Odeon Point Village & iSense

me-skywalker · 02-05-2012 4:31pm

Does anybody know which screening of The Avengers is in the big screen, the 8pm one or the 9pm one?

rednik · 02-05-2012 4:42pm

me-skywalker wrote: »

Does anybody know which screening of The Avengers is in the big screen, the 8pm one or the 9pm one?

The 8pm show.

jaykhunter · 07-05-2012 6:02am

rednik wrote: »

The 8pm show.

Far too late for it now but it was advertised as 8 (on the website) but it actually started at 8:30. We were far too early.

Back from seeing the Avengers 3D/iSense and just to add a few observations from my last visit :
The 8:30pm showing was almost sold out, it was great to see after last time on bank holiday Friday, it was a ghost-town.

Premium seats/3D/iSense/bring your own glasses/student discount is €12, which is not bad.

Premium seats are worth the extra euro, the regular ones are slightly narrower and are a lot stiffer.

The Yaw (?) is not steep enough, I had a hard time reading subtitles as people's heads were in the way. Even people 4 rows below me had their heads in the way. Definitely something potentially horrible and a cheap way to stick in more seats.

The screen isn't that impressive - sorry

- but the clarity in sound is pretty cool. As another mentioned, the demo jingle before the film was more impressive/better use than the film lol.

Are other shops planning on opening in the complex? All that empty space, no real place to eat.

Anyway i'll go again for the big films but i wouldn't bother if it isn't iSense. I'd even think twice about just going to Savoy 1 if you want a big screen. Although I think the projector for iSense has higher quality/res than the Screen and regular Cineworld ones.

Bullseye1 · 07-05-2012 4:00pm

Apologies for asking again but is there any news of an iMAX at this cinema? Wasn't it proposed?

Sad Professor · 07-05-2012 4:11pm

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Apologies for asking again but is there any news of an iMAX at this cinema? Wasn't it proposed?

I don't think there was ever plans for real IMAX, just fake IMAX, which is basically what iSense is except they were smart enough not to call it that. Real IMAX is a bad investment considering how few films are shot for it. Film is dying so there's not much of a future for IMAX.

Bullseye1 · 07-05-2012 4:19pm

It does well elsewhere. London has 4-5 IMAX. It's a pity if it's not happening with TDKR having almost 1 hour shot in IMAX.

So how is iSense similar to IMAX? Steap seating?

Sad Professor · 07-05-2012 4:41pm

I haven't been in it yet, but I don't think it's similar to IMAX at all except that it's like the digital screens that get passed off as IMAX elsewhere.

And afaik there's only one true IMAX cinema in London: the BFI. The rest are fake IMAX.

Elmo · 07-05-2012 4:41pm

Bullseye1 wrote: »

So how is iSense similar to IMAX? Steap seating?

iSense is really about the sound quality. From what I can see. The seats are not steap, the cheap ones are on top of one another.

Is film dead?

London has 8million people, though I doubt that Ireland will see even 1 IMAX for the 6million or so people. (yes I included NI, just to make up the numbers :rolleyes: )

Bullseye1 · 07-05-2012 4:42pm

You don't think an IMAX screen would make money in Dublin?

Sad Professor · 07-05-2012 4:47pm

There was an IMAX cinema in Dublin years ago. Why do you think it's gone? IMAX cinemas are very limited in what they can show. The screen is just too tall. Lets be honest, the only reason anyone cares about IMAX now is because of TDK and TDKR.

BTW can anyone confirm that iSense is screening widescreen films in their correct aspect ratio? A 2.35:1 film (like Hunger Games) should have had black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

pawrick · 07-05-2012 4:54pm

jaykhunter wrote: »

The Yaw (?) is not steep enough, I had a hard time reading subtitles as people's heads were in the way. Even people 4 rows below me had their heads in the way. Definitely something potentially horrible and a cheap way to stick in more seats.

The screen isn't that impressive - sorry - but the clarity in sound is pretty cool. As another mentioned, the demo jingle before the film was more impressive/better use than the film lol.

Agree re the subtitles - I was sitting in the first row of the pricier seats in screen 1 (where there is even more leg room on account of the path through there) - I had a head blocking my view of the subtitles and didn't even notice them at first until I sat up high in my seat. I'm average height and never had to do this in other cinemas.

Also the screen was nothing special - no complaints against it but it wasn't worth the extra price for isense - I've been to two of the screens in there now screen 1 and screen 6 (i think it was 6) and no noticeable difference apart from size when comparing the isense and non isense. Sound was good however but still no huge difference.

Also the left the lights on near the screen on dim - that bugged me as there was no need and once i spotted them i was distracted.

johnny_ultimate · 07-05-2012 4:54pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

There was an IMAX cinema in Dublin years ago. Why do you think it's gone? IMAX cinemas are very limited in what they can show. The screen is just too tall. Lets be honest, the only reason anyone cares about IMAX now is because of TDK and TDKR.

Biggest problem back then was that the format really was just confined to documentaries about dinosaurs and James Cameron arsing around underwater. It'd be curious to see how it would do, now that IMAX has become a 'thing' so to speak, with increasing amounts of films being exhibited in the format.

Can't see it happening in Dublin, though, for the reasons you cited. It's a hell of a lot of space for relatively little reward at the end of the day. Even seeing TDK in IMAX didn't make a hell of a lot of difference: sure, those IMAX scenes were gorgeous, but otherwise it was just watching the film on a very oddly shaped screen.

Bullseye1 · 07-05-2012 4:58pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

There was an IMAX cinema in Dublin years ago. Why do you think it's gone? IMAX cinemas are very limited in what they can show. The screen is just too tall. Lets be honest, the only reason anyone cares about IMAX now is because of TDK and TDKR.

BTW can anyone confirm that iSense is screening widescreen films in their correct aspect ratio? A 2.35:1 film (like Hunger Games) should have had black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

The reason it's gone is because it was only showing IMAX documentaries. In recent years directors have been shooting movies in IMAX. Also it's also used to show regular movies with the 35mm movie projected onto the screen. If its making money elsewhere I cannot see any reason why one screen as part of an overall cinema complex would not succeed.

Sad Professor · 07-05-2012 5:12pm

List of full length features films that have been partially shot using the 70mm IMAX format:

The Dark Knight
Transformers 2
M:I:3
The Dark Knight Rises

Afaik that's it. Everything else you've heard about are conversions which are problematic due to aspect ratio and have the same questionable advantages as 70mm blow-ups.

Aside from Nolan, who in Hollywood that matters is supporting IMAX?

Spielberg? He's still edits by hand.
Cameron, Fincher? They've both gone digital and they ain't looking back.
Scott? He just went digital as well, although whether he sticks with it remains to be seen.
Bay? Digital.
Hell, even Scorsese has shot a 3D digital film.

The current IMAX rage is nothing more than film's last hurrah before mainstream filmmakers abandon it entirely. I admire Nolan and Bird, but they are fighting a losing battle.

johnny_ultimate · 07-05-2012 5:16pm

Digitally speaking, there's really no reason not to be shooting in a digital format these days aside from old-fashioned romanticism. The RED cameras are cool and all, but the ARRI ALEXA especially has pretty much made film redundant to all practical extents and purposes. Even Roger Deakins - a notoriously pro-film DoP - has been convinced to make the shift with the ALEXA. I was at a talk with Japanese director Toshiaki Toyoda recently, and he was saying that his latest Monster Club is likely going to be the last he'll be allowed shoot in 35mm. Or so the translator translated

So while 35mm and 70mm are wonderful and will always have a place, financially and creatively there are fewer and fewer reasons to shoot with them.

Sad Professor · 07-05-2012 5:31pm

Exactly, so what future does IMAX have? Nolan was late to party and doesn't seem to be winning anyone over. These 70mm IMAX blow-ups/conversions are only good as long as distributors are making them. Then those IMAX theatres will have to go back to screening nature documentaries, or projecting digital 3D films onto an ill-fitting screen.

Bullseye1 · 07-05-2012 5:35pm

The seating is cool though.

johnny_ultimate · 07-05-2012 5:37pm

Well, there remains somewhat of a novelty factor to IMAX films. From reports I've heard The Avengers is still selling out the BFI and other 'fake' IMAX screenings London-wide, and I'd imagine the US is similar. There is a market for it, even if it's not 'true' IMAX to our critical eyes, and even if it is the pursuit of a redundant technology.

As long as a handful of 'event' movies exist in IMAX form, there'll be a market for it. It's likely unsustainable, that's for sure, but even if a tiny few directors push it it will remain a viable market in bigger cities. I doubt, however, it would survive in Dublin, unless one of the central cinema screens converted to it. And I can't see them losing their biggest screens for such a gamble.

Sad Professor · 07-05-2012 6:01pm

The thing is fake IMAX is digital, so all these theatres passing themselves off as IMAX are actually cannibalising the true 70mm IMAX brand. And unless they've been to true IMAX, most people don't know the difference. This is the reason why I think IMAX is as good as dead and buried. The name may still be around in 10 years time, but it won't bear any resemblance to the original 70mm format that Nolan is using.

The funny thing about this is that had Odeon paid to use the IMAX brand instead of creating its own we probably wouldn't be having this discussion right now, because most people would be happily going off to Odeon's iSense IMAX cinema under the mistaken impression that it was true IMAX. This is what's so insidious about this fake IMAX bs. IMAX are just selling their brand off to whoever will buy it.

Raekwon · 07-05-2012 6:44pm

I went to see The Avengers in the Odeon last night and I have to say that I was disappointing by this cinema and with the overall experience.

Firstly the area of the city that it's in is a major drawback. This could be helped with more businesses opening around The Point Village but as it stands it's a total ghost town and is way off the beaten track which would put most people off visiting it.

The cinema itself is up on the forth/fifth floor of a building that takes 5 minutes via a series of escalators to get too once your through the front door. I actually couldn't help but think that it was like walking upto an actual IMAX screen which is several stories high. Missed opportunity? Possibly.

Anyway I had pre-booked tickets and picked them up via a machine in the lobby but we didn't bother getting any snacks. A pair of tickets cost me €32.74 which included premier seats, 3D glasses & booking fee. For the record the same movie would have cost me €24 in the Savoy & €26.60 in Cineworld for 2 tickets with 3D glasses included and I wouldn't have had to get return tickets on the LUAS either to get there.

As for the screen & iSense sound system. Meh! The screen looked the same size as Screen 17 in Cineworld and the sound was good, but wasn't jaw dropping like I was expecting and certainly not worth the extra price of the tickets.

Also as mentioned before, the design of the cinema is poor and the seats are not laid out at a steep enough angle so peoples head will block the bottom of the screen even from the very back of the premier seats. There was also a narrow window on the door to the regular seats on the left hand side of the cinema that let light in and was very distracting.........especially when people came late or went to the toilet. I found this ridiculous as most cinemas have dark hallways into the cinema so that no light can get into the cinema from the bright lobbies.

IMO Screen 17 in Cineworld is miles better then the iSense screen and I wouldn't go out of my way to visit it again anytime soon. I'd even go as far to say that I'd be surprised if this was still open in a few years time.

Bullseye1 · 07-05-2012 7:00pm

There is simply no excuse for inadequate seating gradiants. Noticed this while in London really poor design.

jaykhunter · 07-05-2012 8:16pm

Is there a difference between IMAX and digital besides aspect ratio and resolution? Like won't digital cameras eventually film in 8000p? Besides that one's on film and one's on a memory card

Also can someone summarise the different sizes of the biggest screens in Dublin and if they use digital projectors? Ie Isense, cine world 17, savoy 1 etc

johnny_ultimate · 07-05-2012 8:27pm

You're best reading the wiki article, but even the projection methods are proprietary.

The RED EPIC currently captures 5K images, which to all extents and purposes is more than enough for current use. Arri Alexa is lower, but a plethora of films shot on it - including Hugo and the Avengers - have made it to cinema screens, and I bet you didn't even notice (I sure as hell didn't

). 4K home viewing is purported to be the 'next big thing', so even then you have leeway as that's the current maximum clarity for cinemas. The biggest benefit at the moment is for editing, where you can effectively crop an image to half its size and still have full HD quality. Plus various technical jargon involving latitude: effectively, when you capture an image in RAW, you can adjust the camera settings in post (ISO, colour etc...) as if you were there in the room, as long as you have the basic image data there (it's not under/over exposed, for example). They're wonderful cameras for those purposes, but for the end viewer it really makes no difference whether its 5K, 4K or even lower (although you can be sure as hell cinematographers give a ****). Yet.

You'll find pretty much every cinema in Dublin is digital now - Cineworld fired all their traditional projectionists a year or so ago, to take the most prominent example. In fact, you'll be almost harder pressed to find cinemas that still use 35 or 70mm projectors. For technical and financial reasons, it makes perfect sense, even if it is a shame that only the likes of IFI or Screen are left with old school projectors.

Biggest? You're probably still looking at Cineworld 17 and Savoy 1.

Sad Professor · 07-05-2012 8:46pm

Re the Red, on Dragon Tattoo it looked like Fincher was only using about 60 or 70 percent of the digital negative. This meant he could completely re-frame or even stabilise a shot in post-production. For example, if there was a pan or a tilt that he felt was too slow he could make it faster. Pretty cool!

johnny_ultimate · 07-05-2012 9:32pm

I was talking to one editor who was able to cut an entire character out of a film by re-framing and cropping the RAW image from a RED One (and, obviously, using optimal angles)! There's some serious leeway in there.

Notorious · 07-05-2012 10:18pm

I went to see Cabin in the Woods in the Odeon, and overall I had an okay experience. The showing was around 3ish and it wasin screen 2. For one ticket to a 3D film, nachos (which were absolutely horrible), and a medium drink I spent close to €20, which I thought was a bit much. The screen itself was a good size, seats were comfortable and the sound quality was perfect from what I could tell. For me though, the Point Village is very out of the way so I doubt I'll become a regular but I would love to check out the iSense screen - I'll just be avoiding the food.

DominoDub · 09-05-2012 1:37am

Raekwon wrote: »

Also as mentioned before, the design of the cinema is poor and the seats are not laid out at a steep enough angle so peoples head will block the bottom of the screen even from the very back of the premier seats. There was also a narrow window on the door to the regular seats on the left hand side of the cinema that let light in and was very distracting.........especially when people came late or went to the toilet. I found this ridiculous as most cinemas have dark hallways into the cinema so that no light can get into the cinema from the bright lobbies.

I also went to Screen 1 (row J seat 13 prem) as the ODEON is close to me..my 1st time at a cinema in years, and it will be my last for a longtime. Peoples heads blocking the screen, felt screen very small unable to see subs ..bloody walkway to jacks in the middle of the room. I will be sticking to viewing my films at home on my nice Samsung 3D TV with surround sound.

e_e · 09-05-2012 1:41am

Just because you had a bad experience in one cinema doesn't mean they're all the same. Your loss really.

pixelburp · 09-05-2012 6:58am

DominoDub wrote: »

I also went to Screen 1 (row J seat 13 prem) as the ODEON is close to me..my 1st time at a cinema in years, and it will be my last for a longtime. Peoples heads blocking the screen, felt screen very small unable to see subs ..bloody walkway to jacks in the middle of the room. I will be sticking to viewing my films at home on my nice Samsung 3D TV with surround sound.

This is an acknowledged problem with the Odeon, specific to that cinema. Cineworld on Parnelll st doesn't have that issue at all. In fact the only thing Odeon's iSense has going for it is the sound system, everything else about it is either average or (in the case of seating) below average.

Try cineworld next time.

WildBillH · 03-06-2012 3:01pm

BarackPyjama wrote: »

I really like the Odeon cinema but if it wants to survive a recession in what is essentially a ghost town part of the city, they're going to need to offer much better value. The fact that they don't even do proper loyalty cards a la Cineworld (~€20 pass for the month) in favour of their 'spend €1,000 and get a free ticket' card is another reason why I'll be going less often than I'd like to. Why not just make entry as cheap as possible? You'll still make your 1000% markup on popcorn and Coke from me!

It's much better value than that. You get 10 points for every €1 spent so every €100 to €120 gets you a free ticket or large combo. So if you're buying food as well it's more like every 5 trips to the cinema you get a free ticket. But that's not why I like it. It gets you 25% off on tuesdays and 15% of tickets booked online all week. With UCI rebranding it can be used in a few cinemas around Dublin. Anyway, I got the €9.99 card which gets you double points for a month and comes loaded with 1000 points. Got up to 3000 points in no time. And it can be used to earn points in the Costa up there. But as far as I know you can't redeem points in Costa. Once shops start opening up around there and it's worth hanging around it'll be better because, at least then if you're going to be around there anyway, if you want a coffee or some food you can go there and earn points. And there's competitions and promotions.

They do desperately need to open up shops around there though. As it stands if I'm in the city shopping and decide to see a film Cineworld is the easier option, if there was a bit more to do up around that end I'd probably find myself there more often.

Cineworld tickets are actually slightly more expensive (very slightly, less than €1 difference). So it's not really overpriced either, it's about in line with most other cinemas.

Bullseye1 · 09-06-2012 12:56pm

I attended the Tom Petty concert at the O2 during the week and decided to take a look at the Odeon while i was there. I think I'll give them a try for either Spider-man or TDKR. The place did look empty though with no one queuing.

maulikdesai1 · 05-07-2012 10:56am

Anyone seen Spiderman 3D yet in iSense? whats the feedback?

Marcusm · 05-07-2012 2:06pm

maulikdesai1 wrote: »

Anyone seen Spiderman 3D yet in iSense? whats the feedback?

Not in iSense but I saw it at the BFI Imax in LOndon last night. All looked and sounded fantastic. I even enjoyed the movie although my expectations were low!

oxygen · 06-07-2012 3:11pm

Im planning on seeing this in isense tonight. Which are the isense cinemas, are they the point village, blanchardstown and liffey valley?

G_R · 07-07-2012 3:59am

oxygen_temp wrote: »

Im planning on seeing this in isense tonight. Which are the isense cinemas, are they the point village, blanchardstown and liffey valley?

Just the point and blanch, its an odeon thing.

jony_dols · 10-07-2012 10:39am

The Isense screen was a small bit of disappointment when I saw Prometheus at the Odeon, but the fact that squeeze hot extra butter on the popcorn (unlike Cineworld's & The Savoy's overly-salty & cold servings) nearly makes the visit worthwhile!

FYI, after then seeing Prometheus in 4D in Bangkok, no cinema in Ireland will unfortunately cut the mustard!

maulikdesai1 · 10-07-2012 10:41am

jony_dols wrote: »

FYI, after then seeing Prometheus in 4D in Bangkok, no cinema in Ireland will unfortunately cut the mustard!

Wow! Prometheus in 4D. how was it?

IamMetaldave · 10-07-2012 11:16am

What's the 4th dimension? A scratch n sniff card or something?

Corkfeen · 10-07-2012 11:35am

IamMetaldave wrote: »

What's the 4th dimension? A scratch n sniff card or something?

Time actually, you can reverse the fact that you went to see Prometheus. So no time is wasted by watching the 4d version. :pac:

jony_dols · 10-07-2012 3:40pm

Corkfeen wrote: »

Time actually, you can reverse the fact that you went to see Prometheus. So no time is wasted by watching the 4d version. :pac:

4Dx is far less of a gimmick than standalone 3D; the seats slowly tilt when flying in on panoramic vistas, you can feel the wind beating against your face during the Scotland/ Silica storm scenes & the sensation of the Wormsnake whizzing past your ear. Not to mention the seats literally kick the crap of you when the Engineer goes bat**** and starts throwing everyone about. And to top it all off, it's all being shown on a massive IMAX 3D screen.

It managed to turn the 3-star disappointment that was Prometheus into a 5 star immersive experience.
Pity there ain't no cinemas kitted out for 4Dx in Europe yet, because other blockbusters such as TDKR could really benefit from it.

Klept0 · 10-07-2012 4:01pm

maulikdesai1 wrote: »

Anyone seen Spiderman 3D yet in iSense? whats the feedback?

I saw it on Sunday in iSense, quite enjoyed it! The sound quality in iSense impresses me more so than the image quality though

Bullseye1 · 10-07-2012 5:16pm

Klept0 wrote: »

I saw it on Sunday in iSense, quite enjoyed it! The sound quality in iSense impresses me more so than the image quality though

That is disappointing. I am planning on seeing TDKR as my first experience of iSense.

beglee · 15-07-2012 6:44pm

They arent showing TDKR in isense at the point odeon until the 22nd July as they are showing Spiderman instead all this week

Surely they would get more business for the dark knight, its one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the year!

EDIT: so im a retard, it aint out until the 20th, oops hahaha

Elmo · 15-07-2012 10:54pm

Went again

Don't know why? €18 (including a medium popcorn) it was 2pm. No one in the showing really and they were still asking did I want a standard seat or a premium one, I got a standard and sat in a premium one.

Though I enjoyed Spiderman.

christ on a bike! · 18-07-2012 10:06am

Hi All

I have a ticket booked in row B for the next night - Given the size of the screen would it be difficult to watch a movie so close up? I know that it usually is, just would like to hear someones opinion...

Thanks!

Klept0 · 18-07-2012 10:36am

If it's something fast paced then you might be in for a rough time, hunger games style shakey cam up that close is a nightmare from my experience :mad:

techdiver · 19-07-2012 2:57pm

Hi,

Can you guys help me out here.

I've read mixed reviews about isense in The Point Village. I've also read about the restricted view because of the bottom of the screen being obstructed. If you were to go to see TDKR in isense in The Point Village where are the best seats?

Bullseye1 · 19-07-2012 5:37pm

I've read that if your in the back row you can see the top of people's heads at the bottom of the screen. Is this the case? How could they make the mistake in designing the seating gradient.

Bullseye1 · 22-07-2012 4:24pm

Just back from seeing TDNR for the second time and first time at the iSense. Overall a good experience but not great. The gradient of the seating is poorly designed so if anyone tall is sitting in front of you your in trouble. Also the bottom 3-4 feet of the screen is redundant as a result. Sound and picture quality was excellent. Popcorn is a rip off.

jaykhunter · 23-07-2012 9:21am

Bullseye1 wrote: »

I've read that if your in the back row you can see the top of people's heads at the bottom of the screen. Is this the case? How could they make the mistake in designing the seating gradient.

It wasn't a mistake, they purposely did it to fit in more seats. It's annoying and is actually a deal-breaker. I had to manouvre my head to read subtitles :mad: (and missed out on some as well) It's hard to justify choosing that over, say, Savoy 1 when the price is cheaper (Savoy : €8.60 peak adult, Odeon : €10:50) and more central, same size or bigger screen. The sound system is v impressive in the Odeon but ya gotta contend with less seats & someone's head in your way.

Anyway give it a go to check out a new cinema but it's a bit of a hard sell.

Odeon Point Village & iSense

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