If it's a good action type of movie, it's really worth it.  Captain America: Winter Soldier was one of the best done and I've seen about 5 movies there.

(You can adjust the setting to low, medium or high, with medium being default.  I always set it to high, and Captain America was the first time I actually almost spilled my drink because it was moving so much--good movement, not distracting.  It's not as crazy movement as like the rides that use that kind of technology (Star Tours, etc.), but enough to add a dimension to the viewing experience, and usually you get the IMax 3D or some other type of high end experience coupled with it.  Also, you get your own seat, so no sharing of armrests or anything like that, which is my pet peeve--plenty of personal space.)

Catching Fire was pretty good, and the latest Hobbit movie was also pretty good, especially the river barrel scene and the dragon scenes at the end.  I haven't watched a horror movie in it yet, and I wonder it that would add anything to it.

That sounds awesome. I'd never heard of it, but there are a couple in my area. I'm gonna have to see some movies there.

So, I found a dbox theater.  Apparently it's like imax -- it may or may not be a separate theater.  The one I was at, one room was all dbo0x seats, but the room I was in had only two rows of dbox seats.  The only show that had it at the time I was there was Spider Man 2.

It was interesting.  You have to register which seat you want, so good luck if there's a tall person in front of where you wanted to sit and you want to sit somewhere else.  Luckily nobody sat in front of me.  My chair didn't work at first, even though I'd had to pick and register a seat -- I had to run out of the theater, tell people, and they want and turned it on for me.  The actuators aren't very fine.  It sort of felt like the beginning of 3D where people really went out of their way to have things coming at you, so that you could "see" the 3D all the time -- I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be identifying with.  At times the chair would start to tilt in one direction and this was sometimes because something on screen was tilted, but might also have been because it was getting ready to really lurch.  I usually self identify with the hero -- that would be Spider Man in this case.  If I hadn't been in a dbox seat, I would have "felt" it when Spider Man hit and when the bad guy hit I'd just sit there and gloat.  Here, I felt it when Spider Man and when the villain hit something.  I didn't get a free-flowing swing back and forth feeling/feature when Spider Man swung back and forth, so there would either be nothing or a little rumble until Spider Man was thrown into a building and then I'd get a strong hit.  Also, I need a footrest attached to the chair.  I'm not a fan of having my feet lifted off the ground when the chair tilts back.  I wouldn't mind smaller chairs too (5'10 and 165 pounds, I wear a size Medium shirt) -- all theater seats are just too wide, the armrests are way out there, so there's not quite enough room to put my arms by my side without my elbows hitting the armrests but they're too far away to comfortably rest my arms no them.  This made it a bit whiplashy at times as I'd rock on the seat.

All in all, it was interesting, but if I go to another theater with that, I don't think I'll pay the extra amount for that kind of ticket.  The seat needs much finer actuators (the lack of swinging back and forth when Spider Man swung) and in a "most of society is overweight" world where lots and lots of people would be using it, the actuators are going to have to be more industrial.  I did try turning the chair up to 3 and down to 1 and at 2 in the middle.

All in all the movie was enjoyable.

By the way, spoiler alert, that thing of his Dad's that Peter finds, he apparently just left it for those people to find, the ones that were walking out before he found it.  Seriously, Peter?  You're going to let someone die because you think their request is too dangerous, so you're just going to leave everything else around that'll let people fill that request themselves?  Also, the one line where Peter asks, "And what does that make me?!"  The answer is "An angsty idiot."

Last but not least, WTF is up with that hair (I didn't go see the Amazing Spider Man movie, so maybe the hair was the same there), did we really need poofy Twilight hair (and apparently Twilight angst) in a Spider Man movie?

I've never had a problem with anyone sitting in front of me at d-box.  It's stadium seating, so it wouldn't matter even if they were.  It sounds like your first experience with d-box you were overly concentrating on the moving chair.  If you watch 2 or 3 movies that way, I think it'll be less of a novelty and more of a way to pull you into the movie.  The first couple movies I watched on it, I had already seen in a regular IMAX theater, so the novelty was a fun addition.

Also, they are weight activated, so if you are standing up and trying to push the buttons, it won't work.  You have to be sitting in it.  That, or they really did forget to turn on your seat.  They only turn on the seat you purchase, so you have to make sure to sit in the right seat.

My opinion was that Spider Man wasn't as good in d-box as Captain America was.  Captain America was the best experience I've had for d-box.  I think in the end, it really depends on who was in charge of programming the seats.

I was especially disappointed in the missed opportunity to float the chair so that you feel Spiderman's swinging, especially after Captain America was so good with the falling scenes.  It sounds like you had the same experience.

Because the d-box seats are expensive (to install, etc.), I typically only have seen theaters with 2 rows of d-box seats, but they are the best seats in the house.

Out of curiosity, what do people think of The Amazing Spiderman vs the original (with Toby McGuire)? Also what do you think of the second Amazing Spiderman vs the first one? I like The Amazing Spiderman, but not as much as the original. Maybe rewatching it I may grow to like it more, the new guy just doesn't feel like Spiderman to me.

I tend to like the newer ones better. Tobey was so brooding, and the relationships felt forced.  Spiderman is also supposed to be quick witted, but Tobey was slow on the draw.  Mary Jane was also a total ditz, whereas the new heroine has more admirable qualities.  The comedy is also better done in the newer ones.

That said, Electro was too Joel Schulmaker-ish for the new age of superhero movies, and the new storyline seemed to be a bit pieced together at the end, trying to lead into a new movie rather than tidying up its own loose ends.  Rhino was a complete and epic fail as to what he added (or failed to add) to the story.

You say "new" heroine, except that canonically, Gwen Stacy was actually Peter's original love interest.

The fact that the newer movies use her instead of MJ actually made a TON of hardcore comic book fans quite happy.

Yeah, I did like that part (though I am by no means a hard core comic book fan).

In reply to Kagura (msg # 371):

True.  I meant the "new movie," not the new heroine, though she is new to the movies since they skipped over her in the originals.  We are not speaking canonically here (or about the comics at all), particularly since I'm not a comic book person.

On a side note, I'm looking forward to the new X-Men more than any movie this summer. I'm just trying to not get my expectations too high. Any other movies that people are most looking forward to this summer/year?

Bunches.

Maleficent (set to come out at the end of the month)

In June: How to Train Your Dragon 2

In July: Step Up All In (but only because they always have the BEST dance choreography in those movies... I may wait until it starts showing on network TV though, rather than paying for it in theaters)

August is Guardians of the Galaxy.

September The Maze Runner

November Mockingjay Part 1

And December the final installment in The Hobbit

There are probably others that I saw trailers for at some point and said "I think I want to see that", but those are the ones that I can remember when scanning down a list of movies to be released this year.

In reply to Cody Coriva (msg # 374):

Godzilla.  (I hope it's done right this time.)

Edge of Tomorrow.  (A Groundhog Day scifi action flick with Tom Cruise?)

Guardians of the Galaxy. (I really hope it's as funny and sassy as its trailer.)

22 Jump Street.  (The first one was funnier than I expected.)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. (Apes vs. Humans -- what could be more primal?)

Jupiter Ascending.  (Another science fiction movie done by those who did the Matrix movies.)

Let's Be Cops. (This looks funny in previews. Hopefully won't disappoint.)

Dumb and Dumber To.  (The first one was hilarious and stupid...what more can I say?)

I finished watching the Breaking Bad series.  It has to be one of the greatest dramas ever created for television.  It is nearly technically flawless in storytelling, characters, and development, not to mention the subtle moral story of action and consequences.  I can see now why its rotten tomatoes score was 99 out of 100, something I've never seen before.  I'm just surprised I never watched it when it was on television.

What'd you think about Godzilla?

Edge of Tomorrow.  (A Groundhog Day scifi action flick with Tom Cruise?)
From the trailer, it looked more like a Super Saiyan time twist to powerup enough to be able to single-handedly defeat the big bad evil guy, whatever he (or they) is/are.

The rest I might rent, but movie theaters just feel like a waste of money when I could rent three to ten movies for the same price, depending on where I go.

Just watched the season finale of NCIS. I am now Not Okay.

Seriously. It should be illegal to make such a freaking emotional episode.

For those of you not in the know, Ralph Waite, the actor who played the father of one of the main cast characters died back in February. Since his character was very strongly tied to Mark Harmon's character (Leeroy Jethro Gibbs), instead of doing a simple in memoriam card at the end of the episode or re-airing Waite's final episode from earlier in the season, they chose to change the entire season finale and dedicate the episode to him. The episode, titled "Honor Thy Father" involves Gibbs getting the news of and then dealing with his father's death (while dodging assassination attempts related to the case the rest of the team is working on) and ends with his father's funeral followed by a picture of Mark Harmon and Ralph Waite, with a statement dedicating the episode to him.

I'm gonna go watch the NCIS: LA finale and hope that the Denzi fluff will make me feel better. And if THAT doesn't work, I'm gonna have to move on to either Person of Interest or Criminal Minds. Because if I can't have fluff, then spies and murderers are going to have to do the trick.

In reply to Bart (msg # 378):

I liked the new Godzilla and was almost sad when it ended.  It sticks more to the classic story of not knowing if Godzilla is a friend or foe.  There were three total monsters, not just Godzilla, which was much more along the classic lines.  There were some good 3D moments too.  They could have made me care more about the characters though.

X-Men was also worth watching, with some interesting 3D moments during the time travel bits.


As to theaters, to me watching movies made for the big screen at home is like skipping a concert of your favorite band to listen to them on CD.  Not the same experience, not the intended experience, and not as good of an experience.  But for me, the money is not an issue.

Not much for Media, and I can't think of any fiction at the moment.

Everyone should watch Black Mirror.  It's essentially a modern Twilight Zone.

Anyone else see Ant-man yet?

In reply to jioan (msg # 382):

I wish there were more episodes.  I saw them last year.  I like the one about the murderer punishment best.

As to Ant-man, No, and don't give me any spoilers please.

Did you watch the Black Mirror Christmas special from last year?  It isn't on Netflix, but it's a frame story with related short stories being told.

My favorite episode was Fifteen Million Demerits.  I think it dealt with the more serious and longterm effects these technologies could have on us than any of the others while having a great plot.

I liked that one too, but it's my third favorite.  My second favorite was the one with the dead husband, though it's hook seemed somewhat similar to the Johnny Depp movie Transcendence.

I've only seen the ones on Netflix.

Huh, that one was also my second favorite.  My third favorite was the one of the Grains that recorded all of their memories.  The ending was a bit anti-climatic but other than that I think it did a great job like the one with the dead husband of showing how this seemingly great technology can prevent us from moving on.  You should watch the Christmas episode sometime and you can find it online fairly easily although not through means as legal as Netflix.

The memory recording one was good too.  They were all pretty good.  The first one in the series was the only one that I thought was less than optimal.  It was just dark.

I liked the first one although it doesn't have any real sci-fi elements to it.  The only one I was really disappointed with was the one with the blue cartoon avatar.  I feel like it didn't really dig much into how these virtual representations are all illusions and how they can be used as icons to manipulate.  It seemed like a prologue to a more interesting story.  It reminded me of a story from Grant Morrison's run on Action Comics about a world where the concept of Superman gets used by corporations to essentially control the world.