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Author
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Topic: Magnificent Desolation: Walking On The Moon 3D (IMAX)
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Brian Michael Weidemann
Expert cat molester
Posts: 944
From: Costa Mesa, CA United States
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 09-23-2005 04:59 AM
"Tom Hanks presents ..."
So, of course he has to narrate the thing, with a tone in his voice geared quite explicitly to arouse interest in vast gray dunes and black sky, all in painstakingly accurate 3D.
This film was 40 minutes long (with trailers, 44:35) and it should have been 10 minutes shorter. Although it's jam packed with tons of information, much of it actually interesting (to me), most of the visuals consist of this "you're really there, walking on the moon!" footage, which I thought got old fairly quickly. Yeah, I know, that's the gimmick of the movie, but it's still "desolation". There was even a quote from one of the moonwalkers, something to the effect of: "They've yet to make a camera that can capture the beauty." Oh, but they tried.
Typical for IMAX movies, tons of old archival 2D video and photos are inserted in two-up or three-up frames for a lot of the script and trivia and such. And there are lighthearted moments with attempts at humor, and a montage of kids being asked moon-related questions. And we, as an audience, are meant to snicker at the ignorance of today's youth who think that the first man on the moon was Lance Armstrong. Riveting.
Usually, for the visuals (if nothing else), I look forward to seeing IMAX movies a few times before I get sick of them. This movie took only one. No, I'm not sick of it, but I don't feel compelled to multiple viewings. I pretty much got everything it had to offer. Was it worth seeing, though? Yes.
The score was lovely.
I rarely get eye strain during IMAX 3D features, but this one had some shots that were doozies. Fish-eye lens perspective in 3D is a delicate area and, though probably necessary to get inside-the-capsule shots, were a bit much to sit through without turning away for a moment to rub the eyes.
One of the parts I liked was the end credits (no, not because it meant it was over), with lots of colorful space-related images as the backdrop to the credits themselves. I think those had more color than any other single frame in the movie, and they were neat pictures, too.
I'm not sure how to rate it, though. Despite everything I've said, I still want to say I liked it. I think I did. I just wouldn't see it again.
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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 09-23-2005 11:56 AM
Those were my impressions too--Mag Des is a 3D production that does the best it can with a lot of 2D images.
I didn't have an issue with the 3D fisheye shots inside the LEM, other than thinking that there was no way the LEM was that roomy inside. ![[Smile]](smile.gif) I had more problems with watching 2D trailers on the head of a 3D show--had to take off the glasses to watch those. BTW the 3D trailer for the re-release of Polar Express looked great.
James Newton Howard did the score for Mag Des. I've always liked his work, going all the way back to his first recordings for the audiophile label Sheffield Lab in the early '80s.
Altogether, not bad, but certainly not the best use of either IMAX or 3D. Still, I enjoyed it and will recommend it to anyone interested in the Apollo program.
[Edit] Noticed one funny screw-up. In one section the film mentions various words for the moon from many languages, including most prominently Japanese. Too bad they used the wrong kanji character for it. Although they got the word right in the narration ("tsuki") the character they showed is "man" meaning 10,000. I suppose if one's penmanship or vision is bad enough the two characters could be mistaken for each other. But any first-year Japanese language student could have caught this one during pre-production. Oh well. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
[ 09-23-2005, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]
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Brian Michael Weidemann
Expert cat molester
Posts: 944
From: Costa Mesa, CA United States
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 09-24-2005 07:20 AM
Not sure how you saw it, Paul, but we've got our 2D Harry Potter GOF trailer on first. In my pre-recorded intro, I mention not to put on the glasses until instructed. And then the second trailer is the Polar Express Re-issue, with a "You may put on your 3D glasses at this time" announcement programmed in during the green band. No having to take off the glasses once they're already on.
And yes, I think they did a good edit for the Pol.Ex. trailer. All the good 3D bits, and perfectly ending it with the train grill poking out at you before cutting away. Not that I'm looking forward to loading that thing back on and running it for a "limited engagement" all Christmas season. I got enough of it the first time through. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I'm looking forward to Deep Sea 3D, if nothing else, only because it looks like it's everything IMAX was meant to be ... full frame, shot for the format, crisp, bright, colorful, and effective 3D under the water. Ah, the good ol' days! ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif) for Warner Bros.
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Brian Michael Weidemann
Expert cat molester
Posts: 944
From: Costa Mesa, CA United States
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 09-24-2005 05:59 PM
No, actually, there is very little "fake" 3D. It's just there's so much on-the-moon simulation, the visuals lost my interest before the end of the movie. There are lots of 3D sequences that consist of flat pictures flying around and such, and a couple 2D pictures converted into flat-panel 3D-ViewMaster type shots. But most of the 3D is proper, well done, and effective.
And the last thing we would want is people putting their glasses on at the very beginning, running 2D trailers without the polarizers (ours are mounted to the projector hood, by the way), and then getting complaints (and we WOULD) that "Hey, I paid GOOD money to see a 3D movie, and the Harry Potter trailer was not 3D!" "Well, maybe if you didn't leave to complain in the first minute of the program ..."
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Joseph L. Kleiman
Master Film Handler
Posts: 380
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 09-30-2005 05:28 PM
At GSTA, they screened Mag Des twice. The first was at Jordan's Furniture in Nattick. Although the seats in the theater were incredible (posturepedic cushions bound in leather with Buttkickers installed in each seat), I felt the 3D to be too gimmicky in a number of places, especially with the pop-up panels and the Electric Company-ish animation. At times, I was too distracted by the 3D to enjoy the emotional undercurrent beneath.
The second showing was in 2D on the dome at the Museum of Science. I highly recommend anyone wanting to enjoy this film see it on a dome. The immersive quality of being surrounded by the image actually made me feel as if I was on the moon in a way the 3D version lacked. And without the 3D getting in the way, I was able to enjoy the film as a human story, rather than just as another IMAX 3D film.
Some notes I'd like to add:
1. None of the IMAX space team that worked on the previous films were involved in this movie, although LF veterans Sean Phillips and Tim Sassoon helped shape its look.
2. The lunar surface was comprised of actual photos taken during moon missions. Sean, however, did use a 35mm and a Vistavision 3D rig on certain shots, which was noticable in the dome version.
3. This film reminded me way too much of the Apollo/Saturn 5 Visitors Center that Bob Rogers and his team at BRC Imagination Arts created for the Kennedy Space Center, especially the theater where they simulate a moon landing and children appear on video monitors talking about wanting to go to the moon.
4. Do you really need 14 celebrity voices when the only one recognizable (besides Hanks) is Morgan Freeman?
5. When I got back from Boston, I stuck "For All Mankind" in the DVD player. Now that's how you make a film about the 12 men who walked on the moon! (Sidenote: If Al Reinhardt can get the money, he'd like to enlarge his film into 15/70. Tests shown at LFCA a few years back, though lacking definition since the original negatives were on 16mm, were spectacular).
[ 09-30-2005, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Joseph L. Kleiman ]
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Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted 10-05-2005 08:33 PM
AMC Easton Towne Center Imax
7:00pm 10/5/05 -- Film attended by 4 viewers
"I'd like 2 tickets for Magnificent Desolation"
-- Blank Stare from Ticketseller
"The IMAX movie?"
-- Blank Stare from Ticketseller
(Mark looks at sign board. Sees "Tom Hanks' Mag"
-- Oh, how about 2 tickets for "Tom Hanks?"
-- Dawn breaks in the ticketsellers eyes. THIS she understands. She takes my $11.50 per ticket and away we go!
First, the POLAR EXPRESS 3-D trailer is amazing. I'm VERY excited about seeing this film in 3-D. Some of the best 3-D I've ever seen.
Trailer for Underwater film from Warners looked OK, but haven't we gone INTO THE DEEP before?
MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION is not very magnificent. It is rather flat in tone. I thought there were too many diversions, like the kids early in the film. More about the astronauts would be more interesting in my opinion.
3-D worked very well. Sound was very unimpressive and somewhat underachieving. I thought the music was underplayed and unineresting. The score sounded a bit compressed, in my opinion.
Nice to look at, but not much content. It is certainly not going into my list of IMAX favorites.
A couple of comments for the Easton Imax folks:
Something strange in the LF speaker on the left channel. Some bad distortion during the pre-show. Couldn't hear it much during the film, but sounded bad when it was happening.
And PLEASE DON'T turn on the MOVIE TUNES music until the music over the credits has ENDED! There was about a 20 second overlap of the film music and the MOVIE TUNES, and that didn't sound good.
Oh...one last thing. There is a loud noise that sounds like it is coming from a ventilation system. Seems to be coming from behind the screen. This is more than a bit annoying.
[ 10-05-2005, 10:05 PM: Message edited by: Mark Lensenmayer ]
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Brian Michael Weidemann
Expert cat molester
Posts: 944
From: Costa Mesa, CA United States
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 10-05-2005 09:02 PM
The last frames of picture are a slow fade-out, and the music goes for another ten seconds, at least, while it's black on screen. It only works if you do the presentation kinda how I do it ... during the picture fade out, I bring the lights to half. At dowser close, when music finally ends, I up the lights to full. And then, the first movement (followed by the oft-omitted second and third) of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata plays. I wonder if anyone has "got it" yet.
Running a show end manually makes it too easy to cut off the trailing music. They should have known better than to pipe in the MovieTunes before the ENTIRE movie is finished. And if it was all running automated, the programming shouldn't be hard to fix (or, for that matter, have been perfected before paying audience shows).
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