Movies With Butter

I’ve seen “The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate” on Bluray and loved it. I read about how awesome the 3D was, so I wanted to see for myself. There was a screening at Cannes in May, but I couldn’t catch it.

When it was announced that there would be IMAX 3D screenings in the U.S., I got excited. The only problem was I didn’t see any listings in Sacramento. That changed last Friday. It was released in the Palladio 16 Cinemas in Folsom, which is close enough to Sacramento. I was still disappointed that it was only shown in 3D on a regular screen and not IMAX.

Some reviewers said the 3D in “Flying Swords” was the best they had seen since “Avatar.” After witnessing it myself, I agree with that assessment. It definitely makes the visually striking film a lot more immersive.

Despite how impressive the film looked on the big screen in 3D, it was undone by the atrocious dubbing. I’m not sure if theaters have a choice between subtitles and dubbing, but the dub job in my screening was just horrible. It was a worst dub job than a 70s kung fu movie.

Why even bother dubbing it in the first place. The only people who knows about these limited screenings are film fans -- not your average movie-goer -- and they would rather watch the film in its original form. Dubbing it is not only a waste of time and money, it also degrades the film -- even if it’s not half-assed.

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