I, Anonymous Mar 25, 2010 at 4:00 am

Movie Madness

Comments

1
I'm always too damn busy jerking off to notice such subtleties, I'm just happy to be in a dark place surrounded by unsuspecting people.
2
i love jacking off at the movies. i bet IA works for Living Room
3
At least this sounds like a real thing. I give it a Meh+.

(Don't jack off in movie theaters.)
4
yes yes yes. I went to late screening at Mission Theater last year of Wild at heart. turned out to be dvd. went to screening at cinema 21 of 3rd man a few wks ago. dvd. putrescent!
5
Dang. This is actually an I,A that has a valid point to make, instead of something fake or just too self-centered to care about. For real. Huge kudos for this posting. Keep up the good work.
6
About the only place I can afford to see a movie anymore is at the Laurelhurst, so we're good on this one.
7
that "restored print" is still playing, presumably still a dvd. hausu.
8
To clarify: this is in no way an endorsement of The Living Room. I was saying at least you know you're getting digital, but I still think that's shit, and I don't go there. A film that plays there hasn't played in Portland, basically. Before it came along, certain films would have gone to the Hollywood or somewhere as a print. But now it's easier and cheapier to dump digital on us, so long as we're buying it. Sorry, rant officially over; I just didn't want anyone to think I supported what is actually one of the most dispiriting things about Portland's "film" culture.
9
Yes, preach! I hope people who care about this will voice their opinions to programmers and theater managers. My sense is that a lot of people who turn up for screenings don't notice or care, but that's not the point. This is an important issue for film buffs.
Not long ago I was ridiculed by a couple of family members for mentioning offhand that I was disappointed to have read about an upcoming "film festival" only to find out they were projecting DVDs. Yes, I'm obviously ridiculous and pedantic for caring about the vast differences in how 35mm and DVD look projected on a large screen.
One thing I would accept, however, is the use of a Blu-Ray disc for something shot on 8mm or 16mm formats, when prints are not available or would not be feasible. Provided the disc is authored well, Blu-Ray can pretty accurately replicate the information on those smaller-gauge formats, for most kinds of films (experimental films can be another kettle of fish in my opinion).
10
yeah but theres more than simply watching a film, i mean obviously thats the point. i like the movies for the fact that its the movies. i get to hang out with a bunch of people i dont know and all stare at one thing at the same time. sure i could watch the DVD at home, but how am i supposed to get a few hundred strangers to come over and throw popcorn around my apartment and then leave without saying thanks? (dont answer that last question)

but yeah, it sucks tail to watch a pix'd DVD on a big screen, but so does paying 10 bucks to see a movie i can wait two weeks to watch. the point of the movies now isnt to see the movie, its to watch crazy shit on a biiiig ass screen and go totally stoned and have a good time. i've seen the 5th element probably about 74 times since it came out when i was six, but i still went to see it at the PSU theatre cuz it was an awesome movie on a huge screen. i do believe PSU's 5th ave, cinema uses prints.

that is all.
11
In what way does this need to be anonymous? Fear of riled up ushers with their little bow ties all akimbo using their flashlights as batons? Concern that the concession stand will not give political asylum? Whether the gripe here (and that is all it is- a garden variety gripe) is legitimate or not is not really important - this is the wrong venue. If this is the best the editors can find for an I Anonymous column it is time to call it quite, or relabel to Portland's Whiniest.
12
@stubbs. damn strait. it's like essay comments too. i love a good eurostyle 9pt. bold font, but i keep that crazy revalation to my self of course, i wouldn't want word to get out. i love the expression film buff too. you just like movies, i'm a film buff!
13
Fapping in movie houses is an American past time. And I think the porn looks better pixelated.
14
Yeah, I saw Rude Boy (The Clash "concert film") at the Clinton St. Theater last Spring and it was a GD DVD projection. I was so mad I couldnt even jack off.
15
Out the fuckers. Which theaters were doing this? I want names.
16
The Clinton, McMenamin theaters, NWFC (who you think, as a high-falutin museum-related enterprise, would know better than to do things like screen an Antonioni film off a raggedy DVD, but do it quite often), Cinema 21...and of course The Living Room, where apparently you don't know if you are getting a decent digital projection off a hardrive (a la Roseway)--which I still think sucks, but at least you don't see pixels--or a projected DVD...I've heard only bad reports about image quality there either way.
Anyone else?
17
Why bother, indeed.
18
What?
19
More discussion on this topic here:

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…
20
I go both ways on this--I recently observed a douchenozzle demand his money back at Cinema 21 because the restored version of "Metropolis" they were screening wasn't a filn print.

I'm a longtime cinephile and hate it when people try to pawn off poor-quality digital projections as somehow part of the moviegoing experience; however, this dude was being irrational. Good luck finding a film print of an 83-year-old silent film whose original prints were all destroyed.

I do think movies are best when shot to film and love it when the experience of viewing a movie on film in a projection house is as pristine as can be; however, I do think rigidly clinging to analog rather than embracing and exploring digital is part of what's keeping art from catching up to the times.
21
Indeed the times they be a changing.Get the fuck out of the way horse....my car is coming.
22
Darrylzero--
Prints of film restorations are never an old print cleaned up with a q-tip and sent out into the world...ever. New prints are struck off the massive digital files created during the restoration. Such prints are often struck to create buzz for a restoration or rerelease before the DVD is put on the market. Many 35mm films that fit that description have been through Portland in the last year or two. Not unreasonable to think Metropolis would be the same, or to expect to be told if it wasn't. But I doubt I was the douchenozzle you mention, since only theater staff saw me get my money back, and if you are theater staff you should probably know all this by now...but I am a douchnozzle.

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