Recently I had the pleasure of acquiring the “Ultimate” edition of the Terminator 2 DVD. Now this is something else.

This DVD features an amount of extended footage that is really, really astonishing to see.

The total running time of the extended movie is 156 mins, that’s nearly 2 and a half hours!

There are a whole lot of bonus features in the DVD as well, including
documentaries, director commentaries, etc. But you can go and read
about them on the back of the DVD cover - I won’t stress on these at
all. Everybody else does that.

What I will stress on, in great detail in fact, is the whole lot of footage which never made it to the theatrical release.

A discourse on Movie Making
First, a discourse on movie making, though. And the business. Feel free to skim through this if you’re not really interested in the background.

Most movies rarely, if ever, reflect the director’s complete original vision of the movie. Any movie gets this whole lot of impact from various other factors. Censors, for one. The censor certification that is awarded to a movie has a *huge* potential impact on the revenue generated by it.

And let’s face it, people. Movie-making and showbusiness on the whole, just like any other business *must* make money. And if the censorship body goes ahead and gives a movie like Terminator 2 a “R” rating or even the ultimate restricted one, the dreaded NC-17 rating, a huge chunk of target audience won’t get to see the movie in the movie hall, the intended place for you to watch. Yes, the kids, teenyboppers and the teenagers, *all* of whom don’t get to watch it. No matter what you do with your home system, you and your entire buying might cannot match the performance that you’ll get even in the crappiest theatre as compared to your cutesy teeny bopper home theater system. All apologies to you if you own one of these
.

Alright. On with the extended scenes, already!

Some of the scenes that were removed are so essential to the main story it leaves me wondering how we ever “got” the original story at all. Anyways, here’s the list of extended footage that I found on the DVD. Your mileage may vary but if it does you’ll be seeing more, not less.

One word of caution. If you are actually going to get the DVD (I’ve listed some options at the bottom) then I suggest you skim over the spoilers and buy it straight away. The cinematic experience of seeing these for the first time, embedded right into the story of the main movie was quite overwhelming / exhilarating.

And so I must put up my standard SPOILER WARNING! ! ! ! Do NOT read beyond this point if you wish to enjoy the movie. Really.

The list
#1 Sarah and Kyle dream sequence: Kyle Reese actually comes and talks to Sarah and reminds her that “The future is not set”. He goes on to tell her that her son (John) is in danger and she must protect him. Kyle disappears, Sarah runs after him only to find herself exiting the building into the familiar park fence nightmare scene.

#2 T1000 searches John Connor’s room: I’m not particularly sure of this, but I don’t really recall the liquid metal terminator searching John’s room and finding his hidden box of information and photos on his Mom.

#3 T800 brain opening sequence: When the Terminator (T800) and John rescue Sarah from the asylum they ultimately land up in a garage where they rest for the night. Before resting, in the movie, the Terminator fixes wounds on Sarah and she reciprocates. That’s where the scene ends in the theatrical release. In this version, John asks the terminator if he can “learn” new things. T800 replies by saying that he has a neural net “learning” processor, but Skynet shuts off the learning programming before sending Terminators out on the field. Then there is surreal sequence where Sarah peels off a section of the T800’s scalp, and with step-by-step instructions from the Terminator himself, proceeds to remove his CPU. What happens next is even better. But I’m not telling. Go buy the DVD.

#4 Terminator training, John Connor style: John befriends the T800. We saw small parts of this in the theatrical release. All of you are now required to exclaim most emphatically, “Astalavista, Baby!” and “No Problemo!”.

What you didn’t see is small scenes (microscenes?) from the footage where there’s even more of these. John tries to teach the Terminator how to smile. That particular scene is hilarious!

#5 Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson’s explanation: Dr. Dyson is at the finishing stages of developing a prototype of the copy of the neural net processor (from the original movie). There’s a whole, long scene where his wife gets a full explanation from Dyson, telling her in detail of what his vision of the processor is, and why he’s trying to build it. This scene added a whole lot of perspective “humanness” to the Dyson character that was not present in the original release. Feels all the more endearing when Dyson, in a desperate attempt to atone for sins he’s not yet done, takes his own life in a huge C4 explosion in his Cyberdyne office.

Microscenes!

But that’s not it! I’ve only put down the long scenes that I do happen to figure out. Throughout the movie one can find these microscenes that were cropped out during final editing. Together these add up to quite a lot of footage.

This includes:
Gore: All the fights in the movie are more elaborate. Take the example of when Sarah knocks out the guard with a broken off broom stick. You’ll see a spray of blood that was just not visible in the theatrical release. A must see for the hard-core / cult enthusiasts.

Snippets of extra footage in the scene where John and T are checking out weapons in Enrique’s mexican hideout.

Snippets of extra footage in Cyberdyne systems

T1000 screwing up footage: T1000’s hand gets stuck to a railing and  his feet get deformed in the metal foundry in the ending climax. The “stuck” parts take on the color of railing and metal floor as well.

A lot more detailed Terminator fight scenes: All the Terminator fight scenes are much more detailed (and gory) than the theatrical release. The scene where the T1000 takes out the T800’s main power source in the climax is particularly detailed and much longer.

“I need a vacation”: Some parts are dedicated to the whole “learning” Terminator bit. The terminator (T800) tries to smile, it ultimately cracks jokes like “I need a vacation” after killing off the T1000. I think these were rightly removed, since they provide too much and too out-of-place comic relief to the whole movie.

The Alternate ending
Ah yes, we come to the alternate ending, the one thing that not a lot of people know about Terminator 2. After the Terminator (T800) kills himself, there’s a whole flash-forward scene where John Connor is grown up and playing with his kid in a park (the same park?) while Sarah watches. And narrates her conclusion, in which she says that the nuclear war never happened and they lived happily ever after. Or thereabouts.

Why was this scene eliminated completely? Ever heard of this movie called Terminator 3? How would that get made then, hmmm……?

How do you get it?
Hmm……. I don’t think you should hesitate. Just go for buying it straight from Amazon. They’ve got several copies at different prices, the cheapest one was only 4 dollars and change, last time I checked.

UK residents could also buy from Shop UK.

The Indians seem to pretty much be stuck with buying the VCD on ebay.in. No wonder there’s so much BitTorrent and eDonkey activity on the Internet. But I digress. The Indian option seems to pretty much still be restricted to going to the local DVD wallah and begging him to get it for them. Or the cousin/friend in the US can help. Or you can go ahead and buy from Amazon. Like the rest of the world.

Incidentally, Ebay.in has Terminator 3 DVDs available!

What else can you get?
Not done shopping yet?

Even more goodies available for you!

Buy.com is accepting pre-orders for the Blu-Ray version.

Entertainment Earth sells a life size endoskeleton T800 arm.

StuffKidsLike.com sells an 8″ tall beautiful resin doll of the T800 as well.

My Conclusion
A must have for every memorabilia / collectors showcase, this particular DVD is not to be missed.

Highly recommended.

Took the chance yesterday to finally check out Aeon Flux.
I’ve been a long standing fan and I didn’t want to miss the theatrical release of the movie. In India some movies, especially the ones that don’t really have the universal appeal of most Hollywood blockbusters, take their own time to get to theatrical release. And the really weird ones sometimes don’t make it at all!

Expecting the worst (until recently, most movie adaptations I’ve been to were really bad) I was pleasantly surprised to see that the movie pretty much captured and held on to all the nuances of the MTV series that was created by Peter Chung, and then some.

Charlize Theron is the perfect real world compliment to the animated Aeon; lithe, flexible, sufficiently mysterious and definitely very sexy.

The movie pretty much explains the background of the entire Aeon Flux universe, something that the original TV series didn’t really bother with. Which leaves me wondering with doubts as to why Peter Chung didn’t write the movie story and why it wasn’t weirder considering that most of the TV series stories were beyond comprehension.

Most recommended.

Links:
Official Movie site: Typical goodies, nice site.
IMDB entry
Wikipedia entries: Aeon Flux, Peter Chung
TV.com listing for original series
Peter Chung interview on Monican Spies
Image and video gallery at IGN

Munks came over halfway through the extended weekend (with the Independence day holiday) and well….. since he’s been away for quite a bit, we decided to do a movie marathon. And what a marathon it was! Right now I’m too emotionally brain dead to really tell you more about it…. here’s the list of movies we completed.

Munks came over halfway through the extended weekend (with the
Independence day holiday) and well….. since he’s been away for quite a
bit, we decided to do a movie marathon. And what a marathon it was!
Right now I’m too emotionally brain dead to really tell you more about
it…. here’s the list of movies we completed.

The Little Terrorist – This is a really cool short about a Kashmiri boy

Hostage – Bruce Willis is at his usual murmuring best.

Dus
– Umm….. too much senseless, overstyled, mind numbing, stupid,
overbudgeted action to be even mildly entertaining / interesting.

The Shining – Creepy. Jack Nicholson is unbelievable. Daaaaaannnnyyy!

Mad Max 1 – This cult movie was something of a let down. I suppose the franchise gets better over the series.

A Lot Like Love – Ah well, what can I say, I’m a sucker for romance movies.

Mimic 2 –  The typical masala monster huge elongated cockroach (with a human face) movie

Frostbite – The typical  no story attempt at juvenile comedy.

Bride & Prejudice – Not bad, but a little bit tooooo cutesy for moi.

The Grudge – Scary. Really scary. Do not watch this movie alone / in the dark.

Risky Business – Tom Cruise’s first really famous movie, I guess. It had it’s good parts.

This is a hilarious movie!

Cary Elwes plays a convincingly funny Robin Hood, that too with a “propah” British accent and slapstick comedy follows him around the entire length of the movie. His song sequences are very reminiscent of Jim Carrey’s style of comedy. Mel Brooks plays a Rabbi who practices in circumcisions  of all things and that too in his own production.

The entry of Patrick Stewart (one of my favorite characters / Star Trek captains) in the ending scenes was a smash.

Very much recommended.

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There’s a land that I’ve heard of, once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Some day I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why, can’t I?

First heard this one at the closing of the last scene of 50 First Dates. Highly recommended movie, by the way. Really a good attempt at a make-you-think-while-still-keeping-it-light kinda movie. So, anyway, I was deep into thinking about the movie at the end of it and this song, sung by someone with a really beautiful voice started playing and it completely blew my mind. Wonder why they didn’t include it on the soundtrack, though.

Upon doing some research, I found (to my amazement) that this song is actually originally from The Wizard of Oz, where it was rendered by Judy Garland. I still don’t know who’s written it, unfortunately, so I can’t credit it.

Posted while listening to Norah Jones - I’ve Got to See You Again

This movie defies all review, categorisation.

The swordplay and fighting is exquisite and just as gratuitously grotesque as Volume 1; albeit a bit less violently though. The dialog is waaaaaay over the top. The direction is top notch.

Eminently and unforgettably watchable movie.

So go watch it.

Some spoilers and favourite parts follow:

• I loved the part where Bill describes Superman’s critique on humanity. That part left me speechless. It’s so true! I mean, Superman roams (or rather flies) around like he is, as he was born (with just a costume off course) and it’s when he’s not being a super hero (which is what he changes into, when he becomes Clark Kent) that he is trying to do what humans do, so that he blends in with the rest of us and becomes unnoticable. So, Clark Kent is what Superman perceives to be the apotheosis of all humanity, or even to the extent of (like Bill says, in the movie) being a humorous or sarcastic critique on humanity, of the way we are, the way we behave and the way we do things.
• The Pai Mei section was harrowingly grating. Just imagining what Beatrix went through to punch through that block of wood (and later, her own coffin) gives me the heebie jeebies.
• Bud’s predicament. Is he punishing himself for what he did to Beatrix by playing a lowly bouncer for a dysfunctional strip bar joint or has he just naturally fallen into bad times? Did the fight that he had with Bill (presumably over Bill’s decision to have the gang kill off Beatrix) cause him to part ways and go and live in a trailer in El Passo? Or has Bill reformed himself after the realisation of what he did to Beatrix and doesn’t take on assassination jobs anymore? Too many unanswered questions there.
• The part where Beatrix puts BB off to sleep while watching Shogun Assassin. It was simultaneously sad, happy and touching. The song that plays during this scene really hit me. Hmm…. must get hold of the soundtrack. It’s really good.

Posted while listening to Pantera - This love

I saw The Mexican.

What can I say? It’s got Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts.

It’s got top acting from all the characters.

Over the top story line.

Over the top direction.

Over the top cinematography.

Don’t know what to make of it.

Yes, yes, I saw I, Robot. And, yes, unfortunately, I must be only human, cause I liked it.

I, Robot, the short version: Take the three laws of robotics, chop finely. Take one Bad Boys, peel unnecessary sidekick Martin Lawrence, and bake with a liberal dose of Artificial Intelligence: AI. Apply a smooth layer of buttered, Minority Report and serve when cooled.

And now, the slightly longer version: Will Smith plays a homicide detective with a basic mistrusting of robots, who after years of suspicion finally does manage to catch up with a robot who doesn’t really seem to be obeying the three laws properly. And in doing so, seems to unleash a whole canfull (read: trucks and containers full) of them. Then said robot, after running our protagonist around a complete red herring made of breadcrumbs straight out of Hansel and Gretel, turns right around and starts to help them to a nice, happy, conclusion in the end.

Why I like the movie: Great Artwork: I was totally immersed throughout the movie; the light and magic department cut no corners in this $120 million movie. Good action, fight sequences: The action choreography is really good. Will Smith: He carries off the funny copy act really well - he’s had lot of practice in this role. And most importantly, the critical goosebump ending; one that makes you think, in the end - “What if?”.

I liked it. Your mileage may vary. Especially if you are a die hard fan of Isaac Asimov. Like the movie says, in the end, “Suggested by the Isaac Asimov book”.