Aliens - Romulus: Takes small step in the right direction

[j_garcia]

There is one drive-in still around here locally. I saw Alien there Have not been to a drive-in in a LOOOONG time.

 

[jinjuku]

What's a drive-in? Haven't seen one in decades.

Been routinely going to them for decades now. My kid and her friends absolutely love it. Get there early, setup, they get to go off on their own (don't make trouble) and come back for the movie, take off again for intermission, hit the concession stand.

rinse and repeat.

 

[Joe B]

The ranking by a horror mag had them much different. Resurrection was last, which I agree with, even though I liked it. This sort of mirrors mine, though I would put 3 above Romulus. They had it:
1) Alien
2) Aliens
3) Romulus
4) Alien 3
5) Prometheus
6) Covenant
7) Resurrection.

I also like "Resurrection" a lot, but the movie goes to hell at the end. Poor Brad Dourif has to monologue some of the worst crap ever put on paper. Up until that point, the movie was on a roll. Hard to believe this wasn't a problem when it was screened.
I haven't seen "Romulus". I won't until I can have it on Blu-ray, and I am looking forward to it.
Of all the movies, "Aliens" is my favorite. The inter-play between characters just makes the movie fun. And there are so many great 'one liners'.

 

[mtrycrafts]

There is one drive-in still around here locally. I saw Alien there Have not been to a drive-in in a LOOOONG time.

WoW.
That drive in would have been a great entertainment place during Covid. Wonder if yours there had a good turnout.

 

[j_garcia]

WoW.
That drive in would have been a great entertainment place during Covid. Wonder if yours there had a good turnout.

Yes, it was very popular during Covid.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

3 and 4 were both terrible.

I must be so biased when it comes to this franchise because I absolutely love every Alien movie, especially Alien 3 and 4.

Just for fun, not accounting for inflation, in terms of box office worldwide, Alien 4 made more money than Alien 3, which made more money than Alien 2, which made more than Alien 1.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Just saw Romulus. I love it. Very suspenseful and tense and exciting. One of the best.

 

[j_garcia]

It was #1 in the box office again this weekend.

 

[davidscott]

I must be so biased when it comes to this franchise because I absolutely love every Alien movie, especially Alien 3 and 4.

Just for fun, not accounting for inflation, in terms of box office worldwide, Alien 4 made more money than Alien 3, which made more money than Alien 2, which made more than Alien 1.

Making more money doesn't necessarily make the move better. I think Alien 3 dropped the ball by senselessly killing off Hicks and Newt at the very beginning. Kinda made Ripley's heroics in Aliens meaningless. Just my opinion.

 

[j_garcia]

I thought that was a messed up choice too, but Hicks and Newt weren't implanted because there was only one face hugger. They were a threat, so it makes sense why Fincher chose to do that. It still left kind of a bad taste to start things off.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Unless my google skills suk (quite possible), it appears to me that all of the movies except Alien 3 and Resurrection (and Romulus as of right now) are available on 4K Blu Ray.

I'm planning to binge watch all of the Alien movies shortly. What's the consensus on the best source material for Alien 3 and Resurrection?

My initial thought is to buy 1080 Blue Rays and use a Blu Ray player to upscale. Having said that, I'm reluctant to buy regular Blu Rays because I'm holding out hope these will be released in 4k Blu Ray at some point and I'd rather buy them.

 

[isolar8001]

Unless my google skills suk (quite possible), it appears to me that all of the movies except Alien 3 and Resurrection (and Romulus as of right now) are available on 4K Blu Ray.

I'm planning to binge watch all of the Alien movies shortly. What's the consensus on the best source material for Alien 3 and Resurrection?

My initial thought is to buy 1080 Blue Rays and use a Blu Ray player to upscale. Having said that, I'm reluctant to buy regular Blu Rays because I'm holding out hope these will be released in 4k Blu Ray at some point and I'd rather buy them.

Those two look fine on regular bluray....just make sure you watch the "assembly" cut of Alien 3. It's an entirely different experience from the theatrical version.
Resurrection has an extended cut, but it's not all that different.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Unless my google skills suk (quite possible), it appears to me that all of the movies except Alien 3 and Resurrection (and Romulus as of right now) are available on 4K Blu Ray.

I'm planning to binge watch all of the Alien movies shortly. What's the consensus on the best source material for Alien 3 and Resurrection?

My initial thought is to buy 1080 Blue Rays and use a Blu Ray player to upscale. Having said that, I'm reluctant to buy regular Blu Rays because I'm holding out hope these will be released in 4k Blu Ray at some point and I'd rather buy them.

I have been hoping they will eventually remaster Alien 3 & 4 in 4K. But still waiting.

 

[isolar8001]

I have been hoping they will eventually remaster Alien 3 & 4 in 4K. But still waiting.

Given the extremely grainy look of both of those films, I wouldn't expect a 4K transfer to do much for them.
I have Topaz 4K versions of both and they didn't even attempt to scrub the grain out....would have become a "wax" fest"

 

[Trell]

I have been hoping they will eventually remaster Alien 3 & 4 in 4K. But still waiting.

Here is a question I've wanted to ask for some time: You really like things like camera used but how can one appreciate that if streaming with it's heavy compression is used? You really have Blue Ray discs of all those movies? If so I'm very envious!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Here is a question I've wanted to ask for some time: You really like things like camera used but how can one appreciate that if streaming with it's heavy compression is used? You really have Blue Ray discs of all those movies? If so I'm very envious!

Yes I have the blu-ray discs.

But I noticed that unless the compression is very severe, I don't noticed a difference between uncompressed video vs some compression.

I have noticed a difference in audio between streaming vs Disc, but it could be because they compress the heck out of the files - like maybe compress an 80GB BD to 2GB streaming.

Either way, compressed or uncompressed, if the original movies are shot/mastered in 4K IMAX Digital, the files will look better than analog, especially 20-40 years later because naturally everything analog will physically degrade.

If all the old movies (like Last of the Mohicans) were originally shot/mastered with 4K Digital back then (instead of analog 35-65 mm), the PQ will still look just as good today as they did when they were first made.

So that's the main reason I like about shooting movies in 4K Digital - 20 years from now these movies will still look just as good as they do today.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Given the extremely grainy look of both of those films, I wouldn't expect a 4K transfer to do much for them.
I have Topaz 4K versions of both and they didn't even attempt to scrub the grain out....would have become a "wax" fest"

I thought Alien 1 and Alien 2 looked much better when remastered in 4K, and these movies are even older than Alien 3-4.

So I definitely don't want them to use a bunch digital noise reduction. I hope they would clean up the analog films, rescan the analog films to 4K digital, and do a little NR, but definitely don't overdo NR.

 

[isolar8001]

But I noticed that unless the compression is very severe, I don't noticed a difference between uncompressed video vs some compression.

I notice the compression instantly and have never watched a movie from streaming.
Usually the reduction is three fourths of the original/disc quality bitrate.

But, I have years of training in print and graphics and know and can spot what the differences are. (and I have really really good glasses)

 

[j_garcia]

I thought Alien 1 and Alien 2 looked much better when remastered in 4K, and these movies are even older than Alien 3-4.

So I definitely don't want them to use a bunch digital noise reduction. I hope they would clean up the analog films, rescan the analog films to 4K digital, and do a little NR, but definitely don't overdo NR.

All of them are dark and grainy. Minimal NR is my vote, I don't mind grain but I do mind excessive NR.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Those two look fine on regular bluray....just make sure you watch the "assembly" cut of Alien 3. It's an entirely different experience from the theatrical version.
Resurrection has an extended cut, but it's not all that different.

Thanks, I ordered the Alien Quadrilogy Blu Ray set.

The grain discussion raises a question in terms of what happens if a Blu Ray player is used to upscale a grainy 1080p to 4K. I would guess that upscaling to 4K might result in more pronounced grain which might look worse. I'm going to try it both ways.