Avatar

Christine and I saw Avatar last night in IMAX 3D. Thankfully there is a new IMAX theater north of Denver so we didn't have to go all the way through town. I'm pretty sure the screen is smaller at the Orchard Center, but it was plenty good for us. (Incidentally, it's really hard to find screen sizes online.) Before the movie, they showed a preview of an upcoming IMAX 3D movie shot during the last NASA mission that went up to fix the Hubble. That looks incredibly cool. That looks like a must see movie.

On to the movie. It's not secret that I'm not a sci-fi fan (sorry Dad), but I have yet to hear someone say they didn't like this movie. I can happily say that I, too, liked it. It was frustrating to watch at times because it's a really played out story line. It's hard to watch, knowing that tragedy is just around the corner (but of course it crescendos into the happy ending we all expect). Storyline aside, the rest of the movie was pretty spectacular. The effects weren't in-your-face "hey look what we can do" bullshit. They were just part of the movie, and very well done. I look forward to watching some making-of specials about it. The sound was the next thing that really blew me away. I was amazed at the directional placement of sounds in the theater. I don't know if it was an IMAX thing or if they just paid special attention to it when making the movie, but it was surprisingly good.

Bottom line, go see this movie. It's long, though, so check out RunPee.com to find some good pee breaks if you have a bird-sized bladder.