The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D!
 

Ok, I'm so there! Who else is going to want to go?

Here's the trailer

I am a bit cynical about films never made for 3-D being somehow converted to the gimmick.

On the other hand ... last year was the first I've skipped the annual NBC at the El Cap. Maybe this is the way to get me back. Dunno.

Chicken Little used this process. The 3D was amazing, far better than the movie itself. Can't wait 'til they do Star Wars!

I'm there! I'm a sucker for 3-D, and the Digital 3-D on Chicken Little was flawless, with no eyestrain (and some really cute glasses). I'll be curious to see how well this movie translates, since it does involve converting a "flat" source, as opposed to Chicken Little, which existed in full dimensional form in the computer. And I'm very curious to see how pending live action fare like Lord of the Rings looks. (On the other hand, I'm through with Star Wars, in any format, anywhere. But that's another topic.)

The original JAWS in 3-D, well, I'd be camped out at the box office. (yeah, I know...)

I wondered how they could transfer it over to 3D also. But I have never even seen it on the big screen, so I'll enjoy it I'm sure!

I still have nightmares of that leg with the tennis shoe - do I really need that in 3D?

Sure you do!

with Smell-o-vision too! :D

Eww, the smell of ocean fish and decapitations? No thanks, I'll pass.....

Ok, let's pick a date!




(for NBC, that is)

We've already got our tickets for the El Capitan for October 19. It's opening night, and there's a panel discussion. I've been saying for years that I need to see the movie again, so this was a great excuse.

I highly recommend the panel discussions. We saw the panel discussion for Lady and the Tramp.

We saw a poster for it outside the MK on Sunday... all I could think was "cool". I'm there. I am so there.

this will be exciting :)

Are we all talking the 19th then???

I cant wait to see it :)

Um, I'm gonna be at the El Cap tomorrow night for Little Mermaid. If I purchase tix for the 19th, will I be eating popcorn by myself or will I inspire a landslide of participation???

I will try to get tix for the 19th also. I will try, try, try!!

How was it? I really wanted to go last night, but I already had plans to go to a concert so couldn't make it. We're going Saturday night.

Heheh, it was beyond awesome. Someone will undoubtedly start a thread (or perhaps I will).

I got my tickets for Sun, Oct. 22 at 7PM.

There is no way I can make it from OC to LA by 6:30 after work.

Ok, I'll rally round Sunday the twenty-second.

Sorry, I'm going Sat the 28th (So it's close to Halloween):snap: .

My mom bought the tickets, and I kept forgetting to ask her the date!:rolleyes:

Depsite fearing GD's fists of death, I must say that I'm not a big fan of this film. I love the make over for HM, but the movie is a snoozefest. I love the art direction but the movie as a whole doesn't do it for me. BUT I would see this in 3D just to see what they've done with it. But I doubt it will change my mind about the film...

I know what G.C. means. I was not a fan of this movie at first. It's got serious pacing issues, and I can commisserate with anyone who finds it a "snoozefest."

But after deciding to view it on its own terms of less than perfect story construction, its other factors overwhelmed any qualms I had about its defects.

This seems to have been the effect on the general populace, too. NBC was not particularly well received in its initial release, but has gone on to become a cult classic, and phenomenally popular over time with the general public.

This speaks to me of qualiites more valuable than mere entertainment.


Besides, who could fall asleep ... now that it's in 3-D??? :eek:

I'm trying to think of some good 3D moments in this film. I'm thinking Zero will be cool to watch and the sleigh too. But I can't think of many others. I guess the ghosts popping out here and there during the 'This is Halloween' song...

Lock, Shock and Barrel jumping Santa when opens the door.

That is the 3-D moment I am waiting for.

It took me a good 10 years to see it for the first time. Then with the HMH overlay, I became more interested. Then with some of Tim Burtons' other films, I realy got to liking the art of it, as well as the music.

In my original post I put the link to the trailer which shows some of the 2D shots that would make great 3D.

I haven't seen the movie in quite some time. We kept saying every year that we should see it before HMH but never got around to it. The 3D theatre screening seemed like a great excuse to finally see it again.

I don't know if there are necessarily good "3D moments". I'm looking forward to seeing it though. The way they did 3D with "Chicken Little" was to basically make it more realistic looking, not just for "stuff-popping-out shock value". For that movie, I spent about 10 minutes doing the "wow, this is awesome" thing with the effects, and then after that, there might have been occasional moments of that, but mostly, it was just a part of the film. I'm hoping that's what they did with "Nightmare". It becomes less of a gimmick and more just enhancing the viewing experience.

I agree. But if it's not that good, there is still the original to fall back on. No harm, no foul (except the price of the ticket).

When we lived in a place where kids actually came by, it was our custom to watch NBC on Halloween night. I miss that. (Where we live now, we're lucky if we get two groups of trick-or-treaters all night).

So now you can watch it without all of the distractions having to answer the door!;)

Nah, I prefer getting the kids. Now (when we can), we go to a friend's house.

And we used to give away full sized candy bars!

May I come trick-or-treat at your house? ;)

I'm wondering it it's more common now for kids to trick-or-treat in malls or other organized enclosures. With all the stupid people doing things to candy and kids, it seems like it's not as safe anymore for kids to go to random strangers' houses.

You know, I saw a special on TV a year or two ago that said the stuff in candy was only an urban legand. They couldn't find one police station or hospital that had documented any of it. They also had a bunch of Halloween candy xrayed and found nothing. And the radiologist said they never have found anything in all the years they have been checking the candy. It's the rumor that started the fear that ruined Halloween!
Yah, I agree. We have been getting more at our house the past few years. But it's not like it was when I was a kid. I could run the streets until 1 am eating all the candy I wanted with no problem (if it was on a Fri. or sat. night). I still remember feeling like I was hung over the next day from being out all night, walking 50 miles, and crashing from a sugar high! And now that my kids are too old, it's not as fun either. Oh well.

Last Halloween was the first time as an adult I wasn't living in a security locked apartment building. Now we're in a large sprawling apartment complex with lots of kids so we had candy on hand.

Not a single kid came by. Apparently all the suburban moms take their kids to "official" trick-or-treating events at the local malls and downtown commercial districts.

I always hated Halloween (or, rather, I hated trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes, the rest of it was fine) so from about age 6 I was left at my grandparents while my mom took my sisters out. So I gave out candy all evening. My grandparents kept a tally of how many kids came by and when I was doing this with them a couple hundred would over the course of an evening.

Same house, same neighborhood last year apparently they had 30 kids come by.

I'm afraid trick-ortreating is a lost art.....

We went to the screening last night at the El Capitan. Traffic on Highland was a nightmare so I ended up being a little late for the panel discussion, but it was still fun. However, I completely forgot to bring the camera, so I suck. The two box seats on either side of the stage were nicely decorated. The right side had Jack as the pumpkin king, and the left side had the monster snake thing that's the fountain in Halloweentown

Highlight was having Ken Page there and he sang Oogie's song live.

Movie itself was good. It's been ages since I've seen it, so it was nice to see it again, and while I like the movie, I've confirmed I'm not a "Nightmare" fanatic - I really just like how they incorporated it as HMH.

We went next door after the movie, and it was a madhouse. It's a little place as it is, and *lots* of people were in line to buy merchandise. Add to that the people waiting for a table at the Soda Fountain, and then add to *that*, the moderator of the panel discussion has a "Nightmare" book out, and he was doing a book signing in a little space sorta in the middle between the Studio Store and the Soda Fountain. Packed madhouse.

The Studio Store has a lot of "Nightmare" merchandise, but I don't know how much of it is new. The store was nicely decorated though, with "Nightmare" stuff in the window and an arch with Jack's head over the main merchandise. They also had some nice pins, including a 3-D one with the gang at the movies in their 3-D glasses and another one with Jack and Sally sharing a sundae with Oogie serving them.

We also went to the Soda Fountain. It took a lot longer last night to get a table than on previous visit. They didn't seem to have enough people working because there would be empty tables that weren't being cleared for a while, and even after they were cleared, they wouldn't seat people there for a while.

The Soda Fountain has added a lot more food items, which started last night. They have soup in a breadbowl, chili in a breadbowl, pastrami sandwich, french dip sandwich, tuna salad sandwich, BLT and Mickey Mouse Belgian Waffle. There's also a special dessert called Jack and Sally's Treat which has two scoops of pumpkin pie ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and sprinkles. It also comes with a pin - the Jack ears pin. The pumpkin pie ice cream was pretty tasty, though it's very rich - even with both of us sharing one sundae, we didn't finish it.

There's also a new pin trader's delight sundae, which is pretty much two scoops of whatever ice cream you want, hot fudge, marshmallow good, whipped cream, Mickey sprinkles and a cherry, and that comes with a special pin as well.

We left at about 10:40, and there was already a line for the 12:15 showing - all three shows last night were indicated as being sold out. Since they won't be having the book signing on other nights, that will help the crowds, but if you're gonna shop at the store, going before the movie is probably a better bet if you can get there early enough. I like that they've added more food items to the Soda Fountain so you have more choices.

They're gonna make a boatload of money during this run of "Nightmare".

I'm going to see it in 3D this Sunday - I'm looking forward to it ! The cinebuzz club I'm a member of had tickets for $8.00 each ! :snap:

Kool! I hear it's going to be grand!

But I'll pay my $22 to get VIP seats at the El Cap, with reserved seating, popcorn, drink, and no waiting in line, thank you very much!:D

Not to mention the pre-show, the Soda Shop next door, and art display in the basement. Oh, and the fact that it is on Hollywood Blvd. so we can spend some extra time looking around. ;)

Pshaw !! Who needs all that ?

*looking around*

:D

I went last Sunday and took pictures of the decorations, original figures, etc....

I wrote a little recap of the day with photos and posted it on MC. You can CLICK HERE to see it.

I'm still hoping to catch it somewhere, if not at the El Cap.

But frankly, I'm dismayed by the method that was used to make the film 3-D. Apparently, every character and set and object was scanned into a computer, and everything was completely recreated and recomposited as computer imagery. Reportedly, this results in seeing even more detail of the original puppets and sets .... but I feel as if I'm not watching the original puppets and sets.

I guess, in a way, photography provides just as much of a false image of the puppets as a computer scan of those puppets ... but I feel very odd and displeased that I would not be seeing the painstaking stop-motion work done by human artists, but rather computer scans of that work. It just doesn't quite sit right with me.

Strangely, I wouldn't so much mind a computerization of hand-drawn 2-D animation ... but computerizing the stop-motion work sorta bugs me.


(And I also find it strangely amusing that the new Aardman film, Flushed Away, uses computers to generate characters in the exact style of their previous hand-wrought claymation efforts.)

PEZZ Lightyear, heehee. You Goon, you. ;)

Great report!

Here were my thoughts on it. It comes from the perspective of a person who isn't a big fan of Nightmare Before Christmas (I like everything about it except the songs, which are repetitive and too long).

Its still not perfect (at least to my vision, but I complained about things other people didn't notice), but I was impressed by the 3D.

And now, from what more I've learned, you view the digitized new film with your right eye, and the original puppet film with your left.



weird.





* * * * * * * * *

I have the day off on Halloween, so I think I'll go up the El Cap and see it on the appropriate day.

Back in '93, I had the same reaction to the music as Alex, but once I came to view the piece as an operetta rather than a musical ... overlong and repetitive music became acceptable part and parcel of the genre.

Maybe that is why I'm not keen on opera like other forms of musical theater.

Wait, where's the link?

Overlong and repetitive??? <faints>

Dido..

Well, today's the day!! We are going tonight (my mom and I, my wife still can't get out :( :( )

We plan to go early and check out some of the area, and go to the shop next door, get something to eat. Then we will see the movie at 7:00, and drive home rather than fight the crowds after the movie.

:snap: :snap:

Dido??? <faints>

Ok, in prepping a CD for a party I'm going to tonight that has a Tim Burton theme, I have listened to all of The Nightmare Before Christmas and I've arrived at the problem some people have with the songs ....


.... they're not sung.




There are ten songs, Jack is the lead or only vocalist on 6 of them. He Rex Harrisons through each of these, only breaking into song for tiny smidges. The rest is all spoke-sung.

Ditto with Oogie on his song, and Lock, Shock and Barrel on Kidnap the Sandy Claws, where only the chorus is actually sung. On Making Christmas, the company sings the chorus, and the rest is Rex Harrisoned by Jack. Similarly, he sings only the chorus of Jack's Lament, and speaks the rest.

The melodies of these songs are carried solely by Danny Elfman's score. This is very unusual, and I can see how an initial reaction would be to find the songs tiresome. They certainly are odd in this way.

I've come to rather like them, though. Perhaps the spoken cadence of the songs is a way to properly translate the source material, which was - of course - a poem on the order of Twas The Night Before Christmas crossed with Dr. Suess. Perhaps cadence-speak gets this concept across better than actual singing. Who knows?

In any case, with the songs largely spoken, not much straight dialogue outside those spoken songs, and wall-to-wall musical score that permeates the entire piece, it really is much more of a strange operetta than the standard musical that some may have been expecting.

It's really got its own unique style. I, too, found it offputting at first. But the basic story, the visuals, the characters, and the enjoyable music sucked me in for repeat viewings ... and I grew to quickly love the quirky song-things.




Yep, definitely going to see an El Cap matinee on Halloween.

:blush: Oops :blush:

Ditto....

I didn't mean dildo or anything. Sorry.:rolleyes:

I like the music, and pop in the CD once in a while in the car. But, I kinda dig show tunes as well, and have come to like musicals. Not opera, though.

WOW !! I mean, they really got the 3D done well. THere were a few moments when they broke the fourth wall, but those moments were tasteful and appropriate.

One trap I doscovered is sitting in an aisle seat (as I like to do) I was getting lights from the stairs behind me reflecting in the glasses lens. I had to cup my hand to the side of my glasses a couple of times, but next time I will either book the middle of a row or the last row.

Kudos to Disney for this. I LOVE their new 3D logo - yummy! and to get to see "Knick Knack" again in 3D was a blast !!!

I agree, it was done VERY WELL! I got the balcony VIP seats which are GREAT! Very center third row. Close to the screen, and up so you are looking almost center high as well. Very nice. Way to crammed on space, though. I couldn't move my feet at all, and there is no way I could have left without having to empty the row! Yikes!

And I couldn't find the basement display thingy. Do you have to ask for it?

The cramped leg room and the 1 1/2hr drive there is enough to keep me from going often. But for something special like this, it's worth it.

Did you not find the basement (which is accessed from the door next to the concession stand) or not find the exhibit once in the basement (which is hard for me to imagine).

No, you don't have to ask for it. At least for the press screening there was a sign in the lobby directing people down there.

I couldn't find the basement. Which consession stand, the downstair one? I was in the balcony so I didn't get over to the downstairs one. So that's where they hid it, huh? Oh well. It was such a crowded zoo, that you couldn't see the forest for the trees and I just wanted out. I don't know if it was worth it. I saw some of those types of models at the Disney gallery above POTC at DL. I wasn't too thrilled.

Do you think it would have been worth fighting the crowds to see it, Alex?

Depends on how interesting you find seeing the actual original. Personally, I've never much been impressed by seeing actual movie props so no, not for me.

It was interesting to see what size they were working with though.

It's a little interesting to me, but like I said I've already seen some of it at DL. So, probably no loss.

Thanks!

See you Sunday at MA! I hope it's not as crowded as it was yesterday!

~Bob

Strange how you have to go downstairs to find the basement. ;)

Unless you're in the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

I'm going to see it tonight! Can't wait to see it! Fun fun!

Yes, but you have to go downstairs from the upstairs consession stand to get downstairs also. Got it? :D

There are two consession stands (but I assume there wouldn't be a door to the basement form the upstairs).

Went to see Nightmare last night at El Cap. The models were great too look at.

The film looked and sounded great. I really enjoy the 3D, even though it doesn't work as well with my eyes.

My big issue regarding the presentation is that all the trailer(s) and whoopla is all in 3D. So after 15 minutes of being exposed to the 3D images, you finally get into the film and I really think that takes away from the presentation of the actual film. By the time it gets to the actual movie the "wow" factor as subsided quite a bit.

Yes, while I can find myself not realizing that it was 3D, it looked great the whole time. And then a scene would come up that would be a wow moment to remind me.

You do realize you just said "you have to go downstairs from upstairs", right? ;)

Poor RStar is having a rough time in this thread :D

You guys are great!:D

I love the playfull bantering.

I'm glad you noticed!:cool: