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Glad to own this great 9 disc collection. Saw the original Alien theatre release and have followed each successive film over the years. This library gives you the option of watching the theatre release or the director's cut for each film. Also gives a behind the scenes view of Alien design elements, scene design and production, commentaries from actor's and directors. This is 'THE SET' for the Aliens fan....and the price is excellent.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Pros: Lots of extras. Cons: Some of the video quality is not so great. The picture is wavy is spots. Also, my biggest complaint is that I purchased this just to see Aliens again. The set says it contains the Theatrical and the Director's cut. However, both films are the Director's cut. This is really annoying. I prefer the Theatrical version.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The first two movies of this series are two of the best ever made, with Ridley Scott directing the first and James Cameron the second. The second half of the Quadrilogy is drastically different and in my opinion not as well made. I would have liked to have see 20th Century Fox get some more experienced directors than David Fincher (Alien 3 was his feature film debut) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Resurrection) to continue the work that Scott and Cameron started. Alien: This is a excellent movie, the one that set the standard for all future sci fi. What I love about this movie is the sense of isolation Ridley Scott creates aboard the spaceship. A gigantic cargo ship deep in outer space that gets ordered to inspect an uncharted planet, where they find the Alien. In the claustrophobic ship, every action and reaction is magnified because the crew is so small and the Alien is completely new and at that point thought to be unkillable. Scott does a great job of building the tension surrounding the crew (something the last 2 movies don't do at all), I love the scene where Harry Dean Stanton is standing under some dripping water and the camera just focus's on him as we wait for something to jump out of the darkness at him. Great cast with Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley) and Ian Holm both doing memorable jobs This in my opinion the scariest and most tense of all the movies, a great credit to Scott's directing given that we rarely SEE the Alien at all in the entire movie. Aliens This is my favorite of the four. James Cameron is an excellent director and this is some of his finest work. 60 years after the first movie's story, Ripley (who was in hyper-sleep for 57 and did not age) is recruited by the army to go back to the planet the Alien came from and act as a guide. The planet has been colonized, but when the band of soldiers (great performances from Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn) get there the colony is deserted. This film is more more of an action movie than the first one, the soldiers first look for the missing civilians, but when it becomes clear that none are alive the story focus's on the soldiers getting off the planet alive. After finding the Alien den and losing most of their brigade, the small remaining band barricade themselves in the civilian space and try to signal for help, only to find that the satellite has been destroyed. Unlike the first movie where there was only one Alien, there are hundreds this time, each one coming from the stomach of captured civilian that was infected with an alien parasite. Despite being able to kill the aliens this time (unlike first movie), there is still plenty of tension in this movie, as the band of survivors try to repair the satellite and recall their spaceship before the hordes of aliens break through their barricade. Great acting again from Sigourney, Paul Reiser does a great job too in his role (which I wont give away). Alien 3 This is definitely the worst of the 4. After escaping from the Alien planet in the second movie, Ripley's pod crashes on a prison planet. The plot is full of blatant errors, one of the worst being how Ripley refuses to tell anybody about the Alien when she suspects it may have gotten loose in the prison. This is one of those plots that only succeeds if the characters are stupid, which they are. Bad movie. Alien Resurrection Nothing special here, just a typical action movie where the people are running the whole time. Oh yeah Ripley is nowRead full review
I guess a taste for the morbid is necessary for the enjoyment of these films. Although the aliens are intelligent, and pass on this intelligence genetically, they do not really make use of their intelligence to develop any kind of actual culture or civilization. They do seem to be true parasites on a macrobiotic level. Luckily, the humans they are destroying, with the exception of the colonists on the planet being terra-formed, are degenerates, so you don't feel too bad when they become victims. The dark nature of the series is made evident when even the good people can't seem to survive. Newt not making it to the next movie was just in keeping with the flavor of things. I bought the series so I can watch it any time, instead of having to watch it at some stations whim, also, the editing for content and length was getting annoying. If there is a disappointment, it is that the set itself will not play on my computer due to the copyright protection, in fact, my computer does not see it and treats it as a blank disk.Read full review
This set is so interesting; for lovers of commentary,like myself, there is commentary. For each movie, there are two versions: theatrical and "special." Usually, theatrical wins. "Special" is pretty much for fanatics only. BUT the commentary is the same on each movie - - a cheat, folks. "Alien" is still genius; theatrical "Aliens" is incredible (long-winded James Cameron loses with his slower, repetitive "special version" imo), "Alien to the third power" is still a wonderful nihilist examination (and Ripley gets laid -- Charles Dance, yay!), and "Alien Resurrection," despite wonderful performances from everyone, is still a yuck-fest that only a teenager could love. In his commentary, the French director admits this. Lots of stuff, if you want to wander in the dusty halls of the nerd collectors, etc. but the movies are what count.Read full review
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