If you’re going to embark on an eight-hour trek to see a simple damn movie, my first recommendation would be that you take some pleasant people with you. I had that part covered– Lil, Tony, Zack and I were heading up to the Mall of Georgia for a sneak of THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN on Saturday morning, and we all got up early to do so. The earliness I insisted upon might have been a bit of overkill, but we got there smoothly, and obtained super-sweet seats in the non-IMAX theater #11. NON-IMAX, alas, as I had really expected it to be IMAX. That would have been ideal because 1) it’s huge, and 2) I could have found out what happens when you show a Digital IMAX film on a REAL IMAX screen (still don’t know that answer.)
Anyway, good folks, timely arrival. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Before and during the film: nothing! We met up with Kevin, saw a few other friends in the house, and enjoyed a delightful romp across Europe and Africa via mo-cap and magical COM-PU-TOR ANIMATIONS with some great voice talent to boot. Really a fun movie, and the action sequences are huge and thrilling and much more than I was hoping for. 4/5 stars, I think?
LEAVING, though, OH, YOU WANT TO LEAVE THE MALL OF GEORGIA? One does not merely drive out of the Mall of Georgia. One gets in one’s car, pulls out into the access road around the mall, and sits there for about a half an hour without ever making it out to an actual street. Yep.
Horrifyingly long story short(er), we eventually gave up on our plan of getting on 85S, heading home, and stopping at the highly-recommended Umaido for ramen on the way down. That was not to be. I broke West, got us out of sight of the All-Seeing Eye of Sauron atop the MoG, and pulled into the parking lot of Lee’s Golden Buddha a couple of miles away. It had been about two hours since the end of the movie by now. It was almost 2pm, and we hadn’t had any lunch. MANY PLATES of foods were ordered. Much eating was done. The long drive home was begun.
In the end, our little trip to see a free movie took almost eight hours, and a third of a tank of gas.
The movie was great, though, and I think my friends have a new respect (or fear) of the capacity for awful traffic in the ‘burbs. #mallofgeorgiatrafficjam2011
We all vowed together: Never again, Mall of Georgia. Never again.
NP :: Reverend Horton Heat - “We Three Kings”