3D Is Overrated, Especially If You Have Astigmatism

And for the record, I used to think that was two words for the longest time.  That it was "a stigmatism", as in, "My stigmatism!  Noooo!"

But seriously.  This weekend I saw my first movie in RealD 3D.  I'd seen stuff with the older 3D (the red/blue or red/green), and it made me violently ill.  Something about my astigmatism makes me unable to properly process it.

 

This is pretty much what I see with the glasses on.  Maybe a bit less blurry.

Understandably, I'd been avoiding the newer 3D for that reason.  I mean, I have to keep the 3D on my 3DS off or I get ill--and that doesn't even require glasses.  Yeah, there were several levels of Super Mario Land that were almost impossible because of that.

But this weekend, I found myself at a showing of Pirates! Band of Mistfits in 3D (it was a friends thing and I didn't find out about the 3D until it was too late).  Now, it was definitely not the best example of 3D, but there were a few bits where things really popped out and it didn't make me sick!  Yay!  No nausea or vomiting!

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the image of her popping out of the dumbwaiter.  That was pretty terrifying.

Of course, it wasn't really a movie that needed 3D and you could tell they just added in the effects so they could use the gimmick.  Finally, I was able to experience 3D and it was disappointing (the movie was entertaining, though, so it wasn't a total loss).

But all was not lost, because The Amazing Spiderman came out this week.  Those of you who know me will know of my Spiderman fangirlness.  I absolutely love my man, Peter Parker.  I still hold a grudge against Iron Man for outing him in the Civil War storyline several years ago and Joe Quesada's still on my shit list for Brand New Day.  While I can't sit through some of the older shows (sorry, 60's Spiderman), I will gleefully watch almost anything that involves Spidey.  I watched all three of the previous movies--and enjoyed them (which hurt ever so slightly in #3).  This could have starred Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, and I would have gone to see it.  

 

 I even like the amazing Spiderham, Peter Porker.

Now what with timing and everything, we wound up at the 3D showing (we couldn't wait that extra fifteen minutes).  I was excited, because I knew there would be some really awesome 3D effects.  How could there not be?  I was a little irked because I had to face the screen straight (no snuggling with the hubby) or everything got really blurry, but I had high expectations.

And they were met.  Andrew Garfield is a truly amazing Spiderman, and captured the awkwardness of Peter Parker perfectly.  The only thing I didn't like was how they criminalized Dr. Connors (he's a very tragic character), but considering some of the crap they've pulled in the comic recently (Future Foundation, anyone?) I'm giving up on complaining about minor issues.  The key thing here is how well they captured the various characters and stayed faithful to the overall feel of Spidey's life.  Also notable is a return to the webshooters, actually doing something with his parents, using Gwen Stacey as the first love of his life, and avoiding the use of the most annoying phrase in the comic.  It was awesome, go see it.  Now.  I'll wait.

 

 Om nom nom.

All righty, now that you've seen it (and maybe even in 3D), allow me to confess that I found the 3D somewhat lacking.  I mean, there were some obvious ones (like the opening credits), but I really didn't see much, and it felt very much like the 3D was just kind of wasted.  I mean, it was hardly there for most of the webslinging, and....

If you saw it in 3D, you will immediately realize there's a problem with that last statement.  My husband did.  A couple days later, we were discussing it and I made that very point, and he was all, "What?  Seriously?"

Apparently all of the webslinging was in 3D.  The husband followed with a list of scenes that had serious 3D effects--that I apparently completely missed.  I seriously didn't see half of the movie in 3D, and I was wearing the glasses!  

So, yeah.  On the plus side: Yay! I can watch movies in 3D now!  On the minus side: Boo!  I can't see half the 3D.

On a completely unrelated note, the trailers for Spiderman included the last Twilight movie.  I'm not seeing a lot of overlap in audience here.  The husband said it was for the girlfriends and wives, but I was all, wait, why wouldn't they want to see Spiderman instead?