[Grain Of Salt] Aliens/3/Resurrection 4K Remasters Inbound

[Prez]

I saw Alien 3 on original release in the cinema but back then I think the only thing that looked wonky was the rod puppet ... that said it still looked great to my eyes given the era.

[BlueMarsalis79]

I'd personally say it's infinitely better to clean up the compositing than replace it entirely for a multitude of reasons.

[Acid_Reign161]

Meh, from the description and screens floating around of 'Aliens' 4k, I think I'll pass. I don't want something that is essentially the same colour grade as the blu-ray, regardless if there's more detail... I don't want anything remotely like that revisionist crap. I'll stick with the 35mm. It's just sad that we haven't had a decent transfer of the Special Edition since laserdisc.

As for 'Alien 3', the composite shots always looked better in the older transfers - the green screen bleed wasn't nearly as visible in the original UK rental and retail VHS, nor on the earliest Sky TV broadcasts. It wasn't until later broadcasts such as the "brighter/clearer/smoother" ITV broadcasts and later VHS releases onwards that you started getting a noticeable outline (the main shot that comes to mind for comparison would be the runner sitting on the ceiling in the piston tunnels). I have a 35mm transfer of Alien 3 on the way, I'll run some comparison shots to the blu-ray when it arrives.

[Nukiemorph]

Someone finally uploaded some screenshots for comparison with the blu-ray. Click the dropdown menu on the top left for more.

https://slow.pics/c/gUfJLrcw

Lots of DNR and AI upscaling. The top and bottom have been slightly cropped and the image is vertically stretched a tiny bit. Plenty to complain about, but I think it looks a lot better than the Wax Figure Edition of Predator.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Lmao look at Ripley's and Hicks' face, I will stick to the Blu-ray I think.

Might be worth it in motion with HDR, as part of a collection with 2, 3, and 4, but by itself nah.

[Stitch]

From what I've seen, Aliens is better than True Lies, but Abyss is better than both

[BlueMarsalis79]

Jesus Christ look at Frost's face, half of it's gone!

And has changed the expressions of other's faces.
And Gorman's now the slenderman.

[Acid_Reign161]

Someone finally uploaded some screenshots for comparison with the blu-ray. Click the dropdown menu on the top left for more.

https://slow.pics/c/gUfJLrcw

Lots of DNR and AI upscaling. The top and bottom have been slightly cropped and the image is vertically stretched a tiny bit. Plenty to complain about, but I think it looks a lot better than the Wax Figure Edition of Predator.

My god... I can just see the pitch at Disney HQ;

Employee: "Hear me out ok.. what if we take the shittest transfer of Aliens to hand with the most bastardised colour grading signed off by that blue fetishest... and simply apply more edge enhancement and DNR to eliminate that fake layer of grain we applied the last time we scrubbed it?"

Disney: "yeah that all well and all, but we need it to be 'Predator-level' blu-ray so we can get them to double dip when we release a better version and pretend it's because we listened to them"

Employee: "got you covered fam.. allow me to present to you... *pulls away curtain* THE COVER ART!"

Disney: "give this man a raise".


In all seriousness, this pile of shyte won't be going into my collection... just as Terminator 2 4k didn't . Only way this will ever stop is if people talk with their wallets. If you buy it as a placeholder for a future release, you're telling them this is acceptable and they'll just keep doing it.

I'll stick with the 35mm for those deep blues, pinks, purples, vibrant reds and natural grain;

[SiL]

Gorgeous.

The 35mm print, not the Michael Jackson-starring 4K transfer.

[xeno_alpha_07]

I'll stick with the 35mm for those deep blues, pinks, purples, vibrant reds and natural grain;

https://i.imgur.com/mad0odS.jpg

I also have a copy of this 35mm print  It is "Magnificent"  I also have a copy of the D-theatre/D-VHS of the Alien Directors Cut before the re-colour grading for the Blu-Ray release so the D-VHS looks better. I stick with the 35mm print and the Alien legacy/Quadrilogy DVD's when I watch Aliens as I really don't like the new colour grading they did for that release.

[SM]

Where's the supposedly bad 4K stills?  I tried the site Nukiemorph linked, but it just seems to be very slow JPGs that look like they're from the original version.

[Nukiemorph]

You should be able to click on each image to make it switch back and forth between the blu-ray and the new 4K.

[SM]

Ah, I see.  Thanks.

EDIT - So I've looked at bunch of these pictures.  Which ones to people have an issue with?  I don't have a 4K player or telly so won't be buying this and think the grain adds to the character of the film, but most of them don't look bad, just less grainy. I was expecting it to look horrible -what am I missing?

[Stitch]

Ah, I see.  Thanks.

EDIT - So I've looked at bunch of these pictures.  Which ones to people have an issue with?  I don't have a 4K player or telly so won't be buying this and think the grain adds to the character of the film, but most of them don't look bad, just less grainy. I was expecting it to look horrible -what am I missing?

Just as quick observation, on the first image from Nukiemorph's link, most characters change from slightly grainy, to impressionistic interpretations, though Ripley does seem to have changed into Michael Myers in the journey to 4K.

[kwisatz]

Burke also turns into Goliath from Gargoyles. But don't tell ralfy