Friday
26Jun2009
Revenge of the Help, I've Fallen, and I can't get up!
Friday, June 26, 2009 at 4:06AM
Last night was a unique event in Birmingham, hosted by The McWane Center. It was called Autobots, Beer & BBQ, and it was quite a fun evening!
For the price of $20 per person, you had access to the entire McWane Center, you had all-you-could-eat BBQ, a couple of beer tickets, and a ticket to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in the IMAX DOme Theater. All in all, I thought it was an incredible value for the money (the ticket to the movie itself would've been $10 alone), and so my brother and I decided to go. The wife isn't too keen on the IMAX...kinda makes her nauseous.
After parking and heading in, we meet up with some other friends of ours that are joining us. We get our food and our beer and hang around for a bit. For those that have never been to the McWane Center, I highly encourage you to go. It's a lot of fun, even for big kids.
They had some beers there that wouldn't have been available except for the passage of the Free The Hops bill in the state of Alabama. They had Terrapin, Yazoo, Lazy Magnolia, Highland, and Boulevard. Mostly pale ales all, except for the Lazy Magnolia, which was Southern Pecan. All good beers and very tasty.
I ended up running into several people I knew there...I saw Trish and Richie, and Alan and Sarah who were all hanging out together. It was fun to catch up with them for a while. I also saw my wife's cousin and his wife there as well.
The movie was set to begin at 8:15pm, and around 7:45pm people started making their way to the entrance of the theater. Our group made their way near the front and had a pretty good spot for claiming good seats. Anyone who has ever sat in an IMAX theater can attest...you do NOT want to be at the bottom! We got in and made our way up, up, up...about 2/3rd's of the way up, we claimed a row and saved seats for those still making their way in.
We all managed to get on the same row which was cool, but I hadn't realized how small these seats were in comparison to the seats I'm used to at the Rave...smaller and definitely not as much leg room. It's one thing if you're sitting there watching the standard IMAX movie that lasts 30 minutes...it's another thing altogether if you're there watching a movie that lasts well over 2 hours, which this one did. Combine that with the always having to crane your neck up and down, and it made for a bit of an uncomfortable movie experience.
The movie itself was what I expected it to be...a lot of robots fighting, quick moving action, cheesy humor and the hotness of Megan Fox. Totally worth the price of admission there, folks. But the story (such as it is) doesn't really pull you in like the last one did. I don't know...maybe if I wasn't having to physically strain myself to watch the movie, I might've enjoyed it a bit more.
I didn't dislike the movie in any way; I just think it was all over the place. The experience of seeing a movie in an IMAX theater was a bit overrated for me. I mean, it was just the standard movie, stretched over the IMAX screen. I think movies NOT made for IMAX but shown in an IMAX movie theater are a bit lacking.
But overall, the night was fun and it certainly was a unique way to experience the movie. It was great hanging with friends and seeing some old friends as well. Next up...Harry Potter...but I'll leave the IMAX alone and just stick to the Rave Theater from now I think.
For the price of $20 per person, you had access to the entire McWane Center, you had all-you-could-eat BBQ, a couple of beer tickets, and a ticket to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in the IMAX DOme Theater. All in all, I thought it was an incredible value for the money (the ticket to the movie itself would've been $10 alone), and so my brother and I decided to go. The wife isn't too keen on the IMAX...kinda makes her nauseous.
After parking and heading in, we meet up with some other friends of ours that are joining us. We get our food and our beer and hang around for a bit. For those that have never been to the McWane Center, I highly encourage you to go. It's a lot of fun, even for big kids.
They had some beers there that wouldn't have been available except for the passage of the Free The Hops bill in the state of Alabama. They had Terrapin, Yazoo, Lazy Magnolia, Highland, and Boulevard. Mostly pale ales all, except for the Lazy Magnolia, which was Southern Pecan. All good beers and very tasty.
I ended up running into several people I knew there...I saw Trish and Richie, and Alan and Sarah who were all hanging out together. It was fun to catch up with them for a while. I also saw my wife's cousin and his wife there as well.
The movie was set to begin at 8:15pm, and around 7:45pm people started making their way to the entrance of the theater. Our group made their way near the front and had a pretty good spot for claiming good seats. Anyone who has ever sat in an IMAX theater can attest...you do NOT want to be at the bottom! We got in and made our way up, up, up...about 2/3rd's of the way up, we claimed a row and saved seats for those still making their way in.
We all managed to get on the same row which was cool, but I hadn't realized how small these seats were in comparison to the seats I'm used to at the Rave...smaller and definitely not as much leg room. It's one thing if you're sitting there watching the standard IMAX movie that lasts 30 minutes...it's another thing altogether if you're there watching a movie that lasts well over 2 hours, which this one did. Combine that with the always having to crane your neck up and down, and it made for a bit of an uncomfortable movie experience.
The movie itself was what I expected it to be...a lot of robots fighting, quick moving action, cheesy humor and the hotness of Megan Fox. Totally worth the price of admission there, folks. But the story (such as it is) doesn't really pull you in like the last one did. I don't know...maybe if I wasn't having to physically strain myself to watch the movie, I might've enjoyed it a bit more.
I didn't dislike the movie in any way; I just think it was all over the place. The experience of seeing a movie in an IMAX theater was a bit overrated for me. I mean, it was just the standard movie, stretched over the IMAX screen. I think movies NOT made for IMAX but shown in an IMAX movie theater are a bit lacking.
But overall, the night was fun and it certainly was a unique way to experience the movie. It was great hanging with friends and seeing some old friends as well. Next up...Harry Potter...but I'll leave the IMAX alone and just stick to the Rave Theater from now I think.
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