I love Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion. But I hated the experience of watching it in a theater.
Last November, I specifically sought out an AMC screening of the postmodern detective story during its limited theatrical run. I was excited. This, after all, was an opportunity to see the movie as it was meant to be seen. Except, when the movie started up, it looked bad. For the first half hour especially, the Digital projection looked like it was lacking sharpness, if not focus, while the brightness and contrast settings seemed off. I kept trying to immerse myself, to enjoy its lush cinematography and stylish, colorful costume design. But I couldn’t.
30 minutes in, the sharpness was corrected and it became more watchable. But the picture remained covered by a dark and dull sheen, reminiscent of those bootleg cam recordings taken in theaters that you could find on black market VHS tapes. When I later rewatched the movie on a 4K flatscreen TV, I was able to truly enjoy it. With a proper presentation, Onion really came to life and I no longer had to suffer the visual displeasure of the theatrical cinema.
The thing is, the frequency at which I’ve encountered projection and/or presentation issues like this had increased over the last couple of years. And just last month, Lane Brown published a really cool expose at Vulture of mass digital projection problems at theaters across the country.
The following passage perfectly encapsulates my perspective on the matter:
Exhibitors are constantly finding new ways to make the experience worse… But the only thing that reliably makes me wish I’d waited for a title to come out on streaming is bad projection. If a movie theater can’t perform its most basic function and deliver a sharp, well-lit image with the right colors and contrast, then we might as well knock it down and put up a bank.”
What do you think? Have you noticed a decline in theatrical presentation? Do you think it’s worth going to see movies in theaters if they’re presented in a degraded form on a regular basis? Do you have any theatrical presentation horror stories or visual displeasure instances to share? Have you quit going to the cinema or feel yourself growing less and less inclined to do so?
And if you read Brown’s article, what do you think? Will we indeed mostly end up seeing movies at home by 2026? Sound off in the comments below! Or maybe respond with Notes!
(Saw this post on Notes, so...good job Notes, I guess!)
In my experience, projection actually got a little more reliable in the digital era. I had way more bad experiences in the celluloid era.
This is not to say you're wrong, though. Digital projection should be almost foolproof, but all it can manage is to be slightly better than the previous, fully mechanical process. As another commenter noted, your safest bet is to go to a prestige cinema, if there is such a thing near you.
I remember plenty of issues back in the 35mm days — scratches even on new prints, things misframed, etc. When I saw Adaptation, the last reel was misframed so that boom mics were present in every other shot (though at the time I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not given how heightened the climax of that film is). Ebert used to write regularly about dim projection and other issues. Back in the '90s and early '00s I had a few theaters I avoided as much as possible because they were constantly screwing it up. So I don't know if exhibition issues are new.
But probably one thing that has changed has been the rise of more luxury theaters (at least in big cities) and premium formats like AMC's Dolby Cinema. I see everything I can in a Dolby Cinema auditorium and have never had a bad experience at one. Could just be I'm lucky and the AMC near me has high standards. But I hear good stuff about Alamo (none near me, alas) and I've had good luck at some other smaller high-end chains.
I hadn't thought of the 35mm stuff. I know, of course, that masking for flat widescreen is a longtime issue. But from what I've gathered, during those days, there were usually qualified exhibitors ready to address problems. With the digital transition, there are now fundamental issues that nobody in a theater is qualified to fix anymore.
You're the second person to reference the Alamo theaters. I hadn't been in one in a long time. Similarly, don't have any nearby. But the luxury theater thing is a good point. I suppose I should find one and see if it's reliable presentation-wise.
At some point during the end of the 35mm era, projection booths were mostly automated and lots of multiplexes didn't bother with trained projectionists. I've definitely heard those stories about trained projectionists back in the days where you had to do manual reel switches and stuff, but by the time I was going to the movies regularly (I'm 40 so I started going a lot in the mid 90s as a teen) I think that was mostly a thing of the past. There were plenty of times I had to go complain about projection or sound issues during a showing in the days of actual film.
The previews were fine. But when the 3D picture came up it was just not right. My eyes tried to click focus on the blurred image but it wasn't happening. One of the 3D projections was just a nauseating step off sharp. Half-full house and others are also trying to adjust to this unnatural image. After 5m I went to get someone. The house manager said she'd fix it. But she didn't or couldn't. She didn't stop the picture. We're 20m in now and giant furry robots are fighting. She said it was fine enough for the audience still sitting in the room. Of course, NO REFUNDS. Now, no audience.
Wow! Thank you for sharing. And sorry you had to go through that.
For me, 3D is already a wee bit difficult cause of my eyesight and the need to put on those glasses. But this points to the theater being really awful.
What movie was this, btw? I assume an 'Avatar' or 'Transformers' installment?
Subs have been my tradition for ages when it comes to home viewing, even before the dialogue in theaters started to become indecipherable. I think it started because I'd watch a lot with my parents and they needed subs to better understand English dialog.
Sorry to hear about Gans' Silent Hill being ruined.
(Saw this post on Notes, so...good job Notes, I guess!)
In my experience, projection actually got a little more reliable in the digital era. I had way more bad experiences in the celluloid era.
This is not to say you're wrong, though. Digital projection should be almost foolproof, but all it can manage is to be slightly better than the previous, fully mechanical process. As another commenter noted, your safest bet is to go to a prestige cinema, if there is such a thing near you.
Thank you very much for this perspective. I'm getting the sense that the whole issue is more complicated than I thought.
I remember plenty of issues back in the 35mm days — scratches even on new prints, things misframed, etc. When I saw Adaptation, the last reel was misframed so that boom mics were present in every other shot (though at the time I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not given how heightened the climax of that film is). Ebert used to write regularly about dim projection and other issues. Back in the '90s and early '00s I had a few theaters I avoided as much as possible because they were constantly screwing it up. So I don't know if exhibition issues are new.
But probably one thing that has changed has been the rise of more luxury theaters (at least in big cities) and premium formats like AMC's Dolby Cinema. I see everything I can in a Dolby Cinema auditorium and have never had a bad experience at one. Could just be I'm lucky and the AMC near me has high standards. But I hear good stuff about Alamo (none near me, alas) and I've had good luck at some other smaller high-end chains.
I hadn't thought of the 35mm stuff. I know, of course, that masking for flat widescreen is a longtime issue. But from what I've gathered, during those days, there were usually qualified exhibitors ready to address problems. With the digital transition, there are now fundamental issues that nobody in a theater is qualified to fix anymore.
You're the second person to reference the Alamo theaters. I hadn't been in one in a long time. Similarly, don't have any nearby. But the luxury theater thing is a good point. I suppose I should find one and see if it's reliable presentation-wise.
At some point during the end of the 35mm era, projection booths were mostly automated and lots of multiplexes didn't bother with trained projectionists. I've definitely heard those stories about trained projectionists back in the days where you had to do manual reel switches and stuff, but by the time I was going to the movies regularly (I'm 40 so I started going a lot in the mid 90s as a teen) I think that was mostly a thing of the past. There were plenty of times I had to go complain about projection or sound issues during a showing in the days of actual film.
The previews were fine. But when the 3D picture came up it was just not right. My eyes tried to click focus on the blurred image but it wasn't happening. One of the 3D projections was just a nauseating step off sharp. Half-full house and others are also trying to adjust to this unnatural image. After 5m I went to get someone. The house manager said she'd fix it. But she didn't or couldn't. She didn't stop the picture. We're 20m in now and giant furry robots are fighting. She said it was fine enough for the audience still sitting in the room. Of course, NO REFUNDS. Now, no audience.
Wow! Thank you for sharing. And sorry you had to go through that.
For me, 3D is already a wee bit difficult cause of my eyesight and the need to put on those glasses. But this points to the theater being really awful.
What movie was this, btw? I assume an 'Avatar' or 'Transformers' installment?
Subs have been my tradition for ages when it comes to home viewing, even before the dialogue in theaters started to become indecipherable. I think it started because I'd watch a lot with my parents and they needed subs to better understand English dialog.
Sorry to hear about Gans' Silent Hill being ruined.
On a side note, it's one of the first movies I got to review: https://classic-horror.com/reviews/silent_hill_2006.html