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3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

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    3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

    Well, that's what certain Hollywood types are saying, with James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar said to be the upcoming film that will blow our minds to small atoms with the 3D process, and with the remake of My Bloody Valentine done with the same technology.

    It sounds like fun, admittedly, but I also can't help thinking there's a little hucksterism involved in this, a concerted, slightly desperate effort to convince a movie-going public that this is 'the way to go' and film, supposedly, will never be the same again.

    I also get the feeling that there'll be some 3D product that will be astounding to watch, but will stink the place out if seen normally, allowing some right dogs to hit the screens, with the 3D process giving some crap filmmakers the chance to present low-quality, badly-scripted shite to squeeze through the radar, and hoping that it won't matter if we're all zonked out by lots of things flying through the screen at us to notice how crap the film is.

    It's why I'm always unimpressed in some way when filmmakers and studios become hyper about the new technologies which will enhance the making of movies (film will be obsolete! Vision so sharp, you'll need eye-laser surgery after you've seen a film! Characters that interrupt the film to tell the audience someone's Vauxhall Picasso is holding up the car park!), because, when it comes down to it, it's all down to whether a film is capably scripted, acted or directed that matters to me personally. It's the film whose character and quality endures through the years rather than the technologies that supposedly enhance it. You can have enough HD in all the world, it'll only enable you to see tons of crap more clearly than ever before.

    I'm sure 3D will be a hell of a knockout with all the strides technology has been making, but will it be a case of us all being impressed by the way a film is presented instead of the character of the film overall? Will the window dressing transcend what's supposed to be seen through the window itself?

    #2
    3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

    I certainly think that one of the motivations for all this will be to try to claw back some attendance and revenue from that growing number who only watch films on pirate, bittorrent, etc. Bootleg this . . .

    But yes, speaking for myself, I'm with you on this one.

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      #3
      3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

      Well, the history of cinema 3D can, as far as I can see, be traced back to its use as a novelty in the 1950's, enjoying a brief explosion of popularity before dying out in the 1960's, so it seems a weird model to pluck out as the start of a new revolution in cinema.

      I may well be wrong, but it seems the strangest horse to back in this instance.

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        #4
        3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

        I can't see in 3D in real life anyway, so I don't imagine I'll gain very much of a benefit.

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          #5
          3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

          I can't think of a more tedious movie gimmick than making films in 3D. We got last year's 3D remake of Journey to the Centre of the Earth out on DVD the other week and it amounted to little more than a mind-evaporatingly dreary procession of rocks being flung towards the camera. Even the non-spectacular scenes were riddled with superfluous movements and gestures designed to make you feel like you were being poked in the eye.

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            #6
            3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

            There's been a lot more 3D in animation recently also--Bolt, now Coraline, and the upcoming Dreamworks movie that was hyped incessantly during the Super Bowl.

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              #7
              3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

              I saw Bolt in 3D with my niece and nephew. They loved it and I really liked it too. As movies about talking animals for kids goes, it's very good. It would have been good in 2D too. The 3D was just an added bonus.

              Likewise, I'm very keen to see Coraline and would want to see it regardless of whether it's regular or 3D. I really like animation and this one looks fantastic.

              On the other hand, that Journey to the Center of the Earth looked like it was nothing more than what Mumpo said.

              So insofar as the film is good anyway, I think it's a nice gimmick/value added to get people (especially parents) to come to the theater and pay the high prices for popcorn and what not rather than just waiting for it on DVD and giving it to their kids to watch in the backseat on long road trips. If it's crap, showing it in stunning 3D, 4D or 6D isn't going to make it worthwhile.

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                #8
                3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                The only time I've seen something in 3D in a theater was "Captain Eo" at Disneyland, with Michael Jackson. There was one little furry creature that flew at the camera, and everyone in the theater simultaneously reached their hands out to grab it. Every other person my age that saw that also remembered that part.

                I remember about 15 years ago, Fox (I think it was Fox) showed the John Wayne film Hondo in 3D, which is how it was filmed. I remember there was a lot of buildup, and you had to get your glasses from 7-Eleven. Completely bizarre to think about now.

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                  #9
                  3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                  Add me to the "unimpressed" camp. A tired 50-year-old gimmick dressed up as the future of cinema.

                  There was an experiment with 3D stuff on UK television in the 80s. Even to my 10-year-old self, it was lacking in wonderment - all that happened was that one or two bits of the picture would stand out while the majority of the frame remained resolutely flat.

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                    #10
                    3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                    I'm fairly certain I saw Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone in 3D when I was a kid.
                    It was shit.

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                      #11
                      3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                      I got absolutely off my tits on skunk once and went to see a 30 minute kids' film in 3-D. It was ace and I laughed like a loon.

                      But otherwise, I agree with everyone else.

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                        #12
                        3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                        Don't forget, also, that possibly the naffest thing ever made for television was made in 3d.

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                          #13
                          3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                          also get the feeling that there'll be some 3D product that will be astounding to watch, but will stink the place out if seen normally, allowing some right dogs to hit the screens, with the 3D process giving some crap filmmakers the chance to present low-quality, badly-scripted shite to squeeze through the radar, and hoping that it won't matter if we're all zonked out by lots of things flying through the screen at us to notice how crap the film is.
                          You say that like it's a bad thing. I don't know how expensive the 3D tech is, but if it isn't, we could be in for a new golden-age of Corman/Hammer style B-movies.

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                            #14
                            3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                            I assume that if it isn't cheap now it will be eventually. It's all computers and what not, isn't it?

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                              #15
                              3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                              Well, presumably at a minimum you need two cameras, or at the very least a "single" camera with stereo separation. That's why a lot of the 3D films in recent years have been computer animations.

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                                #16
                                3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                                That Nightmare on Elm Street had me sick for about 3 days from whatever it did to me. It had the best segueway into 3D from 2D ever, when the characters in the film went into the Dreamworld and said the only way to see Freddy was by wearing the same glasses that were in your hand.

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                                  #17
                                  3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                                  I always worry about the next leap forward in viewing technology. Being (mildly) photosensitively epileptic, all of the computer gaming world is off limits to me and I'm afraid that one day I'll go to the cinema and it will be Battling Seizure Robots time.

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                                    #18
                                    3D - It's The Future. Apparently.

                                    My man Andy Stimpson on the very same 'phenomenon'.

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