Alien Anthology blu-ray $24 @ Big W (Thursday November 27 - Wednesday December 10)
Includes: Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992) & Alien Resurrection (1997). On 4 Blu-ray discs.
Yes you should.
From the picture on the Big W website, it looks like this is the 4-disc 2012 version of the blu-ray anthology, and not the 6-disc 2010 version. I'm not sure of all the differences but the main one I think is that the 6-disc had 2 discs of bonus features.
If you don't usually bother with special features I think it'd be fine - just a heads up.
Pity Aliens 3 & 4 aren't so good..
3 was bad
I'd still rate from best 2, 4, 1, 3 :P
I know opinions are like assholes, but how can you rate 4 higher than 1!? Agree with 2 being the best though.
4 over 2? wow I put 4 and 3 on the same level as every Adam Sandler movie ever.
rating from best is 2, 4, 1 and 3 was worst
What's so bad about 4? Besides Winona Ryder the rest of the cast wasn't too bad plus it showed a new hybrid of alien which was possible - like the predator alien from AVP franchise
Epic plot twist for 13yo me back then when she was actually a droid!
Edit - oh and 2+4 were the ones where they actually were prepared to fight the aliens rather than Alien Isolation Style where it's hide, mcguyver makeshift weapons and more hiding
Already own it, it's a must have!
Based on the theatrical versions, I would go:
1, 2, 4, 3.
For those that disliked Alien 3, get the original, unedited workprint film reel version called the 'Assembly Cut'.
Due to budget and time restrictions, the director, David Fincher, was forced by Twentieth Century Fox to rush the movie out and they cut out a lot of important scenes during the editing phase which affected the story and pacing of the theatrical release, all of which are included in the 'Assembly Cut' which makes for a far superior film.
Interesting, I recently bought the 35th anniversary collectors edition.
Is that assembly cut available with that?? is it the special edition copy?
2,1,3,4
I just never liked number 4. :)
No, it was compiled by fans from various digital and rare analogue sources by fans and remastered.
Google: Alien 3 Assembly Cut Kickass.
@tommy-darko:
Google: Alien 3 Assembly Cut
A bunch of sites would disagree with you.
An alternate version of the film, dubbed the "Assembly Cut", was pieced together by producer Charles de Lauzirika using Fincher's original production notes from before extensive rewrites completely changed much of the film.
For the Assembly Cut's release on Blu-ray as part of the Alien Anthology set in 2010, several original cast members (including Charles Dance and series veteran Lance Henriksen) were brought back to re-record their dialogue in the newly added scenes, allowing 20th Century Fox to create a new sound mix. Consequently, every trace of the sub-par sound quality present on the earlier DVD release was eliminated, finally offering fans the Assembly Cut in a complete version.
From what I read it was originally an idea of and compiled by fans, there's different versions around, some have more source material from the original film reel workprint but it does appear that the 2010 Blu-ray contains a version of it as well.
To get a hold of Fincher's first original workprint would be pretty amazing, I have the Apocalypse Now workprint and it's very interesting.
Regardless, Alien 3 cops more crap than it deserves as most only judge it on the theatrical release. Yes, that version was mediocre but it's not the complete film and not as Fincher intended.
Alien is a slasher film in space. Evil thing takes out the cast one by one, much stronger than any individual and hard to kill. Just when you think you got away the slasher pops up one last time and you have to escape/kill it again. Beautifully done, great setup and character work but a pretty simple slasher film at it's core.
Aliens is a survival horror (like a zombie movie) with a bunch of action thrown in. Survival horror movies tend to be about a disaster occurring then finding a safe place to defend and then on how to get from that safe place which is becoming increasingly less safe to some other place that might be safe. Again, amazingly well made and blends the action and survival horror elements really well.
Alien 3… doesn't really fit in a genre. There's a monster and there's some cult stuff. There's some confused moral conundrums re: prisoners/prisons that don't go anywhere. Then there's this messiah complex stuff. It felt very much like someone had stitched a bunch of elements together and not given enough time to any one element. Even the Fincher cut was unfocused.
Alien Resurrection is more of a straight up action adventure with hints of disaster movie and these heavy handed overtones of questioning an unnatural existence. This wasn't a great combination. The group of rag tag bad asses and their plucky robot anarchist taking on the authorities and the aliens as they slog their way through the upside down ship on a Poseidon Adventure didn't mesh well with a woman born of torture, into confinement, caught between worlds with an affinity for the evil within her and helping give birth to an abomination. I actually liked both elements. They would have been great in their own movies. But they didn't work seamlessly together. If the version of Whedon's script that's floating around the internet is real it did it quite a bit better. The director's influence was pretty bad too - everything he added in his quirky grotesque style (which I like in his own movies) didn't fit the Alien universe very well.
My preferences go Aliens -> Alien ———> Resurrection —————-> 3.
The goodness difference between Aliens vs Alien is small and really just comes down to genre preference. I'm not really a slasher movie guy. It's the best slasher movie I know of, but it's not a genre I find all that engaging.
There is a big drop off to Resurrection which at least tried strongly to be it's own thing, and a massive drop off to 3 which just looked like a bunch of producers arguing on screen.
Thats cheap but I already have it. Still worth a Thumbs up for Alien and Aliens
I really like 4… I'm pretty dirty, I bought 2,3 and 4 for $24 from jb last week during that 20% off thing with them on 2 for $20… Figured I'd get number 1 another time…
$22.80 with everyday rewards card
Actually haven't sat down to watch any of them from start to finish, although I did see Prometheus at the cinema (I know I'm opening up a can of worms with that admission). In true OzBargain spirit I'll buy first and decide whether I like it later seeing as they are classics to varying degrees.
It's an interesting series because they're all quite different movies, just with a common thread. All worth watching at least once, in my opinion, though 1+2 work best and stand up to multiple viewings.
Prometheus is a different angle again (not exactly part of the series, but related) - though I found it a frustrating movie, mostly because the characters acted like idiots instead of the fairly-intelligent explorers they were supposed to be.
i have the original DVD boxset of this, should probably upgrade methinks!