today's entry: too much of a good thing.
after what seems like 2 weeks of solid viewing, i finally finished up this ridiculous thing: the alien anthology blu-ray set
okay, so the movies grade well:
alien - a
aliens - a+
alien3 - b
alien resurrection - b-
which brings me to the set. 6 blu-rays in ridiculous alien egg packaging SCREAMED out "buy me immediately", however, some serious drawbacks are present. for one, the set features literally DOZENS of hours of bonus shit. the problem is, almost everything overlaps -- new documentaries and features don't supplant old ones, they've included EVERYTHING from every release of each movie, ever. each different featurette/documentary features 90% identical clips, interviews, etc, and only 10% different material. hence, a lot of fast forwarding.
next, much like any disney release would have, they've included every piece of art/storyboard/production photos, pre-viz, etc that was ever created. probably over 5000 pictures or more. completely over-the-top and unnecessary.
and, the scripts for each movie. who the hell is going to read those, on their tv no less?
but the nice part is, they've included BOTH the theatrical and "special edition"/director's cuts of each movie. george lucas should pay attention. this appeases the purists AND casual fans.
the movies look great, and the sound is excellent.
extensive interviews with everyone of importance (with the exception of david fincher, who disowned his involvement with the franchise after he acted like a baby and fox wouldn't put up with it and fired his ass...i think he survived just fine).
overall, b+.
major points deducted for the above mentioned items and also for the inclusion of the "laserdisc archives", meant to allow you to relive the original laserdisc experience -- there is a reason laserdisc was phased out.
if you like ridiculous packaging, get the egg set. it lights up and looks cool. otherwise, save $50 and just go for the discs.
