The new "Clash of the Titans" movie is coming out soon (April 2nd) and I've been glued to the computer ever since the first teaser trailer came out in November. It looks great, has a who's-who of international film cast (Sam Worthington needs this to overcome his "Terminator" curse and no, "Avatar" doesn't count; he needs to do more), and I love the story. That last bit may be why I'm a bit conflicted.
On the one hand, I love the '81 original in all it's cheesy glory. Ray Harryhausen is a God (and I rarely capitalize that word, so you know I'm serious). He's the godfather of cinema FX, the man behind everyone working in FX today: "Jason & The Argonaut's", "7th Voyage of Sinbad", "One Millions Years B.C". Think about it. No Tim Burton, no John Landis, nothing like we know it today. Check him out. It's okay, I'll wait.
Sure it was cheesy, it was the 80's! The writing is still pretty solid and holds up well today. Plus, just look at the cast! I can forgive Harry Hamlin's haircut and orange tan because there's Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Burgess Meredith, Ursula Andress!! Did I mention the flying metal owl Bubo? Heck yea! this movie has everything and was already successful with many loyal fans.
Which brings me to the flip side. This is exactly what I asked Hollywood to do: Find an older movie with good bones that people remember and like, and that could actually benefit from the technology of today. Quit remaking things just to remake them (I'm looking at you "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th"), because you can, because it's cheaper. Pony up a bit of cash and let's try to get original. That being said, as much as I love stop-motion and matte paintings; CG has the ability to transcend the film experience from fiction to reality. I, that is, done properly. I'm leaning more and more towards "Titans" v2.0 being amazing. That was, until I heard this: "Clash of the Titans" will be in 3-D"
Awesome, right? We all (currently) love 3-D now that "Avatar" told us it was okay. Unfortunately, this film was not shot in 3-D. They will have to do a transfer and I don't care what they (the company doing it) tells you, it does not look the same. Did you see "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3-D? I did and it ended up meaning nothing to me. 3-D characters come flying at me only to be cut off mid approach by the border of the screen- big disappointment. I'm so glad they spent millions transferring it. [side note: sarcastic text would really come in handy. Get on it geeks!] You know who saw it in 3-D? Fans. The same fans that go to to midnight screenings and when it was re-released previously. We don't care, we're going. You could have saved some money and skipped the transfer!
So, new note to Hollywood: Stop transferring 2-D to 3-D. We can see right through you. If you want it in 3-D, shoot it that way in the first place. You're jumping on a bandwagon we don't even know will last. Haven't we tried this before? Didn't it fail? The one thing "Titans" has over "Avatar" is we'll still be able to watch it at home. Oh, I can't wait to see "Avatar"'s DVD returns!
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