They say it's not a double dip if you've been warned it was coming. From the minute the first, barebones edition of James Cameron's
Avatar was announced, both the studio and the filmmakers let it be known that another, more extensive release was coming later in the year. And that is exactly what is hitting store shelves today: the
Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition Blu-ray, with three versions of the film and a plethora of supplements.
As to the movie presentation, staff reviewer Casey Broadwater assuages fears by confirming in his
review of Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition that, "despite the addition of 16-minutes of new high definition footage, the quality of the image hasn't dropped in the slightest."
Overall,
Avatar fans definitely won't be disappointed. Casey sums it up saying: "Featuring the same outstanding audio/video performance as the standalone release, this new edition adds eight hours of never-before-seen bonus features, including 45-minutes' worth of deleted scenes and a production documentary that'll tell you any and everything you'd ever want to know about the making of the movie."
The only thing blatantly absent from this edition is a Blu-ray 3D version of the movie, which for the time being will only be available to buyers of Panasonic 3DTV hardware.
However, stereoscopy early adopters will find consolation in having no fewer than ten 3D Blu-ray releases coming out to retail today, evenly split among feature films and documentaries. The standout is Disney's
A Christmas Carol, a Christmas tentpole that has taken a whole year to make the jump from the theaters to the home.
Staff reviewer Martin Liebman comments in his
review of A Christmas Carol that the film "perfectly captures the traditional look, feel, and appeal of Charles Dickens' timeless classic while still managing to spruce it up for the 21st century with a dazzling computer-aided visual scheme that has to be seen to be believed." As to the 3D presentation, Martin says that it is "a thing of beauty" and goes as far as to proclaim the current "definitive wide-release Blu-ray 3D transfer." Blu-ray enthusiasts who still haven't made the leap to 3D (the majority, after all) need not worry, as the 2D transfer is "every bit as amazing as the accompanying 3D image." The standout among the release's special features is
Behind the Carol: The Full Motion Capture Experience, an "amazing supplement" that is "almost worth the price of this set alone."
This week's catalog releases also include two major titles from two geniuses of the silent comedy: Buster Keaton's
Sherlock Jr. / Three Ages and Charles Chaplin's
Modern Times.
In his review of
Sherlock Jr. / Three Ages, staff reviewer Casey Broadwater says: "Once again, Kino-Lorber has done a fantastic job with their latest silent film release, giving Sherlock, Jr.—a nearly 90-year-old film—a 1080p transfer that, age-related scratches and flecks aside, is absolutely beautiful."
Staff reviewer Dr. Svet Atanasov considers in his
review of Modern Times that this is "one of the great actor's least dated films. It is witty and funny but also incredibly sad film, in a lot of ways depicting successfully the type of world we are currently living in - obsessed with productivity and corporate profits." As to the disc itself, Svet notes that "there are absolutely no surprises, as "the presentation is very strong and the supplemental features outstanding."