Cineplex Canada: "Classic Movie Series" (an unfortunate and unnecessary FAIL)

The Galaxy in Regina played their second monthly classic film (Wednesday and Sunday, the middle of every month, $5.) This was my first try at their classic cinema night, which is a classic film played off a Blu-ray player through their high end digital projectors (mostly used for 3D films.) (Spartacus, which plays in July, is the only film that isn't from a Blu-ray, it's full 2K digital cinema.)

It was a horribly disappointing and frustrating experience.

The image was garbled and terrible yet no one seemed to care. Although I haven't seen Dr. Zhivago before, I knew that, in its restored state, it should look like it was shot yesterday (almost.) The 35 mm film stock it was shot on, and the lens that captured it, really haven't changed THAT much all these years later. To talk to the managers at the cinema, you'd think it had.

"Oh it's all pixelly because it's an old movie," was one response I got. PIXELS WEREN'T INVENTED IN 1965!!!

I told them it should look like it was shot this year, just with weird clothes and hairstyles. And then there was the subtitles. They were showing French subtitles off the Blu-ray because of a directive from Toronto's head office. Huh? Less than 2% of Saskatchewanians are Francophone.

The reason you go to the theater is to have a better experience than you could at home. Below I've tried to replicate the solarized video (think bad music video effect from the early 80s). The picture I degraded in Photoshop greatly flatters what I paid to see tonight at The Galaxy in Regina.

ABOVE: my simulation of what the screen looked like at the Galaxy in Regina. The faces of people had "stair-stepping" in the colours, and it only seemed like there were a couple dozen colors instead of thousands (as there should be.)

WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE

A screen grab I found on the Internet, taken from the DVD or Blu-ray.

My issue is: no one cares! Not the theater goers, not the staff nor management. If the Toronto showing was like this, I'm sure there would have been people burning down the theater. If this is what passes for a theatre, I could buy a $300 video projector at an office store and start my own theatre.

The Classic Film Series is a great idea, made possible by digital cinemas. I'd like to see more of it but someone has to be hired at each theatre who knows how to operate the equipment and who has a high enough IQ to know when something looks terribly wrong. I'll give Sparticus a try in 2K this July. Hopefully they can get that right.

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And to make matters worse, I had to have a talker behind me: (in full voice, sometimes a shout, competing with the music) :

"Oh look at all those poor people! They're starving!"

"It's winter now."

"Wolves."

"There's that table I remember."

"Oh look at all the flowers. They're in bloom!"

"I wonder what that herb is she's holding."

Their popcorn is slightly better than what I can make at home. And their screen is bigger. But playing the Blue-ray (or even a VHS, for crying out loud) of Dr Zhivago at home would have been a much better experience. Isn't the point of going to the multiplex to have a better experience than you can at home?

It's too bad. Using digital cinemas to play classic movies isn't a bad idea.