What Would You Screen at Cine Barsoom?

[Empress]

At a local cinema, they started to have classics night. It began all well with Aliens, Blues Brothers, and Gone With the Wind. They had Westworld.

Then Day after Tomorrow. Huh?
Then Troy. Double Huh?
Pretty Woman. Okay, I could see that, but how is this a film that needs to be shown on a big screen?

The theatre manager (recognizing me from attending every classic night until Day after tomorrow) even asked me for ideas, and I wrote her some films from the 70s and 80s. No good. I haven't been to classic night since christmas (Life of Brian), and I doubt a lot of people have. The cinephiles won't go to Troy, and the masses won't attend "old movies". So it's probably doomed. But I'm not sure if the market is to blame here, or inept management.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Sadly, I think the day of the theater is almost over. Now that home systems for even a modest income family can include big screens (high def optional) that make widescreen easy on the eyes and 5.1 Dolby stereo sound, what's the point? The only reason to see movies in theaters is because they're not on DVD yet.

I'm sorry, but you are SOOOO wrong.

Some films, no matter how good the home theater setup, just don't measure up to seeing them on a big screen. Lawrence of Arabia is a perfect example. Good film, nice to watch on a big home theater system, but it just doesn't compare to seeing it on a theater screen. The panoramic landscapes are breathtaking, and a home screen just can't bring them to life the way they really should be seen. And thats just one of many films that are better on a big screen.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm sorry, but you are SOOOO wrong.

Heh, I'm a cinema buff. I love going out to see movies. But I'm just talking about what I think will happen in the next ten or twenty years or so regardless of your or my personal taste.

Some films, no matter how good the home theater setup, just don't measure up to seeing them on a big screen. Lawrence of Arabia is a perfect example. Good film, nice to watch on a big home theater system, but it just doesn't compare to seeing it on a theater screen. The panoramic landscapes are breathtaking, and a home screen just can't bring them to life the way they really should be seen. And thats just one of many films that are better on a big screen.

That's pretty debatable, especially if you have a large plasma screen or liquid crystal screen TV. If you have a projector TV, it's hard to even argue convincingly that there's a difference at all. My neighbor does that; his effective screen is a 72" or more, even in a narrow room, in high def. Over the next few years, it's only going to get better and cheaper at the same time.

 

[barsoomcore]

What theatres offer that home setups cannot is the group experience. A great movie transforms a bunch of strangers into a unified organism, galvanized by the excitement/beauty/terror of what they're witnessing.

THAT'S why I love seeing movies in the theatre.

It's like, yeah, you could just listen to music at home, but isn't it more fun to be sharing the experience?

I think.

 

[Wombat]

A couple years ago I got a chance to go to a theatre in Palo Alto, CA, where they where screening musicals of the late 1920s through late 1930s -- essentially Depression Era Escapism.

Now I had seen some of these films before on the small screen. They did nothing for me. However, seeing them on a big screen, with a good sound system, suddenly I understood them -- Escape From Your Ordinary Existence, Have Your Whole Field Of Vision Taken Up With Stars, Dance Your Cares Away. Okay, they may not be my all-time favourite films, but they simply worked better on such a huge screen.

In other words, the difference between a true big-screen experience and merely having a large tv is simply worlds apart.

A couple people on this list have mentioned Lawrence of Arabia. Small screen? Well-acted, well-done, a great film. Theatre screen? A nearly overwhelming, utterly unforgettable experience! Star Wars (A New Hope for you whippersnappers): Small screen? Cheesy acting, clunky script, some fun little special effects. Theatre screen? WOO HOO! TAKE THAT, EVIL EMPIRE! And don't even get me started on Apocalypse Now...

So I'd say go for the gold on Cinema Baroomica (or whatever it would be named). Many films are simply better when viewed at their proper size.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

H
That's pretty debatable, especially if you have a large plasma screen or liquid crystal screen TV. If you have a projector TV, it's hard to even argue convincingly that there's a difference at all. My neighbor does that; his effective screen is a 72" or more, even in a narrow room, in high def. Over the next few years, it's only going to get better and cheaper at the same time.

Yeah, but I don't know anyone who could fit a screen the size of a theater's in their house. Well, one person, but he is a multimillionare musician and has his own projection theater at his house, stadium seats and all. But that's not not where most of us are going to be watching films at home.

 

[mmadsen]

Anyway, my DVD of The Road Warrior arrived yesterday and watching a movie I'm so deeply familiar with in widescreen for the FIRST TIME EVER (I'd only ever seen the VHS version before) absolutely blew me away.

I had the exact same experience...a few years ago. (How did you wait until now to get The Road Warrior on DVD?)

It's a beautiful, beautiful film. There are jaw-droppingly gorgeous shots throughout that picture -- there's a nighttime panorama of the refinery as Humugous' army pulls away, with the endless horizon a vast curve of deep blue above the angry red desert that's absolutely amazing -- and along with the tremendous sound design, this is really a movie that's begging to be seen in the theatre.

Agreed. (Although a home theater isn't bad at all.)

It's amazing how many movies are out there that your typical teenage guy would love -- but they're not new, so he'll never see them:

Alien
Aliens
Apocalypse Now
Black Hawk Down
Braveheart
Clockwork Orange
Conan The Barbarian
The Crow
Deliverance
The Duellists
Enter the Dragon
The Game
Gladiator
Leon, The Professional
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Mad Max
Predator
Pulp Fiction
Road Warrior
Robocop
Sixth Sense
Swingers
Terminator
Terminator 2
The Thing
12 Monkeys​

Damn. Can you imagine a theatre where you could go and see pictures like that every day?

Naturally, I watch my movies on DVD on a big screen at home. And that works just fine. If I get an even bigger big screen, I suspect it will be more than fine. Now I just need dozens of like-minded friends to show up whenever I want to watch a good movie.

 

[barsoomcore]

(How did you wait until now to get The Road Warrior on DVD?)

Look, I've got a pretty long list, okay? I can't get EVERYTHING right away. Sheesh.




The other thing that theatres do for the whole movie-watching experience is they isolate you and take away your control. And I think that has a lot to do with it.

In a theatre, you can't hear the garbage truck pull up outside. Headlights going by don't flash on the walls. AND you don't have a remote so you can't pause the film at any time so you can grab some cookies or hit the washroom or whatever.

Now on the one hand that seems like a disadvantage, since, convenient. But that convenience tends to diminish the degree to which the movie is able to compel your attention, and to encourage the suspension of disbelief. In a theatre, where your options are limited, your attention is focussed. The film has you all to itself, and I really truly believe that alters the impact of viewing the film greatly.

You have to surrender to a story for it to have maximum impact. You have to give up control and let the story own you for its lifespan.

As long as that remote is sitting on the coffee table, the film will never really own you.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Armageddon
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Beastmaster*
Darklight
Darkman*
Demolition Man
From Dusk Til Dawn
The Goonies*
Jaws*
Kangaroo Jack
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark*
Lost In Space (1998)
Maverick (1994)*
Meet The Parents
Minority Report
Mission To Mars
The Mummy (1999)
The Mummy Returns
Planes, Trains & Automobiles*
Planet of the Apes (1968)*
Six Days, Seven Nights
Stargate
Starship Troopers
Superman*
Superman III*
Tremors*
Tremors 2
Tron*
Waterworld
Xanadu*

Some of these I have seen on the big screen and some I have not*. I would easily drop the cash on any of these movies to see them in the theatre (again).

 

[mmadsen]

I don't think I'll be hanging out at the Frukathkaplex...