Thoughts on 3D

Last week Ebert Robert wrote an article on 3d movies for Newsweek. The article can be read here: Newsweek.

I always enjoy Robert's writing and opinion, and this time I actually kind of agree with him. Here is something I wrote about 3d while back that:

James Cameron’s Avatar is a great film, and it has made buckets and buckets of money to back that up. As Avatar grossed over $2 billion film executives watched and began to scheme, “Hmm, if Avatar can make $2 billion and it was in 3-D, then maybe we can just make our movies in 3-D and they’ll sell like hot cakes!”

I hate be the bearer of bad news, but I’m fairly certain that a little bit of 3-D isn’t going to save the ailing film industry. Within the next two years there are at least 36 films that will be released in 3-D. Among these are “Shrek 4,” “Tim Burton’s Alice and Wonderland,” “Hood Winked 2: Hood Vs. Evil,” “Step Up 3-D” and a sequel to the 2001 talking animal classic “Cats & Dogs.”

My question for film companies is do these movies really need to be in 3-D? And are people really interested in shelling out a couple extra dollars for some lackluster 3D dance sequences in an unnecessary sequel to a mediocre Channing Tatum movie? I’m not, and I imagine others might share my sentiment.

Nine times out of 10 3-D is just a gimmick. James Cameron just got lucky. He built new technology to make his vision possible, and it worked. It made the world he imagined come to life and people loved it. 3-D won’t save the movie industry; the only thing that can do that is talented filmmakers, writers, and actors creating worlds and stories the viewers can relate to and become immersed in.

The film industry is facing a lot of problems; problems with ticket sales, pirating are overspending just to name a few. Being stuck in two dimensions isn’t a problem. Filmmakers need to figure out a lot of other things before they venture off into the world of 3-D.

Review: The Brothers

The Brothers Bloom is a movie that has been on my radar for around 2 years now. The plot, which involves Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo playing brothers/con artists was the first thing that struck my attention. Once I saw the trailer I knew I had to see the film.

For some reason though I waited a good year and a half before I finally watched the movie, but when I did finally watch it I fell in love.

First, and most importantly, it's a con artist movie. How can you go wrong with that? Like Catch Me if You Can and Matchstick Men before it The Brothers Bloom is full of twists, tricks and turn that constantly leave you guessing at what could possibly be happening. Ruffalo plays the brains behind the operation and keeps the audience guessing.

To top it off the film is full of style and great humor. The Brothers Bloom is now available on DVD.

Hidden Gem: Empire Strikes Back trailer


Slashfilm.com posted this earlier today and I couldn't help but fall in love with it. It is the original 1980 theatrical trailer for Empire Strikes Back narrated by none of the Mr. Han Solo himself Harrison Ford. If you've got a couple minutes give it a watch; its pretty cheesey...but what can you expect?

Waterworld: Day 7

This post is part of an ongoing project where I attempt to watch all of Waterworld in 5 minute chunks.

The jet-ski's are coming in fast. The jet-skis them selves? Not in brand new condition. They look a little worn in. There's also a boat with some rough lookin dudes on it. One of them has a shotgun. I'm sure he's not the only one packing heat though. Some one just yelled kill which suggests that my theory was correct, they are in fact bad news.

The city is going into defense mode! (Which really just means they're closing the windows and lining up around the top of the city/island/town. One of the elders said something along the lines of "We're safe behind this wall...aren't we?" to another of the elders and then his mouth just lingered there as if he was expecting a kiss.

The bad guys have surrounded the island, and started to just dilly dally around and make they're presence know. The camera keeps panning around their machine guns and weapsons to let us know that they are in fact dangerous. And now for the villain reveal! An evil looking bald man sitting on a throne that is mounted on one of the big bad guy boats. It's Dennis Hopper! Smoking a cigarette! The whole freaking world is water, where did he find cigarettes?!?! He said something about the key to city, but I was to distracted to actually comprehend it because my mind is still hung up on the cigarette thing. I can hear people loading their weapons, I guess they're about to attack. BULLETS EVERYWHERE.

The bullets just keep coming. For a long time. There are also flaming arrows, Molotov cocktails, hoses, and sling shots in the fight. It's pretty much chaos for awhile. There is even bad guys water skiing? This is just stupid. That would be the worst way to travel/attack. Ohhhh I see know they are on water skis so that they can ramp off the big ramps and get into the city. Well, I was wrong that's not stupid at all! Now the jet-skis are jumping too. This town is screwed! Haha another water skier tried to do the jump but just hit the wall. What a great gag.

More chaos...and then the best thing I've seen in this movie yet. We've got a third and final water skier getting ready to jump the ramp. He hits the ramp, everything is looking good. He does it, he makes the jump. He's in the town! but wait oh no, something is in the way of his landing. IT IS A CAGED UP KEVIN COSTNER!!! WHAT WILL HAPPEN?!?!



Hobby Time: Bikes

Home cooking, puppy dog, family, and my parent's huge TV are some of my favorite things about coming home for the holidays. One of my other favorite things is riding my bike in the suburbs of Houston. I am by no means an avid bike rider. I know very little about how to properly bike and things like that, but I do love riding.

Unfortunately the hills of Austin, Tx are a huge pain in my legs. I live in S. Austin so I can ride in pretty much any direction and find nothing but huge hills. When I'm back home in Houston i can ride for hours without having to worry about riding up an incline.

The Art of Waterworld

Every year before Christmas a group of my friends and I have a big Christmas party, among the festivites are feasting, unsecisarrily compilcated traditions, and, of course, presents. This year my friend Casey Polacheck gave me this awesome painting of me and Kevin Costner kicking in the magical world of Waterwold.