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Just watched Superman Returns for the second time.

Whereas the first time I pretty much enjoyed it watching at an ordinary theatre (at La Piazza 21, to be exact… where 21 is the monopolizing foreign films distributor) there were some drawbacks during my first viewing. First, there were some sound quality issues. To say the least, there were some crackles and noises during certain scenes. But I enjoyed the show, really.

This time however, I watched it at the largest movie screen in Indonesia, namely the Keong Emas IMAX theatre. For those who like to know, IMAX can be described as a ‘film format created by IMAX Corporation that has the capacity to display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film display systems.’ I first came upon the news on a Koran Tempo edition while I was waiting for my dad’s colonscopy results a couple of weeks ago. The movie has been playing since early this week, and I’ve been anticipating the viewing for awhile. Sanny was pretty enthusiast about it too (gotta admit, Mr. Routh is really gorgeous for those women). But when I first found out the ticket price was quite… hmmm.. pricey (about the same rate as an XXI show) Sanny had to think thrice about it.

After some persuasion, added with the fact my sister and her brother haven’t saw Superman Returns yet, we agreed to go this Saturday. The planning and preparation was really something. My friend Yosie unfortunately had to cancel (she was going to watch with us too), and it was a bit too late to invite others (most of the people I’ve invited had already watched it during the regular run) so in the end just the four of us go.

Now, it’s been like a decade since I’ve last went to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, and I did took the wrong turn somewhere near Alburquerque (actually, somewhere right before Pondok Indah) and after finding the entrance to TMII, we took several wrong turns around Kalimantan Timur and passed Jogjakarta (inside TMII, not the actual provinces) we finally reached our destination half an hour before show starts.

Keong Emas was quite crowded, not to mention it’s the last day of the hoidays (why does this sentence sounds a bit redundan?) and after purchasing four tickets and preparing ourselves, we entered the IMAX theatre about five p.m. sharp.

The place is huge! According to the KeongEmas.com information (right in the Selayang section), 920 economy class seats (over 2000 according to a worker there, which) and 36 VIP seats. I noticed some people willing to pay Rp100,000 for that luxurious balcon settings. Of course, the regular seats was quite pack, with most people sitting in the upper center section.
The four of us settled in the left center seats arond middle row. Satisfying view.

Here’s my impression of my first IMAX experience since my childhood: The movie was incredible, especially the main titles… seeing Rao (Krypton’s red giant star) going nova and watching the credits zooming through various space scenes was incredibally breath-taking! The sound effecs was top notch (Digital Re-Mastering they say). The Bahasa Indonesia subtitles was interestingly projected by a different projecter in a very low part of the screen (I doubt the viewers in the upper rows can read it well), but I’m not complaining: Bahasa is my second language.

My only complain I can have is about the people watching it. I was anticipating kids expressing there awes and wonders of a movie, but I got something more. There was this one kid behind me that was reading out loud the Indonesian subtitles (oh please), and then there were cell phones ringing across several scenes (what happen to the courtesy of turning off your cell during a show, or at least switching it to vibrate). Worst of all was this one lady behind me whose cell rang for quite some time, and after arguing with her kid whether to answer it or not, she picked it up and talk rather loudly.

Anyway, here’s my conclusion: Watching an IMAX show is a really wonderful cinematic experience, which best done outside school holidays and vacation.