The fourth in a series of Classic Film Nights featured One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest last night at the Galaxy Cinemas in Regina. All four nights have been fraught with serious technical issues. Last night's could not be ignored by the audience, who mostly left early on.
The theatre couldn't figure out how to hook up their all-important front center channel (dialogue channel) to their system which was playing the movie off of Blu-ray. The only dialogue you could hear came through the LFE (subwoofer) channel. I was praying they'd turn on the English subtitles because I couldn't understand a word.
I've been told by friends that the ENTIRE run of Avatar at the Galaxy had no Left front channel audio. IT PLAYED FOR SIX MONTHS practically. James Cameron would have rolled over in his money if he knew this. Cineplex Odeon simply doesn't care.
To add insult to injury, the left and right channels were reversed (when a helicopter flew on the left of the screen, it was heard on the right, for example.)
In this day and age when home theatre systems are ubiquitous, why can't a real theatre get it right, let alone even realize their films are sometimes unwatchable?
I'm yearning for an excuse to go to the theatre instead of watching these films at home, which would be a technically-superior experience even on my modest system.
