She Likes to Watch

Whenever manufacturers advertise screening videos on the latest hand-held gadgets, I have to scoff.

Watch movies? On those tiny screens? I don’t think so.

Despite great strides in digital technology, there are few videos that look downright awesome on an iPhone screen. Skateboarding dogs and laughing babies? Sure.

Watching “Lawrence of Arabia” on my Zune, however, has a much appeal as a week-old fish wrapped in US magazine.

Bottom line: Movies are best on the big screen.*

Whether they’re big-budget epics, action flicks or intimate romances, feature films just look better with stadium seating and plenty of popcorn.

They’re made for theaters, filmed with giant screens and state-of-the-art sound system in mind. What good is sweeping scenery if it’s three inches wide? What’s the point of explosions heard on tinny ear buds?

Plus, I crave the human interaction of a live audience. The sensation of sharing laughter in a darkened cave, of watching hundreds of tears slide down hundreds of cheeks at the saddest moment in “Schindler’s List.”

Even pricey home theaters fall short.

You can catch “Lawrence of Arabia” in all its big-screen, full-color glory tonight at the Fremont. Thrill to Maurice Jarre’s thundering score. Drink in Freddie Young’s stunnig cinematography.

“Lawrence of Arabia” starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Fremont, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo, following a half-hour of trivia and prizes. Tickets are $7.50.

* I can think of only a few films I’d prefer to watch on a black-and-white, 13-inch Zenith. “Hostel” and the “Saw” series” come to mind. Also, anything starring Paris Hilton or Dane Cook. Shudder.

***

“Lawrence of Arabia” poster courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

The future of film is coming to the Fremont.
This week, San Luis Obispo’s historic movie house becomes one of the first theaters in the area to screen films using a state-of-the-art digital projector.
“It’s the way of the future,” said Sanborn Theatres Inc. spokesman Harold Taylor, whose company runs the Fremont Theatre and SLO’s Downtown Centre Cinemas. “Once the public hears about it and the word goes around, they’re going to go nuts over it.”
According to Taylor, the Barco projector will mean a “brighter, clearer, crisper picture” for new releases.
The new projector also opens the Fremont to digital 3-D movies such as Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons,” which opens Friday.
“It’s not like those green and red glasses you used to wear … It doesn’t tire your eyes out,” Taylor said, adding that the digital format “brings a new depth to the picture.”
As Taylor explains it, digital films are downloaded from the studios onto a Kodak computer server, then projected onto the Fremont’s massive screen. Plans for a digital projector have been in the works for about six months, he said.
Based on their experiences in San Luis Obispo, Sanborn Theatres hopes to implement the technology at its other movie theaters.
“After a while, you just have to admit that it’s an improvement,” Taylor said.

So, is it better? Check it out for yourself at The Fremont Theatre, 1025 Monterey St., in San Luis Obispo.

– Sarah L.

I have to say, the digital video recorder – DVR, for those of us in the know — has opened up a new world for me.

Take the Oscars, for instance. Usually pretty boring, right? It lasts about nine hours and features overdone musical numbers, cheesy tributes to people I don’t care about and long, blathering speeches that consist of actors thanking everyone they’ve ever met, including the valet (who, by the way, once worked as a gaffer for three episodes of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”).

No more. This year’s Oscars went by at breakneck speed, thanks to my new friend. Any time something remotely boring began, I just zipped forward until I found something interesting, like, say, another shot of Jack Nicholson’s bald head. Because, really, who cares who won the Oscar for Live Action Short Film? It was hard enough getting out to see all the prominent nominated movies, let alone “Binta and the Great Idea.”

Here’s a great idea: Drop all the boring categories and stick to the good stuff.

I had to see all the main movies, of course, because the features team does its annual Oscar picks story. This year was especially challenging for us because so many of the movies came out late. So Sarah Linn and I were on a mad dash to see everything we could. Which isn’t a bad thing, you know — we dig movies. But I do need to vent a bit:

I won’t mention any names, but there’s one local theater in particular that has jacked up prices significantly. A small popcorn at this theater is now $5.25, and a small soda is $4. (Please don’t tell me this escalation has something to do with turmoil in the Middle East.)

So including the price of a movie ticket, that’s $17.50 for one person. Yikes — I could almost buy a CD at Starbucks for that! I don’t care how much I’m overwhelmed by the smell of popcorn — and it is indeed alluring — I refuse to buy popcorn there. In fact, just out of spite, I might sneak a can of soda in, then loudly crack it open as the film begins and proceed to laugh maniacally.

Revolution starts from the ground up, my friends.

And get this: Not only are the concessions outrageous, but we also have to sit through commercials — yes, COMMERCIALS — before the previews start. So not only do I have to pay $4 to get a Coke, I then have to be subjected to a Coke commercial I’ve already seen on TV a hundred times.

This is why, yet again, you gotta love The Palm Theatre in SLO. Yeah, it’s small, and, yeah, the seats don’t come with ottomans. But, you know what? No commercials. And you can still get a popcorn and a soda for under five bucks.

– Pat P.