I hate parking at the Irvine Spectrum (located at the intersection of the 5 and 405), home of the Edwards 21 Megaplex, Orange County's first humongous theater. No matter when you are there, you will still have to drive around waiting for people to leave and then fight for a parking space. The Edwards 21 is the largest Edwards in Orange County, and probably one of the higher grossing ones. A full parking lot means lots and lots of people, most of them younger, walking around the Spectrum and going to see movies. And it's not over yet - the Spectrum is undergoing some construction, and by the time it is over, the Megaplex will have a couple more screens to its name.

The 21 screens include a 3D IMAX screen, which needs to be experienced. IMAX films look great, and 3D IMAX films look amazing. Now all they need to do is to make a better IMAX films. The IMAX theater is in the back of the complex, and is usually manned by idiots. The worst thing about the IMAX theater is those helmets. They have a rubber area that touches your forehead. Where the heck have those things been? It doesn't look like they wash them, they just hang them on some racks when the movie is over. What about sweat, makeup, and *gasp* zits? I shudder to think about it. And, there are no matinee IMAX showings, it's full price, all day, every day.

The other screens go from ridiculously huge to surprisingly small. One nice thing about the Megaplex is they list what movies are playing on their big screens in the paper. Apparently, their four big screens are large enough to merit names. The Palace Stadium, Big Chinese, Hollywood Stadium, and Big Egyptian feel cavernous. They are stadium seating, but the slope is not as extreme as some other theaters. This just makes the theater look even bigger. The entrance to each theater has some okay paintings showcasing it's theme, but nothing spectacular. There is also a Digital Projection Theater, for the very small percentage of the audience that knows that it is and wants to see a movie that way. The image is crisper, and the sound of the projector is gone, but most people probably will not notice. The smallest theaters do not have stadium seating, and are pretty small. It's almost as if the Megaplex is a combination of an old cineplex with small screens and some big screens tacked on just for the heck of it. The floors and theaters are relatively clean.

The theater looks nice from the outside, with its neon lights shining brightly into an open area. Across the way are some overpriced restaurants. The marquee and box office are in the center, with the entrance on the side. The marquee can be annoying, since it is concave, and everything looks crammed on there. The drawback is that all the ticket booths are next to each other, so it becomes really crowded and annoying during busy periods. The Megaplex also is pretty picky about what movies it calls "special engagements." When a movie is a special engagement, you cannot use a pass to get in. You cannot use passes on any movies here during the weekends. And they tend to call as many movies as they can special engagements, regardless of how long they've been out. The other drawback is that the movies the Megaplex shows tend to be very mainstream. There is no room here for foreign or independent fare, no siree. There is also a gift shop in the inside. What are they thinking? Who wants to buy and Edwards jacket? Not anybody I know.

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