A Tale of Three Comic Book Shops
Visits to three different Portland comic book shops in the last month for books or events spurred some quick reviews on my experience with each.
****************************************
Excalibur Books and Comics
Long white boxes for days.
2444 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 231-7351
I’ve had a box here off and on – though I stopped by recently to pick up a few books because of their convenient 8pm closing time.
The visit was prompted by the need to secure issue #1 first issue of Stumptown, and the owner sold my her last (and personal) copy. It absolutely made my day!
This is the place to go to pick up back issues of the major books and I’m a huge fan of their 50% off sales.
Cons: All the books are sealed before you buy them, so no REAL browsing, and the atmosphere is not conducive to hanging out or spending any quality time chatting with other nerds. All the space is taken up by comic goodness, so it’s hard to really complain.
For the most part, this a weekend visit store for hunting down something very specific. It reminds me of the comic book shop of my youth, when I would spend hours thumbing through back issues and inhaling the scent of musty pages. Mmmm.
Vibrant colors and open spaces make this one of Portland's most inviting comic book shops.
5335 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland, OR 97213
(503) 517-9050
I stopped by to pick up a book they didn’t have (The Guild)…but ended up going home with several other comics anyway. The dude behind the counter left folks free to search at their leisure but answered questions with ease and a general knowledge of good customer service.
Liked how the books were arranged – alphabetical with several months worth of back issues still on the shelves, and not sleeved so I was free to pick them up and leaf through them.
Ended up buying more books because of the freedom to browse. It really does make a difference in the buying experience. Why would someone buy a car without test-driving it first? And as the price of an issue increases, people are getting pickier about what books they purchase. Hence – browsing.
Also like that it’s the closest comic shop to Outer SE, and I’m probably going to become a regular here because it’s a simple jog off the freeway from my regular commute. Plus the hours are reasonable. Guapo Comics and Books – I’m looking at you!
Snazzy blue shelves bursting with books.
20 NW 5TH Ave
Ste 101
Portland, OR 97255
(503) 241-0227
AND picked up a few books for reviewing as well.
The dude behind the counter was extremely helpful, and the atmosphere was great (no sleeves so you can browse) but is a bit on the small side.
The location isn’t entirely beneficial to me either. I don’t work downtown or spend much time in this area of Portland, so I’d probably only show-up for specific events.
And of course buy some books while I was there. How else am I gonna support these venues and the art-form?
I’d probably be a regular if it were closer-in. But I’m sure this services the downtown area quite nicely.
************************
I do realize how wonderful it is to live in a city where you can encounter three different AWESOME comic book shops – and still not exhaust all Portland has to offer. That means more shop visits and reviews in the future!
A Crisis of Faith in Superhero Comic Books
This is all Spider-Woman’s fault. So blame her.
And by Spider-Woman, I mean Brian Michael Bendis. And by Bendis – I mean all comic book writers. Blame them.
I’ll admit that I was no fan of Secret Invasion (which killed my comic book appetite for at least a year). But now that the dust has settled, I’m back to picking up Marvel books. Lucky for me that Marvel is attempting to be more inclusive of my gender.
And that’s where Spider-Woman enters the equation.
That's right girl, exercise that Primal Scream.
Traditional superhero books have always been a difficult stretch for me. This isn’t the first time I’ve ranted about that fact either:
Maybe it’s the same reason that I never enjoyed Superman, the Justice League, Captain America or The Avengers quite as much as the X-Men because the X-Men have always been the under-dog, and I’ve always had an intense fascination with the under-dog. Wonder Woman/Superman, Batman, Captain America all get love wherever they go. Of course their duties lie in protecting and serving the American Dream.
The X-Men on the other hand were hated and feared by the general public and often their help was misconstrued as violence. So their reasoning behind saving the world was always more compelling, and constantly being questioned. Also, most of them aren’t some mystical being or aliens, which makes it easier to stomach their differences. They’re real people who struggle with oppression and bigotry.
These thoughts aside – I’m starting to wonder if my continually underwhelming attempts at continuing to read X-Men aren’t also based around some kind of nostalgia and sense of loyalty, versus a true desire for superhero books.
Which leads me to the state I’m in today…I’d love to get behind a character like Spider-Woman (she is neither magical nor an alien, just a woman who’s been seriously screwed with most of her life). In fact, judging from the Issue #1 of the new Bendis run, I’m pretty sure I’ll start becoming a regular reader.
I’d like to say the same for She-Hulk as well – I’ll probably pick up the Peter David run and read through that at some point…but there must be some reason that I don’t stop by on Wednesday to pick up these books specifically.
Spider-Woman, and the overall push for Marvel to become more woman friendly has caused me to stop and really examine the work I’m attracted to, and for what reasons.
I’m sure you’re probably thinking – it’s silly to think you have to support women centered books…men certainly don’t have a similar allegiance. Have you ever encountered a dude beating himself up for not purchasing Ultimate Spiderman because he wasn’t supporting his gender?
Sure – budget plays a factor. I can’t afford to support every single book with a woman in the lead role. Financial constraints demand that I am selective with the titles I pick up on a regular basis.
There’s time constraints too – I can only read so many comic books.
Maybe it’s processing through the decades of history behind most Superheroes that causes me to go numb when I ponder picking up their book. Consider the fact that a comic book character is a serious investment of your time and energy. Like any other person in your life – they need to prove their worth. They need to be the right fit. Because chances are – they’re going to be there for awhile. The X-Men have become permanent fixtures in my life (permanently inked on my skin, even). These books and characters have lasted longer and produced more content than any other popular culture phenomenon in history. No, seriously.
Spider-Woman takes a moment to contemplate her long and tangled history.
With Spider-Woman, it took me about 30 minutes to read through her Wikipedia page and get all the background information. She’s a character that has been meddled very little with – aside from the Secret Invasion crap. And that’s all behind us, like some distant, bad dream. As far as I’m concerned – she’s wide open.
And that is highly appealing.
Superheroes lead lives FULL of baggage – dead relatives, failed marriages, stolen identities, murder, financial troubles. Once in awhile it’s nice to make a clean break of it, without resorting to world altering timelines. It’s funny how some creators, writers and editors think this is the proper way to achieve catharsis or transformation. If there’s something wrong with the characters – just change the world.
I can appreciate what Bendis is doing here (at least in this first issue). Instead of saying – “Let’s completely change this person’s world (again) and have Spiderwoman in a new reality!” He’s keeping it real.
She’s actually experienced everything in her current timeline and retains the knowledge of these events. There is not going to be some magic eraser or delete button to take it all away. She’s going to survive and push on despite the decades of bullcrap weighing her down. And maybe, just maybe…she can take care of some of that baggage without having to change the world. She can simply change herself.
And by she – I mean Bendis. And by Bendis – I mean all comic book writers.
I’ll save my thoughts about motion comics and the artwork of Spider-Woman for another post.
Phoenix Tattoo: Session Two
Yesterday I spent another three hours in the chair of London Bellman, and I have to admit I am crazy impressed with the work he’s done. Who knew that actually looking at portfolios and picking someone based on the style of their artwork would yield such amazing results?
Not too much story to tell – we arrived at the duly appointed time, took the seat and the pain started. He worked on more of the space around the elbow, and on the elbow bone itself. It’s good to get one of the more painful parts out of the way, especially since it’s going to be a few weeks before we can get another appointment scheduled.
He also started some pretty amazing shading and softened up the lines of the fire, which has made it look more like…ya know, fire.
I was worried about the size and spacing of the stars, but I think they’re perfect given the scope of the Phoenix herself – everything else must match up to that scale.
London also got rid of the dreaded hand. Check out the video here:
Probably not gonna be able to set another appointment until mid-April (or later), but I don’t mind waiting. It’s quality over speed and quantity.
The Impostor’s Daughter
The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandell sparkled in the stack of recent books with all the promise and allure that the words “Graphic Memoir” can muster. My mind immediately skipped all the way back to Allison Bechdel’s Fun Home, another East-Coast woman scripted graphic novel about a girl and her father.
I’m not sure whether memoir or autobiography fit comfortably in comic book form, unless the subject is at least a few decades old or told with lots of savvy and finesse. It’s hard to marry reality with the printed and doodled upon page – for me, graphic novels and comic books allows mirror reality in a fictional way. Comic book memoirs seem to do the opposite: fictionalize reality. Also, your story better be visually interesting if you bring in visuals. Otherwise, you’ve lost half the battle.
As a cartoonist, Sandell is fine. I certainly wouldn’t salivate for more based on the art alone. It was a wise choice to package the book as they did – hard bound with colored pages. Faced with 100 pages of black and white panels (and very little visual intrigue), it would have been over before it even started.
People who have never given two sniffs at comic books as an artistic storytelling platform, will be BLOWN AWAY that they could read a graphic novel with some kind of merit. As if Sandell is the first person to ever conceive of a memoir set in this medium. Actually, it seems more like this was the gimmick in which to finally package and distribute the story. It doesn’t help that it’s a creepy nod to the way she bonded with her father in their damaged relationship.
What exists in The Impostor’s Daughter is not well-fleshed out, which is odd because it’s the author’s own life and this is her tell-all. She clearly has many things she wants to convey, but outside of herself, the other characters, her mother and sisters are dim and distant. Even her father (especially him, his motivations are incredibly vague). Laurie as a narrator is even quite casual at times – especially after she leaves for College and then on her world travels.
The book seems to lose it’s momentum when the story is about her, and only gain it back when she’s living again in the world of her father. In a way, her story is shaped as a direct mirror of that relationship. Even when she should be living and enjoying her life to the fullest (traveling the world, starting her career), and recounting those trials to bring us closer to HER…it’s glossed over and we’re back to her Dad.
It’s clear that this book was not cathartic for her. I didn’t get any sense of closure…and I’m not sure she’s had time to really absorb what she’s learned and turn those lessons into anything of value. She rushed to get this project done and put it out on the shelves as some weird form of therapy but seems to miss the point of the exercise entirely. That’s what would make for more interesting reading, and a better end cap to her fiction of reality.
I do get tired of the “my parents ruined me for life” diatribe. At least she recognizes that Ashley Judd had a tougher childhood than she did. And the celebrity name-dropping did get a bit old after a while. Especially the Sgt. Pepper two page spread. We get it – you have a nice career.
Vampire Diaries Episode 15: A Few Good Men
Hell yes we are believable as High School students.
The first season of Vampire Diaries has already had several schizophrenic fits and starts. It doesn’t bode well for its renewal when the second half of the season produced only two new episodes, and then another break until last night.
Blame it on the Olympics? Blame it on March Madness? I’m not quite sure what the problem is with the scheduling for Diaries, but it’s helping to lose my already waning interest when they can’t air three new episodes in a row.
What’s great about this show? Damon Salvatore. The evil vampire is the only actor with any captivating screen presence – played with malevolent glee by Ian Somerhalder. Most folks will probably remember him as Boone from “Lost” (before he met his untimely end) or Paul Denton from ” The Rules of Attraction.”
The rest of the plot unfolds something along these lines: 17-year-old Elena Gilbert (played by the dark-haired and smokey voiced Nina Dobrev) is introduced to the audience only four months after the death of both her parents in an auto accident. She and her bumbling, stoner brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) are now living with their frazzled Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning). Their friends and family all encourage them to get over their grief, and even their teachers give them a hard time about it. Huh. Maybe that’s the drawback of living in a small town?
Enter vampire teen heart-throb Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley)…and his evil brother.
Elena has the misfortune of looking like the dead lover/vampire whom the brothers quarreled over a century before. Pretty twisted, and already piled with loads of plot and side characters (her best friend, Bonnie, is a witch). It’s based on a Young Adult book series of the same name written in the early 90s, which has been slightly modified and revamped (hah!) to fit with the current decade. Also the books are being republished. Check the wiki here.
What kills me with this show is the pacing, the often-times pointless drama and the weak characterizations. While it does quite often ride head and shoulders above “Twilight” in terms of having…ya know…an actual PLOT, it’s populated with a male and female lead that are sinfully boring. Not the actors mind you, they are giving their full skill to creating people with personalities, but when the characters are such Puritans…it’s hard to generate much appeal.
Stefan and Elena rarely make tough moral decisions, and are mostly around to clean up in the wake of the evil vampires which are constantly streaming through the town. Poor Stefan has to play the role of the serious, brooding vamp with his out-of-control eyebrows, and he does so pitch perfectly. But that archetype has been done to death in pop culture.
And no one makes broody eyebrows better than Angel.
Which leads to my earlier statement – how deliciously sinful the presence of Damon becomes. He reminds me more than a little bit of Spike (another Buffy alum). Without him, there would be no forward progression of plot (again – Spike’s scheming tacked on at least three seasons to Buffy’s shelf life). But the writers can’t seem to decide if they want audience sympathy or complete revulsion, and Damon’s character often seems like a split personality – wavering between completely evil in one scene, to something resembling compassion and reason in the next. Consistency is sorely needed.
It doesn’t help that so much of the show is without humor. BTVS worked because of it’s light-hearted nature and comedic timing, whereas Vampire Diaries is a touch too clunky and angsty.
Now that we’re all up to speed…
Unwrapping “Re-Gifters”
Dik Seong Jen/Dixie – is the type of heroine we are often missing in modern comic books. She is passionate, tough, intelligent, and a bit confused about herself and life.
She is the protagonist of the graphic novel Re-Gifters, which was bumped up in the queue by the recommendation of a friend. It’s yet another book from the now-cancelled DC comics Minx line of graphic novels aimed towards tween girls.
Our tween heroine, Dixie, is training in the art of Hapkido, a traditional Korean martial arts style. Of course there’s a romance between her and a fellow student, which plays a large part in the story, but the realizations brought about by this relationship ultimately end up empowering Dixie. It’s a nice change of pace from the typical romance featured in much young adult literature geared towards girls.
What struck me was how REAL the world felt. Even the side characters were full of life – Avril, Dixie’s best friend, plays a prominent role as comedic relief and helpful dispenser of advice, who is just as strong and interesting as Dixie herself. Her family are all lovable as well – her twin brothers are written to comedic perfection, as anyone who has spent time with twins can attest to.
Dixie helps her family keep in touch with their Korean heritage through her practice of Hapkido. There’s an important passage in which her father describes immigrating to the United States, and his father telling him to embrace the new culture, but never forget where he came from.
The cultural leanings of this book honestly led me to believe that author Mike Carey himself might have some Korean heritage or background. He doesn’t – but he does pose a triple threat – a truly excellent writer who can script real females AND assume the voice of another culture while still making it feel authentic (or at least well-researched). The article referenced at the bottom, in which the author brings up some of the Korean misrepresentations, only points out a few errors, rather than finding offense with the entire book.
The chapter titles are amusing (The Battle Fart of the Korean Dwarf Fighting Frog being a personal favorite), swiftly paced and the entire book is an entertaining read. There are deep elements swirling around in here – racial tension and class disparity – but none of them seem heavy-handed or over-played. It’s a bit Karate Kid meets American Born Chinese with some Mean Girls thrown in for good measure. The message we are left with for young-women is positive without being cheesy.
And in general – there wasn’t much exceptionalism present here. No one seemed to be overly shocked at Dixie being a female Hapkido student, or bat an eyelash about her entering the National Competition. Even her Master refers to her as his best student, without giving qualification to her gender. Yay for Carey developing an amazing, clever young woman for this novel – I’m intrigued now to see how deftly he handles Rogue, one of my favorite X-Women.
The art style by Sonny Liew is manga with black, white and shades of grey, and my only real gripe is that in a few scenes we lose facial features of characters, which draws me out of the story and reality of the moment. It’s hard to take someone seriously when they’re inexplicably missing an eye or nose.
This isn’t the first pairing of Carey and Liew – they worked on My Faith in Frankie together, and individually Carey pens X-Men Legacy (the only X-Book I could currently stomach) and Liew is currently working on Marvel’s Sense and Sensibility adaptation.
Another book to add to the “Appropriate and Engaging for Young Women” category. Hell, another book that anyone could enjoy, come to that.
LINK LOVE
Spartacus: Blood, Sand, and Boobs
But not necessarily in that order.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I actually ended up watching all 13 episodes of this delightfully crappy show. It’s like the worst best blood sex fest I’ve ever seen. My viewing it’s entirety can be blamed on a nasty stomach flu which kept me bed-ridden for 24 hours, in which I devoured 8 episodes one after another. It was like some kind of fever dream… I now love it passionately and was very distraught to hear the news that Andy Whitfield, who plays Spartacus, has cancer. I’m hoping for a speedy recovery so I can wince, guffaw and chortle through another 13 episodes of this messy, ludicrous but lovable series. THANK YOU.
It was disappointing to learn that Spartacus: Blood and Sand came out on Starz, a premium cable channel the DH and I do not subscribe to. Didn’t realize this when I set up the DVR, so the show’s been recording blank episodes for the last month or so. Believe me, there’s nothing more tempting or aggravating than a DVR show that doesn’t record.
When the first five episodes magically appeared on Netflix Instant Watch this weekend, we settled in to watch the pilot and give it a fair shot.
Only to witness an entire hour filled with nothing but blood, sex, boobs and very little else to tantalize. The scripting and directing are weak, the special effects are quite laughable (so much green screen!) and not even the actors manage to pull of their hackneyed dialogue with much sincerity. It’s not surprising with lines like “he’s got his hands up all the right assholes and when he wiggles his fingers, they shit gold.” Uh, what? Maybe it could work with the right delivery. Maybe.
Perhaps I would think better of this show if two things were true:
1.) 300 was an accurate and compelling depiction of history
2.) HBO’s Rome hadn’t been so epically awesome
Instead – we are treated to this bastardization of what I consider to be some great depictions of Roman times. Aside from 300, perhaps.
The DH described it as a really awful serialized version of Gladiator, with the visual style of 300, but there are just enough differences in the material to avoid a potential lawsuit.
See for yourself:
The amount of blood seeping into the trailer and first episode alone should be an indication of how ridiculous this series will be. Gallons of it – and for some reason they’ve mixed real fake blood with CGI blood on-screen and the two do not sit easily together. Honestly – at one point my husband and I were laughing at the unintentional comedy of the blood splattering the screen. So much. Too much.
We’d been joking around about the title of the show – and discussing the insane amount of sex scenes and bare naked breasts invading the screen which served no purpose.
My naked breasts in this scene serve no purpose
We envisioned a scene in which the overuse of blood, sex and breasts would culminate in one orgiastic climax.
Little did we know, we were about to witness everything our hearts had desired. In the first scene of Episode 2: Spartacus, the soldier-turned-slave-turned-Gladiator is bound in chains awaiting his fate, and dreams about having sex with his kidnapped wife. Mid-copulation, her mouth suddenly bursts forth with blood and it shoots all over her naked breasts. Bloody sex breasts.
The writers and visionaries of this crap-fest did not let us down.
Believe me – I wanted to like this show. Lucy Lawless (what is with her comically red hair)? Steven DeKnight of Buffy and Dollhouse fame? Apparently Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen are on the writing staff as well.
The only question this show raises is how so much talent can exist in one place and yet churn out a boring, silly show with material that should be a slam dunk. Rome, Shakespeare, Greek tragedy. It’s practically Drama-By-Numbers here people. You just have to make sure it’s GOOD. But Spartacus: B&S has nothing interesting to say or show us which hasn’t already been done…better.
Should I stick it out for a few more episodes? Anyone?
LINK LOVE
– I’m not the only one thinking it sucks
– This review suggests we revel happily in the sex, violence and absurdity
Antlers Scarf: Finished!
Whew – this little beastie took me 31 days total to complete. It was set aside at least twice for other knitting projects, and ripped completely to start over again exactly once.
New Skill Gained
Knitting Patience – this was by far the most time consuming of my projects since delving into knitting this year. Was it worth all the heart-ache? I think so. The pattern is quite intricate and there’s only a few places on the scarf where I look at it and ponder just WTF happened.
But, judge for yourself whether all that time, energy and hard work equals success.
Picture Fun Time
Happy Scarf Face
No really, look at the cool design
Jabba is visibly uncomfortable with how sexy this scarf looks
Up Next
Cupcake hat pattern purchased from Purple Goddess Design – come on, you remember this one. And you better think it’s cool because I actually paid $ for the pattern.
Stumping for Stumptown
It’s about ten times easier to write a review of a new comic book series when you’ve read Issue #1. Who knew?
To make a long story short: picked up what I thought was issue #1 of Stumptown published by Oni Press, written by Greg Rucka and inked by Matthew Southworth, only to realize it was actually #2. Having the entire story skewed can really effect your perspective, so I’ve had to re-adjust my opinions of the book based on all the new information about the main character and story. It was a good adjustment, by the way.
Dexedrine Callisto Parios – better known as “Dex” is a private investigator on the mean streets of Portland, Oregon. Which elicits a bit of a chuckle from me – I get that Portland has a criminal element, but it contrasts a bit with our image as the cleanest, greenest city in America. Whatever the prevailing ideas about the city are – Dex is a woman who knows how to find trouble wherever she goes, or at least encourages trouble to come find her.
It’s a classic hard-boiled detective, crime environment – not usually my style but my affinity for Rucka, Portland and resilient comic book heroines make this book a shoe-in, right? Sort of – I wasn’t really in love with this book by the end of Issue #2.
What I took for false machismo in the second issue really fleshed itself out in the first, and my initial trepidations about embracing her started to fall away. There was more background in Issue #1 – a closer examination of her faults, a better definition of her relationship with her mentally handicapped brother, and further defining of her sexuality.
Why do tough chicks always have to be gay? Or viewed by other characters as being gay? Is it impossible for a woman to have typically masculine qualities (strength, intelligence, strong opinions) and not be labeled as homosexual? I was disappointed when Rucka went that route with Whiteout, and was feeling doubly irritated when I opened up my first issue (Issue #2) and Dex is loving up on men and women. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with representing homosexuality or bi-sexuality in comic books, but making a tough female character a lesbian is a straight cop-out, indicating that women cannot be strong, independent and heterosexual. *sigh*
Rucka’s ability to write women has evolved since Whiteout, and after only a few issues, Dex already seems like a person who is defined more by her choices, behaviors and attitudes than by her sexuality or gender. She’s got less intensity than Carrie Stetko – Rucka peppers Dex’s conversations with humor and gives her tough persona a nice balance with her devotion to her brother.
Don’t get me wrong, she is still defined by her sexual preference (we all are), but I’m hoping the need to assert it so prominently will drop into the background as the series progress and lets the stories, personalities and relationships take center stage.
Cynicism and disgruntled feminism aside – I’ve got to give props to Rucka for writing strong women characters and putting them in books with a low sleaze factor.
And more props to Matthew Southworth for working diligently to capture the true Portland feel. While the rough, scratchy inks are not my preferred comic style – it pairs very well with the cloudy Portland atmosphere and the detective-noir feel of the book. The darker earth toned coloring by Lee Loughride works nicely with the art and it’s compelling to flip through the book and see the individual scenes mapped out with a different color scheme. It’s like a new lens applied to each part of the story – quite effective.
And who wouldn’t love seeing their city displayed on a comic book page with such attention to detail? Seriously – from the Craftsman style homes – you know Dex lives somewhere in North Portland. The sequences with the St. Johns bridge featured prominently are particularly stunning.
It’s especially exciting to read the commentary by Southworth on the back pages, as he describes his process of cataloging the unique visual elements of Portland and translating them to the pages of Stumptown.
The plot itself – the case Dex is working to solve over the first few issues features many Oregon elements as well. Dex gets the case from a Native American casino owner and those involved with it ending up taking her all the way to the beloved Oregon Coast. She survives a beating on what looks like the SE Portland streets, and then takes two gun shots down at the base of the aforementioned St. John’s bridge.
She’s a hard woman to kill. My hope is that this series survives long enough to fully develop her, and it’s story into something that surpasses merely a genre piece. And becomes a great piece of fiction. It has promise.
Link Love:
To 3D or Not To Be?
We've come a long way from these nerdy-ass glasses.
That’s the entertainment question, for the ages…or this age at least. Or maybe just the last year. Yeah, probably just the last year.
Hollywood has decided that 3D is the only way to get your human meat in their theatre seats lately. And I get it – some of the 3D has been quite fun.
Being HUGE freaking movie nerds, the DH and I have had this discussion more than once…what makes a movie 3D worthy?
I’ll argue strongly that 3D only belongs in animated flicks and fantastical or horrifical worlds. Up, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland – in these places 3D makes sense, because you are already at a higher level of belief suspension. The world is funky enough for the slightly disorienting and blurry effect of 3D to barely go noticed.
My main concerns about the prevalence and rabid push for 3D in Hollywood lately is that somewhere along the line, a studio is going to insert it where it doesn’t belong. Like in a Martin Scorsese or Coen Brothers film. *shudder* Oh wait – Scorsese is looking to make one. Does anyone really need to see Leo DiCaprio protruding from the screen? It looks like the Coens are steering clear from the extra dimension, thus far.
I’m highly skeptical of how appropriate 3D is for horror movies that aren’t slashers like My Bloody Valentine. And honestly – I’ve never seen a horror movie in 3D. *gasp* But it’s true! Only really gimmicky horror movies are getting the extra dimension treatment, and those are the ones I generally avoid like the zombie plague. And from this list, you can see the general schlock-fest of 3D horror movies coming down the pike.
Now zombies in 3D, I would pay a little extra to see. What could be more horrifying than a 30 foot tall zombie horde lurching towards you? Wow – can Hollywood make this happen now-please-k-thanx? Ok, you already read my mind (a trick you really need to teach my DH) and set up Zombieland 2 in 2011 to take place in the third dimension. Amazing. Can I marry you Hollywood? I’ll do the dishes!
Another smart move studios have made on the 3D front is keeping it’s viewing entirely optional. So – you only have to pay $13.50 (in PDX anyways) to see a 3D movie if you really, really want to. But every time you do so, you are voting for more 3D…and with more 3D comes less of a choice. Honestly, in the future if most of the movies being released are in 3D, do you really think a movie theatre is going to support a non-3D version for which tickets cost less?
Movies I Will Most Likely See in 3D:
– Resident Evil: Afterlife (hello, Zombies!)
– Any other cartoony, computer-animated film my horde of nephews wants to see. I would prefer How to Train Your Dragon
3D Movies I’ll Watch in 2D (thank you very much):
– Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (1 and 2)
Actually – The Cabin in the Woods might be the catalyst for me to watch a slasher/horror film in 3D. Resident Evil movies don’t count because they’re not horror – it’s a video game adaptation. Totally different genre.
Check out this 2010/2011 list for more scheduled crapfest movies like Halloween 3, Step Up and JackAss. Quite a few on the list I haven’t seen media for, so they’re up for grabs as to quality.
So – should ALL movies be in 3D?
Interesting 3D related articles:
Dan
tinyheroes
Tiny Heroes 