The Master Returns To Chicago As Part Of Music Box's 70 mm Film Fest
By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 11, 2013 7:00PM
The ocean waves boiling beneath the ship's propellers. A sky so blue the usual adjectives are rendered woefully inadequate. When the first shot of The Master unfurled onto the screen at the Music Box's 70mm presentation last year, the entire audience gasped. That's the power of the format, one that relatively few modern audiences have had the chance to experience. Properly projected, a 70mm print has a clarity and vividness that's rivaled only by IMAX, and the Music Box is the only remaining theater in Chicago that's still equipped.
They've heard our pleas: the Music Box Theatre 70mm Festival entails two weeks (Feb. 15 - 28) of wondrous wide-gauge celluloid, including an encore of Paul Thomas Anderson's divisive enigma. The rest of the lineup:
Vertigo
2001: A Space Odyssey
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Lord Jim
Lifeforce
Playtime
West Side Story
Hamlet
While we could quibble that some of the prints from Lincoln Center's recent 70mm retrospective are absent (no It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World for example), that seems like needless grumbling. Certainly, no self-respecting movie lover should miss the chance to see 2001 and Playtime this way, and Tobe Hooper's completely nutso sci-fi horror flick is an intriguing addition. Cigarettes & Red Vines has a fantastic primer on 70mm that you should check out—right after you buy some advance tickets.
Tickets for all film screenings will be $9.25. The Music Box Will also offer 70 very special 70mm passes for $70 that will give the holder admission to every screening of every film in the series; more info here.