"I just saw Avatar" Thread

[Cail Young]

Was your 3D in scope? Cause I heard that the 2D version would be scope and the 3D would be 16:9 but then I went and saw the 3D version and it was in scope.

Your source is good; however fixed matte 3d screens will crop to scope if necessary.

 

[Darren Orange]

Going tonight midnight IMAX 3D, the only way! This film needs to do extremely well, its kind of important.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Few things in life that have brought me to tears by their sheer artistic marvel and beauty.. Avatar is one of them. How can any film live up to this epic tale?

YES!!!!!! Okay, I'm going to stop reading this thread right here until I get back from the midnight screening. I don't want to take any chances on spoilers...

:cheers2::cheers2::cheers2:

 

[Shawn Nelson]

If it's not like getting your eyeballs fucked then i'm going to haunt this thread

 

[jimhare]

Don't know what theater setup you were in, but I saw it yesterday and it exhibited NO motion strobing or visual anomalies of any kind.

It was bar none the best 3D I have ever seen. Not once was I pulled out of the totally immersed environment for any reason, it locked in and stayed locked for 150 minutes straight.

That was possibly the best movie I've ever seen. Entire family agreed.

I think high fps should be a rule for 3D.

This is just too slow and kills 3D. Period.

The studios might have had justified reasons not to listen to Cameron this time, but this motion strobing in immersive world has to go - ASAP. The scene in the first part of the movie with beast attacking Jake hiding under a tree clearly proves that.

 

[Petri Teittinen]

Saw it yesterday in 3-D. I did like it, but wasn't blown away. I'd give 3.5, maybe 4 stars out of 5, mostly for technical achievements.

Storyline was very traditional (i.e. done to death), hero's arc didn't grab me, most characters were of either very good or very bad variety with nothing in between, and the few way-too-obvious allegories to current affairs ("fight terror with terror") really yanked me out of the movie by their ham-handedness.

Gorgeous visuals, absolutely - perhaps too much so, as characters felt somewhat overshadowed by all the fantastic surroundings. The romance left me totally cold but the movie contained perhaps half a dozen shots so astonishingly beautiful my eyes watered. I can't imagine ever seeing this in 2-D; it feels like a waste of time.

Titanic's box-office record is safe, I believe. It was women who dragged their family and friends to see the love story in Titanic again and again. I don't think that will happen with Avatar; the love story between two blue aliens isn't strong enough.

Oh yeah. Sigourney Weaver as an alien really freaked me out

 

[Ace]

Don't know what theater setup you were in, but I saw it yesterday and it exhibited NO motion strobing or visual anomalies of any kind.

Hey Jim, where did you see it? Was it Dolby3D or RealD? Saw it at Bondi GU myself..

 

[Roberto B]

Im going to see a 35mm film print of Akira this friday on the big screen... Akira is one of..

akira?
Mr Kurosawa?

 

[Omar Saad]

Hey Jim, where did you see it? Was it Dolby3D or RealD? Saw it at Bondi GU myself..

What is the best 3D setup to view it on? I think between the theaters I have in my area I might be able to choose between RealD and Dolby 3D.

Unfortunately the closest IMAX is about 3hrs away. :mad2:


Omar

 

[Joseph Ward]

What is the best 3D setup to view it on? I think between the theaters I have in my area I might be able to choose between RealD and Dolby 3D.

Unfortunately the closest IMAX is about 3hrs away. :mad2:


Omar

REAL D.:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Omar Saad]

REAL D.:smilewinkgrin:

Good to know, thanks!

 

[Ace]

akira?
Mr Kurosawa?

No, as in Akira the anime film.

 

[Ace]

What is the best 3D setup to view it on? I think between the theaters I have in my area I might be able to choose between RealD and Dolby 3D.

Unfortunately the closest IMAX is about 3hrs away. :mad2:


Omar

I didnt see it on Imax. But it was one of the larger screen cinema's. Either or is fine. But I think RealD is the best.

 

[Bruce Allen]

RE: Real-D vs Dolby... saw Toy Story 3D in Dolby at the Grove and gradients had a TON of banding - like you were viewing in old-school 16 bit color mode ("thousands of colors" not "millions").

Real-D doesn't have banding but does have more of a ghosting effect. You can do post "ghost-busting" processes to minimze this. I'm assuming Avatar has done this.

The best 3-D I've ever seen has been inside Fotokem, using a Real-D system, when I was art directing / animating the Hannah Montana titles.

You know what else was cool? Vince Pace (the genius behind the Avatar cameras) would come by and give me tips!

So I'm going to probably try to see Avatar in Real-D. Unless they have gotten around the banding with the Dolby system (dithering? maybe it was just really bad with the smooth gradients of Toy Story?).

Anyway, can't wait to see it! No spoilers in this thread please!

EDIT: Oh man, looks like they used a dual-projector system for the opening - FOUR(!) Barco / Dolby 3D projectors. That'd be the way to really do it - fixes all your light loss problems. Anyone know a place in LA doing that?

http://www.webnewswire.com/node/490429
"To meet Camerons exacting standards for Avatars premiere, Dolby and Barco worked to provide a customized solution, comprising two Dolby 3D large-screen systems, featuring four Barco DP-3000 ultra bright digital cinema projectors. Using dual stacked Barco projectors for the left eye and an additional dual stack for the right eye, each set features Dolbys 3D color filter technology."

...and now Arclight is using XpandD. Active shutter glasses?! Sweet! Probably will go for that then.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[ericyoung]

Just came back from Imax Waterloo in London - stunning. Begs to be seen again. Cameron has delivered again, and nowhere near as schmaltzy as I had feared.

I'm so glad I phoned my friend about seeing it as he had a spare ticket and apparently it's sold out until 2010 including midnight and 3am showings!!

Took awhile, but eventually my eyes got comfortable with the 3D so I was able to forget it. In some ways the quiet scenes were the most impressive as there was time to see all the way from foreground to the distance.

One of the few 3D films that absolutely have to be seen in 3D.

 

[jimhare]

Hey Ace,

Saw it in RealD at Westfield Chatswood. Absolutely pristine. Couldn't fault it from start to finish. Can't remember a better cinema experience ever.

Hey Jim, where did you see it? Was it Dolby3D or RealD? Saw it at Bondi GU myself..

 

[Mark Collins]

Just came back from Imax Waterloo in London - stunning. Begs to be seen again. Cameron has delivered again, and nowhere near as schmaltzy as I had feared.

I'm so glad I phoned my friend about seeing it as he had a spare ticket and apparently it's sold out until 2010 including midnight and 3am showings!!

Took awhile, but eventually my eyes got comfortable with the 3D so I was able to forget it. In some ways the quiet scenes were the most impressive as there was time to see all the way from foreground to the distance.

One of the few 3D films that absolutely have to be seen in 3D.

it's sold out until 2010, really?

I know I got my tickets early, but the shows weren't sold out here, close, but not completely.

 

[Roberto B]

No, as in Akira the anime film.

ahh.. okay :svengo:

 

[Marco Montenegro]

Ok, I just bought my tickets for an 8:30 show tomorrow night in REALD. I have been reading the reactions on here to my wife and totally sold her on it. I am looking forward to an amazing experience. I hope my day flies by tomorrow.

 

[ericyoung]

it's sold out until 2010, really?

I know I got my tickets early, but the shows weren't sold out here, close, but not completely.

I'm only talking about the Imax I went to in London, although would expect the other large cinemas showing the 3D version to be booked up too.