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Ninety percent of what I see is absolute shit, so I certainly don’t need to see a 72 foot pile of it.

I like to see you sticking with your principles.

I think trying to bullshit extra money out of people by claiming 'IMAX quality' is... yes, bullshit. IMAX was never about anything but screen size. This is like me trying to sell a 'high definition' Slurpee.

In an espresso cup.

Apart from the fact that if he paid to see "star trek" he deserves to lose the money. What the hell happened to the customer is always right?

And what the fuck is that Imax quality BULLSHIT? It's either IMax or it isn't?

Fuck Twitter. Seriously. Jump off that bandwagon. Throwing a revamped Eloquent Eloquence on there isnt' gonna make me join either. I have enough trouble keeping up with Facebook but that is mainly due to my stupid obsession with Mafia Wars.

If it's not a huge screen it's not IMAX and I ain't paying extra. IMAX is scamming out and this is definitely diluting their name. This is the same bullshit as Wii Motion Plus that Nintendo is hwaking to make your controller "fully motion controlled". I'm sorry, I thought that was what I paid $250 for in the first place. I'm not going to pay extra for what should be included in the first place. Hawking an inflated ticket for "pristine picture and sound" without the ginormous screen is ridiculous. It's SUPPOSED to have pristine picture and sound anyway REGARDLESS of where you see it. It's why I spent $12 dollars a ticket instead of waiting for it to come out on Blu Ray from Netflix you stupid greedy fuckers.

Agh! I've been hoping you would revive the EE, but you're thinking of doing it on Twitter? Not right! I refuse to join that mess. It's bad enough I spend too much time on Facebook. I have to try for some semblance of a life!

As a customer service freak and a supervisor at an IMAX theater, this really pisses me off. IMAX is about the big screen, yes, but it's also about bigger film, meaning a bigger AND CLEARER picture. With a bigger screen, better picture, better sound, and better seating, you get a better experience. Seeing films like The Dark Knight or Star Trek is light years (sorry) better on an IMAX screen.
Also, IMAX theaters have something rare these days: projectionists. Someone's actually paying attention to each print, blowing dust off the plates so it doesn't look huge on the screen and constantly monitoring the film for scratches, instead of moving between 10-16 projectors.
Ansari was kind of being a dick, but if any of my other supervisors told a customer they didn't care about something, I would start helping them clean out their desk. Fucking ridiculous.

IMAX is only IMAX if you have the whole shebang.

That said there have been a wide variety of IMAX screens I've been subject to. The best was at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. It was the only one that truly took up the whole field of vision (and was projected on a curved screen). Most of the mall "IMAX" theaters have had a bigger than usual screen, but not the full field of vision screen.

Aziz was kind of a douche though. If he was so outraged he should have complained before he watched the movie. I would bet money it was also playing on a regular screen in the same theater complex. The manager could have refunded the 5 bucks and he could have walked 200 feet to a regular theater to see Star Trek.

What the hell does IMAX stand for, anyway? I was under the impression that it's "Image Maximum".

Hmmm, "Image Maximum". Which implies picture, right? This seems like common sense to me.

The thing is that you get the same effect sitting a few from a normal sized screen at home as you do sitting however far back from a 72 foot screen.

But fuck that shit, my brain doesn't know that and if I tell it it's watching a 72 foot screen it'll enjoy the hell out of it. The first thing I think of when I hear 'IMAX' is a gigantic screen, and if it isn't a gigantic screen anymore why does it still get the name?

Actually, a movie shown in IMAX isn't the same as an IMAX movie, and if Aziz wants to get all nasty about his experience, maybe he should get some info about what he's talking about before he shoots off his stupid face about it.

A proper IMAX movie is filmed with a specific camera that uses 70mm film. In turn, that 70mm film is shown using very specific equipment. Vikky is correct about everything she said concerning how the movie is run and that only specially trained people can run the equipment. It's not just some giant DVD player stuck behind a theater someplace! The IMAX experience is more than just a bigger screen, although that is how a lot of people look at it. It involves the screens (both flat and domed), sound system, projection and picture quality. No IMAX theater can be called "IMAX" unless it follows the specific guidelines by the IMAX Corporation. They do not just patch their name on random screens to make money, because that goes against the company's own policies.

If that little weasel expected to go in and watch Star Trek and it look exactly like "Africa the Serengeti" or "Hail Columbia" then he was out of luck from the outset. Regular feature length films can be formatted to be shown with IMAX equipment, but they are just larger versions of the same movie you see anywhere else, albeit they are shown larger and have the great surround sound. That is why people pay extra to see it in IMAX, a larger screen and wet-your-pants sound systems.

I know I sound very geeky about all of this, but I do graphics for our museum's theater, and are very close with the staff who runs it, and that little shit with the apparent need to talk out of his ass about something he doesn't understand could do some damage to out theater's ticket sales. You wouldn't think so, but it can definitely happen over something as stupid as this.

Also, as someone who has worked customer service for a theater, there are usually policies in place NOT to give people who have sat through an entire movie their money back. Otherwise anyone could enjoy a movie for free whenever they felt like it. I don't see that the Manager was really out of line for not giving in to that little turd, and quite honestly, if Aziz had been all up in my face talking about how many followers on Twitter he had, trying to use that as leverage to get his own way, I'd probably wedge his Blackberry so far up his ass that he'd update his status every time he farted.

I need to type it one more time - IMAX.

Pardon me for being naive, but I didn't realize there were theatres passing off regular screens with higher quality film as IMAX (but then the only one I've ever been to was the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto). Thieves! So yeah, size matters. IMAX is a big screen, a huge screen, a "I gotta close my eyes every 3 minutes or so or I'm gonna puke in my lap" screen.

Regular feature length films can be formatted to be shown with IMAX equipment, but they are just larger versions of the same movie you see anywhere else, albeit they are shown larger and have the great surround sound. That is why people pay extra to see it in IMAX, a larger screen and wet-your-pants sound systems.

Tae, that's exactly what Aziz is saying - the screen wasn't larger, so he didn't feel it was a true IMAX experience. Why do you feel the need to call him a bunch of names when you essentially agree with him?

Ansari did add another update to this post.
REAL UPDATE: THE TWITTER THING WAS A JOKE YOU ANGRY PEOPLE IN THE COMMENTS THREADS WHO CAME OVER FROM FARK OR WHATEVER, I DIDN’T SERIOUSLY “THREATEN” A DUDE WITH TWITTER. HAHAHAHA. TAKE IT EASY. ALSO, YES, I’M AWARE DARFUR IS A MORE SERIOUS PROBLEM. CHILL THE FUCK OUT!

One thing you guys need to distinguish is the difference between IMAX and OMNIMAX.

IMAX = big effing screen
OMNIMAX = field-of-vision curved screen

IMAX is NOT projected on the full field-of-vision or curved screen. Omnimax movies are specially formatted to fit the curve (usually limited to space exploration and other educational films) If you go see an IMAX movie on an OMNIMAX screen, everything along the edges is warped and distorted. It doesn't add to the theater-going experience. Quite the opposite.

However, true IMAX should be projected on a mammoth screen. It doesn't matter if you're watching better quality on a smaller screen because you can't appreciate it. It's like buying a Bluray player for the 19" TV you bought in '98. Or even a 19" plasma. Who gives a crap?

If a theater's going to start showing IMAX movies, they've gotta do more than buy a new projector and install a new sound system. They'd better gut a couple of their rooms or make major additions to accommodate. Otherwise they'd better not dare up that ticket price.

So if you're paying upwards of $15 for a movie, don't go to a museum, and don't go to a theater that doesn't have the space. Sadly, most of us are going to have to wait a few years for these opportunities to come closer.

If you DO find a theater showing true IMAX, go. It's amazing.

When I saw Star Trek at the AMC Del Amo IMAX, many of us in the audience were remarking about how the screen looked to be the same size as a regular screen. But the picture was crystal clear and sharp, so we quickly forgot the complaints.

When I exited the theater, I remembered that I had seen The Dark Night in the same exact theater at regular price, and that the screen was the same size.

So, yeah, I'm sure the scam in on. As much as I hate the Bridge with their pay-$2-for-wack-parking or $6-for-valet situation, at least their IMAX is a fucking IMAX.

If it's advertised as IMAX, it had damn well be as big as a regular IMAX screen. If it's not that big, don't call it IMAX. Otherwise you're just a bunch of cheats and liars.

IMAX = big effing screen
OMNIMAX = field-of-vision curved screen

Posted by: ShagEaredVillain at May 13, 2009 12:19 PM

I did not know that. You would think the Liberty Science Center would have the name OmniMax somewhere but it just lists IMAX and IMAX dome theater.

Jay, my experience with IMAX has been limited to nature films, nothing from Hollywood, so I'm sure I'd have the same reaction as you to the curved screen if there is distortion on the edges.

I never expected to learn so much or find people on Pajiba with actual IMAX projecting experience.

Pajiba: now with 5% actual content!

if an employee under my watch told a client "I don't care," I'd strip the skin off his taint with a wire brush and some battery acid. You do care, motherfucker, unless you want your asshole to become a puppetry access point.

Seriously. Thousands of people have been laid off for doing nothing wrong; you really think you're safe because you work at a fucking movie theater? You should be genuinely thankful for each person who comes in and spends $11 on a ticket and the same on snacks; they are the reason you can by the drugs that make you think you somehow owe them nothing.

Does anyone else read the discussion above as this...

Aziz: I sat through an entire movie, and instead of escaping into the story, I decided to bitch and moan about the latest thing that bothers me.
Guest Services: I work in a movie theater, but don't really know anything technical about film, probably because I'm in high school.
Aziz: I want an arbitrary amount of money, so I can feel good about myself. Kinda like Mel Gibson in Payback.
Guest Services: Seriously? It took the whole film to decide this?
Aziz: I don't have any free time to change the things I want to do when I want to do them, but I do have the time to waste your time. Can I see a manager? I'd like to waste his time too.

Manager: Sir, we can’t refund the money, you saw the whole film.
Aziz: I don't want the whole amount, just an amount that I'll never get. Maybe I'll make a chart later to find the exact ratio of dollars to screen size I was ripped off, but $5 sounds like I might be asking too much, or not, to other people. All my arguments go public.
Manager: Sir, I can give you popcorn and a drink.
Aziz: No, that would be an easy solution.
Manager: Sorry, you came at me like a douch, I don't want to help you anymore.
Aziz: I'm popular on a social network site, that's like being an educator or an elected official, except I don't have to offer any skills or expertise, just irrational opinions, like Ashton Kutcher.
Manager: You are annoying.
Aziz: I drive a nicer car, I have more friends. I'm on tv. Kneel before me and give me what I want, how I want it.
Manager: GRRRRR.
Aziz: GRRRRRRR!!!
Manager: Ok here are two free passes. Seriously, fuck off.

And I highly doubt that the manager said "I don't care". Seems to me like the dude just put that in to make the manager look like a dick, when all he was doing was his job.

Jay, thanks for the info on the Mall of Georgia IMAX. My internet search on whether it was true IMAX was frustrating, but you just answered my questions. Off to Buford I go.

I refuse to Twatter. Boycott Twatter now.

Pajiba: now with 5% actual content!
Posted by: twig at May 13, 2009 1:37 PM

Hahahah! twig, I totally thought that right before I read your comment.

I just re-read it.

Not for nothing, but the fact that this smarmy little fuck brings up the point that he has (sigh) "followers" on Twitter just makes him 900 times more of a cunt.

I, too, relate to the people who pointed out that he stuck through the whole (horrible) movie, and if he really gave a shit, he would've and SHOULD'VE walked out and get a refund. It's not my fault you think you can complain about something that no one else really has had a problem with. This is the first time I've ever heard of anyone complaining about the quality of an IMAX experience.

All in all, he makes himself sound like a self-important asshat. I would've thrown a drink in his face following that Twitter line he dished out.

I have a tremendous urge to make him suffocate on those two free passes.

What a twat waffle.

Really, how much better can your "better experience" get before it isn't worth a fuck?

Says someone who still remembers seeing color TV for the first time.

J Stride,

That was awesome. You'd be up for an EE T-shirt except you exceeded the 140 character requirement by about 5,234 characters.

BTW, I forgot, fuck Aziz Ansari. I don't get the appeal. We clearly agree to disagree Rowles...because he plain sucked out loud on Scrubs (I saved the clip of him getting fired on You Tube and play it from time to time, it soothes me) He's annoying on Parks and Recreation and Human Giant is meh. Good for him that he is doing so well with so little but I don't get it. Oh well, at least there's only like 2 minutes left to go in his 15.