Alien Anthology (Alien / Aliens / Alien 3 / Alien: Resurrection)

Well what's there to say about this latest Alien box set that hasn't already been said. I got it shortly after I told myself I wasn't going to get it thanks to an Amazon one day sale that made it cheaper than what I had originally paid for Alien Quadrilogy (Alien/ Aliens /Alien 3 /Alien Resurrection) and it seemed quite worth it at that point. I was a bit disappointed after my viewing of the second film, not with the film it's self but with the quality of the transfer. Aliens was really buggy and had lots of flicker and grain, I don't really mind the grain and I can't figure out if the flickering is a problem with my display set up or with the actual transfer I'm guessing it's the former since I haven't seen any other complaints about it but honestly I was expecting a little bit better treatment for arguably the biggest film in the franchise. The DVD version on the Quadrilogy set didn't have any of this flickering in the darker scenes and holds up just about as well under scrutiny. Like I said, I don't mind grain in a film that's better than 20 years old but I've yet to find a reason for this weird flickering it does. Since I'm more fond of the theatrical version of Aliens as opposed to the extended version I was thinking maybe they were lazy and just used an old transfer for the theatrical and remastered the extended for Blu-Ray but upon viewing that version all the same problems are present. I've adjusted every possible setting and I can't get rid of this flicker, it's not a huge deal it's just kinda distracting. James Cameron mentions in the commentary some technical aspects of the film stock used for this film that was far to technical and involved for me to understand without a degree from film school but what little I could glean from the director mentioned something to the fact that the film used was very prone to grain and other problems, so I think that explains away some of the problems with this transfer. There's only so much the remastering process can do, I guess. The sound on this film has always been one of the standout parts of the movie and it gets a really nice treatment in the HD 5.1, there's lots of subtle sound effects that are mixed to perfection and simplified enough so that even if you don't have a big whopper of a sound system it still sounds great on your regular TV output. This is usually something I'm concerned with since I watch movies mostly late at night and don't wanna keep the neighbors up listening to Alien Queens screeching. This is one of the all time great sci-fi films and it's James Cameron at his best, in my humble opinion I just wish Fox would have spent a little money restoring it for this particular release. I'd also like to mention that it has one of the most entertaining commentary tracks I've ever heard and if I'm not mistaken it won some kind of DVD award back in '03 Ok the evaluation of the Aliens disc is over so I'm sure 75% people stopped reading that's why I went ahead and started with the second movie instead of the first. Alien, is a fantastic looking transfer it looks totally new. If Sigourney Weaver weren't running around looking like a doe-eyed teenager through the whole film I'd think it came out this year. I mean someone put some serious work into this, although this transfer is not exclusive to this disc, it's the same one used from the Quadrilogy set. If you remember the film was released back into theaters shortly before or after the Quad set came out, I can't remember exactly but I know the film was restored from the ground up for this anniversary event this Blu-Ray just features the highest possible quality of that particular transfer/remaster. The sound is as good as I've ever heard for this particular film, I've noticed a lot of little sound effects and even been able to discern some words out of the muttering a lot of the characters did in the film without having to crank my sound system up to 40 (it only goes to 30) just to make out what they're saying. I guess that has something to do with the HD audio as opposed to the now standard 5.1 mix. I've watched both versions although I'm more fond of the theatrical version again. Alien 3, is a sharp looking film, seeing it in high def brings a new appreciation to the beautiful sets and art direction, at least it did for me and I've seen this movie a million times... Alien 3? You know the one with the Alien eating all the baddie baldies that no one cares about and holy cow Ripley has also become a baddie baldy and oh no there's a Alien in her too what should we too, how about we all commit suicide by alien just because we hate the company that much. I admit it's not the greatest film in the world but it does have some shining moments here and there. I like it, I still think it was a solid sci-fi flick if only for the mood it created and taking the established Alien series staple of a "used future" to the most extreme of extremes. David Fincher is one of my favorite directors because he seems to pay extra attention to the atmosphere subtle background noise can create and in the HD 5.1 mix it really comes out. Also concerning the sound, people who've already bought the Alien Quadrilogy will be happy to know that all the audio in the "Workprint" version has been fixed and it plays just like a normal movie instead of something Fox stole back from the internet and slapped on a DVD. The picture on this film is quite crisp and sharp looking I don't have any complaints about the visual or sound on this disc. It may in fact be the best looking film in the whole set if you can stand the unbelievable crap of the story of the film, it's a pleasure to look at though and exceptionally sound designed. The forth and final film, so far, Ridley Scott has a forward written onto this box set that mentions a prequel film, I've been hearing about one of those since Alien 3 so I'm not going to get my hopes up too high. This movie looks only slightly better on Blu-Ray then the DVD for a film this new I would have expected it to be a little more sharp in HD. Darius Khandji's photography comes out really nicely though. The sharp contrasts and deep dark blacks show up really nicely although mostly this film just seems brown, everything is brown in this movie, even the Aliens are brown! I can't tell if this version is any better than the DVD because honestly I don't know how many different ways there are to convey the color brown regardless of it's encoding. The space shots, the underwater scene all look pretty good though and like I said where there is a contrast between brown and another color it looks really nice. I won't even begin to get into how crap this movie is, but I will say this, it's probably got the most spins in my PS3 since I bought this set mainly because it's the easiest movie of the lot to pick up since there's not much of a story and it's not a very long film. This film is a shining example as to why your director should speak the same language as the cast. Jean-Pierre Jeunet has made some fantastic French films this is his only "bad" film and not really a bad film but directing actors through an interpreter had to be quite a hindrance. I can barely give directions to the nearest gas station when someone interprets into Spanish for me so I don't even want to imagine what getting a performance out of an actor was like for him. Not the greatest film ever but I think it's watchable and at it's lowest points nowhere near as bad as either AvP film. I was really wanting to type up a short review before I left for work tonight, but apparently I've gotten a bit verbose I apologize to anyone still reading I really am trying to be as concise as possible. This is basically a Blu-Ray version of the previous Quadrilogy set with a few added features, mainly short videos and images here and there, as far as the BRD exclusives are concerned. All of the commentaries and virtually everything is from 2003 so basically Fox just double-dipped the material into a more expensive package. The biggest bonus is that it's not such a hassle to open and get a disc out, everything is contained in a simple little book that holds each disc in it's own page. All the special features from the Quad are contained on one disc while every other stitch of Alien related media is on the final disc. A bit about the Blu-Ray exclusives; "Disc-Unbound" is a pretty cool idea, a six disc set that also features "Muther-Mode" where you can select a list of related features throughout the course of a film and then after the film pop in the related disc and play those selections. Kinda a cool idea it's just a shame this is all stuff I have seen a dozen times watching the Quad set. Also all the different audio tracks, subtitled commentaries so if you want to watch the movie with it's audio playing and just read the commentary, which is what I usually do is pretty neat. Isolated scores and on some films totally alternate isolated film scores are also neat in a fanboy way. I gave this set 5 stars for being the perfected version of the old Quadrilogy set which was a 4 star set at best. But in the long run you're not getting much more than the Quad in sleek new packaging with some neat new little gimmicks. I'd like to mention a bit about the packaging, I've never seen anything so sleek and well thought out with the fans in mind. Where with most box sets they just slap a bunch of discs in a generic box and ship it out and sell it to the public. This has got to be one of the most unique designs I've ever seen, it features a book like layout and each disc fits into it's own page with a double wide splash page between each disc. It's a dream compared to all the unfolding and dropping that came with the folding cardboard nine disc layout in the old Quad set. In closing I'd like to mention that if you're looking for the most bang for your buck the old Quad set costs about what this one does and has just about everything this set has to offer minus some minor bonuses, I recommend it if you've got the cash but at the same time the frugal person in me would have probably just bought the Quadrilogy instead. I'm sure they'll release the movies in individual form sooner or later so if you really don't want the third and fourth films I'd just wait for that.

I recently purchased a PS3 for the bonus of using it as a Blu-ray player, so I set out to purchase the Blu-ray versions of many of my favorite, classic Sci-Fi films. As the title of my review suggests, I already own the Alien Anthology DVD Edition, so I wanted to compare between the two for quality, which is why I gave it 5 stars. At the time I have posted this review, the Blu-Ray version is also incredibly cheap already for such a new release (2013) while the DVD version was released in (2010) - far cheaper than when I originally purchased the DVD Edition a few years ago. However, both are about the same price point now depending on sales. The extra money IS worth it for the Blu-Ray version if you have the means to play them. My review also contains below my thoughts on each film as well if you prefer an opinion if these films are even worth watching (if you are a first time viewer). And also, if one is deciding whether or not to watch the "theatrical" release or "director's cut" first of each film. IMAGE QUALITY: - Outstanding While the DVD version is already pretty decent, the Blu-Ray version of each of these films are definitely high-quality. A lot sharper detail on everything. There are definitely areas of scenes that were far more clearer, especially for background area, compared to the older VHS, and then transition to DVD. SOUND QUALITY: - Excellent Again here, my opinion is that the sound has improved slightly from the DVD version. This Blu-Ray version specifically has cleaned up audio on some of the films such as the Alien 3 Director's Cut DVD. The original Alien 3 Director's Cut DVD had input alternate or new scenes, but the audio that was spliced in was extremely quiet - it was so queit they put text on the TV so you could actually hear what they are saying for specific extra scenes. On the Blu-Ray version its not a problem at all, you can hear them perfectly and they removed the automatic subtitling from those scenes. OVERALL PACKAGE: - VERY good Plenty of extra's, all of the director's cut and theatrical releases are available in high quality, you can also watch them with commentary on or off, and there is also another disc that delves into the Alien Universe. THE FILMS: My first recommendation is to watch all of these in order, to really get a sense of the beginning of the film that definitely defined true Horror combined with Science Fiction. No doubt, these films gave me nightmares when I was child. Alien (Must See) - Where it all started and while it is old, it has stood up to the test of time with a sense of 'believability' despite the old technology used to make the film. You'll feel like you are watching real people on a space ship that are exploring planets. ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? I recommend watching the Director's Cut -- The extra scenes do 'add' to the film's original plot, rather than becoming distractions. But do definitely watch the Theatrical release to see the difference and decide for yourself. Aliens (Excellent) - The nightmare is back for Ripley and this time its payback. The character is a strong-willed survivor that really shows that Female Heroines are needed in more films and stories. You might be thinking, well Ripley has backup this time, so maybe nothing too bad will happen, right, RIGHT? But most people already do know if they haven't seen it already ;). I think the premise of these films is more believable in confronting an unknown horror, while not invincible, the Aliens (or "xenomorphs") of this fictional universe are deadly efficient and do not give up. ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? DEFINITELY watch the Director's Cut first - again, the extra scenes do add to the overall arcing story rather than significantly altering anything. Watch the Theatrical Release to see the difference. Alien 3 (Very Good) - Controversial for many fans, as many film goers or avid book readers are used to the Hero or Heroine and their friends having a perfect ending, which is a common "trope" of stories. This film takes that idea and turns it upside down, because this is the Alien Universe after all. Not everything turns out perfect in our world or a fictional world, and certainly not a fictional universe with aliens such as Xenomorphs. As I said with "Aliens" - Xenomorphs are relentless, emotional, nightmarish creatures that will do anything to propagate its species like an overgrown parasite. For those that have seen it, they will know exactly what I am referring to, but I do not want to spoil it for those that have not seen it. For what's it worth, I think the setting is perfect and conducive to the dark, creepy settings of the first two films and the ending is also good, with a sense of relief for the main character (The Nightmare feels like it is finally over). ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? For this one, I have to say that the Theatrical release SHOULD be watched first. The Director's Cut is essentially an ALTERNATE movie with different events taking place, while its 'ok' in its own right, the Theatrical release feels more appropriate to the continuity of watching each film in succession. DO watch the Director's cut after to see the difference. Alien 4 or "Alien Resurrection" (Fair/Good) - I have always had mixed feelings about this film, as is common for many other fans of the series. The setting is great, but the writer (Joss Whedon) often input satirical components into the Alien Universe, which felt out of place. There is a joke, for instance, in the film (SPOILER?) where the always "up to no good" corporation "Weyland Yutani" (which any reader should or viewer of all of the 3 previous films should know by now) is "bought up by Wal-Mart." Its one of those moments where you kind of just have to laugh at the absurdity of placing such a comment in a film like this. The film itself still captures the horrifying feeling from the first 3 films and the specific effects are definitely great for both the new "CGI" Xenomorphs and the newest suits they used for the Xenomorphs. However, the story itself takes out any of the mystery and "unknown" from the first films. All in all - the film itself feels like a mess, and Ripley is deduced to a campy action hero, BUT the ACTING is plenty good for what it is. ------ *Should I watch the Theatrical or Director's Cut first? I would have to say the Director's Cut in this instance, the original theatrical release (according to the director Jeunet who was already at odds with the writer Joss Whedon), was in essence the "actual" director's cut. The extra scenes in the Director's scene do lend to try and connect Ripley to the former films. So there you have it folks. Its fairly cheap at the time I bought it and definitely a great addition for any movie collector, avid film watcher, or Sci-Fi Junkie.

I own the 'Alien Quadrilogy' and hesitated to upgrade for a long time. I hate nothing like a greedy studio that tosses out another edition of the same movie every two or three years. The 'Quadrilogy' is more than enough for any but the most hardcore Alien fans, and if you don't care about Blu-ray one way or the other, seek out a copy of that. You will be happy. There is a major visual upgrade, the sound seems 'better', though it was difficult to reach the perfect balance. If I was happy with it in a dialogue scene, as soon as things started blowing up/aliens started screeching/guns started blasting, etc, I'd have to turn it WAY down. I am not enough of an audiophile to pronounce judgement on whether this was my soundbar's fault (it's a nice soundbar,though) or something about the Blu-ray mastering ( I do not recall having the same problem with the Quadrilogy). There are many extras that were not present on the Quadrilogy, but unless you're super hardcore, not enough new stuff to make it alone worth the buy. It's mostly the same as 'Quadrilogy'. I was VERY curious to see what the upgrade from DVD resolution to Blu-Ray would do for the films, and here is where your money's worth is over the DVDs. It's a MAJOR AND SERIOUS upgrade. There were actually several instances where I thought it actually was a negative, where some of the 'scare' is lessened because you can see the alien coming three miles away, where before it just pounced suddenly out of the shadows. That's 'tomayto/tomahto' though, because my fiance, who had not seen anything but the original, was plenty creeped out. I may just prefer my aliens lunging out of the dark because that's how I've always seen them. But other than that one small personal minus, it's seriously cool- you can every little detail on every piece of the ship, where I couldn't before, even on the 'Quadrilogy'. One can see the truly enormous amount of craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into the set, costumes, and of course the aliens. Given that they had no idea their work would ever be put to such a test as 1080p, it's a true testimonial to the quality of their work. I had a lot of trepidation because quite a few of these reviews mention the set will not work properly on a sizable number of Blu-ray players, and I've had so much trouble with mine already I was reluctant to risk it. (It is a newish player, was top-of-the line last year when I bought it and way more expensive than it needed to be for the amount of grief it's given me). THEN, though, I started noticing reviewers saying that the region-free version does not have these glitches. Amazon US does not officially sell the region-free version, but check out the "new and used from..." section and you will eventually find someone offering the region-free version. I have also heard of people just going to Amazon UK and purchasing it. I've read several reviews noting the Region 1 version is packaged in the 'hardcover book' type cardboard style...the UK version is packed like a tradtitional set, in the familiar 'Blu-ray blue' plastic with plastic 'leaves' inside that each disc snaps in/out of, then the whole thing is slipcased as you see in the product description. I prefer this style. I got mine from a guy selling his region-free set through Amazon and paid a very reasonable price. I haven't worked through the whole set yet...have not started the bonus features and probably will not for awhile as I'd already watched it all on DVD. So far, though, I've had no problems and the set is AMAZING. It was, all things considered, well worth the upgrade from DVD.

>>> This a review for the Alien Anthology BD collection, ASIN: B003AQBYUG. Please be aware of this. The other version is ASIN: B001AQO3QA, so I can make no anticipations as to whether or not these are, for what ever reason, the same items. Box sleeves appear to be identical. >>> Right off the bat, Amazon has this much more inexpensive that it deserves. I'm not gonna play the Price is Right, but it is significant. I will however say I am glad I help out on getting these movies on BD instead of buying the hit-or-missed collections that have swamped the markets. Now, I think we can all say that everyone knows most everything everything about these films, at least the basics behind them. >>> Spoiler Alert Ahead; Please move along>>> ~ ~ ~ ~ Long story short... The main protagonist in the film, Ripley is a genre staple. She goes from being a very skilled officer on a very expensive team to an expert exterminator of this highly aggressive Alien species. This all begins with a mission to land on a waste of a rock to investigate "something". The team is caught by one Alien, and Ripley is the only survivor. She gets picked up while adrift in space and gets reamed by the government and ends up line line to work a flight deck. Later, she gets called in to escort a group of Marines thinking it 'might' be one of the Aliens. The Marines land and get sliced apart, Ripley finds a survivor, and there are very few survivors including one bad @$$ Ripley (who has apparently turned into an unbelievable merger of She-Ra/Jack Bauer/Sydney Bristo/Wonder Woman). She and the others crash land on a prison planet and one Alien rips apart the personnel and Ripley saves the day again. The final film is, for the most part, ignored by the fans of the movie series. There. Up to speed in one paragraph. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ >>>End Spoilers>>> The best, non-spoiler description I can manage is this: The first Alien was a thriller; Aliens is a hard-core action flick; Alien 3 is a drama, and Alien Resurrection should have been an abortion. YMMV. Throughout the intervening years, the name Ripley, has become the epitome of strong and capable sci-fi hero. Every film is amazing, even if it only in the deleted scenes. Since 1979, we've watched and cheered for her. All four films come in two versions - the original or the final director's cut. Both are enhanced amazingly with the digital restorations; one of the best scenes in my opinion is in the fourth film when we see the aliens swimming underwater. Now, we have some great special features for our viewing pleasure. As if the Director's cuts were not enough. We have isolated music scores for the theatrical versions. Audio commentary is included with several tracks. But there is a "MU.TH.ER" mode which throughout each film can change settings such as audio and visual during the film without the need to restart the film or go back for a few minutes teetering around the menus. Another feature is the trivia track, perfect for first time viewers. There is also a lumbering giant of "Never Before Seen" footage that cannot be found on any other collection of the DVDs or BDs. On top of that, we have two extra discs that have been collected over the years so that we - our inner film geeks - have it all collected right here. All films are given the standard 5.1/DTS tracks. I think this series needed the 7.1 treatment, seriously. There's a great handful of subtitles, which as some of the readers here should be used to my strong reactions to the small things like subtitles, good sound tracks and the like. To sum things up, if you are a fan you should already have this in your collections. If you've been waiting, pick it up, but be careful: Amazon has two sets for BD and the other doesn't have near the added material. Plus, it's more pricey. This is the one you want: B003AQBYUG (which has a total of 552 hours of bonus everything). This is one of those film sets that everyone in marketing should watch and emulate. These films are classics. And in my eyes, they have finally gotten the quality release they've deserved.

Well, it looks like Amazon is up to its usual trick of dumping reviews for a bunch of different products together (customer complaint - I was shopping once for a patio umbrella and halfway through the reviews it became obvious that some were for cat food. Really need to clean that up, Amazon). I bought "Alien Anthology" 4-movie, 6-disc Blu-ray set, for clarification. I'll start by saying the storage case is top of the line. It's book-style, which I prefer. The pages are all thick cardboard, which makes for quite a hefty little package. It comes with the first 4 Alien movies plus 2 bonus content discs. This won't be a very long review. All I really wanted to say aside from that was that Alien3 does indeed include the director's "Assembly Cut" with extra footage spliced in. I never hated this movie as much as everyone else seems to. But the added scenes do seem to flesh it out more. Sure, there are clearly unfinished xenomorph effects in some scenes and the third act is still a bit of a confusing mess with everyone shouting and running around, but I felt overall it was still a solid film. The only other important thing to know is for once the studio hasn't done us dirty - I had the special edition 1991 version of Aliens already, and I sat down with both inserts and all extras have been transferred over to this one. Which means I can donate my old disc without fear of losing any (some might think that's dirty, making us buy the same material twice, but I hate having to keep multiple cases on my shelf to make sure I have all the extras). This is well worth the price used. I even got a brand new in plastic set after ordering "used - very good"!

Rejoice all you blu-ray owners, the Alien blu-ray Anthology is here and lives up to it's name. For any of you who have not seen these films (which are excellent, by the way) you can fear not, as I'm reviewing the product, not the films themselves. In short: No Spoilers in this review! The packaging is outstanding and was defect free when received. The outer cover picturing the Xenomorph (the alien) is gorgeous. Inside the films are enclosed in a book-like holder that is lithographed with photos from the films and the teaser information from the original movie cover-backs. All in all it's exceptionally well done and a definite upgrade from the DVD Alien Quadrilogy release a few years ago. While aesthetically it looks the same, feels the same, and has all the features of the Alien Quadrilogy release the blu-ray upgrade is noticeably better in both picture and sound on my HDTV and 5.1 surround system. My only gripes with the Alien Anthology release are the way the discs are placed inside the holder they could scratch over time with repeated use. I'm assured that blu-ray discs are exceptionally scratch resistant but in my opinion this could be done better as a preventative measure. The only other thing is the upgraded codecs for the films will not work unless your blu-ray has had a software upgrade. As such some first generation blu-ray's I've heard of having a big problem with that. My Samsung HB-500 is internet connected and the upgrade took less than a minute. For me it isn't a problem but for some folks who may live out of reach of a high-speed internet connection (there are still internet dark-zones out there, don't let anyone fool you) will not be able to play the collection on their systems. I don't quite understand the need to have devices that require an upgrade of this kind with new releases. DVD never had this problem and I feel it's a gross oversight with companies scrabbling over giving the newest features to users. Don't let my review fool you. It's a great product and for the significantly reduced prices that Amazon offers it's a little easier to justify than $140 at Best Buy.

So glad I have these now! And great price for 4 great movies

The "Alien Anthology" has been long-awaited in high definition goodness pretty much since the technology hit the market. This is one of the sets everyone wanted and was eager to see how the technology would make these films look and sound, with only "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" perhaps being more anticipated. There was much pre-release speculation that this might be a letdown, especially after James Cameron (who was deeply involved with the restoration of "Alien" made some comments about "de-graining" it which had purists reeling with concern that it was a victim of the dreaded digital noise reduction , leaving it with a waxy, smeared look (much like the recent release of "Predator). I am happy to report this set not only meets all expectations, but exceeds them. Each film looks brilliant in 1080p high definition. The films have been restired frame by frame with the original directors supervising and even technical problems that plagued the prior releases have been corrected. I could go film by film but it would be an exercise in redundance as they all look fabulous, grain structures have been kept in tact. "Aliens" did have some DNR applied, but for good reason given how bad it looked before. The cameras that were used at the time were supposed to be state of the art, however, they were recalled the year after this was hot. The film grain remains in tact, but the scratchy noise which washed out the color scheeme is gone. These films have never looked better since they were each in the editing bays. The soundtracks for each is a bombastic DTS-HD MA 5.1, and it's everything you would hope for. "Alien" in particular ( made in 1978, released in '79) looks and sounds like it was shot yesterday. Your house will shake every time a ship passes the screen. Directional effects on all the films are awesome. I heard sound effects I have never heard before thanks to the lossless encode. "Aliens", the most action heavy, will blow you out of your seat and pulverize the listening area. Alien 3 looks spectacular with David Fincher perfecting the visual look that would follow his films up to the recent "The Social Network." "Alien Resurrection" probably fares the best of the bunch, as it was the most recently made, and the colors just pop off the screen and the gunshots and explosions are deafening. The special features are the most comprehensive, exhaustive set I have ever seen on any DVD release. There are too many to list here, but there are dozens of featurettes, documentaries, all films have audio commentaries, isolated scores, etc. Each film comes with an extended edition. This is a first-rate DVD set and it is everything we fans could have hoped for. This is the best these films will ver look and sound and with all the special features this makes this set a no-brainer. Even if some may find the price a bit steep, you are getting 4 films, each with the director's cut and theatrical editions mastered at the highest level of quality. Think of it as an investment and something you will enjoy over and over. The special features alone will take viewers a long time to get through. It is an experience and it is what blu-ray is all about and what makes the technology so exciting. Highest recommendation.