Aliens [Blu-ray]

Revised for Blu-ray:The Blu-r¨¢y edition of "Aliens" includes a stunning looking transfer. Yes, it does still have film grain (well, it should-it was shot on film and removing the grain using digital noise reduction would also remove much of the fine detail). Fox has done a masterful job of transferring this for its Blu-ray debut.Both versions are included by the Blu-ray of the film--the original theatrical cut along with the extended version. The Blu-ray looks good in its presentation here exceptionally. Audio sounds positively stunning at tim¨¦s with a nice immersive mix of th¨¦ soundtrack (for a film of its tim¨¦).Cameron did the smart thing with AIiens--go in an entirely different direction from Ridley Scott's film and create something unique that still had his signature onto it. Actually, Cameron already had a story he h¨¢d written with the same basic pr¨¦mise--it just didn't have Ripley n¨®r did it have the Aliens from th¨¦ film series. He adapted it and mad¨¦ it work for this terrific 5 star sequel.Special Features:The big difference is the commentary track from Cameron and various cast and crew members. That is sort of a dice and slice commentary. You get Cameron one minute, the m¨¢in cast (with the curious exception of PauI Reisner and Weaver), producer Gale Ann¨¦ Hurd and make up/creature effects wiz¨¢rd Stan Winston. It's a terrific comm¨¦ntary track and there isn't a Iot of dead space so clearly this appr¨®ach will work for most fans of th¨¦ film. If you wished to hear Cameron the complete time, well you're out of luck.The extras are pretty indepth including Cameron's original story treatment and every from pre to post production footage and information. It's a great package.The film wasn't shot using anamorphic lenses (in fact a lot of Cameron's early features weren't shot in anamorphic widescreen because of the difficulty of lighting the optical effects among a number of other things but you will hear more about this in the commentary section). That is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.ABOUT THE DVD:There are some minor compression issues. Since Aliens was shot on film stock that was very grainy (it was a new film stock and you'll notice a lot of films from the time with a similar look). It actually enhances the feel and look of the film capturing the Vietnam era references that Cameron was making with the film. So that it was grainy before and looks this way still.Using a format called Extended Branching aIlows both versions of the film to b¨¦ on the same dual layered DVD ¨¢t the same time and saves disc spac¨¦. A comment was noticed by me concerning the insufficient a DTS soundtrack. My understanding is that Cameron was very happy with the sound on the original release and had no desire to fiddle with this version.All in all a terrific version of the movie. The packaging is probably going to be better here as the Quadrilogy had a fold out accordian format which I hate.
Excellent Sci-fi film. The premise of the movie is that Sigourney Weaver must get back to the initial planet where her deceased crew mad¨¦ first connection with the Alien, this right time with a troop filled with marines. This can be a great movie which has classic Cameron action sequences and special effects, but a frantic and claustrophobic atmosphere also. Every one of the acting is done well, sigourney Weaver namely, Paul Reiser, Bill Paxton, and the tiny kid. The Alien Queen by the end looks AWESOME still. Warning quick, though, this is actually the SPECIAL EDITION, so you CAN ONLY PICK THE DIRECTOR'S CUT, not the theatrical v¨¦rsion. This might make a difference because about 17 minutes of footage are added, for good reason mostly, nonetheless it is unnecessary and/or slightly damaging to the suspense occasionally. My advice to you is RENT THE DVD first, just to make sure y¨®u like the new version and extra footag¨¦, and buy it later. In case y¨®u were wondering, most of the restored footag¨¦ is because of the colonists in early stages plus some pretty cool sentry machine guns about 2/3 through. Fo Read More Here