3-D Movies - Pros and Cons

Now Now People, It's been a while. I Know I'll be Rusty. I know my 'wit' will be not upto par. But one has got to start,, nay,, resume at some point irrespective of pursuit of perfection. So here we go...

The emerging, or as some say, the established trend of 3-D movies is for most movie lovers to see. Blockbusters like Avatar and not so seamless 3-D rendering of Alice In Wonderland just go to show that the 3-D phenomenon first pioneered and also debunked in the 60s or so has finally matured to a point where the visuals actually intended by the movie maker is projected to the audience rather than blurred out, flushed out frames that are more headache inducing torture rather than enjoyable entertainment.

However, as with any technology, the discerning adopters( read - the CONSUMER) always find out the balanced mix of pros and cons which ultimately can make or break any technology. And therefore, I shall present the comprehensive list every filmmaker should look up and think of(What the hey,, Blogs are BIG) while making his next 3-D Magnum Opus.

PROS

• Immersion - There's no doubt that a well made 3-D movie is immersive. Hell, Shrek Forever After looked mighty good, let alone Avatar.
• Focused Viewing - I have seen it first hand that 3-D movies tend to make the viewer give undivided attention to the movie, and not to the chitter chatter around them.
• Novelty - Watching 9 2-D movies out of 10 and one 3-D movie does tend to give it a feeling of novelty. Even if the movie is sub-par, viewer tends to be absorbed into it.
• No Mush - Ok Ok,, no need to scratch your heads. This is solely for those who've had to sit through a movie with a couple in front, or right at your sides being "Cozy" (noisily i might add) and crapping out your movie experience(Easy with the Stares,, you know am right). Why this is so?? I shall explain in due course...

CONS

• Unwieldy Eyegear - Well DUH!! Want 3-D?? Need Glasses that look like portable eye testers at your friendly optometrist.. NO,, Thank You!!!
• Headaches - Ok, Strictly not a generality, but dang,, sometimes one does feel like the head is being pounded. The Eyegear surely isn't any help either.
• Dark Visuals - It seems to be given that 3-D movies will be darker than normal 2-D movies. Whether it's a technical issue, or simply an issue with specific theaters (namely ALL in my case),, I cannot say. The Darker visuals in no way enhance the detail of the movie. Even Avatar is some scenes looked blandly washed out.
• No Mush - Right then, This is not a mistake. It DOES very well fall in both the categories. While one doesn't really enjoy loud mush from others, surely one cannot expunge oneself from the temptation of enjoying a cozy moment of 'magic' with one's partner in the dark confines of the theater (FINE.. it sounds hypocritical.. SUE ME!!!). So the CON?? Try enjoying a cozy moment when your eyegear keeps getting in the way. Not to mention looking into the eyes of the other is an impossibility. By the time one take the trouble of tearing them off,, the 'moment' is almost surely..... GONE!!

There Ladies and Gentlemen, is a short but precise take on the 3-D movie experience. While the listed attributes are movie-title agnostic, it is my personal view that animated movies lend themselves to 3-D much better than live-action ones (No Offence Avatar, but Shrek 4 was more immersive in my view). Before the Avatar aficionados start a flame war, lemme rephrase by saying that CG heavy visuals lend themselves better to 3-D than live-action.

And Finally, while 3-D is undoubtedly making strides,, personally i'll take good old 2-D anyday. If for no reason than simply to rid myself of the loathsome eyegear. But what the hey, maybe glass-less 3-D will be a reality someday.

We Shall See...

OMKARA....Pleasure of a great movie and the sadness for the death of intelligent viewership

How would i rate the movie OMKARA???

Give by my best of the lot rating - GREAT??????
OR
The worst of the lot rating - Unadulterated CRAP?????

For OMKARA though, i'll slightly shift my stands and put up a new rating - ABSOLUTE GENIUS!!!!!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, i would rate OMKARA as one of the best movies ever to grace our cinemas in a long long time(i'd say better than the overhyped and degeneratively BORING "Black"). The storyline, as advertised is adapted from Shakespeare's Othello; the characters; the setting; the pace all come together for one of the most exhilarating movie experiences worth the admission fee and the massively overpriced bar snacks.

Whilst i'd refrain from divulging the plot of the movie so as not to give out any spoilers and let you enjoy it for yourselves, i would like to point out some sterling aspects.....


First and foremost, the Storyline. Though i have not read Othello, after seeing the movie, one would surely be interested in reading the literary work even if it is to just gauge the level of adaptation undertaken by the director to give it a Indian background and feel.




Two,the chacacters. Special mention should be given to the casting director for picking a stellar cast. Ajay Devgan is a gem for serious roles anyway,but it is Saif Ali Khan who in my view really really steals the show. His character (Langda Tyagi) is a absolute treat to watch. Another noteworthy performance would be that of Konkana Sen as the inimitable neighbour gal, Indu, who's the emotional crutch for Kareena Kapoor's character (Dolly Mishra) throughout the movie. Though the others do not seem to perform as well as the 3 i've pointed out, their roles and characterizations fit the movie as a whole and won't take away from the movie experience.



Thirdly the settings and locale. Adapting a shakespeare drama to a rural UP setting works really really well, seeing as it is that rural UP is a total grey area where personal and professional politics intermingle so much,the lines demarcating them are blurred into oblivion. The natural rustic overtunes of the movie is a farcry(and if i may say a welcome change) from the sweet sweet, cushy, sugar candy settings of Karan Johar movies and a ton of "rich guy-poor gal" or "poor guy-rich gal" settings. Even the songs( by Gulzar) give you a feel of the real UP and even though incomprehensible in lyrics most of the time, really stick in your mind and keep rolling off your tongue when you least expect them to.

So, as a summary,i say take time out in the weekend or a holiday and WATCH THIS MOVIE.

Now................. we come to the negatives part of the whole experience. Any guesses what THAT might be??? Come on,,take a guess...NO..i insist..take a guess...

OK,,i'll save you the painful firing of the brain cells by telling you the greatest crib i had about the whole movie....THE F***ING AUDIENCE. Well,,not the whole audience,,but surely the bunch of females sitting in the row immediately back of mine should have been chucked out after the first half hour of the movie.

Why you ask????

I shall tell you. A movie like this should be treated differently from watching say,,a K3G or a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or any of those slick clothed, uber rich, song and dance sequenced movies, where the hero and heroine are nothing but glorified clotheshorses for major design labels. So how does THAT apply here??? Well,,for one,,i would surely cringe(and i did) when while watching the first half hour of a movie to gauge character growth and background and i suddenly hear "OOH...Kareena is looking so good" or another half hour later "ooh Kareena is not wearing this dress properly" or " Viveik is looking so cuuuuuute". You getting what i'm saying?? How the HELL do females manage to look at a movie like Omkara and take down fashion tips on a PhD level is something beyond me(and i presume beyond the ability of MOST males to apprehend as well). Of course if one has a view about something in a movie,keep it hush hush within your own group, not BLURT it out for 2 rows on either side to hear it. But i guess i should have expected such a behaviour,,after all,, certain females were more interested in Superman's "BULGE" in his trademark red shorts and giggling than watching the movie as a real fan of the genre would. Is it any wonder then that guys usually go as a "male only" group when they really "want to see" the movie rather than "enjoy the company"???

In today(3rd August) TOI, there's a article which is titled "Familes avoid Omkara". Why,,you ask?? It's coz the movie is chock full of cuss words from male and female characters alike. But is that really a big issue?? One can literally write a encyclopedia of cuss words by just listening to people shouting at each other in a half hour traffic jam. So why would such a scene in a movie warrant a viewer blackout?? I don't know???Hypocritical moral high ground??Who cares!!!As far as i saw, most shows of Omkara are running houseful in Delhi, and so it should. Whether it's just college crowd or timepass couples gracing the theaters or families or intelligent viewers is a no-issue taken as a whole. Those who've seen the movie rave about it coz that's what it deserves, those who say the movie is avoidable coz of the cuss words better go into the open world and see how sweet and sugary people's conversations really are.

And so i point out the latter part of my title "death of intelligent viewership". While there's no doubt that the upcoming Karan Johar movie "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" will run to full houses for a couple weeks atleast with college guys and gals drooling over Abhishek,Preity, Shah Rukh and Rani and how pretty they look in their designer label wares and trendy US settings, the less than serious and "fashion centric" views of people(mostly young males and females) while watching movies like Raincoat, Black and Omkara is truly, TRULY painful to watch. Maybe i'm just being too cynical,then again, maybe NOT.

I guess one would understand what i'm saying here when they go to see such classic works and are bombarded by statements like "oooh,how cute!!!", "how uncouth",," not wearing this properly",,"dress making her look FAT" and so on and so forth. But keeping all this apart,,,my final recommendation....GO AND WATCH OMKARA...

JUST DO IT...............

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