It began with something Stanley Kubrick once said. With 2001: A Space Odyssey, he felt he owed the audience an experience. He wanted to use Cinerama to show people what it was like to fly through space. This was ambitious for 1968, but it worked. The film has certainly stood the test of time, due […]
Is Academy History Weighing Gravity Down?
3D. Motion capture. High frame rate. We live in an age where technological perfection is not only possible, but expected. Computer generated sound and visual effects are better than ever before. As a result, modern cinema is bound only by the imaginations of filmmakers. This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saw […]
High Frame Rate and Why The Hobbit Films Matter
As the prequel films to the estimable The Lord of the Rings franchise, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films already carry with them a heightened expectation of narrative quality. However, there was more to The Lord of the Rings than its epic story. Every part of the production was groundbreaking; filming all three movies at once […]
Summer Box Office Saturated with Explosions
A decorated gladiator steps out into the sun, brandishing two swords while donning finely detailed armor. Around him, hundreds of men and women line the seats of a massive arena, wildly screaming his name. He walks forward to address his opponent, a Roman slave whose character design is the product of meticulous behind-the-scenes scrutiny. After […]
Should You See The Hobbit at 48 FPS?
I had the good fortune to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at the midnight premiere in 48 frames per second. So as a follow-up to Ari’s review of the 2D 24 frames per second version of the film, and to my post from earlier this year about the negative CinemaCon reaction the first screening of the footage, here is a […]
The Hobbit at 48 FPS
Update Peter Jackson has offered a short rebuttal to criticisms of the new format: “At first it’s unusual because you’ve never seen a movie like this before. It’s literally a new experience, but you know, that doesn’t last the entire experience of the film; not by any stretch, after 10 minutes or so. That’s a […]
