Dimensions

“A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.” – Alfred Hitchcock

P.M. Dawn had a song in the early nineties called “Reality Used to Be a Friend of Mine.”  I think I may have first heard it in Encino Man, which featured the brilliant Pauly Shore.  That’s a sarcastic brilliant for those unfamiliar with sarcasm.

The poppy, repetitive song found its way into my encephalon when I read this article featuring wisdom from Peter Jackson and James Cameron.  Seems the two opulent directors are convinced the falling box office numbers will turn around if more 3-D screens are introduced in theaters around the world.

Leave it to those to whom money is as much an afterthought as water, electricity, or post-Taco Bell farts, to overlook the real reason for relatively modest box office numbers.  People can’t afford to go to movies like they could a decade ago when Mr. Cameron’s pockets were filled to titanic proportions.  Should the general public fork over more coin to experience in 3-D something that may or may not be any better with the extra dimension?

As a soda and candy smuggling matinee attendee, I’d rather keep things simple and – well, cheap isn’t the right word – um, less gouging.  Maybe in a few years when Obama has rescued the economy like he promised we will be able to dole out a Benjamin to bring the family to see Terminator vs. The Hobbit in 3-D.

So financial reality may not be a friend to the Peter Jacksons and James Camerons of the world, but I was relieved to see Mr. Jackson quoted at the end of the article saying “movies and technology is, to me, just a huge red herring, because movies are all about story and character.”

At least some of the big directors still get that.