There is magic in seeing movies on film. In our current digital world, virtually every movie you see at your local movie theater is presented digitally, and yes.. It does the job just fine. But every once in a while, especially if you live in a big city, you can find on-film movie presentations and you’ll likely feel the difference immediately.
Every summer in Chicago, I get spoiled when the Music Box Theatre hosts its 70mm film festival, which shows old and new classics in 70mm, the largest of the pre-IMAX film formats. This year, I managed to see Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, and David Lean’s 1962 Best Picture-winning Lawrence of Arabia. The classic look and feel of a movie on film, which provides more detail, grain, and photochemical magic than a digital projection, seems to keep an audience more entranced. Now, whether that’s because of the light quality, the 24 frames per second rate, or just a good old fashioned placebo effect, I’m not sure, but my anecdotal experiences suggest there’s something to it.
And the rising popularity of film projections and repertory theater screenings suggests I’m not alone. Young people in cities around the world are flocking to see old favorites as they were meant to be seen. There has also been a rush to see new release movies like Oppenheimer in 2023 or Sinners earlier this year in large-film formats, an experience that became something of a holy grail for film lovers of every age. Another part of it may be that rep theaters tend to provide more classical moviegoing experiences – many theaters enforce no-phone and no-talking policies and often these showings are presented on film. As a result, the moviegoing experience tends to feel purer and the movies tend to come across clearer. I can tell you with certainty the wide, sandy vistas in Lawrence of Arabia hit magnitudes harder on 70mm at the Music Box than they ever could have at home.
My recommendation? Do a little internet searching, find your nearest rep theater that projects on film, and go take in the experience. You may find it puts a bit more magic into your moviegoing.
Weapons is the most fun I’ve had at the movies this year, watching it in a packed audience that inhaled with every new horrifying image and laughed loudly with every storytelling curve-ball. With star turns from Ozark alum Julia Garner, Oppenheimer standout Aldren Ehrenreich, and Academy Award nominee Josh Brolin, Weapons may just be the newest entry in the 2020s horror pantheon.
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