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So then I saw Avatar – for the first time. Here's when the madness really begins. I will now turn the floor over to this email I wrote the next day to imax@info.com:

"I'd be surprised if this reaches anyone who will give it a second glance but I think writing it is the only way to exorcise my current frustration. I saw Avatar on IMAX 3D at the AMC Loews in Lincoln Square - the only true IMAX screen in NYC. Having bought the tickets way in advance I arrived at the theatre a few hours before the start of my 1:20 a.m. showing to ensure the best possible seats.

Flash forward to 4:30 a.m. and me leaving the theatre feeling like I had been robbed. True, my disappointment could have been aided by the fact that I had a beer before I watched a nearly three-hour movie starting at 1:20 a.m. and was struggling to stay awake or perhaps because James Cameron's skill as a screenwriter is akin to Nicholas Cage's ability to say "pass", but that's none of your concern. However, what does concern you, and me, is that I am positive that the print of Avatar I saw was not IMAX sized. The image projected on the screen was visibly smaller than usual. I know that Avatar's aspect ratio is 1:78 and that IMAX is 4:3; hence, the image doesn't fit the entire screen. But this image didn't reach any of the screen's borders. Not even close.

I paid almost $20 and put in a lot of planning and effort to get what I hoped would be a truly unique and immersive film going experience. I do believe the aforementioned conditions in which I saw the film hindered that, but I also believe that if I got the size of the screen I paid for, with the image filling all my peripheral vision, the gorgeous bells and whistles Cameron employed may have had more of an effect and things might have been different.

And so I feel cheated, not just financially, but - dare I say - personally. I know I'm whining. Clearly, I'm a big, spoiled film nerd. But I'm one of those nerds you guys rely on, the nerd who buys his ticket almost three weeks early and waits in line for two and a half hours before the show. Maybe this is a case of some random mix up or the theater having issues - I couldn't find an email address for them - but I'm wholly unsatisfied. And now that I've reached the end of it, it turns out writing this email brought me no satisfaction. Hopefully my column this week for Box Office Prophets will provide some catharsis. That's not meant as a threat. I'm sure all seven members of my readership will have seen the film by the time it's posted. I just hope they, unlike me, got what they paid for."

Sheesh, maybe I was having my period or something. I'm as confused as you are, guys. Why was I so pissed off? Considering what I had written about James Cameron and Avatar earlier in the year, you'd never think I'd react this way to a dissatisfying movie-going experience. As I said, my anticipation – and subsequent disappointment – for films like Watchmen and Terminator Salvation were much greater. But I didn't write Zack Snyder or McG any emails, though they probably deserved them. Not to mention the fact that I referenced getting to the theater hours before hand. That's not the behavior of someone who is mildly interested in a film. So what was going on? Why was I in such denial?

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