I’m not sure if this was true IMAX (based on the filming standards, as in 70mm frame format), although it was shown in an IMAX theater. (Or perhaps camera technology has evolved… I’ve heard about IMAX cameras being incredibly bulky and sounding like chainsaws while in operation. Obviously a bad fit for a concert, although, if you turn the music up loud enough, it may not have been something which would have mattered. But clearly this was filmed digitally, with more manageable equipment.) Heavy security over the 3D glasses, with one of those store-style RFID readers which’d beep if anyone tried taking glasses out of the theater vicinity. And would beep randomly, regardless. Why would anyone want to keep an uncomfortable pair of non-folding 3D glasses? For a Halloween costume? On the other hand, a comfortable pair, now that’s good to have. Everyone should have a comfortable pair of 3D glasses sitting around. When I saw Beowulf 3D, nobody was collecting the glasses on the way out, nor was there even a bin in which to recycle them, so I snagged a pair. And let me tell you, I wear them all the time, and it’s awesome, seeing the world in three dimensions. These glasses add a whole new depth to my life, not to mention my personal stylishness.
U2 3D is a concert, which was filmed simultaneously with a large number of (eleven?) IMAX cameras (across several actual concerts) and spliced together in the studio. Very well done, considering that almost no material other than the concert itself was used, with the exception of some lines or text rendered onto the image in two or three places. Sound quality was not that sharp, although probably equivalent to the level of fidelity an audience member would have heard through any venue’s sound system. I say this because during the credits, the studio-mastered music had a completely different balance and quality of sound. Interesting that a consistent and continuous mix was made even though several concerts were collapsed into one. (Were they all at the same venue?)
Tickets to the movie were slightly over $20 though, which is a bit outrageous for what is still just a movie, 3D IMAX or not. And this was short — a little over an hour, if I recall correctly. But still, cheaper (and less hearing-damaging) than being at an actual concert, with varied and versatile views (close-ups of the band members playing, instruments, facial expressions, the crowd, stage lights and effects, and so on). Visually, the best part was a 3-D rendered line-drawing animation right before the credits, though. I wish the film had had more of a big creative music video feel, than simply having been footage, no matter how well shot and cut together.
But the band’s simple message of peace and religious tolerance was moving. At one point almost every single person in the audience held up a cell phone, which got me thinking about how incredible it is, in our age, that so many people, no matter where they are across the globe, are just a phone call away. Almost every single person in the audience, linked through this little electronic device. How is it that cell phone towers can so easily handle the load of tens of thousands of devices in the same area, when usually the devices are not nearly that concentrated?
Just a shot away.
A powerful movie. Did this get poor reviews? Or not do as well at the box office as was expected? I’m not sure why. Sure, you can question the science behind it all (as one friend did), but really, that’s not what matters. The scenes of New York sans people were incredibly well done. Going in, I didn’t know much about what to expect — perhaps I thought this would be “just another zombie movie” with some sort of twist, or with pretty graphics — but it went above and beyond any vague expectations I might have had. There were no gratuitous “boo!” moments intended to startle the audience, just an overall sense of tenseness, exploration, tragedy. The movie is spent following a protagonist testing the properties of and learning about the world he finds himself in, and it’s that global sense of exploration I like that’s often missing from movies. (Legend delivers that in spades.) It goes a bit too much in the “blockbuster” direction, but everything is just so… polished.
I drive past the Cloverfield freeway exit all the time, and apparently the movie is named after that street/exit.