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Arclight Cinemas Coming to UTC in 2012
The Hollywood Arclight is the most overrated theatre in all of L.A. - the constant praise it elicits is proof that 95% of moviegoers have no idea what constitutes proper presentation. The Dome aside, it's just a glorified multiplex - if you're unlucky enough to see a film on one of the smaller screens, be prepared to listen to the latest Bruckheimer or J.J. Abrams spectacle booming through the walls as you try to make out the dialogue in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. To say that it's better than the Grove or AMC Century City is faint praise - a "great" multiplex is a contradiction in terms.— September 12, 2011 11:06 a.m.
Trailer: Martin Scorsese's Hugo
Thou shalt not judge a film by its trailer, indeed. Lest we forget, He also has a George Harrison documentary premiering in the fall, so even if HUGO is a disappointment His gifts will still be bountiful.— July 15, 2011 1:39 p.m.
To Zoom Or Not to Zoom?
If you were writing this column in 1971 as opposed to 2011, I might be inclined to agree with some of your arguments, but I honestly don't see the zoom being used as a substitute for camera movement to a noticeable degree - not even on TV shows like GLEE, where they move the camera plenty and virtually never use a zoom except for an exaggerated comic effect. Who, since Altman died, has been using the zoom with any kind of regularity? P.S. There are about a hundred terrific films noir in 1.33 and black and white - what's wrong with Polanski giving us one great one in 'scope and color? Or with Kubrick using natural light and zooms in the same film? You slam filmmakers for being lazy and relying on crutches, but then when they try audacious approaches you criticize them for violating the old, sedentary rules. You're as contradictory as Kubrick!— July 8, 2011 9:35 a.m.
To Zoom Or Not to Zoom?
Siegel is indeed another master of the zoom. The zooms in DIRTY HARRY are impeccable.— June 29, 2011 2:04 p.m.
To Zoom Or Not to Zoom?
While I would agree that the zoom is overused, you're way off base suggesting that directors only use it out of laziness. The zoom is, as you point out in referencing Jerry Lewis, just another tool, and a very different one from the dolly or Steadicam. The change in perspective (or rather, lack of change in perspective) is completely different from what one gets when moving the camera, and has a different psychological effect. When Kubrick uses zooms in BARRY LYNDON, for example (and yes, I know you think Kubrick is overrated - and you're entitled to your opinion even if your opinion is wrong), it's not to move in closer; it's to enlarge certain elements of the frame while locking the characters in position in relation to their surroundings. This is a completely legitimate aesthetic choice, and Altman does something similar in MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, not because he's lazy - after all, the man has done some of the most elaborate long takes in the history of cinema - but because it alters the composition in a different, and for his purposes preferable, manner than moving the camera. To use Winner as your main argument against the zoom is stacking the deck - it's like saying anamorphic lenses suck and then backing up the argument with an essay on J.J. Abrams instead of Tashlin.— June 29, 2011 12:12 p.m.
An Open Letter to Gerry Lopez, CEO and President AMC Entertainment
Right on! A whole generation is growing up having no idea what a properly focused film with accurate illumination looks like - I have not seen A SINGLE MOVIE this summer at an AMC or Pacific Theatre with proper presentation (and I go to the movies three or four times a week). Either the focus is soft, or the stereo is out of balance, or the picture is dark thanks to the lens issue mentioned in this article. It's depressing, and it keeps getting worse (in Los Angeles, the alleged flagship of the Pacific chain, the Arclight, shows prints that look like someone has been shaving with them - try cleaning your gates once every millennium, guys!). Unfortunately, as Mr. Marks correctly points out, the problem has become so pervasive that audiences don't know the difference and will sit through an out of focus movie because they don't know any better. But this is no excuse - come on, Gerry, you're better than that, right?— June 8, 2011 10:57 p.m.