Rating: 
Summary: Special Edition...
Review: I'ved just purchased the DVD of this movie even it is the NTSC version, I loved the improved "Dolby Digital 5.1" soundtrack. I am wondering why everyone is "oohing & ahhing" about the Special Edition as if it was just released. It has been available on VHS here in Australia since the cinema release of Alien 3 (about 1993). Classic movie, is my favourite with Starship Troopers.
Rating:
Summary: More please!
Review: Aliens is definitely one of the best SF/Horror movies ever made. But ten years ago I made a copy of the TV version, and have watched it ever since instead of the original because of three crucial scenes added in the TV version that the Special Edition finally includes. The scene that explains and shows Ripley's loss of her daughter works for me, strengthening her maternal ties to Newt. The two scenes with the sentry robots, along with just being cool, are crucial in explaining how the creatures were kept away long enough to allow Ripley to fall asleep with Newt. Ripley getting Newt into bed, and the scene when they both wake up are two of the best in the movie; what the heck am I saying, every scene is great! But these now work better. The added footage showing the colony before it is destroyed I would have preferred being left out. Still, I love this version. With a movie of this caliber, fans like myself appreciate anything new we hadn't seen before. Aliens fans should definitely see this edition! And even with the colony scene included, I would recommend this version over the original for first-time viewers.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as great as I was led to believe...
Review: The best part of the Alien series is how easy they are to write about. Each film is totally different from the earlier films, and yet they have the same basic concept. For many, this is the greatest...but I can't work out why. The thing has many serious problems. Such as that irritating and shrill child. She's better than the cat, but why can't they have found one who wasn't annoying? Once again, we have no cast. A few fairly amusing people, and I do like Bishop, but I have to say I was shocked when Michael Biehn survived because I had never noticed that he was there previously. And Paul Reiser needed a really violent, cool death. His death is a cop-out. James Cameron also provides us his typically great dialogue, such as "Get away from her, you *****!" COME ON! Oh, well. This was the most fun of the original trilogy. I do wish the cinematographer had experimented with colors other than blue and red, which get quite tiresome at this length, but that's a minor quibble. (It was his first film; he has become much better, and this all may have been Cameron's fault anyway).
Rating:
Summary: Unbeatable
Review: This has to be my all time favorite sci-fi film. The first was good and the other sequels were well dodgy, but this is pure class. From quite a slow start, action-wise, this film builds to a briliiant climax. Some people say that it was not as tense as the first film - rubbish. When the survivors are left in the medical lab and the motion trackers detect the aliens coming closer it is heart pounding. The performances are also top notch - Bill Paxton is amazing as the once tough then very nervy marine. Please see this film if you have not already - even if you have seen the other Alien films and didn't like them.
Rating:
Summary: An awesome film that deserves recognition
Review: The movie was brilliant as compared to any other horror or action movie I've ever seen. Sure, it *was* action-packed, but it was also rather political, and very dramatic. Unlike the first (Alien) Aliens had much more depth, considering it was completely thought up, (unlike the first which was based on the book.) Also, the acting was much better. I'd give this movie more stars if I could. I'll have to tell you though that this movie :gasp: will actually make you think! Don't get the Special edition if you've never seen the original.
Rating:
Summary: 17 more minutes! Now they'll have to buy another new version
Review: You know, I think it is misleading to say that this film is the "Director's Cut". I really don't believe that it is. It doesn't say "Directors Cut" on the box, maybe it does somewhere but I'm not sure because I have it back at school. It does say "Special Edition", not directors cut. The whole point as to what makes the Alien series so good, is that each time it is done by a great director. Starting with the first, it's hands down a masterpiece. But setting a standard as it did, in a time when new styles of moviemaking were emerging out of the sixties and into the seventies, only made it king. Over the years, in search of trying not to rip the movie off, production has started to insult the movie audience by making Sci-fi horror into what this Special Edition has become. The interest in film is so high right now, but not many people see it as an art form. People need things explained to them and the power of assumption, which stimulates creative thinking, is lost in movies today. Adding the whole scene of the colony and Newt and her "Low-character Father" on LV-426, completely makes the audience stop thinking, stop imagining and creating independent thoughts in their heads. HHHMMM! This popcorn is good. BLLLLING(cell phone). Let the audience imagine for once what might have happened. I bet the people who are seeing Aliens for the first time, in this format, will be really surprised to here.... "Ripley, we've lost contact with the colony on LV-426." The words just won't play as good to the first time viewer of Aliens watching this version. It is fine however, that this version came out now, for everyone who has absorbed it the last 15 years, to give us a fresh look on a classic. The Centuries were cool, and the scene with Ripley looking at the picture and crying would have garnished here with the Oscar but who cares about that. The Homage to Ridley Scott by having the slow track of the marine ship prior to them awaking was awesome; whoever decided to leave it out of the original should loosen up a little. Its fine to watch this now, but this is how movies are being presented to audiences in the theaters today. Who made the rule that only art films can be artistic, a Sci-Fi movie can't? I don't know, but their wallets are fat and their imgination is thin. See this movie, only if you know the first one. Give the original to a friend who hasn't seen it. Join the revolution.....but don't sell out.
Rating: 
Summary: ALIENS: SPECIAL EDITION
Review: First of all, the remastered version of this sci-fi classic is so much clearer, you'll notice little things you never did before. The 17 minutes of restored footage fills up the holes in the original and the story flows more smoothly.There are at least 5 new scenes including 2 that feature remote sentry guns...very cool! There were some scenes with restored footage that now have a beginning and an ending instead of simply cutting to the next scene. Obviously the editors hacked this movie up pretty good. Bottom line: If you loved the original, you'll really love the Special Edition! Watching it was almost like seeing it for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: flawlessly done
Review: This is the best film in the series, which is saying something since the original was adapted (pretty much with no changes) from the novel by noted sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster. "Aliens" is a classic tale of a reluctant hero. It reinvents the terrified, resourceful Ripley as a hard-nosed, realist. She bravely faces her fears by revisiting the planetoid where her former crew first encountered the aliens. Every time I see this, Weaver's tortured Ripley takes my breath away. The directing is flawless, contrasting an isolated Ripley against the goofy camaraderie of the Marines. The building of tension is splendidly done with a pulse monitor as background music when the team makes their last stand against the aliens. Everyone in the film is fantastic, from the ones who die without knowing what hit 'em to the terrified, bitter and stressed grunts left standing. The best part is the end when the credits roll. The music is like a peaceful silence. Just what you need after all that excitment.
Rating:
Summary: Almost spoiled a great movie
Review: It's rather unfortunate that one of the ways that movie studios try and sell us DVD's of films we've already seen is by adding back scenes that were cut from the original. Sometimes this works, but other times its just painfully obvious why these scenes were cut in the first place. This is the case with much of the restored footage on this DVD. Aliens is certainly one of the best science fiction thrillers in recent memory, fully deserving a five star review, unfortunately many of the scenes that were added to this DVD simply undermine the integrity of the story. Footage of the terraforming colony and the discovery of the alien spacecraft feels chintzy and amateurish, and the scene in which Ripley learns the fate of her daughter (after her 50 year hypersleep) struck me as melodramatic and unecessary. Some bits of added dialogue also undercut the subtlety of the sexuality and gender issues raised in the film by stating them far too bluntly. The only addition which potentially enhances the movie experience is new footage of the "Automated Sentry Units" fending off an alien barrage. It's too bad you can't pick and choose which scenes to keep and which ones to cut. Still, if you absolutely must have Aliens in your DVD collection, I wouldn't necessarily let these facts hold me back.
Rating:
Summary: A superb Action\ suspense mix!
Review: Aliens was one heck of a cool movie! The Action was very good, although you never really saw the Aliens actually kill a human very much! Well, I mean you never saw too many people get killed or ripped open etc. The suspense was not as good as the first, but it still keeps you on the edge of your seat. I think horror/Sci-Fi fans have just got to see this superior movie!So hurry up, go get.It's also a really long movie.Enjoy.
|
