Media Meditation #4: Why I hate 3D Movies

(Source:Televisionbroadcast.com)

If the phrase 3D is placed after the title of a movie, chances are there is just no way I even have the slightest desire to see the film. More and more films are being released that give the viewer the option to watch the film in 3D, instead of 2D. This means you pay extra to see a movie you hope will be awesome, wear glasses that give most people headaches and more then likely in the end be disappointed that the special effects didn't even remotely match the expectations you had going into the theatre. I admit that 3D special effects are in fact, "rad" and you can quote me on that, but it seems to me that Hollywood is just doing it to release films that would get barely any ticket sales if the phrase "3D" didn't follow the cliche title. Some examples would be "Piranha 3D," "Saw 3D" and 'Step Up 3D." Now this is my opinion, but those movies look horrible and "Piranha 3D" was just awful. The Saw films started out awesome, now it is just so overdone that if they don't advertise the movie in 3D, it will just not sell, the same goes for "Step up 3D," minus the fact I thought its predecessor was horrendous.

The point I am attempting to make is that Hollywood puts the publics hopes up that it will be so good in 3D and it never really is. There are in fact a few exceptions in my opinion, yet they are rare. If a film falls into my exceptions it means that they would be perfectly enjoyable to watch without the "3D" aspect.


(Source:Celluloide Junkie)


So basically the 3D in the movie theatre is just the entire film being played so that it all pops out at you, not literally like things flying at you the whole time, but more like everything going on in the scene is being projected off of the screen a bit. To me, a "3D Experience" should include me wanting to take my hands and attempt to touch images that feel like they are being projected directly in front of me. I feel like my idea of "real 3D" happens in the opening of a film where the title and names of companies behind the film are stated. Sometimes in these scenes abjects will feel like they are flying at you, and that is rad, but besides that, there isn't too much of awesome 3D during the film itself.

The best "3D Experience" I have been part of would have to have been at the IMAX when I saw "Space Station 3D." I felt like I was actually in space and it amazing. Besides that I enjoyed "Avatar" in 3D and I also that that "Coraline" in 3D was rad as well. Besides that, I haven;t really been too impressed. I saw "Jackass 3D" when it came out a few weeks ago and I enjoyed it too it's full extent, but I actually wasn't impressed with the 3D at all, but that wasn't the reason I went to go see it, I just think Jackass is funny as is, they didn't need the 3D to sell me.

I think that nobody on this earth should ever place high hopes in a movie with the phrase "3D" at the end of it. It will always be a bad idea and you will most likely regret it unless your like the majority of people in our society lately that just want to go watch things blow up and look cool instead of getting something out of the film. I hate movies like that so much and I also hate Hollywood for coming out with them constantly.


(Source:3D.movies.au)


Despite the fact that movies in 3D have been blowing up, movies in 2D or as I like to put it, "Correct Movies" are still by far favorites. I saw "The Social Network" this past weekend and it was phenomenal, many others can say the same thing. I believe that this 3D thing is just a fad and a way to manipulate the public into spending money by making cheap and awful movies (with a plot a fifteen year old who has watched an action movie could of come up with) by making them look action packed and mindless. We have developed such a sophisticated culture.

-Mike