There are many reasons for this, but like many people, I have a complete connection with movies.
The best ones get me physically, mentally and spiritually. They fill me with adrenaline from fear or excitement, or they are sensual and erotic, or they are funny and cathartic, or … you get the picture. They challenge my mind or maybe they don’t, some let me put my mind in neutral and just escape. Some are puzzles and some are philosophical. But the best ones touch my soul. They fill me with awe and joy and sadness and compassion and energy and love and anger and rage and disgust … and I feel so much. Often more than what I feel in real life.
Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel talked and wrote about this often. The movie experience is unlike any other. You sit in a dark room, while an image is projected from behind you through the darkness to the screen. A large screen filled with wonder and sound that fills your head. You are immersed in the physical and psychological experience. It works for me.
In fact I crave this experience. I want it when I fork over my money and take the time to go to the theater I want it to be this type of experience. I gladly give myself over to the great directors and cinematographers so they can tell their stories to me, for me. I share that experience with them and with all the people in the theater and with all the people who see the movie all over the world.
The movie theater experience is special, almost religious and definitely magical for me.
I don’t want it interrupted by talking patrons, crying babies, cell phones, uncomfortable seats or temperatures, bad lighting, food odors, unwelcome bathroom runs and stupidity. I respect the movie makers, the actors and the experience. It is like a contract I have with them. And if they and I are lucky, I will take that experience with me forever.
This is something you cannot fully experience at home in front of your TV, even now with these awesome screens and sound systems in the living room. It just isn’t the same. But it is getting closer. Still, I will always choose the movie theater experience for the biggest and the best movies, the ones designed to take full advantage of this experience. Most are action moves, but not all. Some are sweeping romances or period pieces. Some are simply visually stunning achievements that have to be seen to be believed.
I didn’t know too much about the movie Avatar until a month or so before it came out. I saw the big TV commercial preview during a football game and I was hooked. I would definitely be giving this movie priority when it opened on a big screen near me. Then, add in the 3D experience. Would that be good or bad? What more could I learn about this before it opened?
Well, let’s start with James Cameron, one of the best directors of all time. Most of his movies are on my Best of Lists in a number of categories.; starting with Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2, True Lies, and Titanic. He always takes the effects and the movie-making techniques to new levels. So I read how much work he put in to make sure that Avatar would make those same leaps, especially with the use of 3D.
As I read more about the story, the actors and as reviews began appearing, I knew I wanted to see this movie on a great screen in 3D.
But, as with most movies I see, I didn’t want to have this experience alone. I would ask my family if they would like to attend. I knew that it might not be Sharyn’s cup of tea, but she would give it a try. And I knew she realized how much this meant to me; the possibility of having a magical move experience. [By the way, I also feel this way at plays, concerts and other performances. I want to connect with the performers and let them become real within me, even for a brief moment.]
Of course, there is always the possibility that the hope and hype won’t hold true and the entire experience is a big letdown. This can happen because of the move, the audience or just my frame of mind at the time. Sometimes you aren’t ready for a movie and need to see it again to appreciate it, and conversely, sometime the second time tells you that the first time wasn’t as good as you remembered. Oh well, you pays your ticket and takes yer chances.
Harkin’s IMAX 3D, Christmas eve, chilly night. Rush there after work and picking up the family. Get tickets, doors to open in 20 minutes, almost 45 minutes before the show. Family goes to eat. I know I have to get in line to get in the theater early enough to get good seats. Line is long already. Stand outside for 15 minutes waiting for the doors to open. Young woman in front says she saw the move a few days ago and loved it. Had to see it again in 3D. Doors open, Walk up the steps into the theater as they hand me the big goofy 3D specs. Middle of the theater already full. There! The other side, near the top. I find four seats and spread my arms, stretch my legs to let passersby know that I have these saved for my family. We would have a good perch to experience the film. Not diminished in the front row or way on the side.
20th Century Fox logo looks good in 3D, so there is hope. Sound is awesome. And it begins.
For the next two hours and 40 minutes I was transfixed, in fact, I caught myself mouth wide open, jaw dropped low in gob smacked awe several times. I even had watery eyes a few times because of the beauty and pure genius I was seeing up on screen. I fidgeted with the 3D specs a few times, and the effect took a little getting used to, but that was a minor nuisance.
The bottom line: With Avatar, I have never seen a better, more beautiful, amazing and awe inspiring piece of moviemaking.
Avatar was a great movie on many levels. The visual effects and inspired use of 3D technology made it greater. I can go on and on about specific scenes and characters, and probably will at a later date. But, I loved the story’s characters and politics, didn’t think the dialogue was as clunky as some had reported, and thought the special effects were the best ever. In short, I believed.
I believed, and that is what I want most when I go to the movies. I was rooting for the good guys and angry at the bad guys, scared of the wildlife and thrilled at the plant life, the scenic vistas were realistic, hell, even the Na’vi were sexy beautiful. It was all stunning really.
I will be seeing this again. Alone (except for the other paying customers), I’m sure. But I will find the time very soon to see it again (at a different theater with different 3D technology this time, just to see the differences.)
Avatar is solidly in my Top 10 Films of All-Time right now, another viewing will let me digest it more fully and see where it should end up. Not sure if it can surpass the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Moulin Rouge, but if I could book a spaceship ride to Pandora right now I would.
Friday, December 25, 2009
It has been a long time ...
Well, I'm going to try to get back to blogging so I have a means of self-expression, even if no one will ever read it.
For now, how about this:
.
For now, how about this:
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)