[LivinLOS]

Also a technical note on the film, which will probably interest no one on here but me and maybe Nidnoy..

Lately we have started to use the VIP first class cinema thing.. Its 500 baht a seat but you get free nibbles and drinks beforehand, luxury waiting room / bar, can pick (buy) a bottle of wine (or beers), free popcorn, free cokes, huge reclining bed like seats, and best of all no talking kids or ringing phones.

Also since going to the first class I have noticed that they seem to be the freshest prints, and focus and sound is pin sharp and all in all its a better presentation. Due to hobbies I have had involving video and PC based video compression and HiDef I am a bit picky about how a film should be shown and little things like poor focus or uniformity, poor film tension (sproket shake) or slow reels (audio pitch shifts) annoy me.

When we went to the Superman showing the other day it was superb.. The film was crystal clear and the detail was as stunning as film can be, pores on skin and single strands of hair all show how film should look and even HiDef at its best will struggle with.

This showing however was not technically as good but I dont think that was a result of the cinemas errors. I know film stock is used for artistic effect and some film stocks work better in certain lighting and some will capture detail versus film grain etc.. Sometimes this is a result of shooting requirements, sometimes its a result of artistic choices by the DP and or the director, sometimes its cost related (think 'Traffic' shot in DV), sometimes just random.

The color pallete was to my eyes often red shifted and there were many high contrast scenes where the whites where if not actually blown definately were hot.. Most disturbingly the fine detail was really missing in some scenes and I cant decide if it was film stock or the result of too much DNR (digital Noise Reduction) applied while adding the specials. Whatever it was the technical image quality of Dead Mans Chest was a long long way behind Superman and it was only seeing both within a short time frame in the same cinema (even the same seat) that made me realize it.