A u s t i n C i n e m a C r i t i c

"Nine"... Regal Arbor Great Hills Auditorium 2, January 31st 2010

2010-02-01T01:40:00.002-06:00

"Up In The Air" Alamo Drafthouse South, January10th 2010

2010-01-17T12:29:00.001-06:00

"Leap Year" Cinemark Cedar Park, January 9th 2010

2010-01-09T23:28:00.001-06:00

"Avatar"... Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek Auditorium 1... December 31st 2009

2009-12-31T15:59:00.002-06:00

Evidently the Lake Creek Alamo has decided to follow in its original owners' footsteps and install Sony's 4K projectors for a digital 3D experience. Avatar did not disappoint, though the movie was darker than I remember it... I would prefer it brighter... definitely need to see a 2D screening somewhere to see how bright it can be. The Lake Creek Alamo maintains an inventory of viewing spectacles that is not refreshed with new ones every screening... this undoubtedly saves them money and is better for the environment, as there aren't 150 sets of spectacles getting thrown in the trash every 3 hours. However, it isn't necessarily better for us, because the spectactles aren't new - they're covered in smudges and fingerprints, especially on the lenses!

food = mediocre

different menu to the original venues

non-feature projector was not straight and was off the top of the screen

sound = great

booming from next auditorium

2/3rds full

"Avatar"... Alamo Drafthouse South... Auditorium 1... December 22nd 2009

2009-12-22T23:29:00.000-06:00

Different glasses, the Real3D standard type w/ reflections
Light from entryway
popcorn & guinness = good
sound not as dynamic, extension not as deep
picture blurry? this 4K cannot compete w/ IMAX
ending credits were better

"Avatar"... Bob Bullock IMAX... December 18th 2009

2009-12-21T23:02:00.003-06:00

The first in a series of viewings I have no doubt.
The IMAX picture didn't fill the screen
film - one scratch at beginning
super-crisp, could read all text
annoying V/O guy at end over music
dialogue during 3D
crowd in movie seemed to be in the auditorium
audio didn't boom or seem like a demo
only one trailer, alice
big red spectacles
3D don't rotate your head
eyes too transfixed to worry about food or restrooms

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" Alamo Drafthouse South... Auditorium 6... December 13th 2009

2009-12-14T08:46:00.006-06:00

The Alamo South's dark auditorium was the first thing to impress. No! Their upscale and pretty darn clean restrooms were the first thing to impress. Or maybe... was it the large amount of legroom? No, I think it was the relief I got as I first walked in, and saw how large the room is. The Alamo South's custom-built rooms appear to be larger than the Lake Creek location, which was a real THX-screened cinema before the Alamo took it over. Anyhow by the time the movie started off I was in a pretty good mood. The film trailers looked OK except I immediately noticed a band of picture projecting off the bottom of the screen, onto the black wall! Sacrilege, for such a place as the Alamo. When The Fantastic Mr. Fox started and the problem was continuing in exactly the same way, I wrote this on a piece of paper and allowed a waiter to come and read it. He saw what I was talking about and walked out of the auditorium. I didn't really know what they were going to do about this. It turns out that they didn't do anything - they were mid-way through a transition to 4K Digital in this auditorium, and today happened to be the last day of film projection here. That was a reasonable excuse!

This review would not be complete without mentioning... my favourite new discovery on their menu! On a whim I decided to forego my usual asian chicken salad and get their "Big Fish" Tacos. Wow... talk about a taste explosion! Definitely worth trying.

"An Education"... Arbor At Great Hills Auditorium 6... December 6th 2009

2009-12-06T22:38:00.004-06:00

I arrived with trepidation, since this cinema has had pretty disappointing projection for the last few movies I've seen here. The Sprint "please silence your cellphones" image was on screen 'til about 4 minutes past scheduled start. When the motorised curtains widened for cinemascope presentation and the trailers began, the first trailer was for Up In The Air, and it abruptly started half-way into the trailer! Never got to see the first part. But this is a trailer I saw the night before a the Alamo, and I got the feeling it was "zoomed in" ie. the edges of the picture were missing, perhaps, projected off the edge of the screen. A trailer for The End Of Poverty definitely had some picture, including subtitles, off the bottom edge of the screen. An Education finally started, looking pretty sharp around the edges with no black anywhere on the screen, and no visible parts of the film clearly off the edges of the screen.

The sound was adequate, that is to say, this movie could probably do with better sound presentation, but it's no Michael Bay picture. It sounded like it could have been an optical soundtrack, it had that olde-world optical feel noticeable at the beginning (harder to notice once you're used to it by the middle of the story). No artifacts or clicks/pops however.

The biggest problem, one which had me cleaning my glasses, was that the picture was jumping up and down very quickly, and by a very slight amount. This was most noticeable on high-contrast edges, for example the glint in characters' eyes, or static or moving credits. Generally a lack of clarity to the image. This was very disappointing in otherwise what was probably the best image I've seen at this cinema in a while. I very much hope that a twist of the projector's shutter knob is all that is needed to correct this.

"Men Who Stare At Goats" Alamo Village... Auditorium 4... December 5th, 2009

2009-12-06T12:54:00.003-06:00

While it is common to have bad lip sync in trailers while cutting quickly from shot to shot and bridging them with dialogue clips, the trailer for the Matt Damon movie Green Zone appeared to have more lip sync errors than most, and the unlikeliest spots... I was worried that it might continue into others, but the rest of the evening's presentation didn't suffer noticeably, however.

We sat too far back this time, in fact one row from the back row. With the auditorium being the longish, narrow shape, the sound seemed uninvolving and somewhat muddied - this principally because nearly all the surround speakers were in front of us, and the front speakers were over 100ft. away. Lesson - don't sit near the back if you need clarity and involvement.

Let this not take away from the Alamo's sound system - it rocks when it needs to and has good response from treble to bass.

Picture was bright and sharp... sitting near the back it did not subtend a large angle at the eye and reminded me of a TV. Lack of jitter & weave contributes to this feeling too.

Overall a commendable presentation from the Alamo. I had a tasty Guinness again. Their popcorn seemed more buttery than it ought to have been, but no major complaints.

"Twilight: New Moon" Regal Gateway... Auditorium 13... November 21st, 2009

2009-11-22T20:34:00.004-06:00

I inadvertently ended up in a "small" screen at the Gateway this time, as I wasn't the one who booked the tickets (the movie was on like 6 screens here). No matter, I want to review every auditorium in town, so here goes!

After a protracted session of stops & starts (I could see the projectionist was examining the projector quite a bit), the film material started on-time, more or less. Unfortunately Auditorium 13 at the Gateway is a mess, visually. There is a shadow on the left edge of the screen caused by an "EXIT" sign... the sidewall lights shine dimly onto the screen (tragically reducing contrast) and the EXIT sign is right by the screen, causing the shadow - that's my theory anyway. Movies with vampires have plenty of dark scenes, and the shadow is plainly visible and quite distracting. Next - the duvetine at the top of the screen looks like the headliner in a 15-year old Buick - hanging drearily in multiple places along the top of the screen. It's nowhere near a straight line. Until they fix these things I would avoid Auditorium 13 when possible.

Something I am not sure they will ever fix is the legroom - the seat rows are pretty close together. I don't normally think about this but my knees started to get kinda sore during this movie and there really wasn't much in the way of options for different leg positions -the legroom is so cramped.

The best thing about the presentation was the sound, it didn't seem to have any issues.

"2012" Regal Gateway 16 Auditorium 8 AND Alamo Drafthouse Village Auditorium 1... Saturday November 14th 2009

2009-11-14T20:19:00.004-06:00

What's this... a review with TWO cinemas? Yes... the Gateway's presentation was SO bad I had to leave and find another exhibitor... in this case Austin's own Alamo Drafthouse, and they OWNED the Gateway in this event. Where do I begin...

My wife and I showed up at the Gateway 16 and took our seat about 2/3rds of the way from the front row. The auditorium was about a quarter-full so there was plenty of choice and we didn't want to sit too close to the front since it was a 2.35:1 movie with a lot of big shots in it. So we were closer to the back than usual.

The video clips were playing when we sat down. Everything seemed fine. This was auditorium 8, one of the Gateway's larger screens. The film materials started more or less on time, with a trailer for Avatar and I immediately sensed something was wrong - unlike the video materials, the sound coming from the film projector was oscillating, jittering, or some other artifact. Also, I couldn't put my finger on it but the picture quality looked terrible. I have watched the trailer for Avatar many times and knew it could look better than this. The CGI tunnel sequences of matter transfer and the Avatar floating in the tank looked like bad digital projection, almost as if they were projecting a WMV! There was colour banding and other visual blurriness. This was a terrible picture. I rolled my eyes and waited for the next trailer, which seemed fine (though it was because of the particular style of music). Any time music with constant notes or high tones was in the soundtrack, the artifact problem was evident. My wife was unable to notice it :(. Anyhow three or four trailers had gone by, without the problem rectifying itself, and it dawned on me that I might be sitting through two hours of a pretty bad movie, projected terribly. My time is worth more than that, not to mention the ticket money! As I feared, 2012 started and the sound was oscillating and jittering. Just 2 or 3 minutes into the movie, I told my wife I was not going to enjoy this... so she agreed very magnanimously that we should leave and find the movie somewhere else. I went back to the box office and got a refund, telling them that the sound was messed up in Auditorium 8. I got the feeling that they weren't surprised, or knew about it already. Please, Gateway, fix this problem! And thank you for refunding ticket money upon request - something not all cinemas do.

Outside, we checked the Chronicle's web site and saw that the Alamo Drafthouse Village was showing the movie shortly - so we headed over there. I was prepared to tolerate the Village's smaller screen and less proficient sound system, since they have those great digital projectors (and I was still hurt by the Gateway's projection quality and just wanted to see the movie anywhere).

I am ultimately so glad I had this experience, because it allowed me to A-B the two cinemas with the same film. The Alamo wins hands-down on both picture and sound quality. It was totally obvious how much better the Alamo's picture was - crisp, bright and more highly-resolved than the Gateway's. The sound was tight and bass extension was deep and firm... it was actually better than the Gateway's. I am going to have to hang up my hang-ups about the Alamo Village from now on. I know I've griped about a few things in the past, but they showed how things should be done, right when I needed it. Regal ought to pay them a visit.

For the record, the Alamo Village still has the little patch of illuminated screen at the bottom edge, same as when I noticed it during Star Trek months ago. However, I did not notice the problems with the top of the screen as I had seen before, nor the blotchy patch at center-left, so perhaps those have been fixed. The small illuminated patch at the bottom rim is a teeny-tiny-small price to pay for such otherwise great picture and sound, and I wholeheartedly recommend Auditorium 1. Add to that tons of legroom and a decent food menu, and what more could you ask for?

"The Damned United"... Regal Arbor At Great Hills Auditorium 4... Sunday November 8th 2009

2009-11-08T20:26:00.002-06:00

The usual presentation standards from the Arbor at great Hills - nothing to write home about, and in fact pretty depressing. The movie is not the kind that tests a sound system like a summer blockbuster. The projection was sharp enough but didn't seem that bright, and had soft edges. The biggest mistake was that the picture was projected too high on the screen - starting with a 6-inch band of black (or naked white screen depending on your POV) across the bottom edge of the screen, and by the end of the film this band was about a foot high. Could this have been fixed by a simple turn of the FRAME knob on the projector? Come on Regal, take a look at the film every once in a while.

"The Informant"... Cinemark Cedar Park Auditorium 1... September 26th 2009

2009-09-27T23:55:00.000-05:00

For some reason I did not write this review until today, Wednesday December 30th 2009! I found the ticket during some housecleaning and realised I'd never written the review. So here goes. Cinemark take very seriously their customers' comfort, and this cinema continues that direction, with its plus seats and plentiful legroom. Though it's no Alamo Drafthouse, among regular cinemas these guys have about the most you can get.

The cinema's sound system was not tested strenuously by this film, but did a good job and no artifacting or other particular weakness was noted. The 35mm picture was bright and focussed, with reasonably sharp edges.

This time we were presenting our $7.00 ticket coupons purchased at Costco. The regular ticket price was $9.00.

I should note that we arrived at this cinema several weeks prior to see a different movie, and finding the only seats available to be too close to the screen, we went back to get our money refunded, and Cinemark were only too glad to do so without question. Nice!

"Inglourious Basterds"... Lakeline Starport Auditorium 9... Sunday September 13th 2009

2009-09-13T22:57:00.005-05:00

This cinema is "joint-worst-in-Austin" along with the AMC inside Barton Creek Mall. Is it some sort of clue that these companies only have one theater each in Austin? Here is my litany of complaints.

The layout of the cinema is terrible... on two floors with restrooms only on the lower, and concessions only on the upper. Lots of walking through doors with your food and confusion.
The projection and cinema construction is weird and unbecoming. A long, narrow auditorium with a medium-sized screen high up on the front wall, there is not much width for stereo imaging. I have to admit that I can't rule out some idiosyncratic mixing technique employed by Quentin Tarantino, but the movie didn't have a lot of width to the soundfield, nor did it hardly ever use the surrounds for anything. The culprit more than likely is the cinema IMO. There was all sorts of boom and reverberation at some frequencies, and a general lack of hi-end to the sound... I am not convinced it was digital sound, though the soundtrack was flawless & no artifacting was detected. Picture was generally well focused but not pin-sharp, and was projected off the left edge of the screen onto the wall. The other oddity about this cinema is that the screens are curved. The only cinema in Austin like it. I assume it's some sort of method of maintaining focus or brightness across the screen, but it is unusual enough to distract.
Rowdy patrons... Lakeline Mall is filled with teens that have nothing to do, and they frequently vent their frustrations inside this cinema. I didn't seem to sense the same problem with the AMC at Barton Creek Mall. But there were kids here talking during this movie - and I mean talking, not whispering, who evidently had no clue you're supposed to stay quiet when visiting a cinema! Shining their bright cellphones around, too. Bah. I recommend you avoid this cinema if possible.
Acoustic isolation was not good... Inglourious Basterds has plenty of quieter scenes, and I am certain I could hear dialogue from the adjoining auditorum!

Now, I did exit the auditorium to complain to the management about the rowdy patrons, and they definitely responded with obvious effort to eliminate the problem (though by this time the patrons had quietened down... typical) so good marks there.

"District 9"... Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek Auditorium ?... Saturday August 17th 2009

2009-08-18T22:24:00.001-05:00

The Alamo's franchise location at Lake Creek continues to try hard to please. When I saw that their web site's ticket purchasing software by Ready Theater Systems (for which they continue to charge us $1 per ticket to use) was not working, I called their box office, and they were delighted to take my credit card information over the phone and put my tickets into Will Call. Win-win for both of us, since I didn't pay $2 in fees for two tickets, and they still got to sell tickets ahead of time.

Genre favorite District 9 was a hit at this cinema, its formerly-THX-certified acoustics helping a lot versus the Alamo's Village location. Despite the movie seeming to be really loud, the room did not interfere with the intelligibility or clarity. The picture was fine, pretty sharp edges with nothing major projected off the edges. I was concerned that the movie was loud... at first I was certain that the staff must have turned up the sound level beyond cinematic standard. Eventually I got used to the volume level and it seemed fine. I've never had that reaction before at an Alamo. (usually it's a bad Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich film at the Gateway that's simply too loud)

Also, these guys know how to pour a Guinness! No inch-thick foamy head to contend with. Check out the picture expertly taken by my wife -

"Julie & Julia"... Gateway Auditorium 9... August 14th 2009

2009-08-14T23:33:00.005-05:00

As I settled into my fourth row center seat among a packed house of 90% women, I thought "hmmm... Gateway... what could go wrong?" My question was answered.

After their obligatory video material sponsored by Sony, the film material started about 7 minutes behind schedule. An odd moment of darkness in the theater as the film projector started up was ended when the house lights came up briefly! And when they went back down, to my surprise the Gateway was running this film without any trailers - it went right into Julie & Julia. The film had a few breaks in it during the first few minutes... so I'm thinking they must have had some sort of projection accident with the film and torn it a couple of times.

The film was projected a couple of feet off-center to the right; the left edge was all blurry, and one could see the picture projected onto the right edge of the front wall. Come on Gateway, fix the projector!

The digital sound cut out a couple of times, pretty much in the middle of the film. The Gateway has Dolby Digital readers mounted in the basement position, where the film comes out of the bottom of the projector all hanky-janky before immediately going into the sound reader; not the best situation for getting a reliable data stream. (but hey, it's easy to thread!)

This movie does not tax any sound system, and I have no comments to make on the sound except that it was mediocre.

The rest of the audience enjoyed the film, which was I guess a sort of Ratatouille with real people instead of rats!

Evening ticket cost - $9.00

"Moon"... Arbor Great Hills... Auditorium 7... Sunday August 2nd 2009

2009-08-02T23:02:00.006-05:00

Things started off well when, noticing my Austin Film Society t-shirt, the lady behind the ticket counter knocked $1.50 off my ticket cost due to me being a member! I didn't realise Regal did that. Nice.

I got myself some of their fairly decent popcorn and sat down in the auditorium which was about 1/3rd full. This is one of only two screens showing Moon in Austin. I immediately was struck by how bad the trailers looked. A trailer for The Road looked pretty awesome, but not because of the presentation here! It simply looked out of focus to me. I had my glasses on this time so I know what I'm talking about.

The movie started, with a few quiet buzzes from the soundtrack, as the digital sound kicked in. This auditorium has pretty bad picture, I have to say, the picture was outside the screen on three edges. The screen is almost as wide as the auditorium in this room, which there's nothing wrong with, but when the projector is set up so badly that the film is almost on the side wall, you've got problems! The opening credits were off the edge of the screen, projecting onto duvetine. I wouldn't want to be the person whose name was wrecked by this. Furthermore, the focus seemed soft throughout. I do not think this was the film. There were a few shots in the film that felt deliberately softer in focus, and at this location they were really looking kinda blurred.

The print was getting on a bit, as when Reel 1 was coming to and end, there was the occasional splodge on the picture, and the soundtrack broke down to a very plain-sounding optical for a second or two. I didn't notice any other aberrations in the soundtrack, and otherwise the film didn't seem to have too many scratches or other marks. However, the film was shaking from side to side at the top of the picture - visible most clearly during the end credits, where you'd see people's names emerge at the bottom edge in fairly stable fashion only to exhibit and odd vibration by the time they were leaving at the top. And, the fact that the film itself was off the edge of the cinema screen meant I'll have to wait until the blu-ray version to see the entire picture!!! Come on Regal... fix this picture.

Sound was adequate... there were a lot of low-budget indicators in the soundtrack (for example, library sci-fi sound-effects from some very old commercially available libraries), and I'm not sure there was a lot of bass extension in the soundtrack to be conveyed here - so, it's not such a bad thing that we didn't feel much.

Evening ticket cost w/ AFS discount = $8.00.

"The Brothers Bloom"... Metropolitan... Auditorium 4... July 19th 2009

2009-07-19T21:23:00.004-05:00

Thankfully, Regal must have moved their print of The Brothers Bloom from the Arbor 8 down to the Metropolitan instead of sending it back to the distributor. Regal are still the only cinema chain showing this movie in Austin right now.

As we walked into the auditorum (a little late), a trailer for The Hurt Locker was showing, and the sound was fantastic. Much better than some trailers get! Really did its part to make you want to see the film.

I guessed the feature presentation would be scratched up, and I was right. The picture was bright enough though, and the sound system was in fantastic form. This is not a loud, blockbuster movie, but the music track in particular was delightful to listen to, and the low noise-floor of this auditorium really turned it into a hi-fi experience. Picture edges were not too blurry or mis-projected. As the credits rolled up I noticed some characters in the credits' typeface were not that easy to see... perhaps a problem of overall brightness & focus.

A corollary of being at the end of the reel on a much-played print, the digital sound gave up a few times at the very end - once during the film and the rest during the credits. The symptom was a very short fold-down to mono played from the center, though seemingly without a large drop in volume. Not too bad a performance.

Matinee Ticket price... $7.00.

"Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince"... Metropolitan... Auditorium 14... July 18th 2009

2009-07-19T20:44:00.007-05:00

Some friends of mine who are relatively new to Austin are moving to the South side, and I wanted to introduce them to their new local theater, the Metropolitan (yes they are lucky!). Unfortunately I made the mistake of not planning properly and we did not get to see this new Harry Potter film in auditoriums 7 or 8. This blockbuster being on multiple screens throughout the Metropolitan, we ended up in auditorium 14, which doesn't suck (if you want the short version of this review), but it isn't... the biggest.

We were enthusiastic about seeing the movie on its opening weekend and planned to get there plenty early. It turns out we were over-reacting... the screening was not sold out and we were the first in line. This wasn't bad, the place was sparkly-clean and did not smell bad whatsoever (sometimes that is an issue for theaters). We were let into the auditorium after the last of the previous show's patrons had left, and when we went in, the credits from the previous screening were still showing, so we knew we had a while to wait. The theater's movie trivia slides loop was playing, and as we dutifully paid proper attention to them, we noticed they were looping every two minutes! Folks, that is not very long. Forget predicting the answers to the questions... It got to be a joke to predict the next slide.

Anyhow the video marketing show started up, and as the Sprint "silence your cellphones and pagers" end-frame started to hold, I noticed it was 3:14pm, four minutes after the advertised movie start-time. At this point, the music faded away and the 2/3rds-full theater crowed proceeded to wait in silence for another solid four minutes. My buddy and I were trying to call the box office to tell them to start the movie! Eventually, at 3:18pm, the film trailers started up.

I have no particular complaints about the presentation, except to say that since it was on film it was generally suffering in a couple of normal ways - soft edges to the picture, and it was rather dim. Jitter and weave were minimal, shutter speed was set correctly, and there were no scratches to speak of, though some reel-changes (ironic in these days of horizontal platters) were pretty obvious. The sound was epic - the large room helping to add a nice, and not domineering, reverb to the soundtrack. The room had a low noise floor, though Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince is the kind of movie that will rarely showcase it. I think the sound had a "soft" edge to it, a sort of obscuring, preventing the real soundtrack from coming through. This could be a limitation of Dolby Digital (if indeed that was the presentation format) which stores a 640Kb/s lossy-compressed data stream on the film for 5.1 audio. Digital projection, which uses the original master mix directly from the re-recording stage without any compression, will be a pleasant upgrade.

Next time... auditoriums 7 or 8 !!!

Ticket price... $7 plus a ludicrous $1.50 Fandango ordering fee - bah.

"Terminator: Salvation" Galaxy Highland 10... Auditorium 2... Sunday June 21st 2009

2009-06-27T20:08:00.002-05:00

Ah... this is how the movie was supposed to look and sound. Glad I showed up! The terrible presentation at the AMC a while back was still in my mind, but seeing the film again at a proper cinema restored my faith in the T-franchise.

The picture and sound quality in this cinema were up to their usual high standards - bright picture with sharp edges, no scratches or other artifacting, and flawless sound with deep bass and plenty of punch all around. More than enough to give anyone a hearty recommendation to try the Galaxy Highland 10.

There was an interesting development I will have to report on in a future post - a big sign on the outside wall of the cinema stated the Galaxy Highland 10 was offering "D-BOX" bass management in this auditorium (and I think, the only place in Austin to do so).

What is DBOX/How does it work? It's basically a financially-efficient way to add more bass to your sonic experience. The conventional way would be to add larger subwoofers to the array behind the screen. In order to feel the bass at your seating position, the speakers back there need to be really loud, of course, and this requires more powerful amplifiers and a bigger electric bill. Unfortunately this is usually heard in the next auditorium, so you also need thicker walls. Cinema owners don't like to pay for that stuff. DBOX is a new solution that puts a small, but deep subwoofer into each seat! This actually saves on sonic energy since the speaker only needs to vibrate your chair... so it's not felt in the next auditorium, or shaking the place to bits. This is a much more efficient use of energy. There is an installation cost to bear, since regular $50 cinema chairs can't be used.

I asked the ticket counter person about the DBOX process and they responded "its $15 a ticket and assigned seating." That made me wince and I didn't go for it... just got a regular ticket. (In retrospect, I regret this... I'm Mr. Austin CinemaCritic!!!) A kiosk w/ small projection TV was sitting in the foyer next to the Terminator: Salvation doorway, and a few patrons were standing around watching the punters in the demonstration seats. Honestly it sounded pretty darn muddy to me, but I didn't actually sit in the demo seats. Inside the auditorium, the DBOX subwoofers were not in all seats of the theater, just a band of rows in the middle. The cinema was about 1/3rd full, and the DBOX seats were almost all occupied, so the new system was definitely finding a connection with patrons.

I think I noticed my first pixelisation on this 2K digital projector - it was the trailer for Bruno, whose titles were not anti-aliased. The pixels were nice and sharp, indicating, at least, that the projector was correctly focused. All the other titles in this show were anti-aliased so it was impossible to see pixels.

The DBOX seats still had an effect on the screening, IMO. I felt like there was generally a lot more bass and rumble in the auditorium than usual.

I am sure I will try the DBOX experience next time... stay tuned. Kudos to the Galaxy theater chain for trying out this new system. (along with digital projection and great sound!)

Cinemark Installing 4K Digital Projectors

2009-06-18T21:47:00.002-05:00

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1156483

"The Taking Of Pelham 123"... Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 1... Wednesday June 17th 2009

2009-06-18T20:08:00.004-05:00

The movie was up to the usual standards of 4K Digital at the Alamo Village. No visual artifacting except for the three abberations I pointed out a few weeks ago during Star Trek (all three are still there), or sound issues, beyond the overall acoustic performance. I am sure this Tony Scott-directed movie has lower bass extension than is evident at the Alamo Village, but nevertheless it's still a screen to be proud of.

I had the Alamo's Asian Chicken Salad, a Guinness, and their Molten Chocolate Cake A La Mode (total bill $20.50) All were quite yummy, and though the freezing, almost fizzy Guiness isn't as authentic as a smooth, mild-temperatured Irish pouring, it's still a pleasure to guide down the gullet.

I used my voucher from a previous visit. I had to sign my name and provide them with a phone number, I suppose this is to catch those creating their own supply of counterfeit vouchers!

"The Hangover"... Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek... Auditorium 5... Sunday June 14th 2009

2009-06-18T20:06:00.005-05:00

This was an otherwise normal event at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, with reasonable picture and sound quality, but there was one stand-out issue... after a lot of Alamo Drafthouse company trailers, and then a couple of actual film trailers, the Hangover movie started up proper and about half a second into the Warner Brothers studio logo, the sound cut out completely! Like someone flipped the power switch accidentally. The film proceeded into its opening titles, and more and more patrons at this sold-out screening started to realise there was a problem (no sound whatsoever). Alamo wait staff did not appear to be behaving much differently, though it is hard to believe they were ignorant of the issue. Anyway, the sound came back on with a click about 30 seconds later, and seemed to become stronger about 10 seconds after that. A few minutes later, everyone had forgotten and were enjoying the movie.

I didn't notice anything particularly untoward about the picture or sound after that, no digital artifacting, scratches to speak of or other classic issues, even though the picture was on film.

Matinee ticket cost = $7.25.

"Terminator: Salvation"... AMC Barton Creek 14... Auditorium 11... Sunday June 7th 2009

2009-06-08T17:09:00.005-05:00

OMG, we have a new "Worst Cinema In Austin" record-holder. Or rather, the first recordholder... the standard-setter, I suppose. AMC's only theater in Austin, the Barton Creek 14.

We arrived at the cinema inside Barton Creek Mall, which was still open around 5:40pm on a Sunday, and joined the pretty long ticket line, where there were multiple windows, but only one staffer selling tickets. Spotting a credit card machine, my wife smartly stepped past the entire line and bought our tickets. However the cost was $9.69 per ticket! Pretty expensive considering they weren't purchased in advance from some remote location.

Not only does Auditorium 11 have a pretty crummy design specification, during my visit it was not meeting that specification. As far as word-of-mouth goes, it does not help Terminator: Salvation to be presented in this way.

FYI we entered the auditorium too late to see any trailers, unfortunately, and the music over the opening titles was playing. But I knew there was trouble even as we walked in towards the front row to begin our ascent to the seat. The title music sounded terrible - very little bass to speak of, and in fact generally sounding like old technology, old cinema construction. It was muddy and not enthralling whatsoever. I actually still recall how good the opening titles music for Terminator 2: Judgement Day sounded at the Lincoln 6, back in 1991 - and it had a better effect on me than this! (mind you, improving over the opening titles of 1984's mono The Terminator didn't take much)

As I sat down, in pretty much the ideal spot, I realized how small the screen is... it might only be 30' across! This is one of the smallest screens in Austin, about as big as a millionaire's private cinema, or a screening room in the actual movie-making business. The seats were moderately comfortable though, with a good stadium raking to the rows. Sometimes a small screen gets you a more concentrated, less grainy sort of movie, but that didn't outweigh the other problems here. The AMC Barton Creek 14 ran almost the entire gamut of problems.

Taking picture first, the screen is small, sure, but if engineering is carried out correctly you could still enjoy the picture. Unfortunately, the print had several scratches running along what seemed to be its entire length; the picture was not actually shining at the center of the screen, there was at least a foot of Terminator: Salvation being projected onto the dark auditorium wall at the left of it; focusing and edges were relatively sharp actually, not too much complaint there. The picture was not particularly bright, which could be the cinematography but I have a feeling it isn't.

Moving on to sound, as I said this hit me as soon as I walked into the room. It never got any better. At first I thought there was no subwoofer in there or it was simply switched off, but it was clear during the early scene depicting the resistance's mission to infiltrate the cyborg facility that there was plenty of bass in the soundtrack; it manifested itself as a constant boom, unfortunately, without a lot of clarity. Sorta like what you hear outside a car when the owner has the bass turned up too much. It left me longing to hear the movie again, somewhere else. Bass never got any clearer in the movie. It was presented in digital sound, but you'd never know it from the openness and frequency response of the sound. The clue was that digital artifacting grew in seriousness throughout the length of the movie, starting now and again around 1/3rd through, ruining long brass notes in the music track by 2/3rds through, but by the time of the end credits, ending up simply broken-sounding, with the music sounding downright awful. This sound system really chewed up Danny Elfman's music and made it sound terrible. There is very little high-end response here (or it wasn't present in the soundtrack... unlikely), not very open, airy or informative. I felt like I was a person who'd been losing my hearing for many years. Surround sound was evident now and again, but was impulsive and dynamic (to the point of being absent usually), and directionally not very clear.

My wife (who is not an engineer) commented that, even to her, this cinema was so bad she was certain I'd be giving it a bad review herself.

I cannot understate the crappiness of this auditorium, and recommend you avoid it if you are interested in good audio-visual presentation. If you don't really care how good a movie looks and sounds, you won't be that offended.

Ticket cost - $9.69 (bah).

Response From Regal Cinemas, re: Star Trek @ Metropolitan

2009-06-04T16:02:00.003-05:00

If you recall, I wrote to Regal Cinemas in regard to what I thought was a busted center loudspeaker in their otherwise splendid Auditorium 7. The response couldn't have turned out better. First I got an email of thanks from Teresa Welsh at Regal's corporate HQ, then I got an email of thanks from Pat Edwards, the manager of the theater! Pat wrote:

"Hello, My name is Pat Edwards and I am the general manager of the Metropolitan 14 Theatres. First of all, I want to apologize for the horrible sound problems that you experienced for Star Trek. We diagnosed the problem as a bad tweeter in the center speaker and replaced the part. I really want to thank you regarding your comment about the quality of the presentations in auditoriums #7 and #8. We are constantly focusing on great presentations so when this happened we too were devastated."

It goes to show, our comments and feedback can make a difference. Both ladies sent me two complimentary tickets, too, so now I have four. :) I don't think it can get any better than that. Great customer service, Regal!

"Up" in 3D... Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 4... Friday May 29th 2009

2009-05-31T21:20:00.007-05:00

My second digital 3D movie (or third, counting Beowulf at the Gateway a couple years back), Up was a special screening for some corporate employees I was invited to as a guest. (Thanks guys) My last 3D movie was also at the Alamo Drafthouse (see Monsters Vs. Aliens below), and was in the same auditorium (4), but I noticed they also had a 3D movie playing in Auditorium 2 at the same time, so I'm thinking the Alamo folks can show four 3D movies at a time if they want.

After some DVD-quality Pixar short movies put on by the Alamo, the film materials started, with a conventional 2D trailer for Where The Wild Things Are, and after a header saying "put on your 3D glasses now" we saw 3D trailers for Toy Story 3 and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Good idea to group them like that.

This movie does not have a lot of strong/obvious 3D effects, even though it's in the same 3D format ridden pretty hard by Dreamworks in Monsters Vs. Aliens. Probably a stylistic choice by Pixar... goes to show the studios' variety in approaches to the new format.

While Skywalker Sound's Oscar-winning staff created the Up soundtrack, this is a movie intended for families, and the Alamo's audio system was not strongly tested; I'd say it was sonically more like a beefed up version of the movie "Earth." No audible artifacts of any sort.

Picture was nearly perfect again, they have a small mark on the screen in the bottom middle, but it didn't detract from the viewing experience too much, and there were no picture problems. However - I think I saw my first "artifact" of either the 4K projectors at the Drafthouse, or the 3D process (not sure how I'm going to determine which). There's a long, slow-moving shot of Paradise Falls where the camera follows the water falling down the beautiful, high waterfall. The frame is nearly all water, and the picture basically has a bunch of white noise in the middle where there's lots of misty clouds of water. I was seeing a weird "glistening" on the screen wherever the water was. Is this a screen door effect? Or... something to do with the appearance of this type of picture (which has a high amount of white noise in the frame) when viewed through the 3D glasses? More movies will reveal.

Foodwise, I just ordered their popcorn this time. Honestly it's not the best-tasting cinema popcorn in town, because it feels like it's cold (not popped on site?) and their "butter" has a weird texture to it... it might be real butter, knowing the Alamo. Not sure how I feel about real butter!

Ticket cost = zero :)

Are Austin Cinema Ticket Prices Rising Too Fast?

2009-05-22T10:19:00.004-05:00

IMO it is OK for ticket prices to follow the rate of inflation. But if ticket prices are rising faster than that, one wonders why. I started buying tickets en masse in 1991, and I think they were $3.25 and $4.50 back then... may take some input from my friends. (the Northcross Mall cinema was generally cheaper than that) If my numbers are correct, Austin ticket prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation.

Using http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ - -

$6.75 in today's money, a matinee ticket, was $4.31 in 1991.

$9.00 in today's money, an evening ticket, was $5.74 in 1991.

If 1991 prices kept track with inflation, $3.25 matinee tickets would now cost only $5.08 !!!

If 1991 prices kept track with inflation, $4.50 evening tickets would now cost only $7.03 !!!

Additionally, some cinemas charged matinee prices all evening long on Wednesdays, I think in an attempt to generate sales. That has gone the way of the dinosaur too.

Buying online was not an option in those days either. Many cinemas are charging you money to buy tickets online (instead of offering a discount). Pretty disappointing.

"Star Trek" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 1... Thursday May 21st 2009

2009-05-22T09:42:00.011-05:00

Ah, my epic Star Trek reviewing journey comes to a close (I hope) with my 4th exposure to this memorable blockbuster.

Just when I thought reviews of the Alamo Village were getting repetitive! I was all ready to cut 'n' paste "beautiful, pin-sharp focusing and edges, bright screen, rock-steady picture, and adequate (but not leading-edge) audio & acoustics," but unfortunately, the picture and sound experienced here both fell below that. This was my first time in the Village Auditorium 1 in a long time. The Alamo staff had put together a very entertaining loop of Star Trek-oriented clips, including William Shatner's reaction to not being cast in the picture (quote - "I'm Captain Kirk!!!").

I was sat almost at the back row, affording a pretty majestic view of the screen. The Alamo's near-silent motorised matting withdrew to a beautifully-wide 2.35:1 as the movie started, and I realized that Star Trek would just about fill the entire width of the auditorium. Way to maximize your wall space, guys!

Overall the picture was excellent - not a scratch on it, just as with opening night. (Why would there be, with digital?) There were three issues worth mentioning that prevented me from calling this a truly excellent picture.

1) the top edge of the screen droops in the most randomly lazy-looking way. I was unable to see what was causing this, whether it was duvetine, or what, but the top edge of the movie was not straight. It was lower in the middle and higher near the sides. Was easily seen against the lower edge of the picture, which was totally straight.

2) there is a splodge on the screen! Sacrilege. it's half-way along the screen horizontally, close to the top. It was only visible in bright shots of course.. you can't see a splodge in a space film very often.

3) I noticed a weird little "triangle of picture" along the bottom edge, about a third of the way from the right-hand side. This is underneath the otherwise super-straight bottom edge of the picture. Is this a weird chunk missing from the duvetine at the bottom of the screen? Or... extra pixels of Star Trek brought to us by some anomaly of the projector? Hard to say.

All other aspects of the Alamo's picture were exemplary. Overall I would say that these auditoria are the best picture in Austin at this size.

The Alamo Village's sound remains its weak spot, and never was this more noticeable than when watching Star Trek after three other presentations. Notwithstanding the Metropolitan's busted loudspeaker, I believe the Alamo fared the worst of all four in sonic enjoyment. A large problem is the lack of low-end bass, beaten by all three competitors. Another problem is stereo imaging clarity... doesn't hold up like the Highland or IMAX. And the surround experience during Spock's mind-meld sequence falls pretty flat & quiet, whereas at the IMAX it's a tour-de-force of swirling sonic elements. (Nobody beats the IMAX... bah) Oddly, I never felt like the room volume was limiting the experience, which I've often thought at this cinema. Star Trek, which is often loud and bombastic, never seemed crushed by the small room.

Since I am reviewing the cinema, and they serve food, I guess this makes me a food critic too. I ordered their "Moonstruck" personal-sized pizza, and I'm sorry to say I was underwhelmed. Their popcorn is recommendable however, and not too expensive, and served in a round, steel bowl which is nicer than eating it out of a paper bag. I partook of the $4 free-refills soda, which is OK if you're into consuming large quantities of HFCS but otherwise not a good buy. Total food bill was $16.

Evening ticket price - $9.00

"Angels And Demons" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 4... Saturday May 16th 2009

2009-05-18T23:02:00.005-05:00

Reviews of the Alamo Village are getting repetitive! Beautiful, pin-sharp focusing and edges, bright screen, rock-steady picture, and adequate (but not leading-edge) audio & acoustics. This was the same auditorium I saw Monsters Vs. Aliens In 3D - this movie wasn't in 3D though... no glasses required. Eating in the dark is an acquired taste, but it certainly hits the spot when you need it. Angels And Demons allowed the Alamo's management to put on one of their better pre-show video collages - a whole bunch of old Tom Hanks clips from the 80's and onwards, many from Saturday Night Live. Very funny.

I have to say, I've not had to sit in the front row at the Alamo Village since 1999's Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Rings - and it felt pretty darn close. A word to the wary - show up in time to get seats away from the screen, otherwise you could end up not seeing the entire movie.

Matinee ticket price - $6.75 (not bad!)

"Star Trek" Galaxy Highland 10... Auditorium 5... May 12th, 2009

2009-05-13T16:54:00.005-05:00

I actually arrived a little late and don't have any comments on the trailers. Was easily able to sit in the sweet spot.

Phew, you can get too much of a good thing... so - this was my first digital projection viewing of Star Trek. The Highland's acoustics feel accurate and intimate, not remote and disengaged, but, there is an energy capacity limit due to the smaller rooms. It didn't feel shrill at the highest levels, like Alamo Village, but there was definitely a feeling of stress in the sound. For the most part the sound was favorable and problem free (in fact, no sonic artifacts were heard at all), just this niggling problem with the size of the room prevents the low end effects from being able to amaze like they should.

The visuals were rock steady and bright, passing the usual brightness tests from the other screenings. No scratches, marks or blemishes whatsoever. Focusing was perfect throughout, and the image edges were sharp, though reaching the duvetine only on the left and right edges; the screen was actually a bit taller than the film image, with maybe a foot of pictureless screen at top and bottom. (motorised matting broken perhaps?)

This was a relatively empty auditorium being as it was a Tuesday afternoon; wandering down to the front row as the credits rolled up, I noted the picture was beautifully focussed and rock steady at the top of the screen, but seemed to have a jumpiness at the bottom. This was not noticeable from the sweet spot.

The Highland has 2K projectors... I don't have any issues with them at this point.

Matinee ticket price was $7.00

"Star Trek" Metropolitan... Auditorium 7... May 9th, 2009

2009-05-09T13:38:00.021-05:00

Star Trek is on at least 4 screens at the Metropolitan, but a judicious call to Dean in the box office (447-0101 extension zero [the secret, unlisted extension] ) revealed the showtimes for the two specific screens I wanted to know about. Explanation...

Regal's Metropolitan 14 is a sister cinema to their Gateway 16 cinema. It was built a few years later than the Gateway, on basically the same floorplan, size & shape, but has one important difference. Regal looked at the four auditoria behind the concession stand, and were able to knock down two of the dividing walls, allowing them to create two uber-huge screens where the Gateway has four. These screens are #7 and #8 at the Metropolitan, and Austin's biggest auditoria (unless you count the Bob Bullock IMAX screen, which doesn't compete by the same rules!)

The engineer who installed the sound & projector equipment at the Metropolitan (Cliff Anderson of San Antonio's Independent Theater Supply) told me at the time that the theatrical sound system follows in the best possible arrangement: amplifiers behind the screen, close to the speakers, and balanced line-level wires running from the sound processors to the amplifiers. Also, their Dolby Digital sound readers are on top of the projector, where the film is entering the projector smoothly and without any jitter. (This secures a more reliable data stream, unlike cinemas who put their Dolby Digital sound reader on the bottom, where the film exits the projector with a bit of shutter jitter and suffers from more data errors)

The film program, beginning with trailers, started up 3 minutes behind schedule. There was a sonic glitch in the digital sound of the first trailer, probably more due to being the first piece of film, but otherwise the digital soundtrack was perfect throughout the show. The huge screen has beautifully sharp edges with nothing discernable projected on to the walls, and focus was excellent throughout the show. Having watched this same movie on the IMAX screen the night before, I was able to realise that it is darker at the Metropolitan. Not good. This actually impacted the movie in real ways. There are numerous scenes where characters are lit from the side rather dramatically. At the Metropolitan, there was a moment or two when their darker side was basically black, and you couldn't make out any detail. At the IMAX you can still see the detail of their eyes, etc. on the dark side of their face. Not that important, but there was one shot that contained real plot detail and IMO was rendered less effective at the Metropolitan. There's a shot in the movie where a planet is turned into a black hole. At the IMAX, you could see a black disc in the middle of the screen, with stars all around, and a perfect circular border to it. At the Metropolitan, the black disc is there, but you can't really tell it's a disc... the surrounding stars are dimmer and some of them don't show up at all. The shot goes by so quickly that if you don't know what to look for you won't realize what the filmmakers are trying to convey. Bah! Generally speaking, watching a space movie at a cinema that isn't as bright as it could be isn't the way to go. There're a lot of dark scenes in Star Trek... and not everything shows up!

The concessions struck me as a bit expensive, even in the world of concessions that are more expensive than they should be. A large popcorn, for example, which is something they pre-cook then serve you out of a big hamper, is $7.00. This is almost the price of an admission ticket... it is as much as the price of an admission ticket a few of years back... and it is as much as some restaurant meals. A tub of cinema popcorn costing as much as a restaurant meal? I would buy more concessions from them, but their prices are simply unrealistic. I had smuggled in a "Raisinettes" from the grocery store ($1 versus their $3.50) and a bottle of water, since they charge $6 for same. Now - compare this with the concessions at the IMAX... there are no concessions really, just a small storefront that seems to serve neither sodas nor popcorn (the two staples of cinema concessions). So I suppose you could say the Metropolitan has the IMAX beat in that way. The Metropolitan's seats are wider and more comfortable, and have cloth arms w/ cupholders. The IMAX's seats are narrow, with skimpy wooden arms (the likes of which haven't been seen since the Ford Trimotor). It's pretty cramped, frankly. The IMAX is not a comfortable place to see a movie lasting 2hrs or more. It was designed/constructed for 45-minute IMAX movies, remember - more like theme park attractions than for people wanting to spend their time absorbing thought-provoking narratives.

I will now turn my attention to the sound, which was the Metropolitan's piece de resistance when it first opened (it was undoubtedly the best-sounding 35mm cinema in Austin). There were two big comments, both of which independently lead to the same conclusion (that the IMAX sounds better).

#1 The first is the cinematic version of the old automotive adage, "there's no substitute for cubic inches." I should start by saying that the Metropolitan's auditoria 7 & 8 handily beat all the other screens in town, there's nothing else as big (or nothing else feels this big anyway). Unfortunately, the IMAX unfairly beats the poor Metropolitan in sonic majesty, there's just no getting away from it. It dwarfs the Metropolitan's big screens, probably cost a hell of a lot more to install, probably has more wattage, more loudspeakers, better speakers, and other tweaks that put it way ahead. Normally I would say that the Metropolitan Auditorium 7/8 has so much volume inside that it handles any bombastic summer blockbuster with ease - and while it's not as dead as the Highland 10, it's not suffering from undue reflections at high levels a la say, Alamo Village. The low noise floor, lack of projector noise, good wiring and other aspects would normally contribute to a city-beating score - if you are looking to hear a big, loud movie in grand style, the Metropolitan and its #7/#8 auditoriums are about as good as you can get. Unless that same movie is also at the IMAX. That's the killer - if the movie is also at the IMAX, it will sound better. The finesse, power and stereo imagery at the IMAX cannot be beat in Austin. Two examples - the very first minute of Star Trek is a bold statement of the new theme played by orchestral brass. I would never ordinarily say such a thing, but at that moment I swear to you I could almost close my eyes and imagine I was in an auditorium listening to an orchestra - it is that close. I've never felt that in any regular theater in Austin, or any regular cinema, anyway. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles would probably beat :) The Metropolitan merely sounded "very good" but was nowhere near getting such commendation. Second example - there's a minute-long sequence in the middle of the movie where Spock performs a mind-meld with Kirk and imparts a chunk of story exposition into his head. The sequence contains many layered and panned clips of dialogue, whizzing around the auditorium and with many different types of EQ and processing to represent etherality, time-juxtaposition, inner monologue versus regular spoken words, and so on. The dialogue is all crystal-clear at the IMAX, despite whizzing around the auditorium in a manner hoping to confuse. Confusion is achieved at the Metropolitan, where some of the dialogue clips are relegated to "ambient sound-effects" since the stereo imagery isn't as clear, and the surround speakers don't hold up to full-range sound design. The IMAX's surround speakers are probably full-range and as good as the fronts in some theaters... you are never in doubt as to what the dialogue is about when it's panned around.

#2 The second thing that holds back the Metropolitan in this comparison is a shameful, temporary issue that can be fixed, and isn't a corollary of architectural design, bigger funding, or some other permanent difference that can never be redressed. Listening to Star Trek in auditorium 7 yesterday, it's my opinion that the center loudspeaker is damaged and needs repair!!! Dialogue was distorted, especially during shouted lines. This affected story clarity throughout the show, and prevented me from properly evaluating what the Metropolitan can do. I tell you now, if you're planning to see Star Trek at the Metropolitan, auditorium 8 would be my recommendation. Sure, I don't know what shape that auditorium is in either, but there's a good chance it is working better! Naturally I am very disappointed about this, since it marrs Austin's best non-IMAX screen... and will contact the manager to let them know how noticeable it is.

Getting back to the more usual review factors... there was some light scratching on the film, which was not really that noticeable, though still disappointing considering this is day three of projection! It was nothing like the "large black chunks of gunk" problem affecting the IMAX screen (see review below), but still, with digital projection there are no scratches, even after 3 months of projection.

At the highest level, the other advantage of the Metropolitan screen is that it's a 35mm screen, projecting a movie that is made for 35mm screens. This may sound like a statement without much useful information... until you examine what the IMAX screen is, then consider projecting a 35mm film onto it. IMAX is a format whose screen size and seating position is deliberately constructed to reach the periphery of your own field of view. This is so that the format can simulate the view your own eyes send to your brain when you're looking around. The advantage IMAX pictures get over 35mm is that they convey a much more realistic personal experience, such as is excellently-suited to documentary footage where you can imagine that what you are seeing on-screen is your own experience. Contrast this with 35mm narrative films like Star Trek... no matter how whizz-bang these summer blockbusters are, they're still stories cut into shape under the control of the director, and told from their point of view - not yours. As such there is no need for the visuals to fill your entire field of view. What is necessary is that you can see the entire picture, and to some degree, this isn't possible when watching on IMAX - the screen is simply too big, you're sitting too close, and you can't move your eyes back and forth quickly enough to follow the important action. This is a problem IMAX will never solve, and only narrative movies made specifically for the IMAX format (for example "Wings Of Courage") will work right... keeping the narrative action in the middle of the screen, while the periphery is filled with the amazing surroundings. 35mm films have their narrative action all over the frame, because the director assumes you can see it and take it all in!

Evening ticket cost - $9.00 (plus $1.00 Fandango fee)

p.s. - places to go tell Regal what you think of the Metropolitan!

http://www.regmovies.com/corporate/contactus.aspx or

http://www.regmovies.com/comment.aspx

"Star Trek" Bob Bullock IMAX... May 8th, 2009

2009-05-08T22:54:00.007-05:00

A lot to cover here. This'll be the first movie I'll watch in more than one cinema in order to get the full comparison on this blog!

The picture was nice and bright - I recall seeing Jurassic Park projected on IMAX in San Antonio years ago... it was kinda too dark really. The projector they had didn't have the oomph. This projector had good brightness, and I think it was actually on IMAX film. (nice!) The resolution on some shots was outstanding, seemed better than the 4K digital content I've seen so far at the Alamo.

The sound was amazing, at least, I could tell the sound system was fantastic. The movie was loud a lot of the time, as you'd expect, but I think there was a little too much reverberation going around for clarity to remain pristine. But... the stereo imagery on the music track was outstanding... over the first few bars of the main theme, I sometimes felt like I was experiencing a live orchestral performance. Well-recorded, too. The subject matter was not generally of this world, and so the clarity and realism of fantastical sound-effects is hard to evaluate - this was frustrating at those times the mix was at its loudest, where reflections tended to muddy the soundfield. Subjective commentary on the film itself isn't the purpose of this blog. But I wonder, could this problem be that the sound mixing style for blockbuster 35mm productions is intrinsically different to the mixing practices on conventional IMAX format titles? Hard to say.

The screen is truly huge, of course, it's IMAX! I have to say it is somewhat frustrating with modern, hi-adventure and sci-fi action that it's hard to see what's going on... and this is exacerbated by the large screen. If you're in the wrong spot in the auditorium, it can be a negative. I don't look forward to watching Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen in IMAX... Michael Bay is well-known for panning and fast cuts.

Occasionally, specks of dust get into the IMAX projector mechanism while the movie is playing... these are manifested as big splodges of black stuff that appear and stick around without moving, for a few seconds at a time (or sometimes over a minute!) but eventually disappear. My own dislike for this is one thing, but the patrons were audibly distracted and disappointed by it... the splodges totally ruin your suspensiuon of disbelief. Too bad for IMAX!!!

There aren't decent concessions at this place, the seat width is kinda narrow, arms are made from wood with no drinkolders. The staff indicated that patrons are welcome to bring their own drinks & food into the theater however... stark contrast to regular cinemas! (you just gotta make sure you don't leave it in there, sorta like an airline) The restrooms are difficult to reach, and staff advised patrons to ignore "no entry" signs in order to return to the movie without opening the entrance doors that shine sunlight right on to the screen (oops). This probably represents an issue for feature-length 35mm films, but not on the 45-minute IMAX titles, that don't tax people's bladders as much.

Picture jitter was evident, more at the bottom of the picture than at the top... not sure if this was related to the 35mm format-on-IMAX or not.

Patrons lining up to watch the 7:3pm show were asked to stand outside the museum, in humid 73-degree Austin air. What would have happened had it been raining? What's going to happen in July 15th when people are waiting to see Harry Potter and it's 90 degrees outside? Does the Bob Bullock really not have enough capacity for a sell-out show to stand inside while waiting to go in? Bit of a faux pas by the designers and/or management if you ask me. This cinema is simply not organised to deal with big crowds.

Evening ticket cost = $14 ($12 ticket plus $2 online booking "fee" a.k.a. "scam")

"Fast And Furious" Cinemark Tinseltown South... Auditorium 14... Sunday May 3rd 2009

2009-05-05T18:58:00.007-05:00

Definitely a movie to test the extremes of a cinema's sound system. This movie was pounding music and bass effects from the beginning to the end. The Tinseltown South's speakers coped well, didn't distort, nor were there any audible artifacts of any sort. However, the system sounds a bit "middly" (strong in the 500Hz-1KHz region) and the room overall has a healthy amount of reverb - a corollary of being rather large in the cubic volume department. This room is about as large as, and similar in shape to the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz' large room. For now, I would say it sounds better, but my one-man jury is still out on that.

Picture, on film, was bright and reasonably sharp at the edges, and weave/jitter didn't seem to be a problem. However - and this is big - there was a pretty serious focusing problem. The movie is out of focus at the bottom of the screen, and in-focus at the top. It also seemed to be a little out of focus on the right hand side. This was most evident during the credits roll, but you know it's going on during the film, and it doesn't help. Cinemark doesn't pay for THX certification and their own alignment program probably allows this, to allow for easier construction of booths over stadium seating auditoria.

Odd fact - the men's restroom (and I may assume the ladies') is within earshot of the auditorium, and while the restroom itself was quiet, and otherwise pleasant, I was listening to the screams of men & women in some sort of horrific distress while in for a tinkle.

Matinee ticket cost = $7.00

"The Soloist" Regal Gateway... Auditorium 3... Saturday May 2nd 2009

2009-05-05T18:57:00.006-05:00

Since the last three movies I'd seen were projected digitally, it was interesting to see a movie projected on film again. The Soloist started up and the jitter and weaving were immediately noticeable, and the edges of the picture were incredibly soft, as if the gate was casting a shadow on the edges of the screen. None of these have been problems with the digital projections I've experienced recently. This movie does not really test the extremes of the sound system, even though it's a story based around musical performance. I would say that the auditorium showed itself to have a nice, low noise floor, evident during the many quieter scenes in the movie. The room isn't too reverberative, nor does it "kill" the sound in the way that the terminator-like Highland 10 seems to.

Is optical projection weave and jitter annoying? Well... Part of me recognizes it as the "legacy" of film projection. Part of me is getting used to rock-steady digital projection. If filmed content doesn't have jitter and weave built-in to it at the time of filming, then theoretically the digital projectors aren't adding anything to what has been created by the filmmakers, whereas optical projectors are jiggling the movie all over the place, so that's bad, right? Hard to make an objective call.

Oh yeah, one annoying thing.. when you wash your hands in the Gateway restroom, there is nowhere to dry them except these crazily low heat blowers. The air comes out 29" from the floor - you have to reach down to your crotch basically. (or worse if you're taller) They don't have them set up for children and adults... they're all 29" from the floor. Dumb.

Evening ticket cost = $9.00

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 4... Thursday April 30th 2009

2009-05-02T15:59:00.004-05:00

Ahhhh..... I do love the Alamo. Despite the niggles... which is why I created this blog... I still love 'em.

This movie was an 11:55pm Thursday showing, technically starting at 12:01am the next day since opening day has to be on Friday. I had intended to sneak in with a $1 box of Raisinettes but, as I rushed to leave home, the Alamo Gods prevented me from remembering to get them out of the fridge. :(

I arrived 50 minutes ahead of time and converted my credit card order into a ticket at the will-call. No waiting... nice. I asked "are they seating already" and the guy answered "oh yeah." Not realizing what he meant by that, I sauntered in, and to my amazement the place was 90% full already, with loud, party-going opening nighters. This was a fun place. The pre-show videos were very funny (sometimes their video choices are not funny whatsoever). If I had to call one out, it would be the old "Dino-Boy" TV cartoon show... audience got plenty of laughs outta that one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlZIjE79Dnc

The movie started and I was pleased by the bright, sharp picture. There were no visual artifacts or problems with the picture throughout the entire show. The sound, on the other hand, suffers from the Village's fundamental design... it is not really made for loud blockbuster soundtracks. The auditorium IMO is a bit boxy-sounding and too confining for a bombastic experience like X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As the amount of sound energy bouncing around the auditorium increases, you can feel the strain of the loudspeakers, the reflective walls, and your own difficulty separating reverb from direct sound. It's fine for quieter movies, but for blockbusters with a lot of loud action, there's no substitute for cubic feet in an auditorum. I reckon the acoustics could be improved a bit too, the entire auditorium is shaped like a box.

Now for my gripes... the cost of patronizing the Alamo has gone up significantly since their early days. Tickets used to be $3.50, or $1.00, or even free, for example. Now they're $8.50. Like many cinemas nowadays, they allow you to book tickets online via credit card. This saves them coping with huge lines at the box office, allows them to predict how many people are interested in a screening and book the right amount of waiters/cookstaff ahead of time, and generally saves them a lot of time and money. Their online ticketing system is purchased from Ready Theater Systems http://www.rts-solutions.com/soft.html. In the interests of covering what they presumably are portraying as "extra costs on their part," when booking online the Alamo charges you an extra dollar for every single ticket in the transaction - in addition to the money for the ticket itself. Not an extra dollar for each transaction, an extra dollar for every ticket. Meaning... if you buy 3 tickets online, you pay 3 extra dollars, even though there is only one transaction. Why is this? It should be one fee per transaction, not per ticket. To be honest, there should be a $1 discount for paying online, as you are buying tickets without any real inconvenience to the theater (versus showing up to their box-office and taking up their time).

Next... if you want your money back on a ticket - even one you paid for in person at the box office - they won't refund your money, they just give you a voucher that is redeemable for a ticket, and the voucher expires if you don't use it after a certain time! I got a voucher about a week ago, after we changed our minds about going to see a movie. The vouchers both expire at the end of June, in two months! Not really that long... I would prefer to get my money back when... asking for my money back. I know that Alamo has no obligation to do this, but, other cinemas do it, so they're behind the competition in that regard.

My final gripe for this post is... the waiter came up to take my order and proudly proclaimed during his spiele that the Alamo was now serving sodas with free refills. Great, I thought, better than having to pay again. However - their sodas are $3.99 for something that is similar to what you get at restaurants for $1.29-$1.79. Are they setting their sodas in the price range of other cinemas? I suppose it is prudent for couples to get one "free refills" soda and share it.

Alamo folks, don't feel bad about my gripes... everyone else will feel the edge of my sword eventually.

"Earth" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 2... April 28th 2009

2009-05-02T15:55:00.003-05:00

Nothing much to say about this one... they have their system down pat at the Alamo. The digital picture was bright and sharp... occasionally there were shots that didn't look as prinstine as the norm, but that was probably the filming process. Picture and screen edges matched each other perfectly. The soundtrack did not test the electronics or acoustics of the place.

Evening ticket price = $9.00

"State Of Play" Galaxy Highland 10... Auditorium 9... April 17th 2009

2009-04-18T11:58:00.004-05:00

This was funny... I thought "let's go see a movie" sorta impromptu, looked up what's on at the Chronicle's web site and headed over to the Highland 10, since it seems they're the ones that show movies the latest. This was an 11:55pm screening, I had double-checked at http://www.galaxytheaters.com. The Highland 10's screens have been mostly-or-all digital for some time, some of the earliest in Austin - a great effort by Galaxy.

I showed up and went in. Got in line for popcorn at 11:53pm. At that very moment I heard the usher's walkie-walkie "uh, screen 9 they just let out, better clean it up." The prior showing was only just finishing, with 2 minutes until the next published screentime! I got my snacks and headed in... to find the credits still rolling from the previous showing, and patrons dotted about the auditorium here and there, muttering stuff about the time, so I guess they noticed it too. The room was not cleaned up, but it wasn't a disaster. Anyhow I sat down in the perfect seat, like 4th row center, and literally 1 minute after the movie ended, the Christie and DLP trailers started up, and we were off! It was 11:59pm, only 4 minutes behind schedule. Not bad... and only possible with digital projection, too, I'm sure.

Now... I have to admit I had forgotten how damn good this theater sounds. The last thing I saw here was "Ratatouille" and that's not the kind of movie that tests a sound system. The Christie/DLP logos are one thing... all overdriven whizz-bang-fizzle, nothing you can really evaluate, but the trailer for "Public Enemies" really gave me a clue. The weaponfire had a flat-response, firm-but-fair capable punch to its low-end that I normally associate with an expensive and tight home system. There was no room boominess. I realised the acoustics of this room are pretty dry, leaving you with an nice, accurate conveyance of what's coming out of the speakers. More on the sound later. Herefollows an odd observation.

A trailer for Funny People came on, and it was not filling the entire screen! I don't mean it only touched either the top & bottom or the left and right edges... it touched no edges. The trailer was the same shape as the screen, it just had black bars all the way around. Kinda when you're watching a trailer off the internet, you manage to get it into full-screen mode only to find out that your player software still puts black bars all the way around for no good reason. This weirdness didn't detract too much from the job the trailer had to do. But I reckon, if it had been as big as the actual screen... it could have more impact on the audience! This would never have happened with 35mm... and I hope watching trailers accidentally projected at different sizes is not something we will have to get used to in the era of digital movies & trailer files.

The gaps between trailers were nice and short, as was the gap between the last trailer and the movie itself.

State Of Play started, and (addressing the Highland's digital projection here) picture was nice and bright, it had a softness to it that I believe film does not have - pros and cons to that, really. Nevertheless I enjoyed trading film grain and sharpness for sharp edges to the rock-steady picture, and none of the film accidentally getting projected on to the wall!!! Picture and sound sync was perfect.

There was not a single sonic artifact during the whole movie, top marks there. The sound in this place has to be experienced. The speaker system is really great, there is no buzz, the bass was powerful and not boxy, and stereo imagery was fantastic, you could really hear movement in the music mix and sound design. Isolation from other Auditoriums was successful (though it's possible that no movies were playing, heh). There was copious amounts of content in the surround channels in both this movie and in the trailers prior, and the speaker array in Auditorum 9 were excellently placed and felt like proud members of the team, not attenuated (read lobotomized) and dull like they sound in some theaters.

All in all I feel embarrassed at not having remembered how accurate the sound is at the Highland; I really need to hear a comparison between this place and the Metropolitan's two big rooms, which have been the best in town since its construction around 1998. It'd be interesting to conclude that the acoustics at the Highland 10 are too dead - that would be an achievement for any cinema. What could also be a factor is that Auditorium 9 isn't that large. It's sort of a medium-sized room, whose screen isn't the biggest in town by any means. That doesn't help it in the competition for "best screen in town," but the sound quality makes up the shortfall. Anyhow, I'm glad I started this blog. The Highland 10 is back on my radar.

More random feedback... this cinema provides big, sturdy straws for your soda! I prefer these to the thin and short variety you get out of the straw dispensers in some theaters. I even went to a theater one time where they handed me a special straw much larger than what was in their dispensers. (what's the point of putting teeny straws in the dispensers if you're going to hand out bigger ones I ask)

Finally - when paying for your ticket at the box office by credit card, they give you a little ticket-sized receipt with your admission ticket. However, it says "TOTAL:" on it but doesn't print the dollar amount! Oops.

Evening ticket cost = $8.75.

"Alien Trespass" Arbor Great Hills... Auditorum 2... April 11th 2009

2009-04-11T19:48:00.009-05:00

The only cinema showing this movie in all of Austin, so thank you Arbor. However - how could their presentation be so wrong? Nice sharp matting, but the film image was larger than the screen... by about 6 inches, so during bright daylight scenes you could see the film all around the edges. This was at the top and left+right edges anyway... it was clear there was something going on at the bottom edge of the screen too, since the credits were bleeding off the bottom. (names of characters cut off, for example) Alien Trespass is an homage-to-the-50's sci-fi flick, and I suppose there could be something deliberately-erroneous going on by the director, but doubtful. Basically they weren't showing us paying customers the whole movie.... I guess we gotta wait for Netflix!

Secondly the sound was a bit off. It had nice, healthy volume, but wasn't very dynamic and I'm minded to conclude 1) it was Dolby SR and not some kind of digital sound, since there were loud pops during reel changes, and 2) there was artifacting occurring, reducing the fidelity of the soundtrack. This is most obvious during moments of the music track that feature pure tones, like high strings or solo clarinet. This 50's sci-fi score had a lot of that, and it was obvious something was going wrong with the sound as the music track was glitchy... not smooth like I'd expect to hear at home.

(score note - it was enjoyable but the reverb time was kinda long, reflecting [pardon the pun] a more contemporary recording venue... it could have been a bit shorter to complete the 1950's feel)

Matinee ticket cost = $7.00.

[Update - I notice the Arbor is only one of 22 U.S. theaters showing the film, so... thanks!)

"Seigfried" Alamo Ritz... Large Auditorium... March 29th 2009

2009-03-29T21:59:00.001-05:00

Wow, four movies in three days! Must... get... rest...

This was an unusual show that combines a 1924 silent movie with a local rock band for music, Calm Blue Sea. The music sounded great... this is a great auditorium to listen at high volume levels.

The movie, presented in 1:1.33 was not as crisp as the music; it looked like it was on video, or had videotape-like artifacting. I suppose it is too much to ask for a decent film print. (The only copy of Metropolis I've ever seen was also pretty crappy quality... maybe they're hard to come by)

The band had given the Alamo management a supply of earplugs! To give out to customers who asked for them. Seeing that my wife and I were in row two, and the band about 20 feet away from our noses, I dutifully went down to the box office to get some. To my disappointment, the guys in front of me took the last of the earplugs, and I returned to my seat empty-handed. I did mention it to the waitperson though. The music started, and to our horror it was really loud. Fortunately, our Alamo waitstaff came through for us and brought some extra earplugs about 25 minutes into the movie. Nice!

I would say this specific room is the Alamo Drafthouse company's primo auditorium. In addition to its Downtown Austin location, and its elegantly-decorated foyer, stadium seating, sound system and overall dimensions, it beats out the Alamo South Lamar, which was previously the state-of-the-Alamo-art.

"Sunshine Cleaning" Arbor Great Hills... Auditorium 1... March 29th 2009

2009-03-29T16:55:00.002-05:00

Hello all -

Sunshine Cleaning isn't the type of movie that will test the sound system of a cinema, but the Arbor @ Great Hills did fine in this regard. In fact when showing some quieter movies you have to be careful not to program loud movies in the next room... I didn't hear anything else except Sunshine Cleaning, so that was good.

The picture was focussed and bright enough.

Unfortunately - there was a large blurry strip along the left edge of the screen... looks like a bad projector gate.

Matinee ticket cost = $7.00.

"Coraline" Tinseltown South... Auditorium 14... March 28th 2009

2009-03-29T12:54:00.004-05:00

Hello all -

I had the opportunity to finally catch Coraline yesterday. It was still the 10th movie in the nation last week after 8 weeks. Very nice movie. Gets a little scary towards the end. Anyhow, Cinemark's Tinseltown South is one of Austin's cinemas that IMO is lower down the scale in the technical aspects, though the construction is very nice. Stadium seating and comfortable chairs whose reclining is supported by springs. They do not use THX certification however.

The picture brightness was just about adequate, I reckon it could do with a bit more life considering Coraline is dark and grey in some parts.

The sound was a problem. It's a problem I've heard many times... the digital sound kept crapping out. This was either due to a scratchy print, where the digital sound reader can't see the digital data well enough, or the digital sound reader is not set up correctly and more errors result. (example, being mounted below the projector head, where it is vulnerable to tons of vibrations) Despite Coraline being in release for a while, the print was not particularly scratchy, so it was probably more likely the latter.

The problem was manifested by sudden, periodic drops in sound volume. This is because when the digital sound reader gives up and says it can't read the film any more, the optical soundtrack is used as a backup. Unfortunately it sounds like it's about 10dB quieter (which laymen will recognize as being "quite a noticeable difference"). I do not know why the two formats are set such a large volume difference... it makes it really obvious when the system switches to optical backup. This was enough to erase some words of dialogue from your comprehension, when the drop-outs occurred at the worst moments. I wish the Tinseltown South manager would get this fixed so that the sound would work reliably. This is the kind of issue that causes me to ask for my ticket money back. (concessions tasted fine though!)

The Tinseltown sound systems are not the best in town either - they have amps next to the projector, and run unbalanced speaker wire all the way to the front. You can hear the buzz.

Coraline is not the kind of movie that really tests the sound system, so I've no specific comments on bass, clarity etc..

Matinee ticket price - $7.00

"Monsters Vs. Aliens" in 3D... Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 4... March 27th 2009

2009-03-28T22:32:00.002-05:00

Welcome folks, my very first review!

The Alamo have historically featured consistently excellent picture quality, among the best in Austin and a benchmark to beat. I'm glad Austin's unique and beloved Alamo chain has taken the step of installing digital projectors. All four of their screens are now digital, they have removed their film projectors. They're Sony's 4K projectors (4096 pixels horizontally) and the picture was bright, fantastically rock-steady & glitch-free. We ought to be thankful that the Alamo's Tim League is a picture and sound enthusiast, and keeps his cinemas free of blurry picture edges and dim lamps. Installing four of these projectors was a major financial undertaking, probably over $100,000 and we salute you Tim!

(Tim's very informative blog post - http://blog.originalalamo.com/2009/03/24/alamo-now-rocks-cutting-edge-digital-3d/ )

The sound was fantastic, though I have to say lacking low-end punch, this perhaps being a corollary of the size of the Alamo Village room. Not too loud, either. (a good thing)

The 3D process was effective. If this type of exhibition really takes hold, as exhibitors and film studios hope, it'll be exciting to see how filmmaking techniques will mature. There are some really immature (but still fun) uses of the format in this movie. Example - the radar monitoring station staffer who is batting his ball towards the camera. There's no real need for this in the story, it's just reminding you "hey, don't forget, this is a 3D movie and since you paid extra bucks to see it, here's the effect!" I'm thinking about how character dramas, and first-person perspectives will be changed over the next few years. It has been a long time since filmmakers got a new tool in their arsenal.

Herefollows a list of complaints!

The 3D tickets are higher in cost. The Alamo's ticket price was $11.75 for evenings and $8.75 for matinees. Exhibitors and studios are saying that extra infrastructure is required to present these movies, and that's probably true, but the question is, are ticket prices going to come down once the improvements are paid for? Very likely, not. I'm reminded of the time when $5 vinyl albums were replaced by $15 compact discs... retail prices of CDs never really fell even when they ended up being $0.50 to produce. The retailers and studios simply raked in the extra cash.
Is this a racket? Alamo charges $6.50/$8.50 at the Village for movies that aren't 3D, for example Duplicity. If it's a 3D movie, the prices are $8.75/$11.75. The only difference to the Alamo is that you get a disposable pair of plastic glasses. There's an expensive digital projector in both rooms.

During my visit to see "Monsters Vs. Aliens" it appeared as if picture was leading sound... i.e. they weren't in proper sync. Just one or two frames - but this was enough to ruin the excellent work of the facial animation staff, since dialogue wasn't in sync with lip movement any more. I very much hope this was just a teething problem with their digital and/or 3D system, which won't occur again. Stay tuned.

As we all know, the Alamo arranges for you to be able to consume drinks and food while you're watching a movie. They've already been dealing with a fundamental problem since the start, that being that movies are shown in the dark, and people don't typically eat in the dark, 'cos they can't see what they're eating. The Alamo is a phenomonen in and around Austin, with packed houses, so they're obviously not hurting from this problem. But it actually gets a little worse in 3D movies, since everyone has to wear tinted glasses that are a little like sunglasses. Things are even darker wearing the things. I'm not sure how this will affect eaters at the Alamo in the long term, or how it can actually be solved. (good luck to all concerned, it's great to be able to eat during a movie IMO)

Next... a few years ago, Alamo owners Tim and Karrie allowed some external company to get the rights to franchise the Alamo name all over without having to get any input from them. The Village, Ritz and South Lamar Alamo's are the "Original Alamo's" operated by Tim and Karrie, and while they are consistent with each other, the franchise cinemas have slightly different practices, which can extend to different menus and so on. Here's an example - the menu at Lake Creek states you can order any pizza "calzone-style" without affecting the cost. The Alamo Village menu does not offer this. Calzones rock! Would be nice to see at the Village too.

Next... pasta used to be on their menu, but now there is none! They have the gall to entitle a 4-item section of the menu "Pastas And Entrees" - but there's only one item that has any pasta in it, and it's a weird kind of macaroni and cheese that feels like it was microwaved. Come on Alamo... put proper pasta back on the menu! I yearn for the days when I could feast on their Chicken Pesto Pasta during a movie.

Finally... the Alamo unfortunately places rows of seats way too close to the screen IMO. This hurts your neck when you're sitting in the front row, and you can't move your eyes left & right quickly enough to follow the action (especially in the case of a Michael Bay movie!) They need to suck it up and remove the front row. This has nothing to do with optical versus digital presentation.

I still heartily recommend visiting the Alamo to anyone visiting Austin, and if the things above were addressed it would be truly a great experience.

Inaugural Post!!! Austin Cinemas, pre-internet...

2009-02-28T20:23:00.012-06:00

Before the internet was really taking off, we still needed phone numbers to call all the cinemas and listen to their prerecorded messages. These messages would be left by the stereotypical teenage cinema staffer, whose public speaking ability wasn't that amazing, but they still got through the list of screentimes. More often than not the answering machine was not that good and maybe worn out... which didn't make for bulletproof fidelity. So - it was good all around that the internet came along, since we would get more reliable information, and the cinemas could spend less on "human interaction with the customers."

The part in blue below is an actual 1996 list of cinemas and their phone numbers, which I kept as a handy DOC and printed out to put near my phone :)

(Pre-Recorded Message/Additional Information)

Arbor 7 346-6937/7919

Dobie 477-1324/472-3240

Great Hills 8 794-8076/0059

Highland 10 454-9562/9564

Lake Creek 8 219-9195/0291

Lakehills 4 444-0552/3401

Lakeline 9 335-7138/4793

Lincoln 6 454-6469/0194

Mann Westgate 3 892-2775

Movies 12 251-7773

Northcross 6 454-5147/1650

Round Rock 8 388-2848/2703

Showplace 6 258-7275

Southwood 2 442-2333/2334

Village Cinema 4 451-8352/1725

Wells Branch 8 244-6622/1114

Westgate 8 892-2696

My memories of cinemas on the list that are no longer cinemas... :

Presidio's Arbor 7

...was where I saw many first-run movies, like Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and Star Trek 6. It was Austin's first THX-approved cinema. It closed a few years ago after not getting proper maintenance to keep it competitive w/ Austin's newer multiplexes, and also the rent was probably getting too high. It is now a Cheesecake Factory!!! (yeuck)

Act III's Lakehills 4

...was at the junction of Ben White & Lamar, next to Target. It is now a Strait Music!!!

Presidio's Lincoln 6 used to be a great location for first-run pictures, I remember standing in a line hundreds-long for Terminator II. I also remember seeing Aladdin there too, my first Dolby Digital picture. By the end, though, their presentation standards fell off... I recall taking a date to see Saving Private Ryan in '99... they started the movie 15 minutes early!!! And... the focus went blurry half-way into it and stayed blurry until I personally went to the box office to tell them. Ack.

Mann Westgate 3 Down there in the vicinity of the Westgate 11, a skanky dollar cinema. I only went once and can't remember the movie, but it was a horrible experience.

Northcross 6 The mall cinema, this was never that good audiovisually, but it was cheap! $4.50 for full-price tickets. I remember seeing "American Cyborg" there and being so annoyed at having to pay for such a crappy movie that my girlfriend and I sneaked in to see "Tombstone" immediately after, and were very pleased with that one.

Round Rock 8 It's still holding on... I believe it is a discount cinema now. It was first-run initially.

Showplace 6

...I saw "Toys" there and remembered the seats being hard and uncomfortable. Then I saw "Jurassic Park" for like my 5th time, and that was it. This was a pretty skanky place that closed many years ago and only recently got demolished. They have a grassy sports field there now, so at least the concrete is gone.

Southwood 2 First discount cinema I ever attended, I actually saw quite a few movies there, the first of which was "Misery." I think I saw "Delicatessen" there too. One movie I saw had a really bad presentation problem... the optical soundtrack was visible! I think they'd threaded the film the wrong way around. When I first came to live in the USA I had the opportunity to see "Predator 2" at this cinema but passed it up... doh!

Wells Branch 8 Closed and demolished to make way for a Walgreens - yeuck!!! This was an example to all other discount cinemas, I patronised this place many, many times. Great value for money. Was very sad to see it go.

Westgate 8 Was in the original Westgate Mall, right around the location of the south Central Market. First-run, but was never a particularly wow cinema. I remember seeing "Rocketeer" there and also "I know What You Did Last Summer" in 1997 (during which the film melted in mid-movie!!! After a few minutes it was up and running again) I would not ordinarily cover this cinema here since it is not permanentaly closed down, but the Westgate 8 closed during demolition/rebuilding of the rest of the mall, and it was completely gutted, remodelled and refitted throughout w/ three extra screens. The Westgate 11 is a much nicer place now.

Here are a couple of excellent sites that collate information about Austin's old cinemas -

http://cinematreasures.org/search/query=Austin&search=city&method=n&show=all

http://www.cinematour.com/theatres/us/TX/2.html

And here's my collection of articles about the Austin cinema scene:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:80513

http://www.austin360.com/movies/content/movies/aasstories/2bulb_010204.html