Furious 7 and My 1st Experience with IMAX

[Youthman]

My son and I have always enjoyed the Fast & Furious movies so last night, I took him and a friend to see Furious 7.  I have never seen a movie in IMAX so I figured this might be the perfect opportunity to see what IMAX was about.

 

When we first walked into the theater, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I thought it might be like the dome shaped screen at MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry).  To my surprise, it was a huge 16:9 format screen.  The screen didn't look ridiculously huge like I expected but then I realized it was considerably larger since it was a much larger room to begin with and it was wall to wall screen.  One of my Adult Leaders at my church recommended me sitting on the back row (that wasn't happening) due to the screen being too large to view.  I ended up sitting in the middle of the theater where I usually sat. 

 

Another thing that surprised me was there were no visible speakers.  I wasn't sure what to think of this since there were curtains on the wall.  I wondered if the curtains would "taint" the sound quality. 

 

The previews looked pretty grainy and sometimes even pixelated but I figured that may be due to the fact that if they were standard 1080p shooting on a IMAX projector, they might just be getting stretched.  No biggie.

 

So the lights dim and the "IMAX Demo" begins.  Ok...I'm smiling.  Although they didn't use masking for top and bottom, the grey bars faded once the movie began.  Image quality is superb and the sound is better than I have ever heard in that Movie Theater!  Visually and Audibly, it was a great experience.

 

The movie itself was fantastic!  The action sequences were powerful, creative and fresh.  Sometimes you would have two action sequences going on at the same time so there was no down time.  The sound was crystal clear with bass that was felt.  Visually, the IMAX was beautiful.  Tons of detail, clarity and the colors were vibrant.

 

I think it's safe to say that the IMAX has spoiled me just like Bluray spoiled me over Standard DVD.  Not sure I'll do IMAX for every movie, but for the big ones like the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron, I'll very likely be hitting the IMAX again.

 

If you haven't seen Furious 7, I would highly recommend it.  I've always been a fan of Vin Diesel and The Rock.  Jason Statham did a great job as the villain.  Overall lots of laughs, great characters, fast cars, lots of explosions and a heart felt tribute to the late Paul Walker. 

 

[Paducah Home Theater]

First imax I saw was one of the Matrix movies.  I remember being shocked at how many blackheads Keanu Reeves had on his nose.  Before then, seeing such detail was quite a stretch.  I think they pay attention to things like this more nowadays.  

[derrickdj1]

If you are going to see the new Avengers, do the IMAX/D-box.  One of the theaters in our area has the moving D-box seats.  That should be fun.

[OO1]

If you are going to see the new Avengers, do the IMAX/D-box.  One of the theaters in our area has the moving D-box seats.  That should be fun.

YEAH - AWESOME

 

 

Edited April 5, 2015 by Randyh

[Youthman]

Derick, I haven't tried 3D or DBox yet.  I don't think our theater has DBox with IMAX in the same room.  Speaking of Dbox, I remember awhile back getting to a movie pretty early only to find out the three middle rows (where I typically sit) were all reserved Dbox seats.  Wasn't too happy with that. 

[Islander]

IMAX is in a different league from conventional movie film, in terms of resolution and technical demands.  Normal 35mm movie film has a horizontal resolution of six thousand lines (6K), but 70mm IMAX film has a horizontal resolution of 18 thousand lines (18K).  Those numbers are approximate.  The film is 65mm wide, but the format is called 70mm.

 

More info here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAX

 

Sound-wise, 6 channels was the part of the basic format from the start.

[violetgrey]

Hate to bring massive amounts of rapidly falling precipitation to this festivous caravan of merry making but what you saw was not Imax. What you saw was Imax digital. Imax digital is the larger than standard presentation of film material that can include scenes shot with Imax cameras but does not necessarily need to be so. These presentations can contain material that was shot with larger than standard hi-def cameras or material that has been up scaled.What you mentioned with the domed shaped screen is true Imax and is appropriate for content filmed in the 70MM Imax aspect size. This content is usually displayed in a 1:43:1 aspect ratio at an estimated resolution of 18K. No standard size theater is equipped to handle the equipment necessary to project tru Imax films so these, "experiences" are usually little more than an approximation of a true Imax viewing.

[Youthman]

Hate to bring massive amounts of rapidly falling precipitation to this festivous caravan of merry making but what you saw was not Imax.

Regardless if it wasn't a "true IMAX"....I was still very impressed. 

[NBPK402]

I normally watch movies in a Dolby Atmos Theater,  but some friends invited me to go see the FF7 in a XD theater. I had never been to a XD theater so i gave it a try. The tickets were $15 each (I normally pay $5.5.0-$7 at the Atmos Theater), but i was told that the seats are wider and they have the bass shakers in the seats. We watched the movie, it was great just like all of the FF movies have been, but there was absolutely nothing special about the audio at all. There was zero bass felt in the seat! I have watched movies in IMAX before, and if I want to watch a movie in a theater, but can't watch it at my Atmos Theater i would def watch it in IMAX vs XD.

[Schu]

moe betta

 

[Islander]

That picture confirms the saying that many Hollywood actors (and some TV personalities) have larger heads (relative to their bodies) than the rest of us.

 

Nowadays more actors work out and look athletic, but back in the day, you'd see some guy acting tough on screen, with his scary big head, and then he'd take off his shirt and you'd see his wimpy arms, and his impression of toughness would suddenly look contrived, at least for me.

[garyrc]

...  what you saw was not Imax. What you saw was Imax digital. Imax digital is the larger than standard presentation of film material that can include scenes shot with Imax cameras but does not necessarily need to be so. These presentations can contain material that was shot with larger than standard hi-def cameras or material that has been up scaled.What you mentioned with the domed shaped screen is true Imax and is appropriate for content filmed in the 70MM Imax aspect size. This content is usually displayed in a 1:43:1 aspect ratio at an estimated resolution of 18K. No standard size theater is equipped to handle the equipment necessary to project tru Imax films so these, "experiences" are usually little more than an approximation of a true Imax viewing.

 

I agree, except that true IMAX (70 mm film running horizontally) can either be on a flat screen or a dome screen.  The first IMAX screen I saw in San Francisco in the late1990s was on an 80 x 100 foot flat screen, which would be about 1.25:1.  In other theaters it might well have been 1.43:1.

 

I believe the 18K resolution.  The orighnal (true) horizontal 70 mm IMAX had the highest resolution and acutance I have ever seen in my life!  Digital IMAX has resolution that is only so-so.  As the Wikipedia article says, "another disadvantage is the much lower resolution of digital IMAX compared to traditional IMAX film."

 

As good as their format is, the IMAX people did make two mistakes, IMO.  To my eyes, the most common 70 mm print formats (Todd-AO, Super Technirama 70, Super (not Ultra) Panavision 70, etc.) have a much better Aspect Ratio, 2.20:1.  Projected on either a curved or flat screen, this provides the viewer with a very wide image (as wide ad 85 feet in some theaters, such as Century 21 San Jose) that doesn't require the viewer to search up and down a too-nearly-square image, but provides a huge image that allows for images of considerable height, but is "panoramic" without being to ribbon-like.  The other problem, at least in San Francisco, is that the speakers (subwoofer included) are just sitting on scaffolding behind the screen without any bass reinforcing wood in between.  Also, I think they use direct radiators for the bass, indtead of being horn loaded.  In most 70 mm theaters (and the original three panel Cinerama, as well) there were wood "wings" extending to each side of the speakers that loaded the bass.  The bass impact was greater in these theaters, which used giant, 4 woofer per channel, horn loaded speakers, usually by Altec or JBL. 

 

Youthman:  I'm glad you sat where you did!  Sitting in the back row, as recommended by your friend, partly defeats the purpose of IMAX, and is strictly for wimps.         

Edited April 7, 2015 by garyrc