3D Overload
I used to associate 3D movies more with IMAX theatres and huge blockbusters, but in the last couple of years 3D has really begun to take over. It’s everywhere now. TVs are even being made with 3D capability to keep up.
We live in a 3D world and apparently we want our entertainment to follow suit.
Well, it must be true because fans keep going and spending that ridiculous amount extra for plastic glasses. Personally, I don’t have a problem with movies coming out in 3D when it honestly enhances the experience. My problem is with the 3D overload.
Some movies are meant to stay 2D.
MY LIST
I have seen a good many of the 3D films out in the last few years, though hardly all of them. My list is as follows:
Actually, I’m lying about Avatar. I saw that in 2D. But I thought admitting that might mean getting tracked down by the masses with pitchforks. I know it is meant to be seen in 3D. I know it was filmed that way. My 65 inch TV can do 3D so I’ll just have to wait until that version of the film comes out on BluRay.
*FYI, the 3D version is not coming out with the newly released 2D version, but later on.
If you compare my list to some of the other examples out there, there are really three common themes for what types of movies are made into 3D.
Animated kids movies like Bolt, Coraline, Monsters vs Aliens, and UP. Epic action films like Avatar and the upcoming Tron Legacy. And horror movies like Final Destination: Death Trip 3D.
We also have a long list ahead of us besides Tron Legacy, including Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After, and even Resident Evil: Afterlife.
The biggest disappointment for me of the movies I saw was Clash of the Titans. Avatar was filmed in 3D. Clash had it added after the fact. And it shows. It still looks amazing, but you honestly forget you’re watching 3D most of the time because there is nothing inherently necessary or adding to the film by having it that way.
WTF
Now, here is a list of films that have no business being 3D:
And a huge list of others, as well as older films being re-mastered as 3D, which is just stupid in my opinion, much as part of me wouldn’t mind seeing Night of the Living Dead that way.
The original, not that awful remake.
I don’t know what’s worse, all those concerts, or dance films. Do we really need to waste the technology on that? At least most of the films I saw used the 3D with purpose.
My Bloody Valentine was very entertaining, and I admit that I flinched when a character had his shotgun pointed out at the audience, and when that pickaxe came flying at the screen.
How to Train Your Dragon was visually stunning, because as an audience you are right there along for the ride when the main character and his dragon are spinning and flipping through the air.
And I’m sure Avatar in 3D is the best thing since sliced bread.
CONCLUSION
If kept to kids films, epics, and horror movies, 3D does have its place. Just in moderation.
I remember there was this Worst Fads of 2008 list that I can no longer find online, but it listed things like combining celebrity couple names—TomKat, Brangelina, etc.—the Twlight saga, and 3D movies. Sadly, it doesn’t look like any of those things are the fads we would prefer them to be.
I suppose all I can really give for advice to movie goers is select your 3D experiences carefully. Not everything needs to be seen that way. But regardless of what you want to see in 3D, do it the way my husband and I do, thanks to the original suggestion from our friends Mario and Corrie.
Save your 3D glasses. Pay for a cheap matinee near the same time as your 3D movie. And then sneak in so that you’re not paying extra for something that DOES NOT NEED to cost extra. After all, the theatres themselves keep telling us to:
Please recycle your 3D glasses.
~G³
Next week I will be taking a look at cartoons of old and comparing them to some of the newer ones out these days to figure out why “Today’s Cartoons Suck”.
Thanks for tuning in.
Images taken from:
http://www.360dewan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/3d.jpg
http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/tron-legacy-trailer-video.jpg
http://www.happyhorror.com/wp-content/uploads/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-3D.jpg
http://springboardmarketing.net/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/sbw_characters.jpg
http://www.screeninglog.com/storage/trailers/how_to_train_your_dragon_trailer_2.jpg
I have a slightly depressing confession to make. I have never seen a movie in 3-D. Partly this is because my eyes have completely rejected the concept of contacts (wore them too long in a super dry hospital waiting room once, and now I can’t keep them in for more than 3 minutes, but I digress…) and I hate wearing another pair of glasses over my glasses.
The other reason is I live in Maine. The closest 3-D movie theater is in Portland, and if I’m going to be traveling 100 miles round trip to see a movie, it’d be in conjunction with a days shopping, dinner at a nice restaurant, etc… and I’d rather give my money to the Nickelodeon, the amazing old school theater in the Old Port that still looks like the movie palaces of the 1940′s, sells candies made by someone other than mars, and is generally has an awesome ambiance.
Plust 3-D anything that is usually 2-d, well, makes me motion sick half the time, so why would I want to risk it.
And another geek confession that will set the hordes to yelling at me instead of you. I haven’t seen Avatar, and I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument as to why I’d really want to.
@Blue-eyes-Green: I’ll try my best then.
It was everything that is good about a story. Even predictable in a way that you are just hoping it will be and then it doesn’t disappoint. Forget the 3D, forget that it is beautiful. It’s the first film that lets you believe in God again, and love, and getting to have something other than the life we’re handed and the body we have to live in, even though we imagine something so different of ourselves in our heads. It immediately became a new top five film for me of all time, because like so few other movies (Star Trek being the only other one I can think of in the past year) it didn’t have a single wrong beat or moment.
If it was any other movie, I’d say, whatever. But not this one. Ignore the hype, but see it.
Thank you- That is a convincing argument. I will rent it as soon as I come across it.
I’ve only ever saw a movie in 3D once, which was Spy Kids 3D. It does nothing at all for me except give me a headache, so I eventually ditched the glasses entirely and spent the rest of the movie with my friend trying to find parallels with the plot and the biblical story of… well we actually got through a couple before the movie ended.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, 3D leaves me totally cold. It does nothing for me. It does not enhance my enjoyment in any way, and I don’t see that they ever would, unless they came with a “make the movie better” button. And by better, I’m talking about better plot, dialogue, characterization, etc. So you aren’t the only one that think it’s over used, or overrated.
Still havent seen Avatar, but it’s out on DVD soon, if not already, so that will change very soon.
@Sean R.: LOL, yeah, where is that “make the movie better” button? That would be much more beneficial.
I fear that even though I can enjoy the 3D at times it is soon to take over. Dreamworks has announced that all of their movies will be 3D from here on out. The insanity…
[...] own. What spurned this blog entry was the preview for the 3-D “Step Up” movie. See my blog on “3D Overload” to hear my rant on how stupid THAT [...]