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
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