a dying breed because management wont pay much more than minimum for a job that should be skilled labor

RogerA
RogerA commented about TCL Chinese Theatre on May 23, 2015 at 5:05 am

I wouldn’t call the Bruin a grand old theatre, old maybe but not grand.

I did go to see Interstellar in 70mm IMAX at Grauman’s Looked good the few scenes shot in IMAX. Those rails for the handicapped need to be lowered. And the only reason I went was because of the 70mm IMAX I am still waiting for a movie that is worth going to see so I can check out the laser. Why are they showing stuff shot or mastered in 2K? Arri has a new camera with a 65mm sensor that is higher res than 4K. These IMAX video films that are mastered or shot in 2k look horrible. The blowups from 35mm to IMAX looked bad too. I went to see an IMAX film at Universal when they had the 70MM it was one of the worst blowups from a 35mm (probably 3 perf) The grain and image quality was bad and inconstant some stuff was real bad and this was a major film with Depp. Oh yea the Cinerama film I saw recently had the same problem. Some stuff was shot in Cinerama but the action scenes were shot in Ultra Panavison. There was a big difference in quality. Henry Plitt said it best, “Blow up sh!t and you get big sh!t” I met him when he was testing Showscan at the Cinerama Dome. I can get 2K at home.

Saw How The West Was Won In Cinerama

RogerA
RogerA commented about TCL Chinese Theatre on May 3, 2015 at 9:36 pm

http://www.graumanschinese.org/projection-1.html

Great site. Hollywood history like this needs to be documented so the know how to do it right is not lost. My cudos to who ever put this site together.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Dec 25, 2014 at 4:48 pm

This director should do a good 70mm blow up of There Will Be Blood and run that at the Dome. That would sell some tickets.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Dec 25, 2014 at 3:13 pm

Oh so the filmmaker wanted to make it look and sound like a low budget cheaply made film.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Dec 24, 2014 at 8:49 am

I Was going to see Inherent Vice in 70mm but I heard the blowup was grainy and the sound was bad.

RogerA
RogerA commented about TCL Chinese Theatre on Nov 19, 2014 at 11:18 pm

I didn’t know that CTC thanks for the input

RogerA
RogerA commented about TCL Chinese Theatre on Nov 18, 2014 at 4:24 pm

bigjoe don’t leave out the Vista Theater that has been around for a long time as a single screen and is first run

RogerA
RogerA commented about TCL Chinese Theatre on Nov 18, 2014 at 2:33 pm

bigjoe59 The El Capitan which was the Paramount has been in operation as a single screen first run movie theater for many years. The Egyptian was shut down for many years after it was damaged by the Northridge earthquake but it is no longer a first run venue. The Vista Theater has been in operation since 1923. The Village Theater and the Bruin Theater in Westwood has been in operation as a first run venue for decades.

RogerA
RogerA commented about TCL Chinese Theatre on Nov 17, 2014 at 12:26 pm

I went to Interstellar in IMAX 70mm. The few scenes that were in IMAX looked great, boring movie but it looked good.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Nov 17, 2014 at 12:23 pm

It was the Dome that made it look so good but I saw it at the Chinese in IMAX. I couldn’t sit through it again even at the Dome.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 26, 2014 at 4:49 pm

Jsittig wrote “all three digital presentations” so all three are digital

RogerA
RogerA commented about Rivoli Theatre on Oct 18, 2014 at 1:31 pm

markp yes the studios are destroying the biz they have been wanting to eliminate the theaters and go to pay per view for years and they are succeeding

RogerA
RogerA commented about Charles Cinema on Oct 18, 2014 at 1:25 pm

Well I worked at the Charles and The Astor the screen at the Charles was not that big so I don’t know where you got your information. Yes the Charles had Cinemeccanica 35/70 projectors with carbon arcs. They later converted to xenon and platters so one person could run all three screens. When Sack took over they reduced the screen size even further by masking it off.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 14, 2014 at 12:40 pm

The irony here is that while The Arclight maintains a fairly high quality presentation Pacific Theaters owned by the same company is notorious for a horrible presentation.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 8, 2014 at 3:06 pm

the 5 perf 70mm prints are going to crop the IMAX footage or letterbox it so all versions will have some cropped or letter boxed footage. It was the filmmakers decision to shoot in multiple formats. I would have seen it at the Dome but I support the projectionists. And yes I expect the Chinese will get it right enough to satisfy the director, Christopher Nolan.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 8, 2014 at 1:54 pm

Any good business man know that a shrinking market is bad, so looks like your in the buggy whip business, or would you prefer the pony express.

And you named the only theaters that have a bright picture and good sound and even at those theaters the picture isn’t that bright. I know the business, the current business, just check out any average multiplex and you will find poor quality. More and more I stay at home to watch any movie.

I will go to watch Interstellar at the Chinese and expect they will get it right.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 8, 2014 at 1:15 pm

Cinema seat sales has been in a decline for the last five years where have you been? And if the theaters are doing so great why can’t they project a bright clear picture with good sound? Because management hires cheap labor not skilled experts.

RogerA
RogerA commented about Cinerama Hollywood on Oct 8, 2014 at 10:34 am

Yes United Artist was big on hiring 18 year old kid’s with no experience to thread projectors and push the start button. Where are the United Artist theaters now? Gone just like quality presentation. Focus, framing, presentation all became things of the past when they hired kids with no experience. AMC did the same they had one 18 year old running 20 screens. Digital has not brought the quality that was promised. Most AMC theaters have issues with sound and picture and more now with the digital projectors. All the AMC theaters in Santa Monica have had problems for years. Blown sound channels etc. The baby boom (sub woofer) channel is blown in most theaters. If they need maintenance and technical people why don’t they hire them? Because the theater owners claim to care but in reality they don’t. There are qualified people who could do the maintenance but they don’t hire them.

The presentation picture and sound at the Arclight is very good and the projectionists help keep the quality high. Projectionists do more than just run the projectors they should maintain and repair the equipment. They should go from theater to theater checking sound and picture. Fixing any problem that comes up. Of course when there is a problem you could always wait hours for a technician to show up if the tech is even available. Yes the job has changed a lot the projectionist now has to be a technician and quality control person. Most theater owners have let the quality of their product get so bad people would rather stay at home. The poor presentation in most theaters is just another reason for the distributors to release their films on pay for view. Most people would rather watch the movie at home instead of paying to go see a dim picture and hear bad sound. So in reference to your pony express comment; we can count on putting all the thousands of managers out to pasture when most of the cinemas close because of lack of business because that’s where the business is going.