(I originally posted this on Reddit.)
So, I live in New York City, but I’d been completely unaware of the significance of seeing Oppenheimer in IMAX 70mm until I read the New York Times interview with Nolan last week. I’d bought a ticket in regular old laser projection, not IMAX or 70mm or anything special. Then I read that article and I thought, damn, I wish I’d known! I went online and all the showings in IMAX 70mm at Lincoln Square were sold out for the three-week run except for some seats in the front row, on the sides, and I wasn’t interested in that because I thought it would be incredibly uncomfortable.
So on Saturday I saw Oppenheimer at the regular old movie theater. Decent seat in a recliner. There was a small green pixel on the side of the screen the whole time but I mostly didn’t notice. Terrific movie.
But I was still having FOMO about IMAX 70mm, so in the next few days I kept reloading various showings on the AMC website over and over, because people sometimes cancel. Eventually seat E32 opened up for Wednesday morning, so I snagged the ticket.
But I kept wondering whether it would be hard to watch from that angle and distance. The seat was was 3/4 along the row (32nd out of 42 seats) and I wondered if it would be too close. It might have been fine… but I kept on reloading various showings throughout the next day, because why not.
Finally last night, seat L25 opened up for the following morning (this morning)! I grabbed it immediately. Second row from the back, just 3 seats off center? Yes please.
So I saw it this morning. There were two guys in the near center of the row, L22-23, and I asked them when they’d bought their tickets. They said June 1. And they were visiting all the way from Iowa.
On top of that, whoever had the ticket next to me for L24 never showed up. So 30 minutes into the movie I finally moved into that seat – one seat closer to the center.
My seat was practically perfect. What a great experience to see it on such a huge screen!
Honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot of the movie that really needed to be in the IMAX aspect ratio, since deep down it’s more of a character film. And there are hardly any shots that linger on outdoor landscapes, so there’s not really a chance to immerse yourself in those.
Also – there were bits of dust or something that kept appearing and sticking around on the screen for extended periods of time, these little dark spots that would just hang out, especially over characters’ faces, which was a little distracting, especially in the black and white shots. Does anyone know why that would happen? This was only the fifth day of showings. Is it just the nature of film? Something having to do with dust getting caught in the IMAX projectors? Are those projectors hard to maintain? Or have I just gotten so used to pristine digital projection?
[Update: someone responded to me in another Reddit thread:
“It’s dust in the film gate of the projector.
“Because of the nature of IMAX being a big blown up image on the screen, ordinary specs of dust look ENORMOUS. IMAX has a great compressed-air dust busting system, so there’s actually LESS dust than normal film projection. But what gets through looks BIG!
“Yes, digital doesn’t have this issue.”]
It was also a bit distracting to have the aspect ratio constantly shift between regular and tall, and the film resolution was less sharp in the regular shots as well. I don’t remember a difference between shots when I saw it in the ordinary theater.
In addition, a lot of the dialogue was hard to hear. I’d had the same issue in the ordinary theater and I’d thought the sound mix would be better at IMAX, but it wasn’t. The music and explosions, etc., were nice and loud and reverberating in IMAX, but the dialogue wasn’t any easier to make out than in the ordinary theater.
I know I’m being nitpicky. It really was a wonderful experience, and my persistence totally paid off in an excellent seat. So if you live near an IMAX 70mm and are despairing at not having gotten a ticket already, keep reloading the website for your theater because seats do open up.