Me pretending to be Kong on top of the world. No sign of an Ann though...

Apes in the lot. I don't know what Mike was doing though. I think he was excited for some other movie.

After enough monkeying around (pun intended) in the parking lot, we decided to go inside the movie theater. As we were walking in, we saw that there was no guy checking for tickets. We were confused but we just went inside to find our seats. We found really good seats fairly near the center. I was still trying to figure out how we could just walk in without having our ticket stubs torn. Then, being the (corrupt) Indian that I am, I thought to myself, why not try to return those tickets back? So I went to the counter and told the lady that I had extra tickets that I didn't need so I wanted to return them. A little bit of improvisation and the lady gave me $15 cash back. Not only did I get my money back, I made a total profit of $6! Sometimes I can be so smooth...

The previews began. They were supposed to show the X-Men 3 teaser but I didn't expect them to since they never showed the Superman teaser last time. But then they did show it! It was cool to see it on a big screen. Then came the Superman teaser!! FINALLY I got to see it on a big screen. Didn't make it any different cause it doesn't show anything in the first place. Then there was a pleasant surprise. They showed the first full length trailer for The Da Vinci Code. I couldn't believe it when I realized what movie it was. The preview looked awesome! They might actually pull this one off. I can't wait!

The movie began with a wonderful montage of the New York City of 1933. It's probably the best opening scene in a movie I have seen since The Two Towers. There was no need for a timestamp or a voiceover. The images on the screen did all the talking and immediately took the audience back to the depression era. It's hard to believe that the story takes place in New York City but not a single scene was filmed there. After seeing the opening scene, I knew that we were in for a delicious visual treat.

All the bad reviews for this movie complained that it was too long. Personally, I don't know what they're talking about. Never during the whole movie was I bored or felt that the story needs to pick up its pace. Yea it took a while for them to get to the island. But it needed to be done in order to have some character development. Otherwise it would've just been like a jurassic park movie where people get eaten by dinosaurs left and right and no one really cares.

But once they get to the island, holy crap. It's just a nonstop ride with a really spooky-looking tribe and their freakish sacrifical ceremony, followed by some running through the jungle with the giant ape, then the dinosaur stampede, V-Rex fight, creepy bugs and spiders, and so on... And if you thought Gollum looked real, wait till you see Kong. You can feel his fur in your hands. His roar will shake you up. You can sense the anger in his eyes. Kong is a real living, breathing creature. Weta Digital has once again kicked ILM's ass. I really don't have any words to describe the visual effects of this film. Our theater was barely half full, but every single person was gasping during all those fight sequences. People just couldn't believe what they were seeing on screen. I have never seen any audience react so wildly to a movie. It was just magnificent.

I can go on and on about what a great time I had watching this movie. It really was one of the most memorable cinema experiences that I had wanted for so long. It has its flaws, I admit. It's not the perfect movie of all time. But the sheer excitement and thrill that this movie induced in me is something that I haven't felt in a very long time. It was well worth the wait.

The 9 minutes of credits were over and we were ready to leave the theater. On our way out, there was no guy to collect the parking pass. Another dollar saved there. Three tickets to a movie: + $6, Parking: Free, Having an unforgettable movie experience with your friends: Priceless!