The Future of 3D

I thought of talking about 3D again, as we have a lot of 3D TVs coming out before the holidays. It is amazing to see how the technology has advanced, where 3D use to be these paper glasses with red and green lenses and it was only about things jumping out at you, but now it is more about depth when you watch a movie. I will be honest though, it still has a bit to go before it is even closer to perfect, but still is amazing.

I heard the Playstation 3 now has a 3D feature where you can play games that were made in 3D. And Nintendo is making a portable device called Nintendo 3DS where you can play games in 3D without wearing 3D glasses (now that would be really cool). From how things were years ago, 3D is now starting to become big.

Even Blu-Ray companies are starting to sell 3D Blu-Ray equipment and software. In fact, just the other day, Universal Home Entertainment announced Despicable Me to be released on 3D Blu-Ray on December 14, of course it will also arrive on regular Blu-Ray and DVD, but the 3D Blu-Ray will also include the 2D version, so for those that don't have 3D yet but plan to upgrade in the future, there you go. Just like the same idea with when Blu-Ray was starting to become big, they would (and still) sell Blu-Ray movies that would include the DVD version with it, which is in my opinion one of the best ways to sell your product.



Of course, there are other 3D Blu-Ray releases for those who are interested in 3D and have a machine. Like Disney's A Christmas Carol, Clash of the Titans (which was really bad in 3D), and Alice in Wonderland. There is also releases of Avatar (James Cameron, Not The Last Airbender) and How to Train Your Dragon coming as well. Right now, they will only be included in special bundle deals, so you have to purchase a 3D TV from a certain company to get it. For example, you can get How to Train Your Dragon if you buy a starter kit from Samsung. So yeah, that will restrict those who really want to get into 3D because of these movies, but I am sure as time goes on, probably in less than a year, these movies will be available to buy separately. Of course, you can still enjoy How to Train Your Dragon in 2D on Blu-Ray October 15 (so excited). I will be honest though, all this technology is cool, but I will wait a few years till the prices come down a bit and they handle any technology issues that might be present right now. But of course, when the time comes, I do look forward to investing in 3D. If anyone wants a 3D TV right now and not spend thousands of dollars, there is one TV by Samsung that is $999, it is only in 720P and it is plasma, but it is 50", but with 3D TVs costing about $3000, that isn't too bad, but like I said, I will wait. For those interested, the technology is out there, and you can find it.

But for those that want to enjoy 3D without having to pay for all this home equipment, you can go to the theater this weekend and go see Legend of the Guardians, which looks really cool. There are also many different movies that will be released in 3D before this year ends, there is Megamind, Tangled, Tron Legacy, and Gulliver's Travels. Since 3D became popular with Avatar last Christmas, there are also movies that were filmed in 2D but certain companies decided to convert to 3D, those are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (very excited) and Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Keep in mind, if you still don't like 3D or can't handle it, there is still 2D versions of these movies coming out in theaters as well. While I wasn't impressed with the 3D conversion of Clash of the Titans, I may give Harry Potter a shot in 3D as the decision was made around the same time when they decided to convert Clash to 3D, and Clash was only given 2 months to convert in 3D (which probably explains why it didn't turn out so well) but Harry Potter has had more time to work on a 3D conversion (hopefully), so maybe it will be a bit better. But nonetheless, a really good live action 3D movie is when the companies decide from the start to do their movie in 3D, like with Avatar. That is a decision that many companies has gone with in pre-production lately, so they turn out good and not as sloppy as Clash of the Titans. One of these movies is Transformers 3, before they started production, they decided to film in 3D, so there is one live action movie that should look good in 3D.

So yeah, 3D has a bright future, of course there isn't anything wrong with 2D movies, they are still good movies, in fact this weekend look for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps as well. There is a lot coming out in the next while, both in theaters and in the home. I will continue to keep you updated.

Summer Review 2010

Summer Review 2010

As we wrap up another great summer, I go through what I saw this summer in theaters and pick the ones that stuck out to me, ones that I enjoyed, and the ones I wish I didn't see.


Top Movies

-Inception: Obviously one of my big picks. Smart movies are starting to become bigger thankfully, I don’t mind the dumb ones every so often, but when they are smart and make you think, they are more fun, and they are even more fun as you go back and watch the film again. This was one movie that gave us so much to think about, and so many different possibilities. If you want to read some of my guesses and other opinions, go a couple of posts back.

-Toy Story 3: A really big surprise. I didn’t expect it to be this great. Obviously the biggest movie this summer, having crossed $400 million, even becoming the highest grossing Toy Story, and is in fact my favorite out of the three.

-Iron Man 2: A great follow up to the biggest surprise of 2008. I was totally entertained, it was easily one movie I could go see so many times. Robert Downey Jr. was of course great again, and the expansion of the Marvel universe was great, so many different surprises in the movie.

-A-Team: Very entertaining. I was really surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this movie. Really disappointed that it didn’t do any better. A must watch in my opinion.

-Despicable Me: A great family movie to watch. So many funny moments, especially with the minions, and a very cute story. For those that missed it, hopefully you will make an effort to catch it in the future.

-Knight and Day: I am not a Tom Cruise fan, but when he chooses to have fun with his role, then his movies can be a lot of fun to watch. There were a lot of really fun moments in the movie, and I scratch my head wondering why this one didn’t do any better.


Other great mentions:

-Prince of Persia: I enjoyed this one a lot. A good story behind it and a ton of action that totally kept me entertained.

-Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: A video game like movie….. what a great way to make a movie, it was a ton of fun to watch. Totally original idea, and some of the references to comic books and video games were totally fun to catch. There were also many other movie and TV references as well. Anyone catch the reference from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome? Worth watching if you love comic books and video games.

-Salt: I saw this more times than I was really planning to, but I enjoyed it every time though. A ton of action with quite of few twists and turns in the movie, with some that you don’t really expect.

-Karate Kid: I am a fan of the original 1984 classic, so when I heard about it, I didn’t fully accept the idea of a remake. Once I heard the great reviews of the movie, that totally brought up my interest in the movie, and decided to check it out. I actually enjoyed it. It was basically the same story and same movie with certain changes made to it, and they were all good. A movie totally worth it.

-Grown Ups: This was entertaining enough to enjoy at least once. This wasn’t a greatly reviewed movie this summer, but I enjoyed it and there were some fun moments in the movie.

-Shrek Forever After: I probably would put this one in watch once and you are good, but honestly this one was a big surprise to me, I was totally expecting to hate this one, the last one wasn’t really that good at all, and a fourth one after that, I was thinking, "come on, we don't need another one." Well, I went in, and I found myself laughing and enjoying this one a lot more than I was expecting. I would have no problem recommending this one. At least see it once.

-Robin Hood: It was still a very entertaining movie, but it felt like one of those that they could have done a little better with in my opinion. It’s been a movie that I still have a hard time pinpointing what didn’t totally satisfy me with this movie. It had all the right elements that makes a good movie, action, good character development, and great cinematography. Maybe I was expecting an even better movie than what I got. Still worth watching though.


See it once and you will be good:

-The Sorceror's Apprentice: It was a fun one to watch, but I will totally be honest, once should be enough. There were some really good moments in this movie that made it fun to watch. Not as memorable as the National Treasure movies, but still enough fun that you shouldn't be bored from it.

-Dinner For Schmucks: First off, I didn’t like the very crude humor that made it into the movie, however I did find there were a lot of very funny parts in the movie. The story was good and there were some very good moments in the movie. If you like really crude movies, I think you will enjoy it. For others, I would wait for an edited version, but once it comes out, I recommend checking it out.

-The Other Guys: I will be honest, I expected this one to be a lot better, I thought it could have been a little funnier, or funnier in a different way instead of what they put in trying to make it funny. I think the crude language and everything could have been toned down, it wasn’t the kind of movie that I was expecting that kind of humor, nor really needed it, I know it has Will Ferrell, but we all know that he can still be funny without all that crude humor.

-Letters To Juliet: This wasn’t one of the movies I really wanted to see, but I went with one of my cousins and saw it. I will be honest, it was alright, but nothing about it made me want to go see it again. But for those that enjoyed movies like Leap Year, this might be worth watching.


Don’t even bother:

-The Last Airbender: I will be honest, this was totally a big letdown, especially for huge fans of the show. This totally left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths for M Night Shyamalan, especially the fact that the last few movies have failed to capture the attention of audience. This movie was totally flawed in the script and the acting was flat out bad. However, the set designs were pretty cool, and so were the special effects. So if you keep your expectations low, then this movie won’t be that bad of an experience.

-Jonah Hex: It showed up in theaters and was gone very quick. I am sure the basic reasons were clear to everyone. Megan Fox was totally there for show and nothing else. A very short movie with no real purpose behind it. Not worth your time whatsoever.

-Takers: Wow, if there was one more that had so many plot holes and so many illogical situations, this was it. The script was so bad, there wasn’t really any story, nothing connected, and you didn’t care for anyone, and I mean no one. I found myself laughing throughout the movie, especially the last thirty minutes, not because it was suppose to be funny, but because everything was so bad you couldn’t help but laugh. Parts of it felt like a complete rip off of The Italian Job. Let me put it this way, if you want to see a really bad movie, go see Takers.


This was actually a pretty solid summer for movies, obviously there were some poor choices this summer, but some of the great movies made up for it. This coming Fall will have some pretty solid choices in which I will look forward to, as well as this Holiday season. I will try to keep you updated on what to look for.