Wide Screen Dept.

Oh, to be in L.A. right now. From AICN:

Longtime contributor Elston Gunn talks to organizers of Laemmle’s 70/70, which celebrates the Laemmle cinema chain’s 70th anniversary with 70mm screenings of a handful of geektastic classics. It runs Dec. 19-23 at the Royal: 11523 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Los Angeles.

Among the goodies planned are screenings of Tommy, Pink Floyd The Wall, The Abyss, Alien / Aliens, 2001 (!), and Star Trek II — all as fundraisers for local charities. The few movies I've seen in the theater in true wide-gauge 70mm (not Super 35) stood off the screen in the same way an HD monitor's images pop out at you where standard-def just sort of sits there. One such item was Lawrence of Arabia, fresh from its major restoration. Watching it on home video, as Ebert put it, was like peering at it through a mailslot.