I believe it would be fair to say that Aliens’ 4K release garnered itself a fair bit of criticism for the use of AI (and the results it generated) and the removal of film grain. While catching up with James Cameron, The Hollywood Reporter asked the Aliens writer/director what he thought of the complaints.
So you’ve also had recently the 4K transfers of Aliens and True Lies that came out. It did get blowback in the fan community, some feeling that the image quality wasn’t as high as they wanted it to be. You obviously have a very high standard. So I’m wondering what you thought?
When people start reviewing your grain structure, they need to move out of mom’s basement and meet somebody. Right? I’m serious. I mean, are you f**king kidding me? I’ve got a great team that does the transfers. I do all the color and density work. I look at every shot, every frame, and then the final transfer is done by a guy who has been with me [for years]. All the Avatar films are done that way. Everything is done that way. Get a life, people, seriously.
It had been previously reported that Fede Alvarez had spoken to James Cameron during the writing process of Alien: Romulus. However, it would seem to Cameron that the one “extensive phone call” that Fede had recounted has been blown out of proportion by the media.
Touching on some other things in your filmic universe. This week we have Alien: Romulus opening — a film you have seen. What did you think of it? [Alverez has previously said Cameron has “seen the movie and loved it” and that he gave notes].
I saw a rough cut six months ago, so I’m sure it’s changed a lot. And I viewed it once. I gave some notes to [director Fede Álvarez]. He and I aren’t close pals. I mean, I wish him the best with it, but I think it’s been overstated that I had some big creative input to that film. I think Ridley [Scott] did because Ridley was an actual producer on the film. So I’m just putting it in perspective.
You can check out the rest of the interview over at The Hollywood Reporter where Cameron talks OceanXplorers, The Terminator and, of course, Avatar.
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And for those interested, it was a buffalo and it was part of the local tribe's customs (they were using their land to film on). So yep, very real. Disturbing.
Apocalypse Cow ?
Dystopian Britain
The little guy is related to the Rat that cooks in that Disney film
Less said about the cow in Apocalypse Now the better. One of my all-time favourite films but that scene is so f**king shocking to watch.
However, I own the original Abyss on U.K. iTunes and for about a month they accidentally updated the movie into 4K in U.K. so I can confirm that it looks great.
The rat drowning is spectacular.
I have no opinion on Aliens 4K one way or the other since i haven't seen it for myself. But I do have The Abyss in 4K and that looks great.
TC
If this is what the upcoming The Terminator 4K release will be like, he can keep it. I'll bet the original audio track won't even be included - again. Very probably another easy pass.
Good or bad (I think some of the releases are better than others, with Titanic at the top of the list and True Lies at the bottom), what we got is what he inspected/approved and chose to release them as.
I don't think he's being truthful. I don't think he even had anything to do with the 4K release. As for him inspecting each frame - bullsh*t.
Way too busy working on his Smurfs sequels to be bothered with his early classic.
Who does he think the fanbase for Avatar is?
Whilst that is very true, some people don't subscribe to the world being round.. 😂 Cameron can subscribe to whatever he likes... it doesn't make him right.
The fact is, if there wasn't an issue, you wouldn't have so many people all complaining about the exact same thing... not just on this release, but all of his recent 4k transfers. It's poor, people are calling him out, and he is spitting his dummy out because he is James-almighty-Cameron and how dare anyone challenge his magnificence. The guy needs to pull his head out of his ass. I don't feel that I need any specific qualification to point out what I can clearly see with my own eyes. 😂 Now if I were sitting here talking about his film making and saying "he should have done it this way" or "that wasn't right", feel free to laugh away.. but I feel criticising revisionism is fair game.
Did you ever see that TV show Hell's Kitchen when chef Marco Pierre White took over from Gorden Ramsey? Whenever one of his diners had the temerity to criticize one of his dishes he didn't hesitate to get in their face and tell them their sense of taste was shit and never come back.
Some people don't subscribe to the saying "The customer is always right." Cameron would be one of them.
TC
Except nobody at all is discussing Cameron's film making skills; we're discussing his shite take on an abysmal transfer, and his attack on fans who are calling him out on it. I don't need to be a film maker to know something is crap; if you go to a restaurant and order your same weekly meal, and this week it tastes off/spoiled, do you laugh it off and swallow it because you aren't a chef with years of experience?
Nothing on the internet made me laugh as much as that time Chris ("these eyes analyze movies") Stuckman decided to pit his filmmaking skills against that of George Lucas:
https://youtu.be/EUXx-A5khOw?t=671
In the case of Acid_Reign161 v James Cameron:
Congratulations! You come a close second!
TC
It's actually good, so of course it was cancelled on a cliffhanger.
As great as ALIENS is, it'll never beat the original (imo).
The first two Terminator films are classics. I didn't like the other films at all (haven't seen the last one yet). Never watched that Sarah Connor TV show.
I think he is annoyed at the current general acceptance by critics and audiences that Alien is superior to Aliens. He is also probably salty that Terminator terminated itself with Dark Fate. How he allowed John Connor to be killed so flipantly in the first 5 minutes I will never know, especially how he moaned about Hicks and Newt suffering the same fate in Alien 3.
James, concentrate on the blue smurf films dude
https://media.tenor.com/_ln_VbU9u_UAAAAM/oh-snap-black-people.gif
My actual reaction to this; https://i.imgur.com/Z5bYgUY.jpeg 🤣
Can we get back to hating Cameron please? 🤣
If only you spent this much effort on other things *cough not saying any more than that cough*
Yes, and they all have vastly different transfers / colour grading! 🤣😝😝😝😝😝 they are required!! lol.
https://i.imgur.com/V1DspWX.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/rUcTos8.jpeg
Case in point...
That's different. 🤣 Buying multiple copies of good transfers is justified. 😋
"Do I need to buy another copy of Aliens ever again? Nope.." I'll remind you of this next time you want to buy the same movie again, that you already have 15+ copies of, because this time, it has "a different colour sticker/label on it"...
1080p is good enough (a real 4K release would've been ideal).
I can live with the fake grain, but that teal is sickly ...
Lucas, is the worst one of the lot - the stubborn fool.
No Jim, we aren't all lonely shut-ins living in mom's basement. We're cinema enthusiasts with decades of viewing experience who know what looks good, and know what looks like complete and utter dog shit. I'm personally sitting on almost every release/transfer of Aliens ever, from multiple 35mm transfers, VHS tapes, Betamax, Video8, multiple TV Broadcasts/edits, DVD, Blu-ray and digital purchases on multiple platforms...so like many people (especially in this forum), we all *know* how 'Aliens' should look. The Blu-ray is serviceable as the best picture quality for modern systems, albeit with abysmal revisionist colour grading making it teal and orange throughout, and had we got that in 4K UHD, yes there would have been disappointment regarding the colour, but we could have fixed that ourselves, and you wouldn't be getting the backlash... the fact is, the 4K UHD release is unredeemable and unfixable, and even the completist in me will not allow it anywhere near my collection (picture quality aside for a moment, don't even get me started on the cover art; before we knew how bad the picture quality was I was already planning a custom cover) It's a complete and utter travesty. The fact Mr "perfectionist" Cameron is completely unable to see this/oblivious to what the problem is makes me hope we never see him anywhere near this franchise ever again. He knew how it would be taken as he'd already received the same feedback for Terminator 2... It's like applying a Snapchat filter to the Monalisa, replacing the original and then telling art critics they're all social rejects.
Do I need to buy another copy of Aliens ever again? Nope.. I could watch what I have till the end of time. Would I if given the proper treatment? Absolutely! I hope Disney/Fox are paying attention and reading the room on this one; the only way they'll shift those discs now is repackaging them in a 4k boxset with the rest of the Alien movies (and that's assuming they don't f**k up on Alien 3 and Resurrection: we have the rest in 4K already).
By all means, attempt to justify your sloppy work, but don't attack your fanbase. Remember who supported you with their wallets and put you where you are.
I guess once you've been down the Mariana Trench, made a film that won 11 Oscars, have the highest grossing film of all time, then dealing with fan rage is probably water off a ducks back.
I'll probably still buy the 4K transfer at some point - despite the criticisms, the digital copy I saw was good for my eyes.
As much as I dislike the teal & orange of the 2010 ALIENS BD; that's good enough for me.
Happily, my favourite (ALIEN) got the respect it deserves on 4K (the superior 1979 theatrical version at least).
I was looking forward to The Terminator (1984), but if that's his attitude, I won't be buying that one either on 4K.