AMC Lincoln Square Criminality
I couldn’t help myself. I had to slip into the AMC Lincoln Plaza earlier tonight to check out the 9:30 pm Moneyball show and see how it looked. What I saw would break Bennett Miller‘s heart, and definitely Wally Pfister‘s. The general darkness of the image was appalling, horrific. The foot lambert level must have been 9 or 10 instead of the proper 14. And the sound was definitely lower than the sound levels for the trailers.
I had tears in my eyes. Miller and Pfister have worked so hard and so well, and then the AMC guys come along and fuck it all up for the customers. People all around me had paid $13 bills each to see a version of Moneyball that definitely blew chunks on a presentation level, and they didn’t even know how bad it was. But I did. I couldn’t take it after 20 minutes or so.
This wasn’t an accident or the projectionist slacking off, trust me. I’ve suffered through sub-par Lincoln Square presentations before and this shit is POLICY. These guys are institutionally committed to diminishing the visual and audio levels of movies that would look and sound a hell of a lot better if they were projected properly.
Team Lincoln Square doesn’t mess around with their IMAX presentations — those are fine. But they’re definitely degrading the audio-visual content in regular theatres. As far as I’m concerned they are the sworn enemy of quality projection.
And I’m a formerly licensed projectionist and I know from light and sound levels so don’t tell me. As Burt Lancaster said to Mickey Saughnessy in From Here to Eternity, “I ain’t tellin’ you — you’re tellin’ me.”
Which screen was it? One of the smaller ones or the big one with the mezzanine? I’ve never had a problem there. It’s probably my favorite theater.
Wells to Rashad: It was one of the smaller ones toward the rear of the lobby. You’re “never” had a problem there? I’ve had almost nothing but problems there going back to ’08. The image is always a bit (or a lot) darker than it should be, and the sound is always a bit (or a lot) lower than it should be. Except for the IMAX presentations — those are always okay.
Due respect but you probably don’t know what you’re talking about because you don’t have anything to compare it with. If you’ve seen a film projected at one of the post-production houses or industry-only screening rooms or theatres (like the Academy theatre or the Steve Ross on the Warner Bros. lot or the Daryl Zanuck on the Fox lot) or at one of the major film festivals, then you’ve seen it look as good as it’s going to look. And then you see it at the AMC Lincoln Square and there’s no missing the differences.
Yes but how was the sit-down action in the bathroom?
Wells to dino velvet: You can’t get over that one, can you? Tell me a dryer, more oblique, less descriptive way of referring to submitting to nature’s call in a non-standup way. Well? Well? It’s not so easy, is it?
Saw Drive at the AMC in Tyson’s Corner, VA and by some miracle the image looked perfect. I won’t get that lucky again for awhile.
You know what the biggest problem is with bullfuckingshit like this? Nobody at the managerial level at these theaters gives a shit that the projection is subpar, They couldn’t care less.
I really hope that movies start making their way to HD On Demand a few weeks after they’re released in theaters. I’d pay $20 to see Moneyball at home during the first month of its release.
Clearview Chelsea. Digital projection, perfect presentation, respectful crowds. Screw the LIncoln Square AMC.
Drastic and impossible to enforce I know, but shouldn’t the filmmakers be allowed to sue those guys into extinction? Didn’t Woody Allen and a few others take on broadcasters to ensure that the image, the whole image and nothing but the image of the film be shown in full on TV screens?
Stanley Kubrick spent ages checking that sort of stuff.
On another note, in my experience Jeff the sound levels for TRAILERS are always that bit louder than those of the FEATURE presentation. A few clips at 120 seconds each with ear-splitting, eye-gouging sounds and visuals. And when they come to the 120 MINUTES, they tweak it just enough so we don’t come out with a headache.
Right? No?
I had a similar experience at the Varsity in Toronto. Insanely dark… and all the sound was coming from behind the screen (no surround sound). I knew Miller was influenced by 70s films, so I thought he might be going for an old school Gordon Willis look and mono sound, but it didn’t feel right.
Did you go home and bite your pillow?
I’ll just wait for the BD. Perfect HD sound and picture quality. Why anyone actually goes to the movie anymore is beyond me. Haven’t seen a movie in a theater all year. Got too many BDs to catch up on.
Are we to understand that Jeff paid for a full-price evening NYC ticket just to pop in and check if the projection was off? Or was he there for another film and just checked out a bit of Moneyball before or after his screening?
Because if it’s the latter–my god you’re obsessed, man.
Clearview Chelsea. Digital projection, perfect presentation, respectful crowds. Screw the LIncoln Square AMC.
I’ve had numerous bad experiences with the AMC Yonge and Dundas in Toronto. It all came to a point when I saw The Reader projected in the wrong aspect ratio so much that when the characters were standing up in a wide shot their heads were off the top of the screen. I complained to management and they told me there wasn’t a problem and gave me a free coupon instead.
These days I try to avoid AMC as often as possible.
I’m still waiting for some sort of social media solution to this, where someone with an light meter takes objective readings on every screen in every theater and reports the outcome to the people who care (i.e., us). Yes, it would be tricky to get a comparable reading since the same movie won’t be playing on each screen. Maybe report the brightest reading over the course of the whole movie. You might have to take several readings to average out effects that would vary over time (maybe the weekend manager is cheap and turns down the brightness, or perhaps some types of bulbs used will dim over time).
Add the measurement to Yelp and watch the bright screens start doing much better business (maybe).
Everyone’s missing the bigger picture here.
By skimping and using low-paid, idiot projection staff, and showing movies at a lower light level, AMC is increasing their profits. Sure, they COULD show movies at the proper light and sound levels, and hire expert (read: expensive!) projectionists to make sure every performance is flawless and first-rate. But then their profits would go down.
You think AMC is in the business of showing movies perfectly?! They’re in business *to make money*. And as long as people still go to their crappy theaters… why would they do anything differently?
Yeah Jeff, visually I’ve never had a problem there. The image is never dark when I’ve went, though one time there was a spec of dust on the IMAX projector and it showed up on screen for a while. Audio wise, the only time I’ve been disappointed was when I saw Cap and the USO show wasn’t as loud as I would have liked.
It’s Rashad’s favorite theater for one reason and one reason only: it’s only a few block away from a Gray’s Papaya.
Hi Jeffrey,
It’s Jordan, an official rep with AMC Theatres. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is always our goal to exceed our guests expectations. When we fall short, we use feedback like yours to get better. If you would like to discuss this matter further, please fill out an official report at the link below so that we may call you about this.
http://www.amctheatres.com/contact/feedback.aspx?t=theatre
Thank you,
Jordan Laine
AMC, Manager Guest Services
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