POP CULTURE: TOP MOVIE GIMMICKS PT. 1

HERE’S SOME MOVIE HISTORY FOR YOU. AS YOU ALL KNOW BY NOW I AM A CINEMA FREAK, MOVIE AFFICIENADO, AND ARBITER OF FILM…. IN OTHER WORDS, I REALLLLY LOVE MOVIES. I ALSO REALLLLLY LOVE HISTORY, SO IMAGINE HOW MUCH I LOVE MOVIE HISTORY. HAHA. DON’T WORRY, IVE LONG AGO EMBRACED MY INNER MOVIE GEEK. I LOVE IT. I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING BETTER TO BE A GEEK FOR. SO, IN THAT SPIRIT I WANT TO SHARE THE TOP MOVIE GIMMICKS OF ALL TIMES. IN CASE YOU DON’T QUITE KNOW WHAT A MOVIE GIMMICK IS ALLOW ME TO BRIEFLY ENLIGHTEN YOU WITH AN EXAMPLE, TODAY’S TO BE EXACT. HAVING SAID THAT YOU PROBABLY HAVE SURMISED THAT I’LL BE BREAKING THE GIMMICKS DOWN INTO A SERIES TO SPAN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS OR SO. SO STAY POSTED, KEEP LEAVING YOUR COMMENTS, & HAVE FUN. THE EXAMPLE IS 3-D. I FIGURE I’D BEGIN WITH THE MOST WIDELY KNOWN

The gimmick: When Monsters vs. Aliens hits theaters on March 27, it will be the surest sign yet that 3-D movies are in the midst of one of their periodic revivals. The animated film will join recent releases like My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Jonas Brothers: 3-D Concert Experience, and Coraline in busting off the silver screen (with the aid of a goofy set of glasses, of course.)

This isn't the first time pundits have heralded 3-D technology as the future of cinema. As early as 1922, a New York theater was showing a rudimentary series of 3-D films dubbed Movies of the Future. The format gained widespread acceptance in the 1950s with schlocky films such as Vincent Price's House of Wax. Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder (above) was possibly the pinnacle of the movement, and while the format gradually died down, there have been spurts of (unfortunate) interest ever since — Jaws 3-D, anyone?

The result: Box office returns from the recent 3-D slate have been mixed, but this latest revival may have legs. By the end of the year, more than a dozen films will be released in 3-D. Maybe the future is finally here to stay.