ArmandV

My boss's son works for one of Jim Cameron's brothers and he said that James is looking for a wreck in the Mediterranean (the Britanic?) to explore.

Armand.
\"Everyone has the right to my opinion.\" - David Brinkley.

Steve Phillips

I saw a screening last night in one of the "certified" regular theatres in Las Vegas.

I had been led to believe it would be a digitally projected polarized presentation, but in fact it was a 35mm film print with the images stacked in over/under format just like the 3-D films of the 80s.

I'm sorry to say the presentation was HORRIBLE. The images weren't even lined up on the screen straight! The image on the screen was murky, unclear and dark.

Looking beyond the poor presentation, I was surprised at the number of shots in the film that were shot incorrectly from a stereoscopic standpoint so that they were uncomfortable to view. Looks like Mr. Cameron still has a few things to learn about 3-D cinematography. The actual underwater footage in an around the wreck was actually the best part, the problems were mostly stuff shot aboard the ship.

I'm a huge fan of 3-D movies. Properly shot and projected, they can be very impressive, clear, and easy to view. However,the only conclusion I can come to is that if this is the best they can do; I'd rather they not bother.

Seriously, AMITYVILLE 3-D back in the 80s in shopping mall cinemas looked far better than the garbage they projected last night. I've seen lots and lots of these films, and this was one of the worst presentations I've encountered.

I must stress I am only commenting on the 35mm over/under film version I saw. I haven't seen the IMAX 3-D version yet, and at least that will likely be brighter and clearer. Even so, I'd recommend seeing SPACE STATION in IMAX 3-D anytime over GHOSTS. It was far more impressive.

I think that Cameron's cameras are excellent, and that they will be used for great things in the near future. I just think that they need to rethink the idea of projecting his movies in the outdated over/under format. It will do more harm than good. Better to stick with IMAX 3-D for now, and go to wider distribution when they can do it correctly.

Mark McLeod

My review is up

Click the link in my signature

Mark McLeod
Staff Reviewer - CanadaMovies.net / MovieContests.com

Jim Robbins

I agree with Steve, better wait to see this one in IMAX only. The local theater had the correct silver screen but the quality of the image is very, very poor. There was bad hotspoting in the center of the screen and the pic quality was less than 16MM.
The film is good however and if it should come to an IMAX near me, I would like to see it there.

MikeRS

Seeing it IMAX tonight.

Darren Gross

Is there a website that breaks down which theater will be showing which version?

Sorry you got a subpar presentation, Steve.

Saw it myself at Universal's IMAX theater and had my jaw hanging open for the entire running time. Aside from two or three interiors that had a bit of eyestrain (there's one in a meeting room early on that I think was caused by modifying the cameras to not pickup the flicker of the fluorescent bulbs and monitors. The effect was terrific; bright clear and sharp.

I'm sure I'll see it one more time before it's gone from theaters.

Dennis Pagoulatos

It's madness to bother watching this in anything but IMAX-3D. I pity those who don't live near SF (Sony Metreon) or NYC (Sony/Loews Lincoln Square)...or other state of the art IMAX theaters with 3D capability. I think Cameron is doing a disservice to fans by releasing it in standard 35MM presentations, you might as well just send it straight to "Discovery Channel" if you think that's going to translate well...(In fact, I'm sure it will look better on Discovery Channel!)

I've got my tickets for tomorrow afternoon in IMAX-3D...let's see if it's worth all the hoopla.

-Dennis

He must have died while carving it!...

MikeRS

Definitely worth seeing. Great companion to Cameron's *other* film. Cameron might be the ultimate tech geek film director, but he's also an artist. He never forgets the human story.

Good stuff.

Jerry Gracia

We're planning on making a trip to Baltimore, to the Maryland Science Center, to see this next Saturday.

Can't wait!

I do not have anything clever nor’ interesting to place in my signature box…so I’ll leave it blank.

Tino

I just got back from seeing Ghosts Of The Abyss in IMAX 3D and here are my initial thoughts:

Considering the hype about how revolutionary this new 3D process is and how great it was going to look, I must admit that I was a bit underwhelmed by the 3D effects.

It was sometimes hard to focus on people and objects in the background and sometimes the images seemed a bit blurry.

But don't get me wrong, it was still a great 3D experience, but Space Station was a better IMAX 3D experience for example. I guess I was just expecting to be really blown away and I wasn't.

The film itself however was fascinating with awesome new images never before seen. Bill Paxton was an adequate narrator and was actually quite funny being amusingly terrified on his dive down. James Cameron is in the background and basically lets the powerful images tell the story.

Using recreations, CGI, and superimposed images, the story of the Titanic remains
compelling and eternally haunting. This documentary is a fitting addition to the
great Titanic documentaries that preceded it.

Definitely recommended.

P.S I was surprised to see that this film was shown with an aspect ratio of 1:85, letterboxed within the 1:44 IMAX frame.

Can't wait for the expanded anamorphic
SE DVD.:b

P.P.S Jake and Elwood steal the show!

Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.

Joe Schwartz

Tino, aside from the 3D, how good was the resolution? I'm leery of seeing an IMAX film sourced from digital video cameras. Were the individual pixels visible on that huge screen?