I caught a screening of Apocalypse Now at Magic Cinema today. There were so few people in the theater, it was almost a private screening. There was no one in the 15 rows in front of me.

I had seen the movie many time before, but always on VHS or DVD. Seeing this magnum opus on the big screen in Dolby was truly inspiring. The film is littered with brilliant performances from Martin Sheen, Dennis Hopper and Marlon Brando, just to name a few. Robert Duvall as the surfing-made air cav Lt. Colonel Kilgore might be one of the best roles ever on the big screen.

The movie seems to capture the chaos of war better than any other about the period. The journey up the river has been used as a metaphor in many genres and is ideally suited to the telling of this story through the eyes of Captain Willard.