THE END OF OAK STREET

But first, let’s start with the adverts and trailers. Today, there were only three trailers.

The 5.1 and 7.1 sound was rich, warm and sounded absolutely fantastic during both the adverts and trailers.

The Atmos logo was stunning, and for once I actually heard some surround activity during the logo. Sadly, though, the surrounds were not loud enough. I never hear anything from the ceiling speakers, but then again, who actually does?

Unfortunately, once the movie started, there was nothing particularly rich or dynamic about the Atmos sound reproduction. This seems to be quite common with Atmos movies these days, which is one of the reasons I often prefer watching films in 7.1.

Compared with the IMAX 6-channel sound which I experienced the other day whilst watching The Odyssey.

The Atmos presentation today simply didn't come close to matching the richness, power and dynamics of the IMAX 6 sound.

Now, onto the feature itself: The End of Oak Street.

The End of Oak Street was written and directed by David Robert Mitchell.

When a film is released in mid-August, it can sometimes give the impression that the studio didn't have enough confidence in it to place it in one of the prime summer release slots. August can often feel like a quieter period for films that perhaps didn't quite fit into the main holiday schedule.

Sadly, I found the film to be very amateurish. The acting from these two great A-list stars was surprisingly poor, and that makes me feel the direction may have been largely responsible. The entire film revolves around one particularly annoying family, which became rather exhausting after a while.

The land of the dinosaurs, which we see in the trailer, also looked rather underwhelming. The film initially tries to capture a very Spielberg-like feeling, but unfortunately that atmosphere doesn't last for very long.

However, there was one real highlight — Brian.

Today, Brian was the absolute superstar and, for me, the best part of the entire performance. In fact, it was almost worth watching the film just to see Brian do his thing at the end. He was absolutely brilliant!

The final frame of action faded out, followed by the main star talent and then the producing talent, each appearing individually on screen. There was no action playing underneath the credits, just a static black card with a tiny gold-dinosaur outline. This remained on screen for around a minute.

Then, as soon as the roller started, the house lights came up.

You honestly couldn't ask for better timing than that. Brian was 100% perfect with his timing!

I got up, ran up the stadium seating steps and, in my excitement, I could practically have been doing somersaults. I was absolutely delighted!

Scores:

Ads and TLS 5.1 & 71 : 10/10

Atmos Sound : 1/10

Direction: 1/10

Acting : 1/10

Brian : 10/10