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We’re entering the end of the summer movie season, readers. August is always the sign of the end of the great summer movies. This week, there’s hope for The Other Guys, and I’m pretty sure everyone at this site wants Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to be the best thing ever, but that’s about it. For this viewer, the summer movie season equaled Toy Story 3 and Inception, and nothing else, but I’m more than happy to make room for something else. One movie I won’t be seeing, but fascinates me all the same, is Step Up 3-D. I’ve only seen the first film of this heralded film trilogy (and seriously, does every movie need to have two follow-ups? Give me a break.), but I have to wonder if there’s so much demand for a 3-D version of people dancing and sweating and acting poorly.

This film, plus the constant rumors of movies such as Titanic and Star Wars being converted for 3-D re-releases, has got me thinking. We’re reaching - or have already reached - 3-D oversaturation. It’s telling that Inception’s stellar box office performance has been written about, always with the note that it’s not in 3-D. It’s one of the few huge successes of the past couple years, but it could have easily been like the other blockbuster hits and been converted into 3-D. So, today’s A-List takes out its oh-so-reliable crystal ball and looks to what classic films from years past should go under the 3-D conversion knife. Now, there aren’t yet stories about these movies being chosen to get the 3-D treatment, but if we get Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars, and Titanic, why not waste money on converting these timeless films?

12 Angry Men

As hard as it may be for you to believe, movies weren’t always in color. Ted Turner tried his best to ruin - I mean, enhance - classic films such as Gone With The Wind by colorizing them, but there were years and years of movies solely filmed in black-and-white. One of the great black-and-white films, not just because of the time in which it was released but because of how well the film utilizes the lack of color, is 12 Angry Men. In all sincerity, if you have not seen 12 Angry Men, you’ve done yourself a disservice. Go to Netflix, go to your library, go to a Blockbuster, or keep a weather eye on Turner Classic Movies: this is one of the best moral dramas ever made. And now, we should release it in 3-D. 2012 is the film’s 55th anniversary: let’s do it then.

Sidney Lumet does a great job here, directing a movie by making you feel like you are there. Add 3-D effects to that, and you’ve got a surefire winner. The sweat that drips off the twelve jurors who make up the title cast, caused by the unbearable heat and closed quarters; can’t you just imagine holding out your hand, waiting for the sweat to drop into your palm? Don’t think too much about why you’d want to do that; converting these movies into 3-D doesn’t demand a lot of thought. 12 Angry Men in 3-D would prove the naysayers wrong; even the least likely candidates can be in this format. None of the actors are still with us, unfortunately, but Lumet is alive and still kicking, so let’s get him into the booth and work on converting Henry Fonda into something all 3-D viewers can enjoy. Who’s with me?

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