Here I am, having watched Clash of the Titans in 2D last night, and left with the clear sensation that it was supposed to have been seen in 3D instead.

The movie was fun, and had a good ending — I won’t spoil it for you, but it is different from the original, if you, unlike me, still remember it.

But somehow I left the movie theater a little empty.

Whereas I’m sure I would’ve been more impressed with the 3D version, if you take away all the pretty special effects, I wasn’t in love with the story, or the characters…

So, what will Hollywood do once people grow weary of yet another object or critter flying past their heads? How long before that becomes a cliche?

Avatar went somewhere altogether new, and I’m sure it will be a while before someone can top Jim Cameron.

But let’s look at another film, Red Cliff by John Woo — it was still expensive to make, although it was originally made as 2 feature films for the Chinese market, but released as a single one in the US — it wasn’t in 3D and I can tell you HANDS DOWN it was a much better movie.

Sure, the visuals were breathtaking, but beyond that… I really liked the characters, I could feel for their plight, and I wanted them to succeed. I really did.

In Clash of the Titans, I didn’t really feel for the hero. And didn’t really get the point of the movie. In Red Cliff, people are fighting against tyranny and prevail… Not quite clear in Clash.

In this day of corporate-run movie studios, only the bottom line speaks… but a corporation doesn’t love film, and doesn’t love us, the audience, and doesn’t understand us either.  They think remake, and sequel… they think making money, not making art.

Seems like the whole world is being gobbled up by corporations, when in fact, it is US the individuals who make the world go round.

Now, I don’t have the magic answer to making movies, if I did, I’d be getting paid a lot of money (and rightfully so — I’m not against making money).

But what I do know is this… when I get out of a movie, am I happy I saw it? Am I energized? Or moved to action? Do I get out and say, “man, that was a cool movie,” and do I go and tell me friends about it?

Anyone who can find the formula to produce that is sure to be a success — and there have been plenty throughout history. But I guarantee, that those films were made by people who really LOVE film, and they really care about and are interested in their audience.

Perhaps if we, as filmmakers, are able to learn that, then we may learn how to make great films, the kind that are played EVERY Christmas on TV, or the kind that gets quoted by people all the time.

Then, all we have to do, is figure out just how we can make our art (especially at an indie level) earn us our keep.