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Topic: Destinta Showing is Destinctively Stinko

John Anastasio
Master Film Handler

Posts: 325
From: Trenton, NJ, USA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 11-03-2002 08:25 AM

This chain never ceases to amaze me with the crappy quality of their showings. Every time I visit the Destinta in Hamilton, NJ I learn another new way to ruin a film presentation. You'd think I'd learn not to patronize the place, but hey...they were conveniently close to the restuarant that I had dinner in, so we went there to see the Jackass movie. Okay, okay....it's a piece of junk, but they managed to make it even worse by showing the entire thing out of focus despite my trip to the manager's office to complain (I never saw an operator show up in the booth to even look out the port). That is the USUAL chain of events at the Destinta. By now I've learned to accept the fact that their projectionist is probably blind from changing out over-extended lamps and may not be able to even see the screen and that their lenses were probably made by Coca Cola. At least this print wasn't scratched yet. Here's the kicker....either the projector's been moved, or the flat aperture plate wasn't seated correctly (or was never properly filed down), because there was about a two-foot gap between the edge of the frame and the left side of the screen! It couldn't be more obvious. The last time I saw a film projected this poorly It was an 8mm home movie. Granted, this film is no Academy Award winner, but even IT doesn't deserve this kind of treatment.

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Jonathan M. Crist
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 531
From: Hershey, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 11-03-2002 11:30 AM

John - Your post just serves to confirm what I and several others have been saying all along. PRESENTATION DOESN'T MATTER! Although by your own admission you "know better", yet you still continue to attend the Destinta Theatre. Why? Convenience. It was close to where you were and (to put it another way) it was too much trouble for you to go out of your way to support a venue with good presentation. And since they will get the repeat customers anyway why should they bother to worry about presentation.

Not trying to single you out but sadly we as a society are so time pressured that we will accept inferior service, pay higher prices all for the sake of time

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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 11-03-2002 12:45 PM

I think there's another aspect. While I have attended many screenings where I was the only person complaining, so it would seem that presentation doesn't matter, I think it does matter in the long run.

I think over time, when presentations are not very good or the films aren't very good, people may not be able to express why they don't feel like going to the movies, but they don't go. They'll either watch at home or do something else. So I think that bad presentation does have at least a subconscious effect.

Also, if you check the back pages of Boxoffice, where they show the number of calls into Moviefone, you'll see that it's generally the better theatres that get the most calls, like the Ziegfeld in NYC, although there are exceptions. So I think those people are looking for better presentation as well.

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John Anastasio
Master Film Handler

Posts: 325
From: Trenton, NJ, USA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 11-03-2002 05:21 PM

Jonathan, if it was up to me alone, I wouldn't be caught dead in that theatre, but when you're with other people it's often a matter of politeness rather than choice. You make it sound like I'm some kind of schmuck who simply doesn't know any better than to put up with a lousy show. Please don't make me out to be the bad guy here. I was the only one in the audience who went to the management to complain about the quality of the presentation. I even identified myself as a SMPTE member and talked to him after the film to explain what he had to do to correct the problem. I can only hope that it did some good. There are too many people who are content to complain but who do nothing to improve the situation.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 11-04-2002 02:05 PM

John Anastasio wrote: "I even identified myself as a SMPTE member and talked to him after the film to explain what he had to do to correct the problem."

That's the right thing to do. Don't settle for mediocrity.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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