[Slate]

…  While the early movies in the 3-D revival relied on outrageous stunts—pickaxes flying off the screen and all that—recent films have tended to use the technology for atmosphere, rarely breaking out of the stereo window. Restraint carries its own risks, however. In June, A. O. Scott called this “one of the pitfalls of that format, which is that if the 3-D is unobtrusive enough that you don’t really notice it, you may as well forego the disposable glasses and the surcharge that comes with them.” The vice- chairman of Paramount summed up the case when he told the Times that consumers are “tired of sitting in a theater thinking, ‘Wait is this movie in 3-D or not?'”

It’s a damned-if-you-do problem: 3-D effects are either too blatant or too subtle, a novelty or a trifle.  …

Read the lengthy Slate article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2303814/pagenum/all