Thursday, April 5, 2012

Silly 3D Wand Waving

It's not been long since the last time I wrote about 3D.  I was watching The Three (3D?) Musketeers on 3D Blu-Ray that came at an exceptional price.  I found the latest Harry Potter film 3D package for US$9.99 at Best Buy this week. It was cheaper than the regular 2D version, including the DVD version.  Wow!

There are a number of films that have been converted somehow to 3D.  It may be the equipment I have (LG 42LW5300 television and Blu-Ray player set) that may not be giving me an accurate idea of what the conversion should show.  I expect that I could use the television's 2D->3D conversion technology to give me a similar effect but with some potential slowdown.  It's a bit laggy anyway.

The odd thing about this is that I still haven't been able to sit through the Part I of the Deathly Hallows film.  I have gaps, besides those details that didn't make it from book to film.

Watching Part II, I was surprised to finally see Dame Maggie Smith wave her wand.  As a professor in the the series, I'd expect her to be quite powerful but she never was willing to prove it.  In one film, she backed down from the very pink Imelda Staunton.  As Professor Minerva McGonagall attacked Professor Snape, you get the feeling that she's still holding back and she's still soft-hearted.

As an aside, isn't it amazing that they got so many fine actors for the series?  I'm sure those who were children at the start have learnt quite a lot about being phenomenal actors, even if they haven't had the chance to show it outside this series of films.

Julie Walters came to my attention in the film Educating Rita.  She was quite a handful as a hairdresser trying to improve her station in life.  She made the film fun, but it felt totally different than when Audrey Hepburn did the film My Fair Lady.  They both charmed but were quite individual in their ways.  In any case, it was a good surprise to see Mrs. Weasley doing more than cooking or hugging.  "Not my daughter, you bitch!" got my attention and seemed more one of her other characters.  She seemed a bit rusty in her technique, at first but motherhood got hold of her and she remembered quite clearly, vanquishing Helena Bonham Carter.  Carter is another huge (I resisted a shift in the size of the text) name, even from the days of Lady Jane, she has been amazing.  To think that they've been in a series of films mostly targeted toward children is brilliant.  That little scene between the two made me smile.

There have been so many films of that genre that are compromises.  They have adults who really had nothing else to do or they have children who would have trouble making you believe anything.  Sometimes, they have both, and even the children watching have trouble believing any of it.

I can't say that I've seen many that have pulled me so completely into the scene with them.  The original Star Wars (Episode IV, if you must) had that quality, Dances with Wolves was another.  There have been others, but they don't really come to mind.  I can tell you though that I've watched way too much Star Trek Deep Space 9 and Voyager, so I might count some of those episodes among the engaging.

It obviously doesn't take actors from the UK to be engaging, but have producers, directors, and casting directors lost their way?  They seem more intent on showing us skin and blood than telling a story.  Was Avatar a film or a 3D technical, animated indulgence?  I was surprised to see a tv series on Starz, something called Spartacus that seemed to lack good story and good acting.  They seem to use massive amounts of foul language, nudity, and violence to divert you from any possible story.  Each can be used as a tool, but to inundate the viewer with so much seems to say that all the good writers didn't like your idea.

Let's have some good story telling, please.  The 3D thing isn't bad but until it's 360 degrees, it's not immersive and isn't really helping.

No comments:

Post a Comment