Re: Superman IMAX 3-D
- From: "Daniel P. B. Smith" <see-my-sig-please@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2006 02:10:37 GMT
I saw it today at the Jordan's Furniture IMAX in Natick, MA. I don't
think it was cut in length. It was certainly over two hours and I must
say it seemed very long. The picture was slightly letterboxed on the
IMAX screen; I didn't measure aspect ratios.
I found the 3D effect to be quite unsatisfying, but I can't say quite
why. I didn't notice anything _wrong._ All of the human bodies, faces,
etc. in closeup looked rounded, and generally everything looked rounded
and solid. I'd wondered whether it would have the "Disney multiplane
look" of flat cutouts; it did not. I was not aware of any problems or
errors or glitches or artifacts or matte lines or pseudoscopy, and the
screen was big enough (and I was sitting the right distance away) that
the perspective looked realistic, and there were no problems with edge
effects the screen.
But.
It just did _not_ give you that breathtaking "you are there" feeling I
got when watching, say, "Space Station 3D." Or even "Kiss Me, Kate." In
that film you were very aware that Ann Miller was older than she would
have wished to appear, because you could see the contours in her face.
And the feeling of being in the "living presence" (if Mercury Records
will excuse my use of that phrase) of the performers was so strong that
when I saw it, both I and everyone else applauded after each song--it
just seemed like the natural thing to do.
In the 3D sequences "Superman Returns" I did not get that feeling of a
veil between me and the picture dropping away. In fact the 3D scenes
looked a little bit confused or jumbled or hard to interpret. That might
have been a problem direction or cinematography rather than the process
itself. It may be that 3D requires differences in the way you use the
camera from the way you would use it when filming 2D and these were
cinematographed for 2D.
I got more of an exhilarating sense of space and motion and solidity
from a number of the 2D scenes, aerial shots of Metropolis and the like,
than from any of the 3D sequences. I _loved_ some of the period interior
detail in the Daily Planet building, and the shots of the globe of the
earth on top of the building with the words "Daily Planet" running
around on tracks...
Although they billed it as having "twenty minutes of 3D," those twenty
minutes came in the form of four isolated sequences. Before each 3D
sequence a row of little "glasses" symbols appeared on the screen to cue
you to put your glasses on; at the end another row of symbols cued you
to take them off. If you didn't, the right-eye image would fade to black
for several seconds which, I suppose, is why they did it.
It was extremely intrusive and quite tacky.
Also, although the glasses do not seem dark when you are wearing them
continuously, when you put them on and take them off you are very aware
of seeing the 3D sequences slightly dimmer than the rest of the film.
The four sequences seemed to have been chosen almost at random. There
were several points in the film where, dammit, I wanted my 3D NOW, and
those weren't the points where they gave it to me.
I didn't think much of it as a movie. I really liked the first
Christopher Reeve "Superman: The Movie" film. This one looked to me as
if they succeeded neither in capturing the atmosphere of the 1978 movie
nor in finding a fresh point of view. Best thing in it, to my taste,
were the sets and scenery.
It also seemed to me that there were some very heavy-handed references
to Christianity, either uncomfortably Christian or uncomfortably
blasphemous, I'm not sure which. I noticed this in the 1978 movie too,
but it didn't bother me in that one and it does in this. I don't
remember the exact dialog but Superman is repeatedly referred to as a
(lower-case-S?) "savior;" in this modern world we don't need a savior,
yes we do, etc. And Lois asks Superman if he's going to be around and he
says "I'm always around."
--
Daniel P. B. Smith, usenet2006@xxxxxxxxxxxx
"Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print!
Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html
Buy it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/
.
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