Just Say NO to 3-D
MY Opion Has Been Reinforced By My First 3-D Film Experience If You Can Call It That
So Thursday night December 30th 2010 when we recorded Episode 19- 2010 Year In Review for our flagship podcast Geek Cast Radio I’d ranked Tron Legacy as my #2 film of 2010 in my top 5 list. I’d only been going off what trailers and mini things Disney Channel had shown off. Tron Legacy looked amazing from the trailers. So I took the 10 minute bus ride to the closest theater to me. I really wanted to see it after seeing the first film. The last time I went to the theater was for Iron Man 2. The theater going experience is not my thing anymore at all. First off for me because I don’t drive there’s getting to the theater. While the one I went to for seeing Tron Legacy is the closest one the better one is actually 2 bus rides away. I’m sorry but there is no film that would make me take the extra time to get out to that better theater. The reason for this is because of the time it takes to get from the bus stop next to my apartment complex out to the theater. The downside to the theater that’s only one bus ride away is that they haven’t remodeled this place in 20 years or so. This means no comfy seats. I’m not asking for super plush leather, but damnit I’d like to not have to squeeze my fat ass in the seat.
So this theater which is called Baxter Avenue Theaters is on the backside of a shopping mall in what’s called The Highlands Area Of Louisville KY. The Mall itself is called Mid-City Mall. The main entrance of this mall opens to a long hallway. There’s a Valumarket, a few jewelry stores, two excercise studios, a Louisville Free Public Library, and a few other things. This isn’t like your regular huge big named malls or anything. There is no J C Penny, Sears, or any of that. This is the perfect place for all those Mall Walkers, because there’s hardly anyone there! I had arrived 30 minutes before Tron Legacy was scheduled to start. I went into the Valumarket to find some snacks, because no way was I paying for stuff from the theater. I knew I had some time so I strolled the aisles trying to decide what kind of snack to go with. In the end I chose a few packs of Starburst Summer Fun Fruits. After making the purchase of the candy I walked out through the mall to the other end where the theater was located. I went up to the ticket counter and asked for one to Tron Legacy at 1:30pm. The ticket agent said that’ll be $8.75……WHAT? I asked her wait for a matinee show? Then I thought about it before she could answer I said it’s in 3-D isn’t it? She said yeah…..GRRRR!!! Even if it wasn’t in 3-D I’d still be paying $6.25 for the ticket. The ticket taker told me to show my stub to the guy in the theater doorway to get a pair of 3-D Glasses… these things look like cheap knockoff RayBans that Will Smith’s Agent J. would never ever make them look good. The movie was still not starting for another 10 minutes so after cramming myself into the seat I sat there and played Wheel Of Fortune on my phone in silent mode.
The previews started and I rolled my eyes when the Pirates Of the Caribbean 4 trailer came up. I thought to myself when seeing the Transformers 3 teaser on the big screen that it looked a helluva lot better than on my screen at home. (Obviously right?) Then Mater was on screen and the Cars 2 trailer. There was one or two other ones, but I can’t remember what they were now. Then a Dolby intro came up on screen, after that writing so tiny came up I could barely read it. It basically said it was time to put the 3-D Glasses on.
Obviously where the movie was shot in 3-D was on The Grid and not the Real World. When it came to the scenes in the Tron world I was expecting the ID Discs to fly out at me when Sam Flynn or Rinzler threw them… that didn’t happen. I was expecting when light cycles exploded that the debris would pop off the screen and that didn’t happen. During the movie I would put the 3-D glasses on the bridge of my nose to see if I could tell a difference with or without them……………………AND GUESS WHAT? THERE WAS NO FUCKING DIFFERENCE!!!!!! Even though I wanted to take the glasses off so bad I left them on because I got used to them. However I saw no third dimension!!!! Please don’t take this blog post as me being against Tron Legacy, because that’s not what I’m saying. The film was amazing!!!!!!! However the 3-D experience was very lacking! I doubt I’ll be going to the theater anymore for any film. I can wait for DVD it’s no big deal.
The following is from Baxter Avenue Filmworks’s website: http://www.village8.com/baxter_home.htm
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Baxter Avenue Filmworks is now one of the only theatres in the state of Kentucky to use the Dolby System and quite possibly the only theatre to utilize specifically the Christie CP2000 SB projector which is used primarily in very large auditoriums with long throw distances that have multi-tiered balconies and 1,000s of seats. There is no doubt that patrons who see the digital and 3D films at Baxter will see the best quality image that is currently available in theatres.
THAT LAST LINE I CALL SOOOOOOO MUCH BULLSHIT ON!!!!
Overall 3-D Experience Score: A BIG FUCKING 0/10!!!!!
I never was into 3-D as a kid in the 80’s and I fucking hate it today. 3-D this and 3-D that!!!!!! I wish this fad would just die as it died in the 80’s!
