James Cameron's "Avatar"

Saw the SE yesterday- was able to make a trip out to NYC in the evening and FINALLY saw it on the full-size IMAX screen in Lincoln Center (it does dwarf the liemax found in most areas!), after the multiple, failed, attempts back in Dec and Jan.

I think this is definitely a superior version of the movie- it fleshes out the characterization in places overall.

New scenes I spotted/recall:

-During the first helicopter mission, before they see the flock of birds and go over the falls, they spot a new creature (it might be the new herd creature, don't remember).

-Between landing and their experiments on testing the tree network connectivity, they stop at the ruins of the old school, collecting things left behind. There are some kind of hawk-bat in there, and Jake asks what happened there after finding a door filled with bullet holes, but Grace dodges the issues.

-When they arrive at the floating mountains shack, Jake explains how the mountains float (as people surmissed- it's because unobtanium is a superconductor, etc). I was amused by that inclusion as i think Cameron didn't expect as many people to question the mountains like they did.

-I believe the scene that introduces the spinning firefly lizards is extended,w ith Jake and Ney'tiri frolicking among them more.

-There's a big scene with the Na'vi hunting the new herd creatures that are stampeding away. This is actually what Jake refers to in the scene about being a mean flying hunter just before the Toruk attacks. This sequence had one of the best pieces of music in the film- is it on the soundtrack by chance?

-We see the Na'vi burning/destroying several of the dozers in retaliation to the tree dozing. We also see the aftermath as the Col watches the cam feed of soldiers examining the bodies (and how few there are) and how the convoy was attacked. This scene does a great job of showing what events the Col was using to make the soldiers fear the Na'vi and force the pre-emptive attacks.

-Tsu'tey survives his fall from the shuttle after being shot on the ramp (he lands on several of the big leaves). After Jake is rescued by Neytiri, we see them find Tsu'tey, where he turns control of the clan to Jake, saying his wounds mean he cannot lead now, and needs Jake to finish him off. Jake refuses, but Tsu'tey insists- he will be remembered this way, for fighting alongside Toruk Makto, and that it is their way. He wants Jake to be his last shadow. So we see Jake's shadow cover Tsu'tey as he kills him with his knife, giving the kill blessing he learned earlier in the movie.

There might have been other little bits here or there (one shot of Ney'tiri hissing up close at the Col in the AMP suit seemed new), but those are the major ones I recall.

Not entirely- keep in mind that Avatar was forced out of IMAX and 3D theaters before theater owners wanted to, due to limited screens and the release of Alice (thouguh that obvious worked in their favor eventually). Now there are more screens so people who wanted to experience the film in those formats (or, in my case, wanted to see it on a specific screen size) have a chance to do so.

Plus the new footage does improve the film, IMO- and it's noteworthy that they actually had to do the FX for all the new footage, this wasn't all just finished and cut previously, it's been completed for this (and subsequent) releases.

I'm also intrigued by Cameron's hope that this might start a new trend of rereleasing films in theaters after their home video releases- something that I'd love to see happen, since some experiences will never be fit on a disc, no matter how many GB they have.

Well, classic movies get special screenings more often than more recent ones. Within the last 5 years I've caught screenings of Ghostbusters (in NYC, nonetheless) and Poltergeist, for example. But those are usual special single house screenings or anniversary rereleases. Nothing really from the last 5 to 10 years has really had a rerelease theatrically (except maybe Iron Man's double feature thing and maybe a LOTR movie?).

James Cameron To Dive The Mariana Trench To Film AVATAR 2: Only Second Team To EVER Do It; Last Time Was 1960!

I believe the big 4-disc, further-extended edition will be out in Nov or thereabouts.

So I picked up the Blu-Ray collector's set last week so I could watch it over a friend's house on his player (since I don't have a BRD yet, but will eventually, and don't want to rebuy this to get the good extras).

The Extended Edition improves upon the Special Edition from August (which, itself, improved upon the Theatrical Edition- all three versions are here, though).

The Extended goes more into Augustine and the backstory of the school, and reveals that Ney'tiri had a sister who was killed (presumably this is meant to explain her attitude when we first meet her).

The other hyped deleted scenes, such as the alternate opening on Earth, are also effective.

The Blu-Ray also has 45-60 minutes of deleted or extended scenes (in various stages of completion) that has some real gems in there that you just know will be finished for a future re-release down the road. Some good stuff with Jake's mission of giving data to the Col. (which sets up and enhances the data used to incriminate him later on) as well as him revealing this to Augustine and Norm while having to justify his final test to the Na'vi (which is a drug-induced vision quest that we now see), more of Norm's high expectations and jealousy (he's also involved with Trudy, which sheds some light on some subtle inetractions between them in the rest of the movie).

Also a few more scenes of the Col- he explains the "Pandora Rules" that were annoyingly cut away from early on in the theatrical cut, and scenes later on where he's conscripting the miners as a militia to fill out the ranks for the final battle (which leads to a conflict with Parker, who threatens to call back to Earth to have th Col replaced after the Col declares he has emergency authority over all assets- including the miners and mining explosives; Quaritch chokes him in response, pointing out that they are a long ways from Earth).

The best one, though, which was such a pleasant surprise (as it's something I've long wondered about) is a deleted sequence during the final battle that shows what Max is doing- alongside all the other Avatars we saw in the background earlier in the movie that otherwise vanish for the rest of the film (though a couple can still be seen while the humans are leaving at the end in the final film- they have human clothing and guns): they seize the Avatar lab and using some of the mining equipment to attack the command tower (which is being used to coordinate the attack against the Na'vi), allowing the other Avatars, armed with guns, to subdue everyone.

I'm really finding myself liking the film more and more the deeper I dive into it.

It's worth at least watching the Extended version- between whats added back in and the deleted scenes, I think the story gets fleshed out a lot better.