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.
2009-04-11
"Alien Trespass" Arbor Great Hills... Auditorum 2... April 11th 2009
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.
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!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
