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« on: December 28, 2010, 02:21:16 AM »
The West Warren IMAX is pretty damn nice, although I think it would have been better in the long-term to build the facility downtown. I'm sure that for many of you IMAX theaters are old hat, but it was a first time (unless you count the cosmosphere) and was definitely something to remember.
I got there a bit too close to showtime, however, and had difficulty finding good seats. It was basically a choice between the side, the top, or the very bottom. In the end we decided to take a couple seats dead center in the very top row. From that vantage point the picture and sound were great even if the picture wasn't "larger than life" as it surely would have been if I had managed to grab seats in a lower row. At one point I had to get up and use the restroom. On my return I watched for a few minutes down in the extreme front, and 60 foot screen was incredible and still nearly crystal clear. There was a bit of a scaling problem from that vantage point, but it was pretty cool. I returned to my original seats.
The movie itself was supremely stunning, at least visually. The story itself was compelling enough but not anything really noteworthy. Bridges and the Bowie clone both gave really good performances and the rest of the cast didn't detract from the real star of the show, the visual amusement park. The action, the color, the clarity, it was all spectacular even from the very top row.
I would definitely recommend and I may see it again myself.
BTW, it is nice seeing Jeff Bridges getting the credit I've always thought he deserved after all these years.