Around 11:30, they let everyone into the theater. I have been to many Imax theaters before and was underwhelmed at the size of the screen. As midnight rolled around, nothing happened. We sat and waited, looking at a gobo that said:
Iron 2 Man
in theaters May 7
in theaters May 7
At 12:20, a theater manager came out and told everyone they could not find a key to open something for the film. We would not be able to see the film in Imax that night. However, they would give everyone a voucher for a free movie of their choice at the theater and either a refund or a seat in one of two theaters they were opening just for the disappointed Imax people. We chose the later option. A little after 12:30, the previews started. I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it.
This lead me to think of all the movies I have seen at midnight when they opened.
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith This conveniently came out the day after my last final freshman year. I saw it with Peter (the Northern California one), Linda, and my Associate.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Saw with my roommates junior year and some other BCR people in Berkeley.
- Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Same people as Pirates II, only a more mob like experience. At one point the crowd outside decided it was time to enter. Everyone walked into the building and tried to find seats with their friends in the four theaters that would show Borat. It was a great experience to laugh with that crowd.
- The Dark Knight I saw this with some of the Vietnamese Crew at Metro Pointe. That is probably the best way to describe them. They are people I know from high school who went to UCI. If you ever want to met Bui, Ngo, Pham, Nguyen, and company they are an interesting bunch.
- The Crazies Watched it in Orange with the same people as Iron Man 2.
- Iron Man 2
The Regal employees said it was a lock to open the projector that they could not find. That in itself was rather strange. There is no way that the employees would only have one key to their single IMAX screen projector.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the IMAX screen looked terribly small in comparison to the otherworldly IMAX screen at the Irvine Spectrum. The theater we went to was quite spiffy, but I would not go back there if I was looking for an IMAX theater.
Finally and most importantly, the crowd overreacted to news that the theater workers couldn't open the locked projector. C'mon, people, we were given both an immediate free screening to the film on a regular size screen and a movie pass to any Regal theater, IMAX or not. The theatergoers were all college age or older, and yet they behaved like children.
As I said while waiting for the film to start, "Human beings regress into straight up Neanderthals while in a crowd".
The theater handled the problem well and I would not hesitate to return for a non-Imax movie.
ReplyDeleteI just watched Sherlock Holmes at Chris's aunt Paula's house in Oregon. That has Robert Downey Jr. in common, and conveniently informs you that I visited Chris's family in Oregon this past weekend.
ReplyDeleteWhich segues to the question... how are you?! I've been negligent w/ the blog as of late, and have lost touch with YOU, namely.
I personally don't get all the fuss over Iron Man. Or Transformers. Or a whole slough of cgi action movies that seem to ignite some part of the male brain in mysterious ways.
I am well. My most exciting activity is a project for my MATLAB programming class. I am writing a program that will take the position and velocity of an object in the atmosphere and calculate if/when/where it will hit the Earth. This requires me to learn a new field of physics, but it is fun.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I have been doing this and that. I am planning a trip north at the end of the month which I hope will include seeing people such as yourself and some other Bay Area readers :)
More importantly, what is Linda up to? I have been lacking significant updates from life on Octavia.
I will explain the movie fuss. Many recent movies such as Iron Man and Transformers have a following from earlier incarnations such as comics, TV shows, and previous movies. These are also keyed into happy childhood memories for many people. All of this is dumped on top of all the attention any big blockbuster movie gets. Then it becomes a big deal.
As for getting the attention of the male brain, being a hero, lots of explosions, fighting bad people, and getting the girl is an often used formula.
I enjoy seeing the movies, but I do not become super excited looking forward to them.