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Yes, reel 5 (one of 2 prints) at the Galaxy had ONLY SRD and DTS tracks. It must be presented in SDDS since the DTS units are busy chasing those non-SDDS prints which are becoming more and more common.

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One print had two good reels, and they weren't all that great either. One reel had no SDDS as mentioned earlier and the other six had base scratches! Fortunately, many scenes are dark and they aren't noticeable, but they're there jiggling on the right edge just waiting for the next bright scene.

The second print had three bad reels with the same characteristic scratches.

Upon inspection of the leaders (platter house) the scratches run right on through them, thus not an operator error.

I called one other theater whom I knew the projectionist's mobile phone number and he had the same problems with his print.

I liked Eyes Wide Shut as a whole, but not the ending. That's all I can say without spoiling it.

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Interestingly enough, I've found a few other theaters around town that have the same identical scratches mine had. One other theater also had a reel 6 without an SDDS track too. For some reason, many managers won't say anything about it for fear they will get charged by Warner for the print. How many managers are out there who don't give a flip about their presentation like that?

My prints looked ok except for a few light black scratches on two reels. My manager won't report it because he says we will be billed for it.

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But first a word about the presentation: I saw the 7:30 show at Denver’s UA Colorado Center. This is a nice theatre with what I thought was decent presentation. The theatre was in chaos; there weren’t enough people at the box office. We stood behind 30 people one hour before show time to get our tickets. We then went and had dinner. We arrived back at the theatre where we found the assistant manager running around apologizing for canceling a film. There was a line of people at a refund window. I wandered around to see what had been canceled but I didn’t figure it out.

I skirted the lake of coke on the hallway carpet to get to my auditorium and found I had to sit in the second row. I understand it is opening weekend so I didn’t make a fuss. Will Rogers started and stayed in Non-Sync for the whole trailer. No one collected for it. The Trailers had platter scratches on them. The film did not. They use Christie projectors and there was so much jump, that my date made a comment like “I wish the projector would stop shaking.”

There was dirt at every splice. Hurry up with Film-Guard or P5. We need to get the industry to mandated its use.

The theatre was full of kids who thought they were there to see an ”R” rated porn film. They were disappointed. Cell phones went off constantly during the film. I leave mine at home when I go to the movies. (Much to my bosses dismay.)

When I left the film the manager was apologizing to 100 people in the lobby that there was no 10:50 show. She said that there was a mistake with the ad. If I had 100 people in my lobby wanting to see a film only 20 minutes after I was supposed to be closed I would show them a film.

I think I will go back and see the film in it’s sixth week when all the hoopla has died down, and at a different theatre. Now, about the film:

All Kubrick’s films are about obsession. This one was just about the Calvin Kline's kind of Obsession. I didn’t find the film erotic. I don’t know if I should have. I did find it spell binding. I loved that Dr. Bill kept trying to cheat on his wife because of an obsession about her dream. At every turn He was thwarted. I even liked the ending. Hillary Clinton has shown that a wife can forgive more. At every turn you kept expecting something and at every turn you got something unexpected. I don’t think anyone second-guessed this whole film.

Did anyone else find the orgy scene cold and sterile? Did anyone find the film erotic? Did anyone feel that if they saw behind the digital people, who stood in our way at the orgy, the film should have been rated any different than it was? The film isn’t about sex it is about obsessing about sex. Did you notice the Stanley Kubrick signature close-up? Every Stanley Kubrick film has a close-up of the main character that defines the film. I this one it is where Dr. Bill is sitting on the bed listening to his wife tell her fantasy.

How did you all like the score? I thought it was brilliant. I hope it gets mentioned around Oscar time. I hope the actors don’t get mentioned I didn’t think that it was their best performance. Nicole was good, but underutilized. I think Sydney Pollack should get a mention for best supporting actor. He was great.

Well, I will see if the film holds up to a second viewing in a few weeks time.

I thought, in the past, that they might have had decent presentation. What I saw last night was in no way decent. I will come to your theatre and see Eyes Wide Shut later and see how FilmGuard is working on a part-time basis. I need to wait untill all the kids have stopped sneaking in to watch kiddie porn.