So..... Well, I went to The Dark Knight Rises anyway. Just got back to the hotel (1:30am). The screen, as expected, was huge. But it was really noticeable during previews of what might be in store. The sound was horribly harsh, with no bass, and while I like thins loud, this was too much. The image during the preview stuff was clearly lower quality (at least for the size) digital. They showed The Hobbit trailer and when Bilbo pulls the sword, Sting, out, it is blocky along the edges.
So, I am tired, but I will tell part of the story. The previews are done and the main movie is about to start... Up comes the Paramount logo... Wait.. Since when is Batsman a Paramount flick? Then the logo goes to real life imagery and is real grainy... Who is that? Yup, Indiana Jones. REALLY?!? I swear that the other 8 people in the theater were dumbfounded and must have been thinking it was a long preview or something. I knew better and talked to the idiots working there who were telling me (including the manager) that they weren't running The Dark Knight in IMAX. Well, mky ticket says that they are, their web site says they are, Fandango says that they are, and the marquee in the place says that they are. So I go back in and just as Indiana is about to run from.the giant stone ball, they cut it... Then we get the joy of watching a whole set of previews again. Some duplicated of course.
The sound was much better for the movie including some much enjoyed bass, and the picture actually wasn't bad. It was plenty bright and no noticeable blocks or pixels. Still could tell it wasn't "real IMAX film", but it is far from bad. So I guess for $18.50 instead of $12.00, I got a shot of Indiana Jones to convince me NOT to see it in IMAX due to the graininess of the film, and I got to experience a killer sound system and really large visual experience. Now if I could just fall asleep....
