Category / movie reviews
I finally got to see the rerelease of Avatar last night. The 9 extra minutes were phenomenal, expanding the story and adding some exciting new footage.
Yeah, I geeked out! I don’t mind because it was fantastic. With a little luck and perhaps some sneaky moves, I might be able to get an IMAX viewing in. Real 3D is good, but IMAX is such an immersive experience.
On a recent trip to the USA, I arranged with Amazon.com to deliver the DVD/bluray combo as well as the book tie in for the movie called the Field Guide.
Delivery was flawless despite the fact Amazon.ca charges significantly more for those two items than the US version.
Since returning home, I was away for the weekend, I finally Sat down to watch the bluray version. Took me a few weeks to make the time to workrgeu the whole movie, but it was worth it. The blu-Ray with the surround sound was just awesome. I really enjoyed seeing it with some sound based umph! to it. The iPod version is handy to watch as it’s so portable, but I can’t really blast the sound without screwing up my hearing.
I am also enjoying the ‘Activist Guide to Pandora’ book. Lots of great detail on the world that Cameron created and brought to life.
Yep! Totally Avatarded, feeling it out. That’s ok though, it’s a small and harmless obsession.
So, a while ago I posted about Amazon Canada’s and its ripping off of Canadians for books supporting the James Cameron movie Avatar. Well, that brain trust is at it again with the DVD release of the movie.
In the USA, the movie is available for preorder as a two disc dvd/blu-ray set for the price of $24.99.
Screenshot of Amazon.com Avatar preorder page
The Canadian version of Amazon is ripping us of by offering the Blu-ray disc at $29.99 as shown by the screen shot below.
Amazon.ca screenshot
I find it astounding that Amazon would con us in this way. The Canadian is not $.66 compared to the US dollar. We are hovering just below par at around the $.97-98 mark. That would suggest a price of around $26 for the double pack, which is not even offered to Canadian.
Avatar fans, lets get together and force Amazon to rethink its practices and ensure that we get a fair deal. Tweet this post to @amazon. Link to it in your blogs. Don’t let this travesty continue, don’t let large companies treat us like crap. Demand fairness.
Thanks…
Pandora Field Guide
And there is where the trouble starts. And the fury at being absolutely hosed by Amazon as a Canadian. The screen shots below show the difference between Amazon.com’s pricing
Amazon.com Pricing
Canadian pricing
There are two pieces of data on the images that really show the differences between the USA and Canada. The first, obviously, is the price. The US price is $10.97. The Canadian price? A whopping $25.02. More than double that of the US price. I completely fail to see how Amazon can justify that difference. The Canadian dollar is hovering around the $.95 USD mark, so I could see a price of about $12, maybe $13 to account for the exchange rate. But $25? That’s outrageous! And then to have it not ship for 2-5 weeks? The Amazon.com version ships in 24 hours.
How can Amazon justify this? Its a total rip-off combined with a total failure of service. I would really like to have someone from Amazon give me a valid and reasonable explanation of why this occurs?
Avatar Movie
[edit mar 7, 2010] so I saw avatar in IMAX. It was incredible. The large screen and huge sounds made the 3D better than ever. The movie becomes even more immersive and I found places where I could feel touches of vertigo and others where I wanted to push the plants out of the way.
It makes me sad that it’s been pushed out in favor of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I hope Avatar comes back after Alice bails on the IMAX shows.
I really enjoyed the new Star Trek movie. JJ Abrams did a fantastic re-invigoration of the franchise. It was a thoroughly entertaining flick ( all right, it was an on demand choice, but still a great movie despite me seeing it 3-4 months after the fact).
With a cast of relative unknowns and a great cameo by Leonard Nimoy, it took a fresh approach to the early days of Capt James T Kirk and the crew on the Enterprise. I am looking forward to the sequel, which I am sure are already in the works.
Excellent thriller. Well done.
Really really funny. Totally enjoyable without a hint of reality.
This guy captured some great shots of it.
For those of you who missed it, its supposed to happen again tonight.
Images here
Knowing was one strange movie. A strange plotline with some nice special effects for fun, it was just one slightly off experience.
1/5 rating