Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Grumbles: 3D Movies

Today I am taking a page out of my friend Kyle Case’s blog and writing up a little grumble of mine: 3D movies. This new fad has made Hollywood a bunch of money but it is a rip off. Some movies are not shot in 3D but are later converted so that they appear to be in 3D. Beware these types of movies; they suck. The 3D is awful and the reality is they would look better in 2D. They just slap 3D on there so they can squeeze 3 extra dollars out of you. An example of this type of scam is Clash of the Titans.

Other movies claim to be 3D but the truth is that only portions of the movie are 3D. So, you could be watching a two hour movie but only 20 minutes are in 3D. What a rip off. An example of this is Tron: Legacy. I saw this in 3D, expecting to be blown away. I was not.

The final type of 3D movie is one that is shot entirely in 3D. This is the requirement all movies who get to put 3D on their listing should have to meet. This is what should make the movie worth the extra money. The upcoming Drive Angry movie was shot totally in 3D. I don’t have any desire to see it, but I applaud the filmmaker for taking it all the way.

(By the way, the above can also apply to IMAX movies. There are some that were not shot in IMAX at all but are shown at IMAX, some shot with some IMAX film (like Batman Begins) and those shot totally for IMAX. The difference is, even if a movie was not shot for IMAX at all, it is still worth the extra cash to see the movie on that enormous screen.)

Other grumbles about 3D:

The glasses just haven’t reached a high level of quality yet. Those one-size-fits all glasses really end up being barely-fits-one-person-correctly. What I hope for are something more in the style of Geordi La Forge with an adjustable strap in the back.

Do we really even need glasses at all? They have developed screens that create the 3D effect without glasses at all. These are at work in some 3D TVs and is the technology behind the new Nintendo 3DS.

The price. I just don’t think it is worth the extra money.

One day 3D movies will be the norm and they will be awesome. The kinks will be fixed. The price will stabilize. Right now, I avoid them like the plague.

3 comments:

  1. Dude, first of all... thanks for the shout out.

    Second, I HATE 3D. I completely agree with everything you said. I would add that for people like myself (who already wear glasses) wearing a second pair of glasses is a terrible experience. It's just awful.

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  2. Exactly! If you wear glasses on a daily basis, 3D is not even an option for you! Its awful!

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  3. I agree with your grumbe mister even though I don't wear glasses. I still hate them.

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