The latest Christopher Nolan cinematc mindbender will keep you riveted throughout the 2 1/2-hour running time, not only due to the fast pace, high energy, and frequent innovative action scenes, but also because of the challenge in deciphering the plot and setting that is literally working on multiple levels — of the dream-state and subconscious minds of the characters.

The elaborate visual elements and dynamic chases, including the eye-popping sight of a full-scale train plowing through rush-hour automobile traffic on a downtown city street, is all quite enveloping when it encompasses your entire horizontal and vertical field of view in a full-scale IMAX theater, as was the case at Universal CityWalk’s IMAX theater Thursday night. (The digitally remastered film for IMAX theaters opened on 22 international IMAX screens Thursday and will follow in 44 others internationally in the coming weeks.)

Nolan, whose “Dark Knight,” also from Warner Bros., grossed more than $65 million at IMAX theaters, said audiences will get the best immersive experience when watching it in IMAX. ”We have done all kinds of things to re-format the film for The IMAX Experience, and as a result, you get enhanced clarity, sound and a closer relationship with the action.”

“…Nolan and IMAX have once again proven to be ideally suited to each other,” said Warner Bros. Pictures’ president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman. He also noted that with the number of IMAX theaters doubling since the release of “Dark Knight,” more moviegoers will be able to “experience ‘Inception’  in this exceptional format.”

“With a visionary director that knows and understands the power of the IMAX medium, …this film has all the key ingredients for an anchor 2010 IMAX release,” said Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment.

M.C. Escher 1960 lithograph Ascending and Descending

I am not the first to make the comparison to “The Matrix” or even Nolan’s “Memento” when referencing the cryptic challenges of “Inception,” but the movie is also filled with fun homages or maybe even Nolan’s own subconscious references to other movies such as the gun-toting skiers and even the accompanying score during what I’ll call the Level 3 setting that is very reminiscent of a couple of James Bond movies. Nolan also borrows from M.C. Escher, using CGI to bring to cinematic life the artist’s famous visual puzzles drawings of continuous up/down staircases.

Ever since “Catch Me If You Can” in 2002, Leonardo DiCacprio’s performances have been noticeably stronger with each new challenging role he chooses to tackle as opposed to settling for an obvious or easy character in a simple, one-dimensional  film.

That trend continues here as DiCaprio delivers a convincing character of sufficient depth that amidst all the action and the brain-testing labyrinth of story-lines and the real and imagined characters and settings, he is able to repeatedly engage and capture our deep sympathy and emotion in gripping scenes depicting his struggle to reconnect with his two young children and come to terms about an unresolved traumatic confrontation with his wife.

DiCaprio is supported by a strong cast including Joseph Gordon-Levitt (”500 Days of Summer”), Ellen Page (”Juno”), Ken Watanabe (”The Last Samurai”), Marion Cotillard (”La vie en rose”), Tom Hardy (”RocknRolla”), Cillian Murphy (”Batman Begins”), Tom Berenger (”Platoon”) and even Michael Caine in a small but important role. But, as always, this is Christopher Nolan’s movie with his stamp on the concept, writing, and directing.

– By Scott Hettrick

The movie will open on 193 IMAX screens in North America, for which it has been digitally re-mastered with proprietary technology, the companies announced today. The film will also open in 11 international IMAX theatres in Australia, Mexico and Thailand, on July 1, 2010.

“Twilight Saga moviegoers will have a whole new way to experience this next installment of the series, with the enhanced image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience putting them in the movie,” said Richie Fay, Summit Entertainment’s President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution.

“…It is encouraging to see that Twilight Saga fans, a completely new audience base for us, are driving advance IMAX ticket sales and sell-outs,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond.

It’s the second blockbuster franchise to make its debut in IMAX theaters this month on the heels of “Toy Story 3″ in 3D, the first Disney/Pixar movie to debut in IMAX.

“We’re very excited to be a part of the Twilight mania and look forward to transporting the very loyal and enthusiastic fans into the world of Bella, Edward and Jacob via The IMAX Experience,” added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment.

In less than two years the first two movies in the series have grossed more than $1.1 billion in worldwide box office ticket sales.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse The IMAX Experience is scheduled to play day-and-date at the following IMAX theatres beginning June 30th.

– By Scott Hettrick

Is the movie called Shrek: The Final Chapter as this ad indicates?

It started out as “Shrek Goes Fourth,” and then became “Shrek Forever After,” I thought. But lately, and right up until opening day today, I saw just as many ads on TV and in newspapers, and on websites (including home page on IMAX), in which it appeared that the title is “Shrek: The Final Chapter.”

Today's ad in USA Today -- where's the title?

And then, as if they couldn’t decide what to call it, they ran opening day ads that offered no title whatsoever.

IMAX website calls it "Final Chapter"

Well, whatever it’s called, the latest Shrek movie delivers some of the best use of 3D in an animated movie that I have seen to date, especially in the IMAX version that I saw in a mini-IMAX AMC theater. Not necessarily the most dynamic — it still doesn’t come off the screen and into the audience as I would prefer — but despite what some critics said was almost negligible use of 3D except in a couple gratuitous scenes, I found the 3D to be used very effectively from the opening moments showing horses pulling the Royal carriage and right on through almost every shot. It wasn’t distracting; it made everything more visually appealing and immersive, pulling me in closer to each scene.

Update: Despite significantly increased ticket prices of as much as $20 at some theaters, IMAX pulled in about 7% ($5 mil.) of the overall weekend gross of $71.3 mil. Although it faces competition over the Memorial Day weekend from “Sex and the City 2″ and “Prince of Persia,” its kid-friendly family appeal distinguishes it from the newcomers, which should be significant on a holiday weekend.

DreamWorks website has the title "Forever After."

By the third episode, the Shrek series seemed to be getting sillier, throwing in too many new characters, and getting further away from the cleverness and charm of the original. This one gratefully reigns some of that in a bit. But there is still a dearth of the pop culture references and satirical elements that made the first one so fun. The writers seemed to have lost the funny. Donkey doesn’t have a single funny line, which is amazing when you remember how many times you laughed out loud at his snarky comments in the first movie. The result is a more seemingly unintentionally solemn tone and even moments where it gets a little heavy, or at least dreary and dull.

And like many sequels that resort to throwing tons of copies of the main attraction at you, like hundreds of aliens in “Aliens” and dozens of iron men in “Iron Man 2,” this one falls back on the same formula by introducing a whole bunch of giant green ogres. But just as it worked in those movies, it works here pretty well.

And just as Sylvester Stallone restored a little credibility to his Rocky character by coming back with a much improved “Rocky Balboa” to help wash out the bitter taste of “Rocky V,” “Shrek Forever After” is a fitting “Final Chapter” to the series that is probably responsible for saving DreamWorks Animation in the early days of the studio.

– Scott Hettrick

“Iron Man 2″ is a lot of fun, and even bigger fun on an IMAX screen, where it is likely to continue IMAX’s unprecedented string of giant-size hits this year.

Back in fine narcissist form is Robert Downey Jr., along with his witticisms and rapid-fire banter with colleagues.
And director Jon Favreau pumps up the excitement with the perfect injection of exhilarating rock music throughout by AC/DC and The Clash, among others, all of which, along with the sound effects, is literally felt reverberating in your bones thanks to the soundtrack and theater sound system.

Samuel L. Jackson ultimately makes the appearance that was teased at the end of “Iron Man,” as Nick Fury, head of super-secret org S.H.I.E.L.D. with lots of references to Avengers, all of which will please fans of Marvel comics.

Favreau also inserts numerous fun cameos, including once again Stan Lee (mistaken for Larry King), as well as billionaire Larry Ellison, who is referenced as being an oracle (his company is Oracle), and fun supporting roles. In addition to Favreau himself in a full-blown supporting role, Garry Shandling plays the unlikely role of a nasty conservative Senator, and pulls it off convincingly.

I was really expecting not to enjoy “Iron Man 2″ based on the previews that made it look like so many other sequels that substitute story and character for simply filling the screen with tons more stuff — in this case dozens more Iron Man-costumed fighters just as “Aliens” gave us hundreds of the lone alien monster we never even saw in its entirety until the very end of the original “Alien.”

While that did happen in “Iron Man 2,” I have to hand it to Favreau for holding off that element until the second half of the two-hour movie, where it does indeed bog down a bit in overdone Transformer-esque robot/machine battles, outsized CGI effects, and a blurry superhero stunt stint by the undercover Scarlett Johansson.

Although those may be the least interesting elements for some, they will be the most enjoyable for many, and probably most others.

And don’t forget to hang in there through the lengthy credits for yet another teaser to the next Marvel superhero in the mix.

– By Scott Hettrick

And thank you for demonstrating once again how a good filmmaker can bring 3D images way off the screen and keep it in the viewer’s face almost continually for maximum dynamic effect without using a single gimmick of poking anything at the camera, without making us feel like we are in a theme park attraction, and without giving us eye or brain fatigue.
(Story continues below the following video from the March 11 premiere at the California Science Center, including interviews with Myers and astronaut Mike Massimino.)

Myers told 3DHollywood.net (in video above) that she and her filmmaking partners approach 3D the exact opposite of their Hollywood brethren who, so far, use what she characterizes as a more cautious approach, or at least prefer to take the image depth behind the screen rather than in front.

For 43 minutes you’ll swear you are right inside the cramped shuttle cabin with the astronauts who appear only inches away. You’ll feel like you are one of the lucky ones on the bleachers at Cape Canaveral cheering the spectacular launch of the shuttle; that is, until you feel like you’re one of the birds almost too close to the lift-off and dangerously close to the torrent of water below the soon-to-be-massive flames from the black rocket cones moments before ignition. You sense the tedium and nervous tension as astronauts work exhaustively in the silent dark vacuum of space to remove dozens of screws — a task they liken to performing brain surgery while wearing boxing gloves — all the while aware that the tiniest rip in their own gloves could be fatal.

Astronaut Mike Massimino says Myers’ IMAX 3D production is so realistic that for the first time he doesn’t feel frustrated at not being able to convey to his family and friends the grandeur and exhilaration he felt on previous missions.

And finally you’ll feel a very different kind of star-struck and humbled by the 3D computer-generated fly-bys of star Sirius and Orion’s Belt and beyond our Milky Way to neighboring galaxy Andromeda and the Virgo Cluster of two thousand galaxies, just one of which is ten times bigger than the Milky Way.

You can practically turn your head left and right to see the celestial bodies sail past. You have never felt so surrounded by stars or simultaneously awestruck and insignificant.

In addition to the primary behemoth 700-pound IMAX 3D camera fixed in the cargo bay loaded with nearly 1-mile of film that yields only 8-minutes of footage and which therefore had to be judiciously turned on and off and affixed with the proper lenses and correct exposure settings each time by astronauts who were trained for months by Myers, the flight also included several HD cameras that were manipulated back home so the images filled the seven-story tall IMAX film frame and were converted to 3D.

For the space flight simulation, Myers, in cooperation with NASA, used actual data and images from the Hubble and created by the imaging team at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and the computing facilities at the Advanced Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. One can imagine that the resulting visualization could look very close to an actual inter-galaxy flight light-years in the future.

Warner Bros., which is distributing the film, will expand the release to newer and smaller digital IMAX screens in multiplexes such as AMC in August. Here’s hoping that Hollywood filmmakers embarking on their maiden 3D voyage take 43-minutes to learn just how dynamic and potentially powerful 3D is when used properly with restrained aggression.

It’s a perfect showcase for IMAX — even the mini-MAX theaters where most people will probably see the movie — since Jackson was said to be bigger than life when he was on stage.

Nonetheless the movie shows a sequence for a re-imagining of Thriller being shot in 3D and filmmaker/choreographer/show director Kenny Ortega has been quoted saying that the 3D will likely be introduced in a later release of the film.

Best showcase for that? IMAX.

- Scott Hettrick