Jordan Scott Price
Veteran
I wish good movies would be re-released in theaters...not with more footage, just the same cut...so I could see them on the big screen, if I missed the opportunity before.
Avatar - James Cameron Returns! (Spoilers in thread, obviously!)
- Thread starter Batutta
- Start date
Jawa Ex Machina
Veteran
Oscar season is comming up in a few months, isn't it?
That's why they re-released TITANIC, right? And THE DARK KNIGHT?
Makes perfect sense to do it with AVATAR as well. No big surprise there.
And AVATAR is a good movie. It's well written, well directed, well produced, made enough bucks to buy a small country, has a massive fan following who loves it to the point where they paint themselves blue, and it's a huge technical achievement as well.
Not liking the story is not the same thing as the movie being bad.
That's why they re-released TITANIC, right? And THE DARK KNIGHT?
Makes perfect sense to do it with AVATAR as well. No big surprise there.
And AVATAR is a good movie. It's well written, well directed, well produced, made enough bucks to buy a small country, has a massive fan following who loves it to the point where they paint themselves blue, and it's a huge technical achievement as well.
Not liking the story is not the same thing as the movie being bad.
Avatar doesn't get a crack at a second Oscar year simply by virtue of being re-released in a different cut. The film has won as many Academy Awards(tm) as it's going to.
*edit* made enough money...to buy a small country...where all the fans could move and become citizens...and everyone could paint themselves blue...Na'vi could be the official language...
...I think you're on to something.
*edit* made enough money...to buy a small country...where all the fans could move and become citizens...and everyone could paint themselves blue...Na'vi could be the official language...
...I think you're on to something.
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
I think it will do pretty well. We considered seeing it, but I think we're going to take a day trip to Disneyland instead.
Jawa Ex Machina
Veteran
Oh yeah, I forgot how old it is already.
My mind's just been totally engulfed in making MARIANNE happen this past year, time just flies.
Larry Rutledge
Fest Master
I'm heading over in a couple hours to watch it
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
Holey crap that was awesome!
Enough said really. In fact, I can shorten it to two words: HELL YEAH!
But I wont.
Saw it in the Boeing (real) IMAX here in Seattle today. Twice.
As we don't have any 3D theaters back home in Juneau, Alaska; I extended my summer vacation by 5 days in Seattle to see it. Probably cost me about $800 all said and done. And I'm very very glad I did.
SPOILERS.
In addition to all the added scenes, the whole pace of the film was changed quite a bit. Lots of tiny little subtle timing changes that really made it a very different movie.
Some key plot points bought forward, along with lots of nice new details.
"Hell yeah" was hilarious.
And Tsu'tey's new scene was very gripping.
- Mikko
Enough said really. In fact, I can shorten it to two words: HELL YEAH!
But I wont.
Saw it in the Boeing (real) IMAX here in Seattle today. Twice.
As we don't have any 3D theaters back home in Juneau, Alaska; I extended my summer vacation by 5 days in Seattle to see it. Probably cost me about $800 all said and done. And I'm very very glad I did.
SPOILERS.
In addition to all the added scenes, the whole pace of the film was changed quite a bit. Lots of tiny little subtle timing changes that really made it a very different movie.
Some key plot points bought forward, along with lots of nice new details.
"Hell yeah" was hilarious.
And Tsu'tey's new scene was very gripping.
- Mikko
Digigenic
Well-known member
Saw it in 3D a couple days ago.
Stumbled across it when looking at movie listings.
I had no idea it was being re-released.
I never got to see it in 3D the first time around, and regretted it ever since.
Now, I had the opportunity and lept without even looking.
It was probably the best movie experience I've ever had.
Later I was told by someone else who tried to go, but couldn't how lucky I was because it was only for that weekend.
Fate. Motherf------ fate, man.
I am so thankful for getting to see this in the theater, and in 3D no less.
Amazing. :smile:
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
Yeah, more spoilers, obviously...
I have to agree with you Max, at least mostly. There are definitely a few extra scenes in the SE that probably would have made the initial version weaker in some aspects. Though I do prefer the SE -but only after having seen the original first.
For example, I fully agree with Cameron's comments that the new "Tsu'tey scene" was "[one emotional beat too many]" for the original cut, despite being one of the most powerful scenes in the film. I think the SE did a great job of adding new elements, but I think the original had better "first time flow".
Another was the bullet holes at Grace's school. I think they would have revealed the overall relationship too blatantly too early. I think the original version where the Na'vi are the "enemy" until Jake & Neytiri get to know each other works better. The SE tells us why the first time we see a Na'vi, she has an arrow aimed at Jake's back, but I think first time the mystery behind that (lack of) motivation holds the story better.
Of course there are some great little additions too; that helped keep the SE very fresh ... like the added purple plants & Jake's little smile as he first discovers the reactive nature of the bioluminescence chasing Neytiri - a couple of fun shots that don't change the story, but come as a complete surprise to the viewer; opening expectations that we haven't discovered everything yet.
I haven't had a chance to watch the original version again since seeing the SE, it will be interesting to see how it works now that we know some of the "missing bits". It seems like it may feel incomplete, which it certainly never did initially.
- Mikko
I have to agree with you Max, at least mostly. There are definitely a few extra scenes in the SE that probably would have made the initial version weaker in some aspects. Though I do prefer the SE -but only after having seen the original first.
For example, I fully agree with Cameron's comments that the new "Tsu'tey scene" was "[one emotional beat too many]" for the original cut, despite being one of the most powerful scenes in the film. I think the SE did a great job of adding new elements, but I think the original had better "first time flow".
Another was the bullet holes at Grace's school. I think they would have revealed the overall relationship too blatantly too early. I think the original version where the Na'vi are the "enemy" until Jake & Neytiri get to know each other works better. The SE tells us why the first time we see a Na'vi, she has an arrow aimed at Jake's back, but I think first time the mystery behind that (lack of) motivation holds the story better.
Of course there are some great little additions too; that helped keep the SE very fresh ... like the added purple plants & Jake's little smile as he first discovers the reactive nature of the bioluminescence chasing Neytiri - a couple of fun shots that don't change the story, but come as a complete surprise to the viewer; opening expectations that we haven't discovered everything yet.
I haven't had a chance to watch the original version again since seeing the SE, it will be interesting to see how it works now that we know some of the "missing bits". It seems like it may feel incomplete, which it certainly never did initially.
- Mikko
I probably won't get into trouble for mentioning that the scene at the bullet-riddled school was originally (which is to say, in an earlier script draft) complemented by a flashback showing the horror of exactly what happened to get those bullet holes there, and that originally Tsu'tey asks Jake to kill him not because he's been shot and fallen and fatally injured but because Tsu'tey tangled with Quaritch in his AMP suit and Quaritch deliberately severed Tsu-tey's neural queue and left him to die. When Jake finds him Tsu'tey asks to be killed because he can't live the remainder of his life cut off from contact with Ewa.
To me the best of the additions were the 'buffalo hunt' (in part because it underwrites Jake's later VO about being 'a flying hunter...death from above' where in the original cut we never actually see him hunting in flight) and the scene at the school, which implies the whole things-gone-hideously-wrong back story even without seeing exactly when and how. I'm ambivalent about the scene showing the aftermath of the Na'vi attack on the 'dozers; it does fill in a step in the escalation leading to the attack on Home Tree but it also opens questions as to why the Na'vi did not respond to earlier provocations when they evidently had the ability to deal out some real damage to the humans despite more sophisticated human technology and weapons...
I will admit that the whole 'one beat too many' thing is exactly why I felt that Tsu'tey's death scene was superfluous and interrupted the flow of the story. My office-mate from Lightstorm felt that Tsu'tey is the most pitiable character in the film: he loses his betrothed mate-for-life, he loses his position as maximum war leader, and to add insult to injury he has to beg the guy who ruined his life for him to finish him off, at the end. Just awful...
...I thought that Tsu'tey's original final scene was much more poetically satisfying - the long, slow fall into the forest, away from camera as the score reduces to a single voice...
On seeing it again I think what actually struck me the most is what an astonishing actor Sigourney Weaver is. In the scene where she explains to Selfridge what she's discovered about Pandora and its biology, the wealth of this planet isn't in the ground, it's all around us...and Selfridge laughs in her face. The look of sickening, horrified shock is amazing, like she's been smacked in the face with a two-by-four. I don't know how actors like Weaver do it.
To me the best of the additions were the 'buffalo hunt' (in part because it underwrites Jake's later VO about being 'a flying hunter...death from above' where in the original cut we never actually see him hunting in flight) and the scene at the school, which implies the whole things-gone-hideously-wrong back story even without seeing exactly when and how. I'm ambivalent about the scene showing the aftermath of the Na'vi attack on the 'dozers; it does fill in a step in the escalation leading to the attack on Home Tree but it also opens questions as to why the Na'vi did not respond to earlier provocations when they evidently had the ability to deal out some real damage to the humans despite more sophisticated human technology and weapons...
I will admit that the whole 'one beat too many' thing is exactly why I felt that Tsu'tey's death scene was superfluous and interrupted the flow of the story. My office-mate from Lightstorm felt that Tsu'tey is the most pitiable character in the film: he loses his betrothed mate-for-life, he loses his position as maximum war leader, and to add insult to injury he has to beg the guy who ruined his life for him to finish him off, at the end. Just awful...
...I thought that Tsu'tey's original final scene was much more poetically satisfying - the long, slow fall into the forest, away from camera as the score reduces to a single voice...
On seeing it again I think what actually struck me the most is what an astonishing actor Sigourney Weaver is. In the scene where she explains to Selfridge what she's discovered about Pandora and its biology, the wealth of this planet isn't in the ground, it's all around us...and Selfridge laughs in her face. The look of sickening, horrified shock is amazing, like she's been smacked in the face with a two-by-four. I don't know how actors like Weaver do it.
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
I remember that line always seeming out of place since the very first time I saw the movie. As Jake said it, I originally expected to then see the hunt; but instead we went right to Toruk's entrance.
(Big spoiler!)
On a side note, despite Neytiri's "Hell yeah!" during the hunt being an absolutely hilarious line; I felt that it being so out of place, which made it so funny, also detracted just a little. It seemed somewhat out of character for her. Perhaps it was the fact that Zoë seemed to almost loose Neytiri's accent for just that one line. Was very very funny though.
- Mikko
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
Yeah, it does show the 2-way growth between the two.
And it was very funny.
- Mikko ... Accepts pretty much anything in the name of humor. And science. But more-so humor.
And it was very funny.
- Mikko ... Accepts pretty much anything in the name of humor. And science. But more-so humor.
Digigenic
Well-known member
Ah, debating the finer points of two words and what they really mean.
Hell Yeah
A term of endearment or just a crude expression?
You Decide!
haha
Well, I'm confident that the "hell yeah!" was supposed to leave the distinct impression that Neytiri had opened up to Jake and was embracing his mannerisms like he'd embraced her's. I think that maybe people found fault with it because it wasn't like an innocent term of endearment (but we get that later in the "I've already chosen" scene).
Maybe people just figured such an aggressive expression would be below her, but even if they thought it might have seemed out of character for Neytiri before meeting Jake - she'd transformed anyway, just as Jake underwent transformation and her echoing his "hell yeah" reinforced the balance of transformation between them both.
They needed something realistic that stuck fast, and let's be honest Neytriri was an aggressive girl, both her and Jake were aggressively kindred spirits, so it actually does seem natural for her to embrace such an aggressive expression because she'd probably already be saying something like that in her native language anyway.
I mean seriously man, if I met a lady who could defend me against a pack of wild alien dogs, teach me how to use a bow and arrow, and then fly around on alien terodactyls to battle it out against an invading military industrial complex from another planet, yeah, it wouldn't bother me one bit if she blurted out a "hell yeah" once and a while.
mikkowilson
Steadi-Guru
:grin:
I'd agree with both of these statements. It did show her transformation, and it was defiantly fast and stuck well.
Gotta give props to the trailer editors for replacing it with Neytiri's "ooo-aah!" in the trailer though. (At :11 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLylzuf1MWA ) - "Hell yeah" would probably have helped the trailer, but hurt the film by removing the surprise; good restraint to save it for when it mattered. Something so often not done with trailers that are full of spoilers - especially to punch lines - these days.
- Mikko
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Will the SE be released on a separate DVD/Bluray?