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Alien 3 (Collector's Edition)

Alien 3 (Collector's Edition)

List Price: $26.98
Your Price: $24.28
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the greatest scifi films ever
Review: Dont listen to any of these nay-sayers. This film is amazing, its definitely not for mainstream american audiences who need to be spoonfed their movies. Its much darker , layered and more serious than most films. I always enjoyed the theatrical release of Alien 3, I saw it twice at the movies. But the real gem is the restored workprint which is closer to the directors original vision. It is common knowledge that first time director David Fincher was put in many difficult situations by the producers of this film and did not end up getting the film he wanted. Hense is non involvement with this special edition. The theatrical version would probably garner at least 3 1/2 stars from me, but the workprint version is more like a 4 1/2 star movie, even more depth added. I probably would have had a slight amalgamation of the 2 versions as a final cut myself. The only let down are some of the CGI effects in certain sequences, but isnt that always the way. When will they learn that CGI is not the way. This film IS as good as the 2 previous, maybe not as entertaining as Aliens, but a hell of a lot more believable, and maybe not the originality of the original, but hey it is a sequel after all. God only knows why they let Alien Ressurection be viewed by anyone, that film should have been buried.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Alien 3
Review: Director: David Fincher
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Charles Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Brian Glover.
Running Time: 115 minutes.
Rated R for violence, gore, and language.

While it is unfair to expect any of the "Alien" sequels to equal the originality of the 1979 tale and the explosiveness of the 1986 follow-up "Aliens", this third installment is a bitter disappointment. Director David Fincher, known for making excellent cinematic experiences with lavish special effects and intense cuts does create a visually stunning picture, but does not have the ensemble cast or the script to produce and effective, intelligent, and respectable science fiction thriller.

Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) crash lands on an all-but-deserted penal colony that is used for housing madmen, murderers, and rapists. The acid-spitting, flesh-eating alien creature has, unfortunately (for Ripley, the crew, and entire viewing audience of this poor sequel), hitches a ride with our heroine and again the battle against extra-terrestrial evil continues. Weaver is once again very good as the tough, charismatic Ripley, but she is not supported well by the cast. She was extremely lucky to have great colleagues in "Alien" and "Aliens", but "Alien 3" proves that her luck has run out. Dark, uninspiring, and an overall mess. Loyal fans of the series will enjoy, but this film should not expect too many darkhorse followers--stick with the first two.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Underrated Alien Movie
Review: Peter Fincher is a great director. And while they had their problems with this movie, I think he saved their butts with a well crafted film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A complete letdown
Review: The mistakes made in the production of this film are unforgivable - Its not only a bad ALIEN movie but its probably one of the most dissapointing films I have ever seen. The problem with it is the lack of tension and the fact that its depressing for the wrong reasons - People say Fincher had a hard time Directing/filming this - But HELLO! The history of this series of movies suggests that all the directors had a hard time - Its no excuse for a bad movie! Ok if u havent seen this movie yet, here is an example to give u some idea - Imagine an alternative version of say 'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi' - In the first five minutes u discover that 'Han Solo', 'Yoda', 'Princess Leia', 'Threepio', 'R2D2' and 'Chewbacka' have all been murdered by Darth Vador. And Luke Skywalker has been infected with a fatal Jedi disease - no matter what happens he will die by the time this movie is over. And then the rest of the movie is set on a boring planet with characters all played by boring British TV actors - And an unsatisfying climax where Luke kills Darth Vador but without any of the emotional discovery that could have been - Imagine how outraged the Star Wars fans would be! That should give u an impression of how bad ALIEN3 is and what the fans felt when they saw it. Avoid this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Stand-Alone Movie, Not A Great Sequel
Review: This would have been a good stand-alone movie, but isn't a worthy sequel to the excellent "Aliens". There are too many plot twists and suppositions that aren't believable from the ending of "Aliens". For example, how could Ripley have been impregnated inside the ship when the queen Alien was never inside the ship?
Getting back to the suspense and thrill similar to the first film is one of the redeeming qualities to this film. There are several instances of genuine fear in the film. The cinematography is very good, and adds to the "spookiness" of the film. The alien looks a bit different than in the first two films, also.
I don't think this is a worthy sequel to the two top-notch films that preceded it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: FINALLY this film is the way it should be, except..........
Review: .......there is still the question of how did the ALIEN Egg get onto the SULACO in the first place!!!

THAT HAS YET TO EVER BE EXPLAINED!!!

Along with that is how is it in every other film of this series, the face-huggers die after impregnating one victim. So how is it one face hugger impregnated Ripley AND the poor Moo-Moo Cow thing in the extended version???

I will simply say that after all these years, the extended version makes this film a true epic adventure, as I read in the attached booklet....the extended version was how this film was presented for approval from the folks at 20th Century Fox. Then Madonna's video-director-boy chopped the film up into something truly un-watchable.

If you have seen the extended ALIENS film and LOVED all the extra footage, then this extended ALIEN 3 will be just as enjoyable!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Don't be afraid! I'm part of the family!"
Review: "What are we doing?"
"improvising!"

The above exchange occurs between Sigourney Weaver's "Ripley" and Charles S. Dutton's "Dillon" during the concluding minutes of the film. It best describes a movie that was plagued from the beginning with script re-writes, budget constraints, executive interference, and last but not least, a change of directors. First-time helmsman David Fincher had the undaunted task of pulling off what seemed as project doomed from the start.

He and his crew had to really "improvise."

This fascinating two-disc set provides insight into the movie and its many problems. It would be to the viewer's advantage to watch the second disc first as it really offers a journey into the production of a motion picture. The commentary by the cast and crew is unbelievably honest as both discuss the ups and downs of project.

One of the highlights is screenwriter Vincent Ward's original premise for the film. Had the story been used, the film would've had a different tone and, perhaps, been a better critical success.

However, the real "find" is the special edition, featuring an additional (and much needed) thirty minutes. The extra half hour provides more character and plot development that improves the film tremendously. Even the modified "ending" is more poetic that the theatrical's version.

While the film doesn't quite have the terror of the first or the action quota of the second, it is still a worthy installment in the franchise.

For fans of the film or those interested in filmmaking, this is an essential purchase.

Rating for the film: 3.5
Rating for the supplemental disc: 4.5
Total: 4

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great film, now
Review: Like many out there I saw the third in the series as an interesting but flawed work. Rest assured, with this special edition we get the film that should've been released a decade ago. Wow! This film is amazing and quite beutiful. It's very much a Fincher film, but also very un-American. This film is elegiac, morose, down-beat, and melancholic. Also, it deals with morality, mortality, and redemption and/vs. sacrifice. So no wonder it didn't do well with American audiences! Of course Europeans and Asians having seen wars decimate their populations not too long ago (WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, etc.) could understand the tone and appreciate the beauty. This film isn't so much about the Alien as much as it's about people facing the end of their existences (the alien is sort of a metaphor for God I think). Its got more in common (tone and theme wise) to Tarkovsky's 'THE SACRIFICE' than it does to any of the other alien films. At any rate, get this version, see the film as it was meant to be seen (sans compromises), and appreciate it for the great film it is!
(BTW, I'm giving it 4 stars not 5 because the alien effects are slightly dated...but other than that, it's about perfect!)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best Alien sequal by far
Review: Not only do I think this is sadly underrated, but it gets even better with the additional footage. I find the 2nd film "Aliens" to be little more than what one critic at the time refered to as "Rambo in outer space"-which I agreee with totally. It's an action film-not a horror film. "Aliens" has no mood or atmosphere, just action, and I can't believe true horror fans would ever watch it more than once, even though the creature effects were very good.
'Alien 3" IS dark, true, but those who don't like it, or think that it doesn't fit in with this series, are simply wrong. The original "Alien" is also very dark, which everyone seems to forget.
For my money, i'm buying the new 2 disc editions of Alien 1 and 3 only-you can keep "Aliens" and store them in with your Arnold, Steven Segal, and Rambo movies. As far as "Ressurection" goes-that film is a total joke and should have never been made. Even "Alien Vs Predator" has got to be better than that one!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Disapointing but not as much as Resurrection!
Review: I find Alien 3 a lot more watchable than Alien Ressurrection. The bad thing about it is that it kills off all the interesting characters of the first 2 movies. Carrie Heine as Newt was adorable and her and Sigourney Weaver had great chemestry. Michael Biehn (Terminator) was great as a soldier named Hicks and Lance Henrikson was very good as an android. So what does Alien 3 do ? It kills them all off. Ripley arrives on a prison planet as the only survivor on her ship. An alien was also on board of course and guess what ? Ripley has one inside her. Another alien comes out of a dog to cause some havoc. There's no guns on the planet so they have to figure out how to kill it....and it takes them the whole movie to figure that out. If it wasn't for the cool set designs, good direction and good performances by Weaver and Charles Dutton the movie would've been a total waste. Hell it's still 100 times better than the last one though.


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