It was still early when we finished our dinner at Botticelli's the night before the wife's surgery, and we were in a big (by our standards) city. So we checked the paper to see what movies were in town.

Of course, we were hoping for a late run of The Lord of the Rings, but naturally it was not there. But Reign of Fire was in town. At a theater we had never heard of. But paper said it was on 2nd Street, the main east-west drag of town. Since we were parked in front of Botticelli's, at the west end of 2nd, all we had to do was drive east.

It had to be between us and the mall.

It wasn't.

We were two-thirds of the way to the mall when the wife suggested I get out the city map. Nope, couldn't reach it under the back seat. And besides, the theater has to be in front of us.

Well, by the time we reached the empty field on the other side of the mall, I conceded that maybe it wasn't. And the wife, being female, rejected my suggestion of another blind cruise down the main drag in favor of a short pause to look at the map.

And there was the cross street we were looking for. Exactly one half block west of Botticelli's.

We had turned around in the parking lot next to the theater when we had parked for dinner! And could have walked to the movie with plenty of time to spare.

As it was, we missed all the trailers. And a minute or two of the beginning of the flick.

Now, this is a new multiplex theater. And we're pretty sure it was built and owned by the same guy who owns Chuck's theater in our community. Nice place, with wonderful seating (steep, high rows like in the I-Max theaters). Unfortunately, he failed to design in the jog in the entryway of the theater rooms, so our late entrance threw white light all across the screen.

Nothing like getting all your neighbors pissed at you to begin with.

I won't give the film away (Actually, there isn't a lot to give away. A post-apocalyptic story of desperate human survivors fighting the flying, flame-breathing reptiles that wrecked havoc on their world. Somehow post-apocalyptic stories all lost their appeal after Waterworld.), but did want to make two observations.

First, the dragons are incredible! Worth the entire admission fee (and then some) just to see them move. By the same folks that did Dragonslayer, which is a good thing, and it shows. Especially when they are on the ground.

And as much as one loves dragons, they did successfully get you to root for the underdog humans. At least against the male dragon, anyway.

And second, and this is the best of all. No, we're not psychic, and had read nothing about the film before seeing it. No cheaters at all.

The Dragons kill Matthew McConaughey.

All right!

Go Dragons.