M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender” will be converted to 3D in time for its July 2nd release date. Big. Fucking. Deal.
We’re getting seriously tired of every marginal tentpole under the sun getting put through the 3D washing machine. Earlier today, Michel Gondry’s “Green Hornet” was also announced to be getting the “treatment.” Is it just us or is 3D already mind numbingly boring. We don’t care anymore. If we never saw another movie in 3D we wouldn’t miss it for one second. But apparently, audiences are loving the format, willing to shell out more money to wear those dorky, uncomfortable glasses and sit through hatchet jobs like “Alice In Wonderland” and “Clash Of The Titans.”
While we haven’t really been reporting on “The Last Airbender,” mostly because we just don’t really care, the spots have surprisingly not been terrible, and at times somewhat impressive. Why Paramount feels the need to juice the film with 3D we’re not sure, but the promise of boosted box office numbers thanks to people shelling out a few extra bucks to feel like things are flying by their head is probably a good incentive.
The great irony in all this? The company that handled “Avatar”‘s 3D process, Stereo D, will be doing the quickie version here. Oh, James Cameron, will you ever win?
I've been done with 3D for a few years now. The destruction of Up and Coraline with ridiculous upconversion was bad enough.
Clash of the Titans was pretty much the last straw. And while Avatar looked nice, I'm still firmly on "unnecessary" side of the fence.
Yeah people who wear glasses are nerds! Fuck nerds!
How people can feel live-action with 3D is worthwhile is beyond me; it completely kills that sense of verisimilitude. Avatar was shot in 3D, and I still thought that was mindnumbingly silly and superfluous (the UI stuff popping out did look sort of cool, which I guess explains it's ubiquity throughout the film). Though, I would watch a new Qatsi film shot in 3D in a heartbeat.
However, animation is another can of worms; the form isn't concerned establishing verisimilitude (hopefully), so there is no disconnection with the glasses (unless you are matogyaliaphobic). Screw Cameron, I found the most compelling usage of 3D to be Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and How to Train Your Dragon (aka Non-Sucky Version of Avatar); on the latter, Roger Deakins deserves some major props for his work.
Also, The Last Airbender looks horrible.
I'm hoping all these cheap hastily 3Dified movies ala 'Clash' and 'Alice' will turn the general public off this gimmick sooner, rather than later.
I thougth that shyamalan would have been against this. To bad…
I still hope that this 3D thing will blow over.
More reason to save your money for Inception, thankfully not in 3D.
3D is rapidly on its way to becoming as marginally relevant as Shyamalan himself.