Digital Review Aliens Digital UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Neil S. Bulk]

I bought it. Apple has the theatrical cut in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Since this is a Movies Anywhere title, it copies over to other retailers. Vudu seems to be the only place to have the SE in DV and DA and that's included with my Apple purchase.

 

[TonyD]

I had to use my barely thought about decade old laptop to gift this to myself.
The Apple version of SE doesn’t upgrade but the Vudu version did from the previous HD version.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Vudu may be the best way to watch the theatrical version, too. On my setup, Apple and Movies Anywhere seem to have a slight lip sync issue while Vudu plays perfectly in DV and DA.

 

[TravisR]

I admit to being a luddite with almost no interest in digital BUT I'm not a guy who takes every opportunity to tell others that they shouldn't buy digitally either. However, the release of these Cameron movies has been an embarrassing disaster. I mean there's two versions of each movie- how does it take monthS to get 4K versions of both cuts and have the dialogue properly synced on all platforms?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I bought it. Apple has the theatrical cut in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Since this is a Movies Anywhere title, it copies over to other retailers. Vudu seems to be the only place to have the SE in DV and DA and that's included with my Apple purchase.

I purchased this via iTunes during this current sale, and only the theatrical version is appearing in my Vudu library.

 

[TonyD]

I purchased this via iTunes during this current sale, and only the theatrical version is appearing in my Vudu library.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

I purchased this via iTunes during this current sale, and only the theatrical version is appearing in my Vudu library.

Click on "Bonus Features" (second from the right)

It'll take to you to this. You can see the "Special Edition" is the first thing.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Click on "Bonus Features" (second from the right)

View attachment 213895

It'll take to you to this. You can see the "Special Edition" is the first thing.

View attachment 213896

That did it. Thanks!

 

[TonyD]

Took me a second take to figure out where it was.

Scott my facepalm wasn’t at you it’s at the continued frustrations of streaming.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Click on "Bonus Features" (second from the right)

View attachment 213895

It'll take to you to this. You can see the "Special Edition" is the first thing.

View attachment 213896

And they JUST updated the SE (both individual title and special features) to Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos!

 

[Desslar]

Just to nitpick , it's a special edition and not a director's cut.



If you don't know about the scene, I think it's too subtle. Once I read about it (probably in Starlog or maybe Fangoria) and eventually got the LD box set, I could see it in the theatrical cut movie but without the scene or knowledge of it, I don't think it's spelled out enough. Yes, the motherhood themes are clear but I think Newt means even more to Ripley once you know about her daughter and that helps those themes. Then again, I've never been a fan of subtlety.

Yeah, I think the daughter scene is important for understanding Ripley's motivation in the film. There's nothing worth caring about on Earth anymore, so she might as well tag along on Burke's crazy mission.

More important is her motivation for trying to rescue Newt in the finale. Sure they bonded a bit, but based on what has happened up to that point in the movie, a rescue mission seems like guaranteed suicide and absolutely terrifying for Ripley (using weapons she has no experience with), plus Newt may be beyond help already (Ripley quickly dismisses the notion of trying to rescue Apone earlier in the film). But knowing that Ripley is determined not to fail another "daughter", it is more understandable why she would try to do the impossible.

 

[TonyD]

I cancelled my order for the disc
Figure I have enough copies of this movie around The house.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I cancelled my order for the disc
Figure I have enough copies of this movie around The house.

To be honest, I'm also debating on whether I'll actually buy the 4K disc as well...

I'd like to see some good screencap comparisons and probably some reviews, especially from RAH, first (probably on caps-a-holic)...

_Man_

 

[TonyD]

I’d guess that the digital version will be a good representation of what we get on the disc

 

[Scott Merryfield]

To be honest, I'm also debating on whether I'll actually buy the 4K disc as well...

After picking up the streaming version for five bucks, I am considering the same.

 

[John Gilmore]

Bought the 4k on iTunes.
One word: BLECH!

 

[sleroi]

I was not a fan of the Escape From New York UHD as it just felt off. It was a gritty movie that lost something in pristine 4k.

So I was very leery about Aliens after reading some of the comments here. But since I already own the Quadrilogy blu Ray and the 4k digital is on sale this week for $4.99 including two commentaries and a TON of extras I went ahead and purchased this. And I'm glad I did.

It's definitely a different vision from past iterations and I understand why some don't like this look. But for me I found this presentation stunning.

Take for instance the first scene where Ripley is discovered - the purple blue hues of space are beautiful, the orange of the sparks and fire from the weld-bot are rich and detailed, and you can see every tiny speck of ice on the shimmering frost coating everything inside the ship.

Once back on earth the bright contrast of all of the white in the hospital and meeting rooms is super clean. And Ripley's hands and face are vividly detailed. It is sharp and clear without looking waxy or overly smoothed (another fear I had based on T2 comments).

And once on planet the dark contrast, rain and fog still gave the film texture and a gritty feel.

Overall, I found a lot to enjoy in this presentation (I haven't even mentioned the phenomenal atmos track) even though it did feel different. But as I mentioned earlier, I always have the blu Ray to watch if the mood hits me.

 

[David Deeb]

I got it too. For $4.99, and having only watched the Quadrilogy Blu-ray once since I bought it, it was a no-brainer. I can't work up a sweat over a movie I may only watch once or maybe 2 or 3 times more in my lifetime. Especially when its 4K. I'm all in on digital and happy to leave behind all the inconveniences of discs.

 

[Tino]

Once back on earth

Fun fact. That scene is actually on a space station. The series has never had any scenes set on earth in any of the films.

 

[Tino]

I'm all in on digital and happy to leave behind all the inconveniences of discs.

And all the advantages??