Give Me A Gimmick

Like Jaws 3D before, a new round of spectacle driven movies are to be released.

3D movies are anything but new. In fact, going back to the stereoscope, the process pre-dates the moving picture. Movies started being released in the 1920's and they they have been around ever since.

Most people think of the big green and red galsses 3D films in the 1950's and 1960's. Good for the effect of 3D band for color, lighting, oh and the headaches.

Now we still have the spectacle of things flying at our face. Some impressive, some not so much. But, why?

Are we that starved for reality that we need to go to a movie just to see things in 3D as if our 2D life was that boring. And why reserve this tech that is as old as cinema itself to action and animated films?

If 3D is good enough for big movies, it should be better for small movies. "Juno 3D" see that swollen belly fly over your head or "Superbad 3D" it worth it for the cartoon pictures, that will make you duck. (The Michael Cera connection is by accident.)

They are even thinking about going back and making 2D movies 3D with a technology called In-Three (Lead by Lucas, go figure). I cant wait to see "The Third Man" in 3D and "Vertigo" would be better.

While I wait for "The General" and "Birth of a Nation" to be digitally enhanced at my local megaplex. We can look forward to a dozen films in the next year to include this story enhancing technology including the Oscar front runner "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and Camerons "Avatar."

Who needs substance when you can have flash.