Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

imaxxing.io

51–60 of 62 posts

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#51
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say this as a fan of Frank Herbert, and I've read all the Dune books: Thank god the Dune 3 movie looks like it isn't a strict adaptation of "Children of Dune".

You're not implying that the two firsts were strict adaptations in any way or shape, are you?

No I dont, and you're quite correct. I'm one of those weirdos who thinks The Lord of the Rings movies were better because they left out some things from the books, so I'm happy with both.

Oddly enough, I sort of appreicated the David Lynch movie more after the recent movies because not what I'm older, I sort of undersgand how hard it would be to make a movie anyways.

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#52
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not implying that the two firsts were strict adaptations in any way or shape, are you?

No I dont, and you're quite correct. I'm one of those weirdos who thinks The Lord of the Rings movies were better because they left out some things from the books, so I'm happy with both. Oddly enough, I sort of appreicated the David Lynch movie more after the recent movies because not what I'm older, I sort of undersgand how hard it would be to make a movie anyways.

What's sad is that you can't help but wonder what Lynch could have achieved with the same runtime/monetary budget as Villeneuve...

(I like the first LotR movie and disliked the others btw; lost that "picturesque" quality and got too many battle scenes)

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#53
post #37

Can someone explain why they don't just add black bars on the side and show in filmed format?

They do. They show it in regular theaters (I saw it yesterday in one and was underwhelmed but that's another story). You do lose a lot of the picture as it was intended to be viewed by the director, of course. But closest IMAX was too far.

Why don't they letterbox it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterboxing_(filming)

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#54
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Waste of time to get these alerts for a movie that has no historical accuracy or value. The odyssey itself wasn't trying to be historically accurate; it's basically fantasy. Why would you expect that a movie adaptation would be historically accurate?

In this context, the book itself is the history rather than the story as a foundational western narrative. The movie diverge in many grounds from the book, and it is sad that most people will only watch the movie rather than read the original work.

I agree totally.

The movie is essentially a total rewrite that uses nothing more than the poem's title and character names. Few other details, motives, lessons, or tensions were retained. It should have been called The Odyssey: A Parody.

It is worth mentioning that the original poem was never intended as a strict historical account. One can retell history through a few different lenses: from the perspective of a neutral investigator, from a cultural perspective, or through the literature inspired by that history. The Odyssey was a mythic epic in that third style.

Homer's original poem was written down after many generations of oral tradition in Greek culture around 3,000 years ago. That it survived is a testament to the cultural value of the details, motives, lessons, and tensions embedded within The Odyssey. None of those values made it into the movie.

The issue is not simply the (laughable) liberties taken with casting or the historical inaccuracies. The movie deviated so far from Homer’s vision of a heroic, faithful, and tragic King of Ithaca that calling it The Odyssey is fundamentally dishonest.

Homer’s Odysseus feared and fought gods and mythological creatures while longing for home (nostos, the word where "nostalgia" is rooted). He was confident and clever (metis) and didn’t waste words.

By contrast, Nolan’s Odysseus is a war-haunted loser whose deep trauma and guilt manifest as a brooding, obsessive narcissism focused on securing his throne, people, and his woman.

This movie may indeed be a hit at the theaters, but it is not The Odyssey. It is a parody.

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#55
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do. They show it in regular theaters (I saw it yesterday in one and was underwhelmed but that's another story). You do lose a lot of the picture as it was intended to be viewed by the director, of course. But closest IMAX was too far.

Why don't they letterbox it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterboxing_(filming)

You’re right, they COULD letterbox Nolan’s movie. They won’t.

Nolan filmed in IMAX. It could just be reduced in size, as you suggested by letterboxing, for standard screens. But they won’t. They don’t want you experiencing the full size movie on a standard screen. They want you to go to IMAX because it costs more.

It’s not about the experience. It’s about money.

It’s no different than car manufacturers of the 1980s selling a base model vehicle with hand crank windows. They could have used the same assembly line to cheaply install machine powered windows for every vehicle of that model, but they intentionally did things to push customers towards more expensive models.

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#56
post #49
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the main trilogy many years back; why would a faithful adaptation be a problem?

In the book, Paul's nine-year-old son fuses baby sandworm larvae to his skin and becomes a worm-god-human-face weirdo. I mean, I've seen Apocalypse Now, but I suspect the movie of that would be... unique.

That's in book four (God Emperor). Yeah I can't really imagine that being a good film. Messiah, on the other hand, despite being hard to read does have lots of action.

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#57
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not implying that the two firsts were strict adaptations in any way or shape, are you?

No I dont, and you're quite correct. I'm one of those weirdos who thinks The Lord of the Rings movies were better because they left out some things from the books, so I'm happy with both. Oddly enough, I sort of appreicated the David Lynch movie more after the recent movies because not what I'm older, I sort of undersgand how hard it would be to make a movie anyways.

I found leaving out Alia way worse than leaving out Bombadil. Alia is one of the best things about the Lynch film, but for some reason precocial infant characters are a no no in Hollywood these days. I assume she will skip straight to being a teen played by an adult in part 3.

(As I wrote this I realised I could just look it up, she'll be played by 30 year old.)

Internal monologue is also a no no currently, which meant no banquet scene, which is one of the best parts of the book.

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#58

Please add Vancouver BC

On the backlog! My initial data provider only supports the US. I think there are only two 70mm IMAX theaters in BC, right? My advice in the meantime: Chrome + Codex / Claude Code are pretty good at keeping an eye on things for smaller data sets like this

> I think there are only two 70mm IMAX theaters in BC, right?

There are a number in Canada: Scotiabank Chinook & IMAX – Calgary, AB; Scotiabank Edmonton & IMAX – Edmonton, AB; Cineplex Cinemas Langley & IMAX – Langley, BC; Cineplex Cinemas Mississauga & IMAX – Mississauga, ON; Cineplex Cinemas Vaughan & IMAX – Woodbridge, ON ;Kramer IMAX, Saskatchewan Science Centre – Regina, SK; Cineplex Cinemas Bayers Lake & IMAX – Halifax, NS; SilverCity Riverport Cinemas & IMAX – Richmond, BC; Cinéma Banque Scotia Montréal & IMAX – Montréal, QC

Most of these theatres are run by Cineplex:

* https://www.cineplex.com/movie/imax70-the-odyssey-the-imax-e...

* https://www.imax.com/en/ca/news/the-odyssey-in-imax-70mm-fil...

Except for one at the Saskatchewan Science Centre:

* https://www.sasksciencecentre.com/the-odyssey-the-imax-exper...

Re: Show HN: Get alerts for good seats at 70mm IMAX showings of The Odyssey

#59
post #27

Is this a very limited release or why not just give it a few weeks and you'll get seats without any trouble?

The IMAX screenings are pre-committed to future movies -- it might be the case that Spider-Man takes over in two weeks and the window for The Odyssey is closed, even if more people want to see The Odyssey in IMAX than Spider-Man.

If the ticket sales show that demand difference, they'll often flip back. e.g. I missed Project Hail Mary in imax because they bumped it for the Mario movie, but if I'd waited an extra week they swapped back to Project Hail Mary in the imax theatre, presumably due to relatively low ticket sales for imax Mario.
Post reply on HN