A blog about 3D cinema

Background This April, Captain America: The Winter Soldier kicked off the 'Summer' movie-going season early. Its over-sized box-office takings match the muscle and reputation of the hero himself, and critics were quick to praise the film too. He's the linchpin for Marvel's Cinematic Universe, which is why it's the fourth time we've seen Cap in 3D. Is this the definitive Steve Rogers story? How does the 3D fare in comparison to the post-converted likes of Iron Man Three or The Avengers ? Join us for this in-depth review of the film's stereo effects, and let us know if we've missed anything! Post-Converted 3D Marvel makes bold bets on its directors. In retrospect, many of their choices often made total sense; Shakespearean-influenced Kenneth Brannagh was well matched with Thor , as was the wise-cracking Iron Man helmer Jon Favreau. While some of their directors had previously made big-budget films, none had ever made a 3D movie. We assume that...

Background Obviously the third film in the series, Iron Man 3 is actually the fifth time we've seen Robert Downey Jr. play the role of Tony Stark. It's also the second time he's collaborated with the film's director, Shane Black. For the latest Stark instalment, the pair have conspired to chop the titular hero's ego down to size, perhaps hoping to provide a more likeable character arc than what Iron Man 2 offered us. We'll discuss plot points later though, for now, let's have a look at the third film's usage of 3D! How was it? Should you see it in 2D or 3D? We'll investigate below in our usual template-driven style, in the hopes you'll be able to make an informed movie-going decision. Post-Converted 3D Like The Avengers and Thor before it, Iron Man 3 was shot digitally, and post-converted into 3D. 3Defence's view of The Avengers was that the film greatly benefited from an extra dimension, and the movie-going public appeared t...

Background: To date, despite owning DC Comics' entire catalogue of superheroes, Warner Brothers have taken a small-scale - or at least self-contained - approach to their big-screen adaptations. Certainly their DC films have not been as far-reaching or synergistic as anything from Disney's Marvel-verse. Warners, seeing Marvel's successes - and perhaps fearing a time when The Hobbit  can't be split into any further films - promptly commissioned another blockbuster series from Christopher Nolan and his Dark Knight team. Taking on the Man Of Steel himself   is no small challenge .  The brief Warners likely gave was that the film needed to broadly introduce aliens to Earth, show Superman punching bad guys, and earn big Dark Knight -sized blockbuster grosses. Some challenge! Nolan promptly recruited 300 and Watchmen  " visionary " director Zack Snyder to helm the mayhem. The resulting film was released yesterday and 3Defence was there in a packed auditorium ...

Regular reader ' Andy ' submitted this story for us: The Top 10 Most Thrilling 3D Moments In The Avengers . Check it out, it's a great list. Useful follow-up to our story from a few days ago on the great conversion work Joss Whedon coaxed out of his team.

BoxOfficeGuru  revealed that, because of The Avengers ' monstrous opening, 10 million Americans watched a 3D film this weekend. By my estimates, that's the most for a single film ever, in that timeframe. Big news! It also validates my earlier theory that the 3D version is of historic importance. Now the question is... will its 3D attendance beat Avatar ?

If the estimates hold true, half of the people likely to see The Avengers already have, and the other half are about to see it in the next 48 hours. It's an event film like no other before it; five films of build-up, followed by a massive pay-off. The Avengers has the world captivated, and there's hundreds of reviews out there that can help you interpret the narrative, its plot and its worthiness as ' one of the best superhero films of all time '. Today's post asks "should I see The Avengers in 3D?" and "How Good Is The 3D In The Avengers?" Conversion: The Avengers was shot in 2D, and converted in post-production. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that, as of April 2012, the gold standard in this process belonged to  Titanic 3D . That film had a few awkward moments where some characters' eye-lines gazed in a different direction than you'd expect, but most of the time the work was flawless. Using Titanic as a ya...