Re: 3D IMAX in Chicago- finished? good?

[P3D Ronald W Doerfler <doerfler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Glen Murray writes:

>Has anyone in or around Chicago seen the film at the Navy Pier IMAX?

Yes, the Chicago Stereo Camera Club and the Society of Motion Picture
Engineers in Chicago (or some such group) got a free sneak preview of it
on March 12, and it opened on March 23.  It runs through May 24 (and
I heard a rumor that the IMAX 3D movie about New York may be there next,
but I can't seem to get hold of the theater about it).

When we saw it, there were some bugs being worked out in a smattering
of headsets, so several had to be replaced--low batteries seemed to be
the primary culprit.  They had an excellent demo of the sound system in the
headsets, in which sounds were recorded or generated all around the listener.
The movie itself seemed technically flawless.  I personally thought the subject
matter of Wings of Courage didn't meet the capabilities of the medium, but
it sure gave me the thrill of what might be done with it.  The most
amazing scenes to me were the all-too-brief street scene and the interior
scenes, to my surprise.  I think Stereo World expressed it so well when
their review said that there is a surprising intimacy with the actors
in 3D scenes.  It's not just that you feel you are there--it's the uncanny
feeling that these people are real, and you are somehow intruding by
being so close and listening in.  I was really struck by the feeling of
some loss of personal space of the actors.  Maybe it's just me--is it
true that we Yankees have larger areas of personal space than others?  

I was also surprised, particularly in the street scene (which surrounds you
with sounds so you think you are in the middle of it), that even though
the images of the actors must have been huge, they seemed exactly lifesize
to me as I watched them.  I felt as if I could get up and walk up the
street right into the screen of actors.

Four stars.

Joe Bob says check it out.


Ron Doerfler (substitute walk-in movie critic)
doerfler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


------------------------------