'The first Imax movie that deserves to be called a work of art.' The New York Times likes 'U23D'... and more blogging from the night of the premiere.

Here's what the NYT reviewer says. 'The musical documentary U2 3D... is not merely a technical landmark -- shot entirely in digital 3D -- but also an aesthetic one, in that it's the first Imax movie that deserves to be called a work of art.'

Praising Catherine Owens, one of the film's two directors, the NYT says 'she layers the screen with multiple planes of information: long shots and medium shots of the musicians, images of the crowd, close-up details of graphics from the big screen that the band performs in front of that make the designs abstract and merge them with the performers...the result is not a confusing mishmash of images but a musical/experimental work that visually simulates the sensation of thinking. The very idea of self-contained screen geography is thrillingly reconceived.'

'Self-contained screen geography?' Nice! Meantime, some more on-the-spot blogging colour from the Sundance premiere at the weekend.

'Festival director Geoff Gilmore's intro was the screening equivalent of "Are you ready to rock?". He then summoned Catherine, Mark and the band to the podium, where Catherine, in a flirtatious orange coat, thanked her core team with the poise of the Royals, and the joy of someone whose artistic vision was being embraced by 1200 people. Bono stepped forward, noted that the high school venue was perfect for what is, after all, a high school band, and them prompted photographers to get shots of the band in their 3D glasses which brought cheers, but when the lights went down, the audience went nuts. It got louder during the 3D countdown, and when the film finally began, and the room started to pulse with Vertigo's first beats, it felt like a prison riot erupting. From the animated TV and telephone that Bono touches with his hands (like a thoughtful "Minority Report" Tom Cruise) in "Love and Peace or Else", to him reaching to "dry our eyes" in "Sunday Bloody Sunday", to the Eccles audience raising their cell phones in solidarity with the thousands of South American fans raising theirs in "One", to the rich palette of falling and flying letters in "The Fly", the audience faithfully followed each beat. Not once did I spot (I turned around a lot to watch the audience of 1200 all wearing 3D shades) anyone wriggling in their seats or getting up to pee....'