I Love How 3D Makes You Feel A Part Of The Movie Or You Charge Me An Extra Pound A Ticket To Hurt My Eyes And Give Me A Headache!

In the land of Hollywood, and further afield, there are certain things occurring right now; Chris O Donnell is working as a sales assistant in HMV wondering why no one has bought a copy of Batman and Robin. Ever; Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer are sat in a room together trying to figure out how they can fit 4000 explosions into their next movie; Robert De Niro is performing the "you talkin' to me" Taxi Driver speech in his sleep while dreaming about a time he used to make good movies; Al Pacino is shouting. Loud; Samuel L Jackosn is simultaneously signing five contracts for movies he's going to star in this week; Perhaps more importantaly, though, some big wigs in Hollywood are greenlighting another bucket load of 3D movies.

Let's get one thing straight - 3D isn't a new thing. It's being invented, killed and brought back to life more times than Feddy Krueger and Michael Myers combined. It was prominent in the fifties when the youth of America were parking their cadillacs at the Drive Thrus' and making out to low budget B movie horrors. It was doing its best to wow audiences in the 80s and 90s as well with such trend killing movies as Jaws 3D. Now, however, it seems to be back with a vengeance - But why? And is it here to stay?

Avatar has a lot to answer to. I'm sure the majority of people have seen it - It's Pocahontus meets the Smurfs. That film where Sam Worthington betrays humantiy, but gets to have sex with Zoe Saldana so it's all okay. That film revolutionised 3D movies and grossed enough money at the box office to buy Jupiter and the starting eleven of the Manchester City football team... Twice. Since Avatar though Hollywood have been quick to try and make every film produced 3D. Even going as far as to tag 3D onto movies that were originally designed to be 2D - Clash of the Titans, anyone? Or even re-releasing older movies in 3D - The Lion King, and coming soon, Titanic. Now some of these have worked, but an awful lot haven't.

Another advantage is the fact technology has moved along so much. Gone are the days of those blue and red 3d glasses and dodgy special effects. I still remember coming home one day to see my Mum wearing a pair of those 3D glasses she'd got free in the paper and my Dad wearing a pair of homemade ones he'd put together using some white card and two quality street wrappers (not even the right colour either; choosing to use a purple caramel nut one instead of a blue coconut one). Obviously he could have bought another paper, but when you're from Yorkshire you do what you can to save money - we were the type of family that shared the bath water on a Sunday night...

It's fair to say my Dad thought the whole 3D experience was terrible, but my mum did too and her glasses actually worked and didn't result in her getting little bits of strawberry cream in here eye...

Another factor that suggests it might be here for the long haul is that some of the elder statesmen are getting involved in the 3D trend. Martin Scorcese is the latest, with his upcoming film Hugo set for a 3D release. I can't wait for them to re-release Scorcese's Casino in 3D; the chance to have that guy from Home Alone popping out the screen calling me a "f***in' c*** su****" 300 times in 2 hours. 

So is it a massive rip off to make Hollywood some extra bucks, or an enhancement of the cinematic experience? Perhaps both... but one thing is certain for me; if the films have good scripts/stories/hot actors and actresses/lots of explosions/basically make a lot of money, then 3D will be here for the long haul, but if we see a run of failures  and box office flops (as has happened before), then 3D will go the way it has in previous cycles... well, until James Cameron can figure out how to burn them straight into our retinas...