In our consumerist, capitalist, on-demand culture, there are some things worth cutting corners for, and some things worth splurging on. Perhaps you stream music, or download your favourite TV shows and well, still go to the library (as well you should) to enjoy entertainment frugally, and those make sense. When it comes to cinema, however, there are those movies best experienced at the theatre.

And then there are those best experienced on IMAX.

The drama may be best enjoyed at home, the comedy with a group of friends, and the blockbuster on opening night in a crowed movie house. The experience of watching a film and the way in which you engage it will shape to some degree your enjoyment of it.

Some films you want to watch from a distance, removing yourself from the topic or story, or watch with a critical eye, but not with IMAX. If you’re going in, go in all the way and fully escape from the world around you. This isn’t Mystery Science Theatre where you and your buddies will whisper silly asides, this is something you want to commit to ahead of time where you won’t look away for even a moment.

Now, while genre is an easy determinant of where and how to see a film, the IMAX experiences transcends such borders is simply the best medium for any sort of spectacle. It is a wholly sensory experience, fully engaging, while asking only of the viewer to sit back and relax. In the theatre, it is best of course to sit somewhere towards the middle, with the goal of having the screen occupy completely your field of vision. It should be mentioned too that the seats are far more comfortable than any other theatre seat, and these ones recline—definitely worth a few extra bucks.

There is reason the films in IMAX where chosen to be shot in that format: they maintain a visual and aural component to them that is greatly enhanced and unparalleled by the increased format. Some of this year’s entrants included The Dark Knight Rises (a summer superhero blockbuster) Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil: Retribution (a pair of stylized franchise videogame-based horrors shot in 3-D), and Frankenweenie (a black-and-white Tim Burton animated tale shot in 3-D).

It makes sense to see those films on the biggest screen possible, as it is arguably less about the story than it is the appeal to the senses. The marketing group Everywhere, LLC provided me with compensation for this post, granting me tickets to see an IMAX feature of my choosing.’ Spectacular in its own right, I had the chance to enjoy Skyfall, the latest James Bond entrant, on the big, big screen, and it once again affirmed IMAX as an experience worth the price of admission.

Neither animated nor 3-D, Skyfall is yet just as spectacular in IMAX, a credit to both the film and the format. Gunfights, car chases, and the British wit surround you with crystal clear, well-defined sound.  What’s more, Adele’s titular Bond song is even better in a theatre built with acoustics in mind, and played, well, loud—as it should be.

The cinematography of the film in question has been lauded already, and IMAX takes it to an even more impressive level. The saturated colour palette used in the China scenes, as well as the wide-shots of the foggy Scotland countryside and the eerie deserted island, are simply breathtaking.

Perhaps most significant is that IMAX adds much to a film even if you have already seen it. For me, Skyfall was different seeing it in a normal theatre and seeing on IMAX; there is much the latter can offer, and it is honestly an experience that is both unique, and as far as Bond and any other feature film go, for a limited time only. So get on it!

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