Sony G90 - Manual (Page 92)

Alien Resurrection – we find each at its correct
aspect, 2.35:1 for all save the James Cameron-direct-
ed Aliens, done here at 1.85:1. All are enhanced for
widescreen displays. All are in Dolby 5.1 surround, which,
as we shall soon learn, is not always an unmixed blessing.
And all have value-added features, ranging, at the simplest,
from Resurrection’s making-of featurette, to the chock full
of goodies on the original Alien, now in its “20th Anniver-
sary” edition.**
The bad news? The sound on Alien is stinko. In earlier
laser transfers of the film, the sound is quite remarkable,
especially in terms of low-frequency weight and articula-
tion and in overall dynamics. Considering its l979 origins,
the surround sound was most effectively deployed.***
But on this DVD, there is no low bass to be heard, and lit-
tle in the way of dynamics. Indeed, if you want a notion of
how far off the sound is, you don’t have to look up the earli-
er editions; all you have to do is select and play back the
music track itself (one of the nice features of the disc) and
see how vitiated, anemic, and jejune the sound has become.
Castrated is the word that pops to mind, if not to body.
This disc should be recalled, a new attempt made to
squeeze its wideband response into Dolby Digital’s narrow
band of bits.****
Vi s u a l l y, it’s a hard choice. I think my Palme d’Or for visu-
al excellence would go to A l i e n s (viewed in enhanced fash-
ion), which is up there with the best in my experience. *****
Nearly, maybe just as good is Alien Resurrection, but
what a mess its script is, and its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
(Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children) brings little of his
outrageous visual flare to bear on the proceedings. Given
its box-office reception, nearly as bad as the critical drub-
bings it took, I doubt there will be another in the series,
although I find the implied prospect of aliens loose on a
futuristic planet earth yummy (maybe they would physical -
ly morph into the sleaze-spitting Matt Drudges of the world
to come). Alien3, which repulsed me when I saw it in the
theater, actually plays better on the smaller screens of the
home theater. ******
It certainly makes more sense. The look that
director David Fincher (S e v e n) bestowed on it was
radical in several senses and made following its con-
voluted goings-on, particularly where the monster was con-
cerned, difficult on first viewing. 3 i s n ’t as bad a movie as I
first thought, though it is not in the same starry pantheon as
the first two movies. Is it heresy to say that Cameron’s only
two good films are the original Te r m i n a t o r and A l i e n s? If so,
so be it. And the restoration of the 17 minutes he had to cut
to accommodate the marketing powers that be makes sound
emotional sense in the deepening of Ripley’s character,
although I think I could have done without the prolog of
what happened to the colonists. The film works better, I
think, if the way the aliens connected with the people in the
off-world settlement is left a mystery. I find it particularly
objectionable that it is the parents of the one survivor who
first got alienated, so to speak. Too pat. Being pat to the point
of obviousness is one the things I object to most about
C a m e r o n ’s work. In Terminator II, he throws away suspense
and the unexpected, unanticipated shock for the gratuitous
special effect. If the morphing villain of I I could change him-
self into anything including the floor, the suspense of where
he’d pop up next ought to be killing, but Cameron doesn’t
once take advantage of this inherent license to scare the
remaining wits (not much these days, judging from what’s
making money at the box office) out of the audience.
These discs are available separately, to be sure. So you
might save a buck or more by cherry-picking the best of the
series. I don’t recommend the Alien disc and won’t short of
a remastering (unlikely, I’d think) to solve its sonic woes.
Aliens
is a must. Whether or not you go for the other two
would depend entirely on your compulsiveness about these
things. I think you could pass, but then I didn’t, did I?
Special Editions:
A Few Weird Thoughts
I seem to have developed a kind of journalistically induced
schizopolis when it comes to the “added value” stuffings found
in laserdisc and DVD special editions. I deplored the lack of
these features in the Kubrick set and have wondered what
else, beside the kitchen sink, might be found on the DVD of
What Dreams May Come.
As a general rule, I have no use for the “making of” fea-
turettes on DVDs since they are basically promo stuff that
adds virtually nothing to my understanding of the background
of what I’ve just seen. Exception: The all-too-short film made
during the filming of The Shining. Proving the rule: The film
accompanying the release of Gods and Monsters ( “ Worlds of
Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale”), which I
expected to further enlighten me about the life of that director.
It didn’t.
O d d l y, I think, given my endless fascination with film tech-
n o l o g y, I really don’t want to know how every special effect has
been done – some things are better left mysteries, as any prac-
ticing magician can tell you. And I find some of the blather from
directors self-indulgent to the point of narcissism. I under-
stand, from a standpoint of pure ego, the desire of directors
and stars to leave behind some sort of permanent record that
***I saw a 70mm blow-up of this film in one of Long Island’s best the-
aters, before United Artists split it into three theaters and finally razed it
to the ground. The sound design helped scare the pants off me and virtu-
ally everybody else who was there.
****I intend to undertake a lengthy analysis of the all-too-often crum-
my AC-3 sound on DVDs. I ha ve tarried for DTS capabilit y, on the thought
that the DTS soundtracks that ha ven’t been souped up to the high Andes
might provide a useful comparison, provided I can find a DTS disc that
has not been dicked with.
*****I am working on a comparative listing, in terms of visual excel-
lence alone, for an upcoming Super DVD compilation. So far, for those of
you who cannot wait, that list would include Starship Troopers, Crash,
Austin Powers (but not for content - yes, I just don’t get it), Dark City,
Ronin, Elizabeth, and Gods and Monsters, to name but a few.
****** I saw, with Tom Miiller some years ago, the opening day show-
ing of John Carpenter ’s The Thing in a 70mm blow-up, and it left me feel -
ing queasy with stomach over easy, much as did a reading recently of
Thomas Harris’ Hannibal, which cannot, without the dread NC-17 rating
hovering overhead, be translated faithfully to the screen. Those who have
read the ending will know what I mean. When I again saw The Thing, in
the first of its t wo laserdisc editions, I found it fascinating and what had
been repulsive was tamed almost into an objet d’art field day for the gift-
ed Rob Bottin. The home-theater experience seems to f avor feeling over
impact, expanding our ability to identify or “read in” to the emotional
context of a film, while shrinking the film’s ability to overpower, trans-
port, or disgust.