AMC Kips Bay 15

This is what happens when A) there is NO projectionist, the whole thing is run by a computer, and B) you have people who have no idea how to handle showings of movies like this. When I ran H8 at the Regal E Walk, or 2001 at the AMC Garden State, the first thing I did was tell management to take the entire theatre off automation. I started, raised and lower lights and shut down everything myself. 2001 at Garden State was perfect. Its just too bad it only played one week.

Continuing my “2001” adventure. On Aug 26 I gave my review of viewing the 70mm film version at AMC Lincoln Center at that theater’s comments. The focus/detail was incredible but the sound was ONLY from the screen. This morning I tried my best to enjoy the “restored” digital version at Kips Bay. I didn’t!! First, the surround sound was 100% better than the sound at Lincoln Square, in that it was surround!@! It did lift me out of my seat and sonically and placed me in the images. Bless von Karajan!! et.al. BUT, there was at time, and usually during the BEAUTIFUL dead space silence, very loud rumbling and bass sound bursts from a nearby theater. Terrible!!

The presentation I saw, as the theater manager informed me.. in digital format.. was a great disappointment as far as screen clarity. I would say there was a 10-15% loss in clarity over the film I watched at AMC Lincoln Center. I’m so glad I heard of those few presentations!! It was bad enough to make most of the effects look like effects.

I stuck it out until INTERMISSION appeared on the screen and for the lights to come up. They didn’t, so I slowly made my way to the side aisle and down to the exit. Since the lights were still not on I spoke to the 30 or so patrons in the dark saying I had seen the film on Sat and the lights should come on, mentioning I would tell the manager on the way out. A lady exiting with me thanked me for the announcement!!

I asked for the manager and met him in the lobby at the ticket counter. Told him of the theater sitting in the dark and he mentioned, to my wonderment.. that persons had come down to the lobby on prior showings saying they thought there was a problem with the projectionist.. (not aware there isn’t one!) He went up to turn the lights on, but did mention he had thought that the darkness was there to keep the audience in outer space mode????!!:):) Yep.. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to visual displays??!! But I want to help everyone get what they pay for!! I’m concerned this digital version is NOT as awe-inspiring as the original!!

WE CAN/SHOULD DO BETTER THAN THIS??!!

https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/imax-vr-closures-1202906222/

Imax VR is basically an arcade setup where Imax partners to make games for the HTC Vive vr headset. it off the shelf tech nut it’s expensive to buy currently so IMAX decided they would get exclusive games for the unit that auto end after a set time. It’s basically an arcade you buy tickets in advance for. some of the games are not film linked like IMAX getting an exclusive mission for Star Trek: Bridge Crew “Rescue at Perseph” they have a list on IMAX’s website. the Regal E-Walk Stadium 13 also has an install currently. http://imaxvr.imax.com/

Thanks moviebuff82. Definitely not something that would interest me. All this new technology seems to be a way to just charge more money for something.

What is Imax VR?

The outside of the theater is now an AMC instead of Loews, and the interior lobby is now AMC.

I would love it if they got recliners too. Idk why they havent. Whenever I’ve gone to the Imax 8ts usually 90% empty. It only makes sense to get high quality theaters. It looks like I will be sticking with Lincoln Square.

I’m a big fan of the Kids Bay Imax theater but I usually go to Lincoln Square because of the reserved seats and now the laser projector. Is there any update on the kips Bay Imax having reserved seats and/or upgrading to laser? If so, I’d probably go back.

They need to renovate this place badly. This theater, along with its sister theaters in NYC that have stadium seating that were built before the AMC Loews merger, were one of the last such places to be built before Loews Cineplex went Chapter 11 and was taken over by private equity firms.

When Media Ingest replaces the building of films on Thursday nights we lose something in the process. Properly projected motion picture film still blows away any 4K digital projection system in terms of image clarity, color saturation, image depth, sharpness. The difference is quite visible to the naked eye.

Do any theatres still employ Union projectionists or has DCP made them all obsolete according to the big chain bean counters? A lot of projectionists that used to work in the theatres I used to frequent really cared about film quality presentation, it’s just not the same when you have an usher running things like was evidenced at the Kips Bay this past Friday. I think one of AMC’s predecessors then called Sony Theatres tried to get rid of union projectionists in the Mid Nineties if I remember correctly, there seemed to be picket lines in front of the theatres at the time, if I recall.

markp & Al Alvarez: To give you a comparison. The very next night I went to see the film again at the Bowtie Cinemas Chelsea a Family owned Chain. Picture and brightness were perfect and the sound was great as well. You can see the difference immediately when people care about presentation versus a gigantic cinema chain. I also forgot to mention to top it off my seat at the Kips Bay was missing an armrest. AMC does absolutely nothing to maintain the theatres they took over from Loews Cineplex, the Irwin Seats originally installed that are still there 16 years later are nothing to write home about either, time has not been kind to them. The very first thing Regal did when it assumed operations of the E-Walk was to toss them all into the dumpster. The AMC Bean Counters will probably use them until they completely fall apart in bits and pieces.