Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

June 1, 2009

Infuriated, LeBron wants to head straight to New York, but his teammate won't let him go.

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David Mumpower: I agree with Josh in that it's a gimmick that works. I disagree with him in that out of the recent RealD films I've seen (Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D, Bolt, Coraline, Monsters vs. Aliens and Up), Coraline is the only one whose 3-D had a wow factor. The stuff with the spidery Other Mother was spectacular. Meanwhile, Up looked beautiful, but none of its 3-D stuff was worth the annoyance of wearing those stupid goggles for the whole film. While I am certain that putting on the glasses makes the kids feel like what they are seeing is more of an event, it's more of an aggravation than anything for me. It's absolutely not worth the additional expense. I know that I'm in the minority on this, though.

Brandon Scott: I'll be honest, I have never seen a film in 3-D, primarily because I don't particularly like the types of offerings that have used the technology to this point, but I don't think that we have reached a saturation point. Case in point, myself, and I know of several others who have yet to see any of the films that have utilized this technology. That being said, it certainly "sounds" like a gimmick to me, but it appears to be a relatively effective one when considering box office results, especially of some of the earlier films that have used it.




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Scott Lumley: The 3-D effect is an actual impairment for me. I have a vision issue, and as a result my brain won't process the 3-D effect at all. The only effect I get out of 3-D is a set of glasses that I can't use and a migraine. I actually had to hunt my city for a theater that was not showing UP in 3-D, and I didn't find one until Saturday night because the theater didn't want to advertise the fact that they were unable to show the film in 3-D.

I'm not obsessed with films, but I am pretty hard core in that I'll go to see 15-to-30 a year in theaters. This 3-D surge has me feeling pretty uneasy. I hope it's a fad, and I hope it dies out.

Jason: Frankly, I think that this whole thing is absolutely a gimmick. 3-D doesn't really enhance the storytelling of a film -- it just brings an artificial immersion in the image of the story. Also, I still find that it reduces the quality of the coloring of animation. For a movie like Finding Nemo, whose water environments were so detailed and so beautiful, I'd rather sit back and marvel at them then feel like I was underwater with the characters.

Reagen Sulewski: This phenomenon reminds me exactly, I mean exactly of the boom in CGI animation of the late '90s early 2000s, when any old film opened to $40 million as long as it was drawn by computers (I'm looking at you, Robots). Eventually, they're going to saturate the market with this, and audiences are going to figure out that quality has to be there. So it's probably here to stay, but not at this level of one every month or so.

Kim Hollis: Reagen, I think this is a terrific comparison. It's exciting right now, but it won't stay that way because there's going to be too much crappy stuff using 3-D to draw people into theaters. I don't think it's super necessary to add to the enjoyment of a film - as David mentioned, Coraline is really one of the only ones that has done anything special with the technology (I think Meet the Robinsons is the only other one that has done much for me). People are going to get wise to the fact that there's no need to spend the extra bucks for glasses that give you a headache and also take away from the crispness and clarity of the movie.

Sean Collier: It's most comparable to IMAX - an added value gimmick that will attract some attention and convince some devotees, but ultimately become just an optional enhancement. On the other hand, it does seem that nearly every multiplex in the country is introducing one permanent 3-D screen, so it seems that, for the time being, there will always be at least one offering in theaters.


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