Going to PoA at IMAX -an interesting experience

[Diana]

I went to see PoA the IMAX theater tonight and it was quite an 
interesting experience in several unusual ways.  

The IMAX theater had cardboard decorations on the walls going into 
the theater to make it look like stone walls and there was a string 
of lights on the ceiling that were designed to look like flames as 
well as a hanging light with blowing orange tissue flames that 
looked like a miniature version of the large flaming bowls that hang 
in the great hall in the movies.  My son went to the bathroom and 
came back laughing because the theater had the sounds of sniffling, 
crying and moaning noises along with a loud splashing noise in the 
bathroom as if Moaning Myrtle was haunting the toilets and had 
suddenly flown down one of them!  I wish I'd visited the ladies room 
to see if they were playing those noises in them too!  :(  Darn!

Once in the theater, we were treated to a short audio and visual 
presentation about IMAX, which lit up the area behind the screen so 
we could see the speakers behind it and hear the crystal clear sound 
(and was it ever!) of the speakers all over the theater.  
Immediately after this presentation ended, an audience member said 
loudly into the silence "sweet!", which made everyone laugh.  

The movie began straight away and the overall picture was much 
lighter with lots more detail visible.  For example, we could see 
the details in Harry's bedroom window immediately the first time it 
lit up.  The rainy streets of Little Whinging that Harry walks down 
after leaving the Dursleys was not nearly as dark for another 
example.  And everything *definitely* looked grittier and dirtier.  
Everything from the Leaky Cauldron to the Hogwart's Express to the 
desks in the DADA classroom to the teacups in Trelawney's class 
looked well-worn from years and years of usage.  

This is my fourth time seeing this movie, so this didn't bother me 
that much, but for about the first fifteen minutes of the movie, the 
sound syncrhonization of the movie was a tiny bit off (about 1/2 a 
second).   Amazing how we can pick up this teeny detail in sound.  

Anyway, during several scenes in the movie, the first time when 
Harry was approaching Buckbeak in the distant shot, the picture went 
blurry, but then immediately corrected itself.  It happened again 
when Harry had just fought the boggart dementor and was sitting with 
Lupin talking about his happy thought.  The screen blurred again a 
couple more times, each for only about 1/4 of a second.  I have no 
idea why it did this.

The Quidditch scene was much more enjoyable because I could see more 
details, including facial expressions, in the crowds of students, 
Dumbledore and McGonagall and in Harry's reaction to the dementors 
and Diggory's (if they admit it was him) reaction to being hit by 
lightning.  

The whomping willow attacking Harry and Hermione was even better 
visually as every little twig on that mean tree was in sharp 
detail.  And, after four viewings, I too am being to wonder how 
Hermione threw Harry into the tunnel and then threw herself into the 
tunnel afterwards...but I digress....

Then we reached the part of the movie where Snape had just come out 
of the tunnel under the Whomping Willow to yell at Harry, Hermione 
and Ron while not realizing werewolf Lupin was behind him....and the 
screen went black, yet the sounds in the movie continued, consisting 
of mostly snarling and growling.  The audience looked around and 
after about 10 seconds of this, the film stopped.  Everyone 
went "awwwwww" and one lone voice howled like a wolf....the audience 
all laughed.  The bulb must have went out on the projector because 
the next thing we saw on the screen was the shadow of a VERY large 
hand screwing in a lightbulb.  LOL  The movie started again with 
werewolf Lupin being jumped by dog Sirius to distract him from Snape 
and the trio, so we missed the werewolf giving the smackdown to 
Snape.  :(  

The movie continued on to the end with no more interruptions or 
distracting goofs.  What was surprising that no one in the audience 
was in a bad mood or fussing to the theater employees about the 
glitches in the presentation.  It truly was amazing how good a mood 
the audience members were in after so many glitches.  I know I 
didn't sweat it (it was kind of funny at times, actually), but 
usually there's at least one complainer at a movie with 
glitches....but not at this one, remarkably.  

Some observations:

>From the minute that Hermione turns the time turner in the 
infirmary, an audible, yet subtle, ticking noise was in the 
background of every scene until Harry and Hermione returned to the 
infirmary.  I noticed a lot of the sounds were much better - some of 
the dialog that seemed muffled on earlier viewings was clear as a 
bell here.  And details which were too dark to see in earlier 
viewings were also much more visible on this enormous screen.  It 
was quite easy to play "spot the fake rat" for instance.... <g>

The color scheme seemed much less bleak with the lighter look of the 
movie.  Other posters have said that the movie looks much better 
lighter and they are absolutely right!  I really noticed this time 
that the contrast between Snape's black outfit with white sleeves 
and the greyness of the Shrieking Shack and greyness of Sirius's 
clothing was so sharp it almost looked like Snape was a cardboard 
cutout inserted into the scene!  It made me think of the possible 
underlying message of this marked contrast; perhaps Snape sees 
everything in black and white and Sirius sees things with shades of 
grey?

The marauder's map at the end credits was a real treat because all 
those little details hidden in the map were easily readable.  

And I really noticed Hermione's comment in Snape's DADA class that 
werewolves only respond to the call of their own kind - emphasized 
no less by Malfoy's wolf howl in class!  Those words came back to me 
when Hermione howled to call the werewolf away from Harry.  It makes 
no sense why a werewolf would pass up a ready target (meal?) like 
Harry to go running after a different, out-of-sight target....unless 
it thought it might find....a mate?  I'm now really believing that 
Hermione might have some adventures with a werewolf in book 6 or 7.  
Hermione as a werewolf - how scary would that be?    

Another new detail I noticed due to the huge screen was Harry's 
rather upset and irritated expression to Ron when Ron refused to go 
back upstairs with Harry to return Trelawney's crystal ball.  
Harry's really annoyed and I can't see why he would be so noticably 
annoyed with Ron about such a small thing....and why Ron wouldn't 
notice this and concede to go back up the stairs with Harry.  Makes 
me really wonder.

Okay, that's my long-winded observations about a memorable 
experience at the IMAX theater.

Diana L.
dianasdolls