Wonder Woman in 70mm

Tyler Purcell · June 12, 2017

So yea, I'm kinda surprised nobody is talking about Wonder Woman on here.

Now, I'm not a superhero guy... so it can't ever get over a 8/10 for me, even the best of Batman and the best of Ironman, is still no better then that. Honestly, I haven't seen a superhero movie since Batman V Superman and I only went to support the 70mm film print release.

Wonder Woman is a side story (back story) to the character that was in Batman V Superman. I haven't been very excited about this movie, but the fact they shot it on 35mm, are doing 70mm prints AND it was a female director, those kinda made me spend money. The good reviews helped substantially, but I was set on seeing it no matter what.

The movie... well, it is what it is. As a filmmaker, I saw right through the multiple directors, too many cooks in the kitchen and the cut-down's/re-shoots. It's hard for me to watch a modern movie, especially a big one and not over-analyze those things. Needless to say, some of the live-action dialog scenes were ok, but the action scenes were too gimmicky, relying on show-off style visual effects, rather then seriously well-done action stunts. Almost all of the big scenes were done with green screen of some kind and/or composites of some kind, which was sad. With all I read about the cast training for the production, I'm just saddened they never really let the actors do their thing.

I think the message is good, but it's too soft. I think the concepts were also good, but they were just not executed to the level they COULD have been, in order to ground it in some reality. To me, what makes a superhero movie good is it's ability to ground itself to reality of some kind. This is what Nolan's Batman films did. This is what the first Iron Man film did as well. They worked so hard to keep things somewhat grounded, but it's sad to see these modern filmmakers thinking they can make a movie in post and that somehow it will make more money. Anyway... enough with the rant.

I saw the movie over at Arclight in Sherman Oaks because it was playing in the small theater at Hollywood, where they have a Kinoton... ohh, one of my favorite projectors. They have a Century JJ over at Arclight and it was a mess last time I was over there, but it looks like they fixed all the problems because the 70mm print was outstanding. Fotokem did a great job, the color and consistency from reel to reel, scene to scene was spot on. I was surprised at how the color retention was, but that's mostly due to Stefan Sonnenfeld who worked hand in hand with FotoKem to make the prints look amazing. He also did Batman V superman, the guy does like 15 of the biggest features a year, it's insane.

Technically I felt the movie looked good, the film grain was almost non-existent. It was spherical as well, so probably 3 perf? So the negative was pretty small and it held up really well. Over-all it held up well on the big screen, usually 35mm blown up to 70 looks pretty noisy and it wasn't in this case.

Anyway, ya know if you're into superhero movies, maybe it's worth seeing? I'd give it a sold 7/10, but not much more then that. Woman power was good... but I felt it fell short.

Jesse Straub · June 12, 2017

What do you mean, multiple directors?
From what I can tell, Jenkins directed everything. Maybe she got inspiration from Snyder for the action scenes?

Tyler Purcell · June 13, 2017

What do you mean, multiple directors?

From what I can tell, Jenkins directed everything. Maybe she got inspiration from Snyder for the action scenes?

Well, I had dinner with a friend of one of the producers last night. She told me, Jenkins was really not at the helm at all. Snyder was suppose to direct it, but he had a loss in his family which prohibited him from being more involved.

When you watch the movie, you can clearly see Snyder's influence, it's everywhere and it's so hastily thrown together, it's just sad. Some of the big effects scenes were 100% fabricated in the computer, zero photographic elements at all.

Jesse Straub · June 13, 2017

Well, I had dinner with a friend of one of the producers last night. She told me, Jenkins was really not at the helm at all. Snyder was suppose to direct it, but he had a loss in his family which prohibited him from being more involved.

When you watch the movie, you can clearly see Snyder's influence, it's everywhere and it's so hastily thrown together, it's just sad. Some of the big effects scenes were 100% fabricated in the computer, zero photographic elements at all.

Huh. The impression I got from various comments by the cast seemed to indicate a very... feminine set atmosphere.

Obviously I don't know any producers, but to me the movie seemed more like "Patty Jenkins combines her and Zack's style" more than "She wasn't there".

But again, I don't have inside info, so hey.

Also, as an avid comic reader, I was pretty pleased with this movie. But then again i've enjoyed every "DC cinematic universe" movie so far. In particular, I saw Batman V Superman in 70mm and thought it was very good. (too bad the 70mm showing wasn't the Ultimate Cut that came out on Blu Ray, as that's the best version of the film).

Edited June 13, 2017 by Jesse Straub

Tyler Purcell · June 13, 2017

Ohh she was there... she just there are a lot of moving parts and she was brought in to bring a "female" element to the production. It wasn't "her movie" like Batman V Superman was Snyders.

Jesse Straub · June 13, 2017

Ohh she was there... she just there are a lot of moving parts and she was brought in to bring a "female" element to the production. It wasn't "her movie" like Batman V Superman was Snyders.

Indeed. Well, as far as superhero movies go, it felt blander that a Snyder film, but certainly no more anonymous than any given Marvel movie. Almost felt like "Snyder-lite", which I think some people might actually like, as Snyder seems to be too polarizing to be a safe bet with these 200 million dollar movies.

Edited June 13, 2017 by Jesse Straub

Tyler Purcell · June 13, 2017

Meh, they're all crap anyway. I admire Christopher Nolan for taking on the challenge of re-inventing Batman, his trilogy is pretty good. Outside of that, there are some one-off movies which are decent, the original Ironman for instance, not bad. Outside of those? Meh... I believe comic book stories should be a once a year thing like Star Wars, not every single big movie at the theaters all year long.

Manu Delpech · June 13, 2017

What is this nonsense? Snyder's tragedy impacted Justice League, he lost one of his daughters back in March and Joss Whedon is coming in to complete post production and a handful of reshoots, get your facts straight instead of spouting BS.

He was never supposed to direct Wonder Woman, not in any way shape or form (and I love Snyder), and trust we'd have heard about it from the rumor mill on Twitter if it did. Wonder Woman is the most critically loved superhero film since The Dark Knight for a good reason, it's going to be a touchstone for future generations, it's an excellent film, and yes, Patty Jenkins directed the hell out of it, not anyone else, she did, enough with the bullshit agenda here, let's not take away for her success, she's been working on the project since 2010 and finally got to do it, and she killed it.

Second weekend drop domestically is the lowest of any modern superhero film (43 %), that should tell you something. Matthew Jensen, the DP & Patty admit Snyder's style influenced some of the photographic elements for an obvious reason, and Zack has a story by credit but this is very much Jenkins' baby, and taking away the credit when a female filmmaker delivers such a hit is really crappy.

Anyway, Tyler has always been biased against blockbuster films, always predictably craps all over them, with only a handful of them from time to time finding some kind of grace in his eyes. Such cynicism....

Edited June 13, 2017 by Manu Delpech

Tyler Purcell · June 13, 2017

Dude, you live in France and get your information from social media. I live in Hollywood and get my information from people who worked on the film. Anyway, I don't know the complete story, I could care less, but I know how hollywood works and it's all smoke and mirrors. The truth is generally far from what anyone says on social media and/or in an interview. They're paid well and they only say positive things because they need to make the production look good.

Anyway, Tyler has always been biased against blockbuster films, always predictably craps all over them, with only a handful of them from time to time finding some kind of grace in his eyes. Such cynicism....

My opinion is generally formed from long/heated discussions with friends, after watching movies. I rarely share an opinion about a movie that's simply my own because sometimes I'm wrong and I like to make sure there is some truth to my feelings.

With this movie... most of my friends reported on their feelings. Some said it was ok, but not to bother seeing it at the theaters. Others said it was junk, but that was after I watched it. I actually had lunch with three of them yesterday (working on another project) and we chatted for a few minutes about WW. The consensus is meh... Another superhero movie that will disappear from our minds the moment it's gone from the theater. It was funny that even one of my non-technical friends messaged me and found the VFX to be horrible and pointed out the same egregious shots I did.

Ohh in terms of box office, WW hasn't dipped yet because there isn't anything else to see! It's made $206M domestic, in two weeks?!?!?! That's nothing man, I don't care how much the dip is, next weekend it will be 50% lower then it is now, so what another $35M? They haven't even made back their expenses yet as it costs around $50M just to market these things.

Frankly, I'm happy these big movies aren't making the money the studio's expect them to make.