Explore the Wonders of Pacific Island Movies

[Kerrie]

Has anyone ever experienced one of these movies? I just watched "Coral Reef" and was entranced by the beautiful film footage of the pacific islands...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I have seen many of these and they were all great. My wife just saw the Coral Reef as well. She love it! The theater at OMSI is really not as good as some others though. If you ever get the chance, watch some of these in other cities as well. Some years ago we went to the Smithsonian and spend an entire day watching these things.

 

[Zantra]

Ya I've seen a lot of those movies. Most are science and nature movies, but lately it's become mainstream, and I recently saw the last star wars movie on it.

One of the best ones I saw was a flyover of the grand canyon. at first he's flying 50 feet off the ground, but then he reaches the edge of the canyon, and it's sheer vertigo as he goes into a dive. It rocked!

 

[brum]

is this the same thing as the IMAX?

They have Matrix Reloaded playing on those now.

In fact, I may see Bugs or The Magic of Flight tomorrow.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Originally posted by brum
is this the same thing as the IMAX?

They have Matrix Reloaded playing on those now.

In fact, I may see Bugs or The Magic of Flight tomorrow.

Same thing...at least basically. We have the OmniMax at OMSI in Portland Oregon. There may some technical differences as I have seen several theater designs.

 

[Zantra]

Actually there is a difference. OmniMax theatres are domed, 360 degree visually surrounded theatres, where IMAX theatres are simply really big flat screens. I've been to both, and while the IMAX is stunning, it doesn't compare to the realism of OMNIMAX. I remember actually getting woozy at times from vertigo and other sensations while watching the OMNIMAX movies. It's that realistic.

As far as I know, there's only a half a dozen or so Omnimax theatres in the world. (the one I saw was the science center in Michigan, USA. You'll know the difference, because the projector is actually about a dozen or so separate lenses that project a different part of the image on each area of the dome. And actually it's technically only about a 120 degree angle, though they don't bill it as such, however if you're sitting in your seat, it goes back as far as you can see. And these are specially made movies just for the omni max, because you have to film it with multiple cameras and convert it to the multi-camera projectors to view it on. That's why you'll never see mainstream movies there, just science and nature films... They're custom made.

EDIT:

Apparently IMAX and OMNIMAX films are produced by the same company. The difference still lies in the dome VS the flat screen.

http://www.msichicago.org/omax/aboutomni.html

 

[Kerrie]

yes, the omnimax theather is curved to suit the periphial vision, so the film surrounds your vision...of course, the cost of the 45 minute movie is double that of a matinee...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If possible, see the one made from the space shuttle. It was as close to being there as anything I've experienced.

 

[eNtRopY]

The only decent Omnimax movies are the space and underwater exploration documentaries. I once went to one that was a dramatic movie with a plot about the discovery of panda bears by a white woman... oh my God did that suck. I was ready to go postal after wasting my time on that sh:t.

eNtRopY

 

[Zantra]

Well actually they do have a ton of them, they're just not in circulation anymore. I went about 15 years ago, which was when I saw the grand canyon one, which was awesome, and there was also one on tropical rain forests and the amazon which was decent.

 

[Tsu]

I have seen numerous movies on both screens and I actually prefer the IMAX screen. The OMNIMAX screen is made up of numerous smaller screens and I find the separations between the screens (making a faint grid pattern all over the movie) very distracting. I recently saw 'The Living Sea' and 'Dolphins' on an IMAX screen at the Polynesian Cultural center in Hawaii and they were STUNNING! Music was done by Sting (not OUR Sting - as least I don't THINK it's our Sting! ) and is MAGNIFICENT as well. 'To Fly' is another excellent one, although this one has been around for 20 years or so. As Ivan said, ANY space shuttle (or just plain space) movies are a must-see!

 

[hypnagogue]

On a trip to DC a few weeks back I saw an IMAX space shuttle movie that used 3D glasses for the whole film. Now that was pretty cool.