Harvard Exit: I love the high seat-backs at this theater. The screen
is small; but sitting close makes it big enough. It's nice that the
screen is positioned relatively high so that there never is a problem
with subtitles no matter how tall the people are in front. Adequate
sound, if nothing special. No projection problems at any screening I
attended. Rating B+
Neptune: For an old theater this is really quite nice. Very good
projection and sound. Better than average seats with plenty of leg
room. It's sort of out-of-the-way; but I had no trouble getting there
and less trouble with parking than previous years (probably because it
only lasted one week and I didn't make it to that many screenings here
this year.) Rating B+
SIFF Cinema: Above average picture, very sharp, the digital
projection particularly good; exceptional sight lines due to the large
rake of the rows, adequate seats (although not nearly enough leg
room). No problems with projection and sound...but then again I saw
mostly documentaries and shorts there, nothing very challenging.
Rating B
Paramount: Only the opening film here. The projection and sound were
ok (as opposed to the horrendously muffled sound the last two opening
films at McCaw Hall.) Comfortable seats; but way too cramped.
Discovering that the full series pass didn't cover a free catalog this
year sort of started things off with a thud. Rating B-
Uptown: Above average picture (though one film with beautiful
cinematography was ruined when the projectionist NEVER got it in
perfect focus the entire 2 1/2 hours!) Adequate sound. Terrible
seats...they do allow leaning back and have ok leg room; but they were
quite uncomfortably cushioned. Watching five films in a row there
made for some back pain. The theater is rather dingy and threadbare;
but I've seen worse. However the air conditioning was consistently
turned too high especially at the front. I had to use 3 layers and
once even had to trek back to my car to get an extra jacket! Rating C+
Egyptian: I heard lots of complaints about the sound, that it was
muffled etc. Sitting up close I really didn't have a problem with the
sound for most of the films I saw here. But subtitled films
occasionally are troublesome since the rows in the front are badly
designed with no rake making it sometimes hard to see the bottom of
the screen and read the subtitles without having to constantly crane
one's neck. Nice large screen, very clear and bright. The seats are
still pretty uncomfortable, although not nearly as much so as when I
first started coming to SIFF. OK leg room, but just barely. Rating C+
Admiral: I had no trouble finding it and managed a perfect street
parking place. But the theater is OLD, the projection and sound
barely adequate, the seats pretty bad (and there was a sticky spilled
water spot right in front of my seat.) Maybe once this was a first
class theater; but carved up into a makeshift multiplex it just isn't
up to standards. Rating D
All in all, this isn't the best festival I go to for venues (the AFI
Festival in L.A. takes that prize having all the screening rooms
together in the most super-luxe theater in town, the Arclight.) But
this year it seems like I spent FAR less time waiting in lines. Most
of the venues allowed passholders into the theater very early. That's
a real positive change this year. Also there were less projection
snafus this year than in most past years. Or maybe I was just lucky
in the screenings I attended. And I have to admire that 99% of the
screenings started reasonably on time! But the incessant intros (35!,
City Arts Mag, SIFFter, TWO sets of bumpers at every screening plus
trailers...I figure that I wasted at least 4 hours of my life
watching these over and over) got old fast. At least the Pegasus
bumper was a pleasure every time it screened!
SIFF is an enormous undertaking, I do understand. And it is really
amazing how skillfully run the whole thing is. I don't want to seem
hypercritical.
respect!