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Topic: TITAN EXTREME CINEMA at Ward Honolulu
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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God
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Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 06-27-2010 07:57 PM
I finally got to see TOY STORY 3 at the Ward Centre 16 in their new Titan Extreme Cinema auditorium and here is my report.
Because I have had good personal relations with several people at the old Consolidated Theatres when they were controlled by Pacific Theatres and the current projection and sound technician is a good friend, I really wanted to be totally impressed with their new system but I am very sorry to say- I was not. Except the sound, Titan Total Extreme at the Ward was totally overhyped. When my friend told me about the new Expand 3-D system that was just installed at the Ward in April, he told me it is a two projection system but I discovered it was not. The image from a NEC digital projector is nice and bright without the 3-D glasses but it loses about fifty percent of light with the glasses and I was bombed out about that when I watched the movie. THe glasses themselves were very very uncomfortable and there were times when my eyes had difficulty adjusting to the 3-D. As a lifelong 3-D junkie, I have never had this problem with any other 3-D process before. The new 66 X35 foot screen was big but it did not look impressive at all like the IMAX screen at the Dole Cannery. Although the Dole screen is slightly smaller, I think it looks more impressive than the Wards large screen. The original seats in the auditorium were very comfortable but the new leather seats were not! The new seats recline and that is one of the reason I did not not like them. The new reserve seat policy is the biggest joke of all. When I saw TOY STORY 3 the other day during a matinee showing, there were only about fifty people in the 455 seat auditorium and WE WERE TOLD WHERE TO SIT by the seat number on the ticket. When the show started, all of the choice seats were unoccupied. Almost everyone in the auditorium were seated off to the side including me. There were even a few people seated in the orchestra section about forty feet from the screen. I got there about ten minutes before show time and when I learned where I was going to be seated, I complained to the usher. He told me everyone will be free to find a better seat after the movie had started but I did that before the lights went out. To my surprise no one else got up and looked for a better seat. Can you imagine how distracting that will be if fifty people got up to find a bette seatr after the movie had started? Can you imagine if there were much more than fifty people and they all decide to change seats in the dark? I have no intention of seeing that ever happen because I will never see another movie in that auditorium again.
I loved the original 15/70 IMAX film process and missed it very much after Consolidated closed Honolulu's only commercial IMAX theatre a few years ago. Although the new Digital 3D IMAX many refer as fake IMAX is no way way as good as the original process, I like it very much. I saw AVATAR in 3-D in that format and was very impressed with the presentation and enjoyed the movie very much. I am very sorry I was pretty uncomfortable and upset when I saw TOY STORY 3 at the Ward with their terrible new system and is now thinking about seeing it again in 3-D Digital IMAX at Regal's Dole Cannery.
-Claude
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Frank Angel
Film God
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Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-27-2010 08:57 PM
I have to agree, Claude, I haven't seen any digital 3D that has looked as good as DUAL digital IMAX. As much as we all lament the passing of 15/70 IMAX, their operations, at least the ones that actually do use two digital projectors give a really fine 3D presentation -- brighter than any other standard 3D digitals I have seen so far. And with dual projection IMAX, there isn't the temporal displacement that bother some folks. Both imgages are on the screen at exactly the same time and polarization keeps them separate just like in dual projection 35mm 3D.
3D aside, I will also reluctantly give LIEMAX kudos for the quality of their presentation over most multiplex operations. Althought their screens ARE bigger than the average multiplex and their sound systems are always impressive, no, they are not "real" IMAX but they are fairly consistant in presentation that is quite a few ticks higher than your average multiplex. They are kind of like what 70mm houses in the 80s were to the average 35mm theatre -- you sought out the 70mm cinema because your chances of getting better presentation were much higher. Perhaps IMAX will retain their image as a premiere venue over the single projector operations by the quality of their presentation and overall stellar plant operation.
But that will get shot to hell if they start cutting corners like every other exhibitor, like using single projectors instead of two. Then they will just be a theatre exhibitor indistinguishable from any other...oh, no wait...you will still be able to distinguish them by their freakin $20 ticket price.
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