A few words about... Batman Begins

You know, when this was released into theaters I wasn't really interested in it, it didn't ring any bells for me for some reason...however with all of the praise I have been reading about it and now even RAH says it was one of the finest films of 2005? Heck that and the fact that I wasn't even aware that it was directed by Christopher Nolan! Well I gotta give this a look.

Well, yeah. The movie should've been named Bruce Wayne though because it's the early scenes which really work emotionally. So much in fact that when the Batman enters the story it's kind of disappointing.

As a big Marvel fan, I'm a bit jealous on the great production the Warner/DC filmmakers did for Batman. DC sure hit a home run with this one and I can't wait for the sequels.

I couldn't agree more.

I was expecting a good movie. I was blown away by a great film. My review here!

An interesting cognation: British studios and superhero films.

October 18th can't come fast enough for me. My only complaint is that there is no commentary track for this release.

As if I needed an affirmation that I need to pick this up!

Batman Begins is the only comic book movie I can call a masterpiece. Halfway through October, it is still the best film of the year.

I can't wait till Tuesday to watch this thanks to my roomate who works at Blockbuster.

I'm curious as to why you would think this to be the case? Take, for example, WideScreen Review's Reference System put together by Gary Reber. I would actually think the audio in that room would be significantly better than a theater.

In addition, there are other people running multi-thousand dollar home theaters with high-end processors from Theta, Meridian, etc feeding immensely powerful amps driving world class speakers from companies like Revel, Wilson, JM Lab, etc.

Regards,
Dan

Yes but not many folks...hell, NO folks have seven+ foot horns and subs at home that a good theater has behind it's screen.

I agree the number of people that have the equipment to completely recreate the movie soundtrack is probably very low, if any, but I'm somewhat of the opinion that the theatrical mix was somewhat over the top - I mean, it was literally so loud that I was in pain a few times.

I very rarely see a movie twice in the theatres, but I did for this film. The DVD release could not come fast enough. One of the years best films.

I'm with you. Maybe it was just a mistake on the part of the underpaid, untrained non-union projectionist who no doubt set up the film at my local multiplex, but I found the soundtrack painfully loud. It's not a good sign when I have to sit through the fight scenes with my fingers in my ears...

When I saw this in the theater, I have to agree 100% with that comment. My ears were bleeding at the end. But it was an excellent soundtrack as far as I'm concerned and it probably sounds awesome on DVD. I'll have to pick up this disc to hear it for myself.


Dan...


The more money you spend on a home theater system does NOT guarantee better sound. In fact, because each manufacturer has a different design approach we unfortunately have to resort to hearing what equipment sounds good with others. If you select a bad combination, watch out! Generally, the more money one spends, the more they have to be careful about this - especially when it comes to speakers. Have you ever heard the largest Wilson speakers? Talk about an earbleed...they clearly are not even designed with flat frequency response in mind.


Kevin...



Lets pray that it never comes to that...

Mike

I love it when I hear people say that home audio can be just as powerful as a theater set-up.....so they are comparing a, let's say, 10 inch woofer to a 5 FOOT array woofer (and that's very conservative)...riiiight.





But hey, if you have the space to move the air & safely distance yourself from these ear damaging monsters...go for it!

Now having said that I do think that Home speakers can attain a level of subtilty & detail that might be lost in a large area...but not the shear power.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Many home theaters can reach movie theater SPLs while maintaining itelligibility and 15-20khz frequency reponse which you can feel and hear. And I'm not just talking about multi-thousand dollar home installations (but I ain't talking about your "Best Buy" specials either).

Either that, or the theaters by me just plain stink. My experience is that I have trouble understanding dialogue in movie theaters. Sometimes the soundtrack seems overblown and drowns out sound effects and dialogue. At home, I get perfect dialogue, extended frequency reponse, tight bass, musicality to the score...all at a "reference level SPL" if need be.

Regards,
Dan

Remember that those huge speakers in theaters have to move a lot more air because they are trying to fill a space many times larger than your living room.

Thanks for the review of the BB DVD (and film), RAH.
Any word on the A/V quality of "other four"?

They are actually showing this at my college campus this weekend, with three showings a night Friday and Saturday at $2 a show. It's shown in a lecture hall but on a movie screen, and the sound is Dolby Digital and actually pretty impressive. I plan to catch it a few times this weekend before the DVD comes out.

I couldn't agree more with RAH. This is a superb film, one of the best of 2005. It ranks right up there with Spiderman 1 and 2 as the best comic book adaptations to date. Nolan was the perfect choice for directing and clearly has a talent for handling big budget pictures, though I hope he continues in smaller ones as well. I could go on endlessly about the film's qualities and even though the Katie Holmes/love interest was its weakest, it still didnt take away from the film.

I remember the sound from this film being one of the most memorable of the year, right up there with War of the Worlds. I'm sure it will be recognized at Oscar time for some kind of technical award with at least a nomination. All of the reviews I have seen rave about the sound quality, and Warner seems ot have done a great job with the image as expected.

Exactly. You can EASILY get more impact and a more powerful presentation with a HT setup than you can at the movie theater. As has been mentioned, you also get more detail and a better FR. At home, you only need to tweak to get great sound at one or two seating positions, at the movie theater, if you aren't sitting in the middle, good luck. And how many subs at the theater come anywhere close to approaching 20hz?

I'll take a good HT every time.

They generally reach down into 10-15hz.

Here's the specs for the JBL professional cinema speakers I linked a photo to above (and bear in mind that these are not the largest out there, plus we are talking about power, I doubt many home speakers require 2400W) :


Frequency Range: 35 Hz to 16 kHz (-10 dB)
Frequency Response: 45 Hz to 12.5 kHz (+/- 3 dB)
Horizontal Coverage Angle: 80°, averaged 300 Hz to 16 kHz (-6dB)
Vertical Coverage Angle: 45°, averaged 300 Hz to 16 kHz (-6dB)
Maximum Output: 117dB-SPL @ 10 m
Recommended Crossover Frequency: LF/MF: 297 Hz, MF/HF: 2.5 kHz
Transducers:
Low Frequency: Four 2226H 380mm (15in) dia., 100mm (4in) edgewound ribbon voice coil
One 5504 LF enclosure with DiamondQuad driver array
Nominal Impedance: Each pair in parallel; two 4 Ohm loads per driver pair
Input Power Rating: 2400W, AES; two channels of 1200W Recommended Amplifier per driver pair
Sensitivity: 103dB, 1W @ 1 m (3.3 ft)
Input Connectors: Barrier Strip
Mid Frequency: 2392 midrange horn
2490H midrange driver; 100mm (4in) edgewound ribbon voice coil
Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
Input Power Rating: 200W, AES; 300W Recommended Amplifier
Sensitivity: 115dB, 1 W @ 1 m (3.3 ft)
High Frequency: 2352 Horn
2451 driver; 100mm (4in) edgewound ribbon voice coil
Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
Input Power Rating: 75W, AES; 200W Recommended Amplifier
Sensitivity: 112dB, 1 W @ 1 m (3.3 ft)
Mounting Accessories: HF horn baffle board and mounting frame which couples MF and HF; mounts to LF enclosure for aiming/tilting
Dimensions (HxWxD): 2895.6mm x 1118mm x 812.8mm (114in x 44in x 32in)
Net Weight: 171.69 kg (378.5 lbs)

I don't know what kind of movie theaters you go to, but none I have EVER been to put out respectable spl anywhere close to 20hz, let alone 10hz. That speaker may very well reach to 20hz, but not at a level high enough to be noticable in a theater.

In relation to the next post, sorry.

EDIT:

You know, I generally don't like sending threads off topic & I really don't want to do that with one that Robert Harris started in order to talk about a particular film.....start a new thread about cinema speakers vs. HT speakers and I will join you guys there but until then, let's talk about Batman Begins.
I did it in the Oz thread, I don't want to do it again here, you know?

I didn't think the sound mix for Batman Begins was overly loud. It's just that most movies are mixed too damn low.

I'm sure it was a stylistic choice but I guess they wanted was LOUD in the movie to be very LOUD! to the audience. I'm sure the DVD will replicate that and it should too. Although, I thought alot of it was the sonic equivalent of a red herring scare in a horror movie.