Check out more Behind the scenes content with these great channel here! 1. Mayhem Mendes: th-cam.com/video/le3QgGVUNks/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUNbWF5aGVtIG1lbmRlcw%3D%3D 2. JoBlo Behind the Scenes: th-cam.com/video/vnMfbWy9cv0/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygURYWxpZW4gcm9tdWx1cyBidHM%3D 3. FilmIsNow: th-cam.com/video/SYNdUwYw9gs/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygURYWxpZW4gcm9tdWx1cyBidHM%3D
These CGI controversy is so polarised. Alvarez is not dismissing CGI overall, but it's use on creating full 360 CGI sets filled with CGI creatures to the point that a live film production looks more like an animation production. Nolan said it: CGI is a great tool to enhance what was filmed on camera.
I feel like CGI works best when it is used to remove or composite. For distant background objects it's fine, but CGI generally doesn't look good when it is used front and center.
There's a HUGE issue and meme trend in Hollywood about "hiding CGI". People have grown tired of bad a.k.a. RUSHED CGI and now studios are on a binge of "proving" that they are using no CGI. To the extent they will lie and fake BTS footage. This happened first with Barbie, I think. Then we got Mission Impossible 69 or whatever number it is. So CGI is bit of a spooky word that needs to be hidden in Hollywood. And it's really effed up because the CGI artists aren't to blame. This is executives reacting to a problem they created.
Corridor Crew really do make you understand that "bad cgi/vfx" in movies doesn't mean the artists themselves are to blame. It's usually because the big studios doesn't give them enough time and treat them like sh't and still gets the blame if it looks bad.
but with better lighting preferably lol half the time I couldn't tell if it was CGI or practical effects, xeno wise anyway. they couldn't have had more than 30sec of screentime altogether
Yeah, I prefer practical just because it tends to lead to better film-making decisions overall and forcing people to think things through. CGI is a good tool, but there definitely is over-reliance to it in Hollywood. There's this meme idea that "simulate it!" automatically makes things look realistic and good. But that's not true at all. Real life does not guarantee good design. Photographers have to SEARCH for good compositions because real-life sucks with design.
I'm just gonna say it, as a lifelong mega alien fan, not only was this film perfect for me in every way, but this entire TH-cam series was a gigantic blast. Full on expertly made documentaries on every single alien film (we don't talk about alien v predator) for free and released one after the other. Congrats to you sir, legendary youtuber right her
This film was perfect for you in every way? I'm curious how "mega fans" can be happy with the inclusion of the black goo and the horrible creature design on the hybrid. Are you a fan of what Ridley did with the Engineers in Prometheus? Did they not ruin the mystery of the Space Jockey for you?
@@Thrawns_Office I'm a huge prometheus apologist. I love the ideas Ridley was toying with and I will always love and respect a franchise that tries to stick to it's established lore (Bad and good) rather than just retconning things that were badly received. I had alot more issues with alien covenant than prometheus that's for sure but I respect Fede Alvarez to still tie this movie into the prequel continuity. And Alien Ressurection's baby weird alien thing was legit one of the only things I really enjoyed about that fourth movie. I can understand why people don't vibe with it, but I always enjoy when the alien films toy with new ideas and explore new stuff. Probably why covenant and Alien 3 are my least favorites of the bunch IS just how little actually happens. Just my opinion of course!
@tiagov.s.2693 I really appreciate your response! Reading my earlier comment, I see that I may have come off like a jerk accidentally, so I appreciate your thoughtful reply. What you wrote does make a lot of sense. I despise Resurrection and the Newborn, especially. Prometheus was a beautiful looking film but suffered from too many writers and half-baked ideas; the Engineers, the black goo, the confusing creature life-cycles, and the ridiculous behavior of the characters. Anyway, what it comes down to, I think, for this film is this divide between those who enjoyed its leanings towards the prequels and the huge swing in the final act vs those who didn't appreciate those elements. It'll be a long-running debate, thats for sure! At the very least, its success means more Alien films, which is good for all of us fans
I was another ALIENS, er, "survivor" (aka the visual effects supervisor) brought on for an early stint to produce visual concepts and ideas for this film. I hope it does very well for Fede, who was great to meet and work with in the idea "churning" stage. I had been very very impressed with his work on DON'T BREATHE, having come out of the theater afterwards realizing here was a great new talent in the film world. And it was fun to jump into the ALIEN universe again after so many years (It seems to have never ever really gone away, so strong its atmosphere and impact!) Wishing all the success that can come of such an intense, dedicated effort!
@@SmokeNGunsBBQAlien: Romulus was actually a pretty damn solid movie! There were a couple things that were a bit odd but it's gotta be the best we've gotten since Aliens
@@SmokeNGunsBBQ 4/4 Visuals 2/4 Storyline. My problem with this films is the too many references from other films, no originality. Great characters Rain and Andy. Was not a fan of CGI character returning and the use of Ripleys famous line from Aliens. By the Third act I was done, and then the ending went sideways, same stereotypical Alien film ending. This film is good, no doubt. The film goes upon and down, then up and back down.
Practical effects matter. CGI is useful but as a way of smoothing things out. If you have a practical monster, animatronic, real set, something to have the actors interact with and at the end of the day have a physical reality in camera that ends up in the finished film, you have something that the audience really appreciates. Immersion is key.
After you’ll see the first 4, you’ll see the huge difference in story, acting. Romulus was dissapointing in comparison and keep in mind how OLD the other movies are.
Just got out of my screening for it. Absolutely fantastic. A little too much fan service now and again but overall nails the feel and manages to match the original in atmosphere. Felt like it borrowed a few things from Alien isolation which I loved
Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. In the end though, I just hope they don't commit to this style for future Alien films. Don't get me wrong, it was great! But you can only go back to the well so many times before it's not fun anymore. And Disney is finding that out with Star Wars and the MCU. Would love a follow up to Covenant !
It grabbed refereces from every previous Alien film, put it in a blender and you got mushed baby food for manchildren with no standards. The atmosphere was great, but they need to stop relying on references that only come off as cringe, and start creating NEW memorable scenes. Shit is just tiring at this point
@@Quakecon-s9r A new memorable scene for me was navigating the acidic Alien blood in Zero-G. That was a truly suspensefully-directed scene that was in no way a reference to any Alien movie scene I've seen before.
12:24 what an ignorant comment to make, the original xenomorph looks so much more realistic than all of the sequels with the exception of Romulus BECAUSE of its use of practical effects and not cgi, so of course it’s a massive benefit to not primarily use green screens or digital effects
I've worked on the set of this film and one thing I can tell you after watching it: it has heart. Big heart, like the first movie. The crew was passionate and the post prod. went well considering the result. I'm a huge fan and I'm satisfied after watching it.
@@abdullahbhinder9023they specifically answered your question already. Why ask about her? You’re not gonna get some deep dive into her personality etc or private info!
I've never seen an Alien movie before, but I went along with my roommate and I was very impressed! Brilliant set design and VFX work, and the actors were incredible. I love seeing the BTS footage of the actual sets and props in use.
Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for doing this series. It has helped get me even more hyped for tmrw than I was already! I really appreciate all of the hard work that must’ve gone into making all of them, and I’m curious as to how much time it took in advance to make all of these recent videos, but I digress. I really like your style, and the pov from which you approach the movies. You’ve earned a sub from me to your channel, good sir. Thanks again, have a lovely day, and I hope that you, and anyone else reading this, all enjoy the movie tomorrow! 👽
Appreciate it! So I actually work with a pair of writers and researchers who help me out with every video, they are awesome! All 3 of us draft the scripts and if it's a usual video, that process is usually like a week out from a video release. For this one, I believe we got started at the beginning of July. At least with the outlining and research phase. I had to release 2 other videos on twister and then got started editing like 3 weeks ago I believe on the first one. But we were pretty much in and out of editing, writing, filming, etc. up until yesterday! haha But this project actually helped to tune up even more of our production process and make it a little more streamlined. It's been a crazy one to work on
@@CoercedJab editing wise I made this myself. I mostly get the most help with writing and researching. If you look in the description of every video we credit anyone who helped make this video
@@H4WKB13 If the shots had been done via CGI, the movie wouldve costed $200 instead of $80. If they can’t make good shots for over $100 million even if it’s in a little time then obviously they deserve the hate.
I watched them all ! Something like 2hours of videos ! That was so interesting, this franchise has travelled more than 40years with lots of fun, sad, and happy stories. Thank you for taking us into it !
Personally, I feel the should just let them him finish the prequels. Yes there are some messy parts, but trust me. If you read the adaptations of the films, there are some CRAZY GOOD theme explorations going on. David as a character is every bit as fascinating and terrifying as the Alien itself, and seeing how he ties into the original film would be a payoff all its own.
Your short documentaries on the production of every alien franchise movie was my introduction to your channel I am SO happy to have recently subscribed!! Just binged so many of your videos and I am excited to check out everything else you’ve covered. You have superb skills at creating the time line and weaving the interviews and production behind the scenes bits into your OWN video production. Love your really long videos the most
That was offensive to my eyeballs. Fede says it isn’t achieved with AI but I’m not so sure… looked like some imagebased shenanigans, deepfake. The upper teeth, which can’t move, were moving and warping. That’s not a cg render. I wish they had used a different approach…and I can’t understand why they wouldn’t just do the Alien 3, Bishop thing…that would be cool lookin. Tom Cruise said no CGI on the jets and they are all CGI in Maverick. And that wasn’t a surprise for Tom, he’s the producer and they used stunt jets, he knew they were replacing them the whole time. So a direct saying we didn’t use AI but says they are using the latest technology to recreate an actors likeness… what is that technology?
I'd like to believe that a lot of CGi artists agree that practical effects capture things that can't be done with a computer. That said, having a practical piece on set when you might swap it out for cg, helps to have good references! Like how they matched the puppeteering style of Grogu instead of ignoring it and going overly smooth in the character's motion Alvarez has great points (especially since he also worked in VFX), but it's also a shame big companies throw digital artists under the bus when it's not their fault the shots turn out bad; it's a lack of time and pay to do the shots *well*.
Alvarez played a little game called Alien:Isolation from which he got inspiration for how to make some things in movie. If you love alien play this game if you haven't! Maybe this will finally give us sequel to this masterpiece
Absolutely loving your Alien videos, dude. Has to be my favorite horror franchise ever despite the various bumps in the road, so many ambitious swings for the fences!
Yeah man! The Alien franchise is easily one of my favorites! I grew up in the days when HBO would have those bts "movies" either in between the full length movies or the longer ones & I've always loved them as well. Your 7 part series was super great. I really appreciate all your work. I did watch them all back-to-back straight through 👍👍👍 Great work, thank you so much!
Appreciate it! We're gearing up for some more content now with a 10 year film anniversary production series with a little space movie that came out that year, a joker series, and a gladiator series!
We also need better spending/production budgets for films as well. Because films are becoming so expensive and some of the don’t even show the worth of their budget really. I think movies should be lowered down to at least $60M-$90M unless it’s someone who’s had a good track record of multiple successful films such as James Cameron. But also we need better directors, writers, producers, executives, and films in general, but especially brand new series/franchises or just more one offs. I hope Cinema can return to its Golden Age like back between 1950 to 2000.
Your in-depth discussion on the Alien series that you’ve made has carried me through the week so thank you for always making fantastic vids I really appreciate your hard work !
Appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed them all. Currently working on what's next for content. Doing a bit of a 10 year anniversary production series, The Joker series, and a Gladiator series!
Appreciate it! We're gearing up for some more content now with a 10 year film anniversary production series with a little space movie that came out that year, a joker series, and a gladiator series! So more to come!
As someone from gen z with no knowledge or attachment to the alien series, romulus was absolutely amazing!! I think they did a perfect job at capturing a new audience but leaving enough Easter eggs for the older fans. I never had an interest in the series before now, but I just started it from the beginning!
Since Disney effectively owns this property now, I’d love to see an Alien themed section of Disney World that focuses on the practical set and creature designs! Imagine walking through the hallways of a ship in this universe, with steam building and then suddenly you hear the hiss of the alien and boom! A practical xenomorph puppet is waiting to scare the crap out of you. This film was fantastic and a great addition to the series. With its focus on practical effects and sets it made me want to be on that ship just to take it all in…and then immediately sprint in the opposite direction 🤣
IDK how anyone can hate this movie. The story is there, the practical effects are definitely there and the acting is there. This is far better than what people "hated" in the prequel movies. FD did a fucking fantastic job on this movie. Disney is over this...... Fuck Disney to its core. This movie was made by movie lovers and movie lovers were in it. This screams FOX!!!!
The more Ridley Scott talks, the more obvious it is that he doesn't understand. Ridley Scott never wrote Alien. Let's stop putting mere directors on such high pedestals.
I’m pretty sure Scott and O’Bannon had talks about the alien and potential future of the creature. I always find it funny when people say Scott doesn’t understand alien, yet people act like aliens was this masterpiece that continued the alien’s development when all it did was make it run of the mill action movie that turned the xenomorph into giant ants. At least Scott was the only director to return, and was even going to direct the original alien 5 before Fox went with AVP.
Actually Ridley Scotts directional vision into Alien 1979 blew Dan 0'Bannon away. It was Ridley that introduced Giger. Alien was masterpiece and Aliens expanded the universe, making a fantastic sequel. At least Ridley Scott tried to be brave and expand the Alien, by offering something we have not seen before. Romulus doesn't do that. Visuals yes 4/4 , story was 2/4 , by the middle of the film I felt like Ive seen the film before, due to the overload in references back to previous films. Pure fan service, but still a good film, just not the greatest.
Tbf rarely any script in Hollywood is a one man "original work"! There is a lot of writing and rewriting, ideas and stuff going in and out. Usually through dozen if not more people hands. The Alien isn't exception, as even the Dan O'Banon hasn't write it alone to begin with. And yes... am also fed up from directors talking like they are solely responsible and ultimate authority about (some) of their movies!
Am I the only one who noticed the "based on a story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett" in the beginning credits? This is the first time I ever noticed it. Was it in the other films? Yeah most normies think Scott is the creator of it in the same way Spielberg created ET or Cameron created Avatar, but that is not the case. To me, this film proved Scott is best involved "upstairs" as a producer but not directing.
These videos have fantastic production values and scratch an itch I haven't been able to satisfy elsewhere on TH-cam Fantastic stuff, it's astounding this channel doesn't have closer to a million subs
Appreciate it! Yeah, I think I missed that first wave of making these kinds of videos. But we're slowly and steadily growing! Hopefully the production value and research side of things gets us more attention over time!
Saw it yesterday in IMAX and found it mostly great. Well lit and pretty well shot (I think the Xenomorph themselves aren’t really shot that well), very solid cast and good writing (even with all the links and references to Prometheus and Covenant -films I really found crappy bad-) with the only downside to me is a sort of maxi best-of references package and especially ONE LINE OF DIALOGUE that shouldn’t have been in there PERIOD. But pretty nice overall and competent in-between Alien and Aliens. 6.5/10 ((could have been a 7 if it wasn’t for the line of dialogue and better way to film the xenomorphs).
@@FrameVoyager not a dig at you friendo. The quote was just a little over indulgent from the person that said it. CG is a great addition to film absolutely, but only as an addition. Over reliance on it has ruined the current state of film and I will never understand sacrificing time spent on building sets, props, and costumes for the ease of digital effects that won’t hold up in the long run even worse now opening weekend.
@@chrisv3338 Oh, I know! I think that there is a place for both and it all really comes down to good storytelling, a good cohesive vision for what the director wants it to look like, and some other elements. But I also think that vfx artists also have to work on films like "the Flash" that they are not necessarily the reason why it turned out so badly. I honestly think their is just lack of creativity in Marvel and DC films at this point and the studios don't let you do anything different. Hope we get more movies like this one!
@@FrameVoyager totally agreed. I cannot fathom being overworked on a project like the Flash or Thor Love and Thunder to meet deadlines for it to be a 6/10 at best. I genuinely feel for those vfx artists. As someone that has worked in the industry in the sound department, I honestly know that vfx work is a pretty thankless job that does not get the appreciation it deserves most of the time.
You took the words right out of my mouth. Other examples include the Star Wars prequels and especially relevant to sci-fi horror monsters is “the thing” remake where they made the creature practical but scrapped it and went full cgi. I’m a VFX artist myself and I understand that cgi is a tool just like practical and let’s not forget that practical effects require people’s jobs so you could make the argument from the other side with that logic. That cgi artist is obviously just blowing hot air at this point!
Really enjoyed it. Not having shiny cgi everywhere was great and not being based on action and huge alien set pieces was quality. Secondary and tertiary characters were a little weak but the protagonist and Andy were a very cool and interesting dynamic.
Please cover ALIEN vs PREDATOR and AVP REQUIEM. Whatever your thoughts are about those movies, there are some terrific SFX worth covering from those films.
This movie gave me hope that Alien does have a future because idk what Scott was trying to accomplish with Prometheus and Covenant but it didn’t even come close to what they did here
"Big things have small beginnings." -David in Prometheus. There would be no Alien, Alien Romulus, or Aliens movie story to tell it they didn't start somewhere. Ridley Scott was attempting to show that the origin of life on Earth came from the Engineers on planet LV-223. Human life had it's beginnings from the mutated DNA of the Engineer who drank the black goo. He was also attempting to show the origin of the Xenomorphs came from David's experiments in what was originally planned to be the first of two Covenant movies. David spent 10 years tweaking the goo and experimenting with it. David said the substance was highly mutable and unpredictable. The ending of Covenant 1 seems to be suggesting that David created the Xenomorphs. What Ripley's crew discovered on LV-426 was a "derelict ship". The way I see it, David lands on LV-426, and he performs more experiments on the humans in the cryo-pods. While he's there, an Engineer ship presumably from LV-223 lands there looking for David. They want revenge against David for killing all the Engineers in Prometheus. The Xenomorphs attack the Engineers. The Engineers destroy David but they don't survive the Xenomorphs. They attempt to escape but it's hopeless and so they send out the acoustic beacon which is actually a warning not to come there. This is the same beacon MU/TH/UR in Alien 1 hones in on and transmits back to Weyland Yutani. Subsequently she awakens Ripley and the Nostromo crew and instructs them to investigate.
Appreciate it! And man, I wish. Trying to work with some of the companies that do the marketing for the studios to get some early access to stuff, but we'll see if they bite!
@@FrameVoyager Good luck! Everything you put out is so polished and professional. It's been a real treat watching a new one everyday, must've been a lot of work :)
if you watch Prometheus, then the human hybrid thing look like that, translucent skin, extremely tall like engineer but so weird and just ultra skinny @sumstuff6956
Dope movie loved it looking forward to many viewings. Fefe Alvarez is a gift that keeps on gifting looking forward to any movie he makes going forward. Bug fan of Evil Dead remake, Don't Breather, The Girl in the Spider's Web, etc. Honored to have him in Hollywood. Edit: *Fede LOL. After re-reading my post there are many mis-spellings have fun! LOL!
Same! I wouldn't say it's the best film ever, but it's a solid Alien film. Hope they don't try to repeat this formula though, you can only do this so much before it becomes stale
Hugo is full of shit. Everyone can tell, and they only times they can't is when its mixed well with ptactical. Calling it propaganda pretty much means he's perpetuating cgi propaganda.
@@mrtwubles you said it yourself, when it’s good, everyone can’t tell. But when it’s bad it doesn’t mean we should just throw the importance of cgi under the bus, that’s just disingenuous. Practical effects can be bad too, but do we say “practical bad, therefore cgi good” when that happens? No we don’t. Both are valid forms of art that takes a lot of hardwork and creativity, just different mediums and they can go hand in hand to make a great shot. The quality varies from movie to movie but that shouldn't define nor undermine the medium as a whole.
@@tishamac529 further proves Hugo's point. They keep marketing the movie as "all practical we hate cgi" and yet there's that whole Rook thing. Not to mention hundreds of other shots in the movie where the aliens and effects were completely in cgi
I already know this movie is gonna be amazing based on the single fact that Fede Alvarez filmed this movie on the foundation of using practical effects and not CGI. It’s rarity to have that these days and I hope this film crew/ production crew/ acting crew are rewarded for this new installment in the series
It was pretty good! I enjoyed watching it, there are definitely some shameless callbacks but it was a solid alien film. I just really hope they don't just keep going back to the well with future iterations. I like new takes, Prometheus was flawed but it was so close to reinventing the franchise. You can only make Alien/Aliens over again so many times before it gets stale.
@@VisualFXPro Sorry, but "VFX artist" isn't a protected category. If the public has a preference for the look of practical effects over CGI effects, then they'll voice that opinion. If that makes VFX artists sad, that's too bad. They should get new jobs in industries that don't put their work up to public scrutiny if they're that upset about it.
@@VisualFXPro You're saying that all practical effects in the film were replaced by CGI? That seems a bit absurd. Did they replace the practical effects in the BTS footage as well? They mostly look exactly the same as what's in the finished film
@@WizardMermenHaving seen the film, there’s a lot more CG alien action than most people would want to believe. Any shots where they’re crawling up walls, jumping, zero G shots. There were plenty of CG facehuggers mixed in with practical facehuggers. Shots with multiple xenos in them were also CG. (And yes I’ve verified this with people who’ve worked on the film) Not to mention the space sequences, the practical sets were without a doubt enhanced and extended with CG. We’re not mad because we can’t take the scrutiny of bad shots (the crew that worked on that deepfake will be the first to tell you it looks rough). We’re mad because filmmakers claim EVERYTHING is practical and severely downplay the VFX artists role in the film. When in reality, both departments busted their asses off to achieve a cohesive final result.
Prometheus and covenant had potential. I would love to know more about the engineers, the nature of life in the alien universe, what a planet run by a mad AI would be like. The problem was 100% in the execution. Supposedly smart characters written stupidly. Lame scares. Not enough giger.
@@persada5913you might just be getting old or are pretentious i like ridley prequel films but even i. can admit he’s being too pretentious and i hate how he hates the queen because he didn’t make it when alien isn’t even his franchise he simply directed the first movie and thinks he can have all these ideas that are so smart but they’re convoluted and take away from the horror the only thing i sort of disliked was the black goo being in the movie
Perfectly said, couldn't have written that any better myself. Scott needed to be knocked down a few pegs. Now, he has the ultimate fan film of his iconic original that also manages to succeed in standing as its own thing with Romulus. Don't Breathe and Romulus are proof Alvarez is one of the more gifted horror directors of this era.
Saw it today and it was amazing. I had to laugh about the guy saying CGI is invisible these days though because the most prominent CGI thing in the movie is VERY VERY obvious. Painfully so.
That one was a choice for sure haha. But there were a lot of vfx elements that were "invisible" that enhanced a lot of the practical in the film. But to be fair, no one seems to have gotten deep fake stuff down yet. I had no idea about that part of it going in but man you could tell pretty quickly.
When he says invisible he means removing wires from actors, extending practical sets, removing the gimbal from the alien puppet, adding additional background aliens. No one is claiming full CG close up characters or environments are invisible.
In a way, Alien Romulus is a fresh take on the first movie and there is nothing wrong with that. I think it is absolutely crucial that they stick to mostly physical sets and CGi support, vs mostly CGi and shitty props. You can see it in the actors and their reactions. Just like the first movie, where the actors were ACTUALLY shocked and disgusted by a few shots, especially the chest burster. You can't fake those reactions as well as the real deal. Kudos to the making of Romulus. Story, shock and tension matter more, than giant sets and unrelatable, uninteresting or even annoying characters. I always wanted a movie that picks up on Predators hunting and killing xenomorphs. Don't even bother much with humans, except killing them off right in the beginning. Then on a planet, infested entirely by Aliens, show a proper Predator hunt. Go more into detail of a Predalien and Praetorian. I feel that Predators can give more insight of the life cycle and physicalities of Aliens. Perhaps the timeline can be merged again, where Predators become aware of Humans, disregarding the horrible idea of ancient hunts, but rather Predators finding a adversary in humans during Arnold's or Danny's encounter (Predator 1+2) Thinking it would be a great idea to combine and hunt Human/Alien iterations.
I didn't go into the film expecting much, being under the current Disney umbrella, but I have to say i was pleasantly surprised. It WAS a good movie and it'll be added to my collection when its available.
Covenant kind of blew up the Prometheus trilogy in my view, with David killing Shaw and then wiping out the Engineers. Waterson's character (can't even remember her name) was nowhere near as compelling a heroine as Rapace, and I didn't even think her scientist heroine was exactly stellar. I say that as someone who would rather rewatch Covenant than Prometheus any day, purely for the Alien action sequences.
@@jacobdavis3876 I agree but still want a conclusion…how covenant ended left me wanting to see what was going to happen next on the colony world/on the ship en route with David
One thing i like about Romulus is that the technology looks pretty accurate to the chronology, whereas Prometheus leaned heavily on the "futuristic" vibe, with transparent handsets, and volumetric displays the size of a room. That stuff kind of breaks the believability of it being a prequel to Alien or taking place in the same chronology at all.
I would put this film right behind "Aliens" in a list of best films in the franchise. A very close third. Just saw it today and was really pleased with the call-backs to the original film, and a little extra spice to tie in with Prometheus (in a good way!). It's great cinematography and an engaging screenplay with some good actors. And, bonus, the characters aren't complete idiots like the crew in Covenant. I want to say more, but I don't want to give away any of the good stuff that happens. If you can imagine a merging of Alien and Aliens, with a tiny bit of Prometheus and Resurrection thrown in, that's this film. It also adds a couple of elements to the zenomorph life cycle that I really liked and helps explain its rapid growth. This is the best Alien film in nearly 40 years. Don't hesitate to get out and see it at the theaters!
Watching the BTS for this film really makes me wish they had a better script. It's clear that people on the production really cared about this film. The set and creature designs and their implementation in the film were really well done. The problem is that at the end of the day film is medium to tell stories so no matter how good the filmmaking and camerawork, it falls flat without a good script.
I'm the biggest Alien/Aliens fan, but also like Alien3. My question is why the 'sequels' are (except David/Walter) filled with rank stupid idiotic 1 dimensional characters?
They could if they actually cared more about making good movies, and let people take creative risks like back in the 80s and 90s. It makes me wish we got more movies like the black hole, and return to Oz, or hell, let Tim Burton remake his version Hansel and Gretel, that would truly be freaky.
"Fede is like a James Gunn or Guillermo Del Toro in terms of modern directors.." so right, his whole filmography solid, Evil Dead, Don't Breathe and Romulus are 10/10 horror movies, i never get scared but that last "screamer" in Alien Romulus was mad
I kind of figured given who the director was. But honestly, seems like we get that nice blood horror style film Fede is known for. Still holding out hope for Covenant 2!
Yep! Though I will say, it was nice to hear them hype up weta and others when talking about the creature effects and other aspects of this. It really is a lot of practical elements, but it is good to see Alvarez acknowledge vfx artists somewhat.
@theviking8513 I think it was a flex by execs. Actors were on strike, worried about being replaced by AI/VFX and screwed up the industry (especially for vfx workers). Maybe this was an attempt at a meta flex/troll by the executives and VFX but wasnt quite there.
I loved the expansion of the universe with Alien: Romulus and really enjoyed the return to heavy use of practical effects. I almost enjoyed the first 30 minutes on the mining colony more than the rest of the movie. There's plenty of meat here to support expanding the universe, aliens or not, and would love to see it!
I actually think Alien: Covenant and Prometheus, got too much hate. Prometheus got a good story, it was just presented -- or explained, badly. It showed David doing things against the crew, like he has rebelled, it wasn't shown to us that he was doing this to find immortality for Mr Weyland, and once he is revealed, it isn't explained either (or maybe i'm just stupid). The, plot, why engineers wanted to come with those pods to Earth, is never explained as far as I know... And in Alien: Covenant, it isn't shown that David has been there and has been experimenting on making a perfect killing machine because he hates humans, which has been shown before that he has no regard for them, but it's pretty -- weird, he is the creator of the Xenomorph, it just doesn't click with people, but it kinda makes sense. Too bad the middle of the movie is mostly forgettable, but the start and finish are pretty good. That's why I think they weren't inherently bad, they were just -- presented badly. Anyway, can't wait till this one gets released outside the US, it's going to be a treeaaaatt looks like!
A lot of stuff did get cut. Like Vickers explaining she purposefully hired scientists that weren’t the most professional. As for David being the creator of the original xenomorphs I don’t see it. I’m personally convinced the derelict on LV-426 is something made by a species older than the engineers, maybe even the creators of the engineers. When you compare the derelict to the engineer’s ships, they look really different, especially the interiors. The derelict looks organic, meanwhile the engineer’s ships are metallic. And this also lets me keep avp in the canon. And with the original xenomorph and David’s creation, I believe what David did was reverse engineer a version of the xenomorph based on records, or messing with the neomorph dna to create this creature. But it’s missing the mechanical element that the original had. David’s creation looked too organic. And the chest bursters are different too. One being snake like, and the other having limbs like the runner alien. Idk, people say Prometheus and covenant ruined the mystery, I think they add more questions. After all, the engineers made us then who made them. Also as to why the engineers wanted to attack earth, it was the violence. Their attempt to help humanity, they took a human child to their home planet, and taught him their ways. But when he was brought back, he was crucified. Then something happened around the time the engineers were about to leave. And there’s a pile of bodies with holes in the chests suggesting chest bursters. However when the last one was awakened, he doesn’t start attacking until after he sees them hit Elizabeth Shaw.
At least Ridley Scott had the courage to try and expand and bring something fresh into the Alien universe. Which divided fans. Alien Romulus is pure fan service , people will like it , but many will hate it. As it doesn't offer anything we haven't seen before, actually this film basically references Alien, Resurrection and Prometheus, then ends.
@@bradical6019 He's been extremely hit and miss now he's older and more stubborn. He may add new things but they tend to be self indulgent and he dislikes the input of experts so his things seem stupid because he refuses to acknowledge the experts the studio hires. He's still in the 70's where the average audience member didn't know much and no one cared what any expert had to say. For prometheus and Covenant, the things he added did not make the setting better. It just made it reductive to a thinly vieled biblical allegory and a hokey ham-fisted literal christ narrative. Then again it could be fox executive with stupid notes as well.
What I liked about Prometheus was the originality and the creativity of bringing something new onto the table. There was so much mistery and eerieness behind the engineers, I was just dying to see more interactions from them. Sad that some of its content got cut. But atleast it tried something new instead of recycling the same ideas and the exact same scenes from every single previous Alien film just to produce a lazy mass of baby food containing nothing but absurd references and old dialogues that make 0 sense and have no place in this film. Stop hiring 12 year olds to write your scripts, Disney😂
I loved Alien: Romulus and it made me excited about the Alien franchise and gave me a desire to watch all the other films again. Not many films can do that, so I’d say Romulus is a massive success.
People want the same old recipe so they can call it 'mid' afterwards. This movie was good but nothing we haven't seen before. God forbid you want something refreshing like Prometheus... Will never understand how some people think. "Purists" my ass. 😅
I'd strongly recommend you make exceptions for these three films this year. TRUST ME. Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Alien: Romulus are among the year's best movies in my humble opinion and all three will stand the test of time as prime examples of their genres. I'm also not a fan of Disney for many reasons, but when the product delivers as in my view those films clearly did, the smart consumer thing to do is "vote with your dollars" and reward such excellence, so more of that same level of quality will get made.
Check out more Behind the scenes content with these great channel here!
1. Mayhem Mendes: th-cam.com/video/le3QgGVUNks/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUNbWF5aGVtIG1lbmRlcw%3D%3D
2. JoBlo Behind the Scenes: th-cam.com/video/vnMfbWy9cv0/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygURYWxpZW4gcm9tdWx1cyBidHM%3D
3. FilmIsNow: th-cam.com/video/SYNdUwYw9gs/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygURYWxpZW4gcm9tdWx1cyBidHM%3D
@FrameVoyager What's the song from 9:25 - 9:50 ?
These CGI controversy is so polarised. Alvarez is not dismissing CGI overall, but it's use on creating full 360 CGI sets filled with CGI creatures to the point that a live film production looks more like an animation production. Nolan said it: CGI is a great tool to enhance what was filmed on camera.
Agreed,it can enhance like a filter but I really don't like it when film makers rely on it
I feel like CGI works best when it is used to remove or composite. For distant background objects it's fine, but CGI generally doesn't look good when it is used front and center.
I don't know if it's polarizing if everyone is saying the same thing 😂
@@omoddulus4933
🙃
There's a HUGE issue and meme trend in Hollywood about "hiding CGI". People have grown tired of bad a.k.a. RUSHED CGI and now studios are on a binge of "proving" that they are using no CGI. To the extent they will lie and fake BTS footage. This happened first with Barbie, I think. Then we got Mission Impossible 69 or whatever number it is.
So CGI is bit of a spooky word that needs to be hidden in Hollywood. And it's really effed up because the CGI artists aren't to blame. This is executives reacting to a problem they created.
Corridor Crew really do make you understand that "bad cgi/vfx" in movies doesn't mean the artists themselves are to blame.
It's usually because the big studios doesn't give them enough time and treat them like sh't and still gets the blame if it looks bad.
...its always that.
it's a shame that the corridor crew people are a bunch of hacks that think AI is the next step in artistry
Alien Romulus, but it doesn't even have a single Romulan?! I don't know why I watch Star Wars anymore.
Romulans have no honor.
LOL good Star Wars and Star Trek joke 👍
Maybe they’ll find Biggs in the next Buck Roger’s sequel….bbdbdbddbdbdbbdbd
Ridiculous! I'm sure Teal'c and the Goa'uld will have something to say about that.
@@FrameVoyager Indeed 🤨.
I love that they went practical. It gives hope for doing it this way in the future
but with better lighting preferably lol half the time I couldn't tell if it was CGI or practical effects, xeno wise anyway. they couldn't have had more than 30sec of screentime altogether
Yeah, I prefer practical just because it tends to lead to better film-making decisions overall and forcing people to think things through.
CGI is a good tool, but there definitely is over-reliance to it in Hollywood. There's this meme idea that "simulate it!" automatically makes things look realistic and good.
But that's not true at all. Real life does not guarantee good design. Photographers have to SEARCH for good compositions because real-life sucks with design.
Wish they’d have gone practical with the android. Or just, not make it look like Ash… the bad face-swap is sooo distracting.
okay? movie still sucked lol
@@arbiter8246 definitely did not but you're entitled to your opinion bud
I'm just gonna say it, as a lifelong mega alien fan, not only was this film perfect for me in every way, but this entire TH-cam series was a gigantic blast. Full on expertly made documentaries on every single alien film (we don't talk about alien v predator) for free and released one after the other. Congrats to you sir, legendary youtuber right her
im a massive alien fan, nobody talks about AvP but its impossible to not have fun with the goofy action and pure silliness
This film was perfect for you in every way? I'm curious how "mega fans" can be happy with the inclusion of the black goo and the horrible creature design on the hybrid. Are you a fan of what Ridley did with the Engineers in Prometheus? Did they not ruin the mystery of the Space Jockey for you?
@@Thrawns_Office I'm a huge prometheus apologist. I love the ideas Ridley was toying with and I will always love and respect a franchise that tries to stick to it's established lore (Bad and good) rather than just retconning things that were badly received.
I had alot more issues with alien covenant than prometheus that's for sure but I respect Fede Alvarez to still tie this movie into the prequel continuity.
And Alien Ressurection's baby weird alien thing was legit one of the only things I really enjoyed about that fourth movie. I can understand why people don't vibe with it, but I always enjoy when the alien films toy with new ideas and explore new stuff. Probably why covenant and Alien 3 are my least favorites of the bunch IS just how little actually happens. Just my opinion of course!
@tiagov.s.2693 I really appreciate your response! Reading my earlier comment, I see that I may have come off like a jerk accidentally, so I appreciate your thoughtful reply. What you wrote does make a lot of sense. I despise Resurrection and the Newborn, especially. Prometheus was a beautiful looking film but suffered from too many writers and half-baked ideas; the Engineers, the black goo, the confusing creature life-cycles, and the ridiculous behavior of the characters. Anyway, what it comes down to, I think, for this film is this divide between those who enjoyed its leanings towards the prequels and the huge swing in the final act vs those who didn't appreciate those elements. It'll be a long-running debate, thats for sure! At the very least, its success means more Alien films, which is good for all of us fans
@@Thrawns_Office you sound so miserable ✌😘 get therapy dawg, people just trying to enjoy things 😂😂
I was another ALIENS, er, "survivor" (aka the visual effects supervisor) brought on for an early stint to produce visual concepts and ideas for this film. I hope it does very well for Fede, who was great to meet and work with in the idea "churning" stage. I had been very very impressed with his work on DON'T BREATHE, having come out of the theater afterwards realizing here was a great new talent in the film world.
And it was fun to jump into the ALIEN universe again after so many years (It seems to have never ever really gone away, so strong its atmosphere and impact!) Wishing all the success that can come of such an intense, dedicated effort!
amazing work! I hope you and the other teams get to work on another film :)
Good work
Check out evil dead. That went hard
Goat
I hope they make more Alien movies just so this series can continue
haha for real! Though I'm on to other series now. Working on one covering films from years ago like a deep dive into interstellar!
Continue to be ruined...
I'm keeping an eye on that!
@@SmokeNGunsBBQAlien: Romulus was actually a pretty damn solid movie! There were a couple things that were a bit odd but it's gotta be the best we've gotten since Aliens
@@SmokeNGunsBBQ 4/4 Visuals 2/4 Storyline. My problem with this films is the too many references from other films, no originality. Great characters Rain and Andy. Was not a fan of CGI character returning and the use of Ripleys famous line from Aliens. By the Third act I was done, and then the ending went sideways, same stereotypical Alien film ending. This film is good, no doubt. The film goes upon and down, then up and back down.
Practical effects matter. CGI is useful but as a way of smoothing things out. If you have a practical monster, animatronic, real set, something to have the actors interact with and at the end of the day have a physical reality in camera that ends up in the finished film, you have something that the audience really appreciates. Immersion is key.
Beautiful blend of practical and digital effects, I wish all modern movies could look this good.
Looked amazing, except for the horrible android face-swap. It’s a shame they didn’t just use a different actor. Or a lookalike actor.
This was the first time i watched an alien movie, now I want to watch the other ones
They are all a fun watch! Some of them more then others, but enjoy the journey back in time
@@FrameVoyager I definitely will!
Look for monday. Its a animated alien episode which is pretty good.
After you’ll see the first 4, you’ll see the huge difference in story, acting. Romulus was dissapointing in comparison and keep in mind how OLD the other movies are.
You are lucky. I wish i could watch the Alien movies again for the first time.
Just got out of my screening for it. Absolutely fantastic. A little too much fan service now and again but overall nails the feel and manages to match the original in atmosphere. Felt like it borrowed a few things from Alien isolation which I loved
Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. In the end though, I just hope they don't commit to this style for future Alien films. Don't get me wrong, it was great! But you can only go back to the well so many times before it's not fun anymore. And Disney is finding that out with Star Wars and the MCU. Would love a follow up to Covenant !
It grabbed refereces from every previous Alien film, put it in a blender and you got mushed baby food for manchildren with no standards. The atmosphere was great, but they need to stop relying on references that only come off as cringe, and start creating NEW memorable scenes. Shit is just tiring at this point
@@Quakecon-s9r A new memorable scene for me was navigating the acidic Alien blood in Zero-G. That was a truly suspensefully-directed scene that was in no way a reference to any Alien movie scene I've seen before.
@@Quakecon-s9rit was my first alien movie and I loved it
“Too much fan service “ bffr.
12:24 what an ignorant comment to make, the original xenomorph looks so much more realistic than all of the sequels with the exception of Romulus BECAUSE of its use of practical effects and not cgi, so of course it’s a massive benefit to not primarily use green screens or digital effects
You are dumb
I've worked on the set of this film and one thing I can tell you after watching it: it has heart. Big heart, like the first movie. The crew was passionate and the post prod. went well considering the result. I'm a huge fan and I'm satisfied after watching it.
What about the cast? Were they passionate too?
@@abdullahbhinder9023 They sure did! Allofthem are nice people and it was easy to work with them.
@@VoilaPictures nice to hear. Thanks for your reply. How was your experience with Cailee?
@@abdullahbhinder9023they specifically answered your question already. Why ask about her? You’re not gonna get some deep dive into her personality etc or private info!
My gf and I loved this movie. It sparked our love again for the series and we've been binging the whole series again
I've never seen an Alien movie before, but I went along with my roommate and I was very impressed! Brilliant set design and VFX work, and the actors were incredible. I love seeing the BTS footage of the actual sets and props in use.
Practical FX will always make a shot more believable and real to me. Obviously there are bad practical FX but cmon, nothing beats the real thing.
Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for doing this series. It has helped get me even more hyped for tmrw than I was already!
I really appreciate all of the hard work that must’ve gone into making all of them, and I’m curious as to how much time it took in advance to make all of these recent videos, but I digress.
I really like your style, and the pov from which you approach the movies. You’ve earned a sub from me to your channel, good sir.
Thanks again, have a lovely day, and I hope that you, and anyone else reading this, all enjoy the movie tomorrow! 👽
Appreciate it! So I actually work with a pair of writers and researchers who help me out with every video, they are awesome! All 3 of us draft the scripts and if it's a usual video, that process is usually like a week out from a video release.
For this one, I believe we got started at the beginning of July. At least with the outlining and research phase. I had to release 2 other videos on twister and then got started editing like 3 weeks ago I believe on the first one. But we were pretty much in and out of editing, writing, filming, etc. up until yesterday! haha But this project actually helped to tune up even more of our production process and make it a little more streamlined. It's been a crazy one to work on
@@CoercedJab editing wise I made this myself. I mostly get the most help with writing and researching. If you look in the description of every video we credit anyone who helped make this video
Great video. Just saw Romulus yesterday and it was fantastic.
Appreciate it!
Love the production sense of this channel, the fresh moment to moment editing - can’t really look away. Well done mate
Appreciate it!
Thank you for not taking the bait and throwing VFX artists under the bus. It's very tiring and exhausting.
Not on this channel 😅
If they actually made good looking shots then they wouldnt get that much criticism.
@@serge6-0 if they actually got the resources they would. Fact is that VFX artists work non-sustainable hours for impossible deadlines.
@@H4WKB13 If the shots had been done via CGI, the movie wouldve costed $200 instead of $80. If they can’t make good shots for over $100 million even if it’s in a little time then obviously they deserve the hate.
@@H4WKB13 unionize and get the checks by all means but don't be upset with audiences when they criticize the product.
We did it! 7 Alien production videos in 7 days!
WATCH ALL OF THEM HERE: th-cam.com/play/PLQZkJfDdY7uDYwC9V4QAXReA6VQdmXm3A.html
I watched them all ! Something like 2hours of videos ! That was so interesting, this franchise has travelled more than 40years with lots of fun, sad, and happy stories. Thank you for taking us into it !
@FrameVoyager and all the videos were great! Thank you!
Absolute legend 🤟🏻
Loved the practical effects. Hope it’s the start of return to more practical effects in movies.
I just want that third prequel 😭
Personally, I feel the should just let them him finish the prequels. Yes there are some messy parts, but trust me. If you read the adaptations of the films, there are some CRAZY GOOD theme explorations going on. David as a character is every bit as fascinating and terrifying as the Alien itself, and seeing how he ties into the original film would be a payoff all its own.
Your short documentaries on the production of every alien franchise movie was my introduction to your channel I am SO happy to have recently subscribed!! Just binged so many of your videos and I am excited to check out everything else you’ve covered. You have superb skills at creating the time line and weaving the interviews and production behind the scenes bits into your OWN video production. Love your really long videos the most
Welcome to the channel! And appreciate it 😅
@@CoercedJab nope, it's not 😘
“Newsflash CGI is completely invisible these days.” 😂 Go watch the legacy character scenes in Romulus 😅
haha tbf, I don't think anyone in the industry has figured out deepfake effects yet 😅 They all are in the uncanny valley still
That was offensive to my eyeballs. Fede says it isn’t achieved with AI but I’m not so sure… looked like some imagebased shenanigans, deepfake. The upper teeth, which can’t move, were moving and warping. That’s not a cg render. I wish they had used a different approach…and I can’t understand why they wouldn’t just do the Alien 3, Bishop thing…that would be cool lookin. Tom Cruise said no CGI on the jets and they are all CGI in Maverick. And that wasn’t a surprise for Tom, he’s the producer and they used stunt jets, he knew they were replacing them the whole time. So a direct saying we didn’t use AI but says they are using the latest technology to recreate an actors likeness… what is that technology?
@@tyleradams3490 PS2 graphics
Ash/Rook was so unnecessary, like it would make a little sense if the idea was that it's actually Ash from Nostromo, but it's not.
I didn't hate it, it's kind of lore friendly. Some androids do look uncanny as they age in Alien.
Dude this series is absolutely killing it
I'd like to believe that a lot of CGi artists agree that practical effects capture things that can't be done with a computer. That said, having a practical piece on set when you might swap it out for cg, helps to have good references! Like how they matched the puppeteering style of Grogu instead of ignoring it and going overly smooth in the character's motion
Alvarez has great points (especially since he also worked in VFX), but it's also a shame big companies throw digital artists under the bus when it's not their fault the shots turn out bad; it's a lack of time and pay to do the shots *well*.
Alvarez played a little game called Alien:Isolation from which he got inspiration for how to make some things in movie. If you love alien play this game if you haven't! Maybe this will finally give us sequel to this masterpiece
Best AI in a videogame ever made.
Absolutely loving your Alien videos, dude. Has to be my favorite horror franchise ever despite the various bumps in the road, so many ambitious swings for the fences!
Appreciate it! This was a fun one to work on. So much information to try and sort through to find interesting stuff 😅
Are you going to see Alien Romulus in theaters?
This friday, have not watched any reviews, so, i hope it's good...
I am, in order to learn how NOT to produce an Alien movie.
already did
@@dan_gabriel worth watching or nah?
@WyattOShea the first 30 minutes are bad, the rest of the movie is great
Yeah man! The Alien franchise is easily one of my favorites! I grew up in the days when HBO would have those bts "movies" either in between the full length movies or the longer ones & I've always loved them as well. Your 7 part series was super great. I really appreciate all your work.
I did watch them all back-to-back straight through 👍👍👍
Great work, thank you so much!
This series was incredible, and with insanely high production quality... really enjoyed it so thank you
Appreciate it! We're gearing up for some more content now with a 10 year film anniversary production series with a little space movie that came out that year, a joker series, and a gladiator series!
Pretty good movie but I still feel iffy about them canceling the david storyline, yall need to let Scott cook.
We also need better spending/production budgets for films as well.
Because films are becoming so expensive and some of the don’t even show the worth of their budget really.
I think movies should be lowered down to at least $60M-$90M unless it’s someone who’s had a good track record of multiple successful films such as James Cameron.
But also we need better directors, writers, producers, executives, and films in general, but especially brand new series/franchises or just more one offs.
I hope Cinema can return to its Golden Age like back between 1950 to 2000.
Your in-depth discussion on the Alien series that you’ve made has carried me through the week so thank you for always making fantastic vids I really appreciate your hard work !
Appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed them all. Currently working on what's next for content. Doing a bit of a 10 year anniversary production series, The Joker series, and a Gladiator series!
with the direction they've been going I thought a Disney produced Alien would've killed the franchise, but this was surprisingly good.
This 7 part series is amazing and I've loved each entry.
Appreciate it! We're gearing up for some more content now with a 10 year film anniversary production series with a little space movie that came out that year, a joker series, and a gladiator series! So more to come!
As someone from gen z with no knowledge or attachment to the alien series, romulus was absolutely amazing!! I think they did a perfect job at capturing a new audience but leaving enough Easter eggs for the older fans. I never had an interest in the series before now, but I just started it from the beginning!
This have been a fantastic series! I'm glad I found the channel
Appreciate it! Welcome to the channel!
Just finished watching all 7 parts back to back. I have to applaud you! An outstanding documentary series and insightful retrospective. Bravo!
Great work on all these videos !
Appreciate it!
Cgi is not invisible. We all know when a movie overuses it. Romulus looked amazing.
IMO, Alien Romulus is the best Alien movie in the franchise since ALIENS (1986) I saw it this week on the IMAX, and I loved it.
NOPE
The bar is low, everything after aliens has been bad to mediocre due to fox seemingly only adding bad ideas.
For me the Best of the saga
alien rombulus is horrible
@@jessiemartinez3056it’s a little overhyped like J enjoyed most of the movie but some parts of the movie are weirdly paced and a little boring
This was so well made, great video my friend! A lot of time and talent went into this and it shows.
Since Disney effectively owns this property now, I’d love to see an Alien themed section of Disney World that focuses on the practical set and creature designs!
Imagine walking through the hallways of a ship in this universe, with steam building and then suddenly you hear the hiss of the alien and boom! A practical xenomorph puppet is waiting to scare the crap out of you.
This film was fantastic and a great addition to the series. With its focus on practical effects and sets it made me want to be on that ship just to take it all in…and then immediately sprint in the opposite direction 🤣
I'd be stoked if Disney sold the rights and never had a filthy finger in it ever again. Screw Disney.
That would be awesome if they did that
I would love to see Six Flags parks create sections dedicated to the giant ants of Them!
IDK how anyone can hate this movie. The story is there, the practical effects are definitely there and the acting is there.
This is far better than what people "hated" in the prequel movies.
FD did a fucking fantastic job on this movie. Disney is over this...... Fuck Disney to its core.
This movie was made by movie lovers and movie lovers were in it. This screams FOX!!!!
The more Ridley Scott talks, the more obvious it is that he doesn't understand.
Ridley Scott never wrote Alien. Let's stop putting mere directors on such high pedestals.
I’m pretty sure Scott and O’Bannon had talks about the alien and potential future of the creature. I always find it funny when people say Scott doesn’t understand alien, yet people act like aliens was this masterpiece that continued the alien’s development when all it did was make it run of the mill action movie that turned the xenomorph into giant ants. At least Scott was the only director to return, and was even going to direct the original alien 5 before Fox went with AVP.
Actually Ridley Scotts directional vision into Alien 1979 blew Dan 0'Bannon away. It was Ridley that introduced Giger. Alien was masterpiece and Aliens expanded the universe, making a fantastic sequel. At least Ridley Scott tried to be brave and expand the Alien, by offering something we have not seen before. Romulus doesn't do that. Visuals yes 4/4 , story was 2/4 , by the middle of the film I felt like Ive seen the film before, due to the overload in references back to previous films. Pure fan service, but still a good film, just not the greatest.
@@bradical6019who tf rates movies between 1 - 4
Tbf rarely any script in Hollywood is a one man "original work"!
There is a lot of writing and rewriting, ideas and stuff going in and out. Usually through dozen if not more people hands.
The Alien isn't exception, as even the Dan O'Banon hasn't write it alone to begin with.
And yes... am also fed up from directors talking like they are solely responsible and ultimate authority about (some) of their movies!
Am I the only one who noticed the "based on a story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett" in the beginning credits? This is the first time I ever noticed it. Was it in the other films? Yeah most normies think Scott is the creator of it in the same way Spielberg created ET or Cameron created Avatar, but that is not the case. To me, this film proved Scott is best involved "upstairs" as a producer but not directing.
These videos have fantastic production values and scratch an itch I haven't been able to satisfy elsewhere on TH-cam
Fantastic stuff, it's astounding this channel doesn't have closer to a million subs
Appreciate it! Yeah, I think I missed that first wave of making these kinds of videos. But we're slowly and steadily growing! Hopefully the production value and research side of things gets us more attention over time!
It's a darn shame that we never got Neil Blomkamp's Alien movie.
This!
yep, instead we got a 'best of' re run.....
Congratulations Frame Voyager, you are my new TH-cam crush
👀
0:16 “I don’t know there’s joust soomthin in the fookin woo’ah”
Saw it yesterday in IMAX and found it mostly great. Well lit and pretty well shot (I think the Xenomorph themselves aren’t really shot that well), very solid cast and good writing (even with all the links and references to Prometheus and Covenant -films I really found crappy bad-) with the only downside to me is a sort of maxi best-of references package and especially ONE LINE OF DIALOGUE that shouldn’t have been in there PERIOD.
But pretty nice overall and competent in-between Alien and Aliens.
6.5/10 ((could have been a 7 if it wasn’t for the line of dialogue and better way to film the xenomorphs).
“Newsflash CGI is completely invisible these days.” The Flash and recent Marvel films would beg to differ bud.
I'm not talking about those films 😅
@@FrameVoyager not a dig at you friendo. The quote was just a little over indulgent from the person that said it. CG is a great addition to film absolutely, but only as an addition. Over reliance on it has ruined the current state of film and I will never understand sacrificing time spent on building sets, props, and costumes for the ease of digital effects that won’t hold up in the long run even worse now opening weekend.
@@chrisv3338 Oh, I know! I think that there is a place for both and it all really comes down to good storytelling, a good cohesive vision for what the director wants it to look like, and some other elements. But I also think that vfx artists also have to work on films like "the Flash" that they are not necessarily the reason why it turned out so badly. I honestly think their is just lack of creativity in Marvel and DC films at this point and the studios don't let you do anything different. Hope we get more movies like this one!
@@FrameVoyager totally agreed. I cannot fathom being overworked on a project like the Flash or Thor Love and Thunder to meet deadlines for it to be a 6/10 at best. I genuinely feel for those vfx artists. As someone that has worked in the industry in the sound department, I honestly know that vfx work is a pretty thankless job that does not get the appreciation it deserves most of the time.
You took the words right out of my mouth. Other examples include the Star Wars prequels and especially relevant to sci-fi horror monsters is “the thing” remake where they made the creature practical but scrapped it and went full cgi. I’m a VFX artist myself and I understand that cgi is a tool just like practical and let’s not forget that practical effects require people’s jobs so you could make the argument from the other side with that logic. That cgi artist is obviously just blowing hot air at this point!
Really enjoyed it. Not having shiny cgi everywhere was great and not being based on action and huge alien set pieces was quality. Secondary and tertiary characters were a little weak but the protagonist and Andy were a very cool and interesting dynamic.
Please cover ALIEN vs PREDATOR and AVP REQUIEM. Whatever your thoughts are about those movies, there are some terrific SFX worth covering from those films.
This movie gave me hope that Alien does have a future because idk what Scott was trying to accomplish with Prometheus and Covenant but it didn’t even come close to what they did here
"Big things have small beginnings." -David in Prometheus. There would be no Alien, Alien Romulus, or Aliens movie story to tell it they didn't start somewhere. Ridley Scott was attempting to show that the origin of life on Earth came from the Engineers on planet LV-223. Human life had it's beginnings from the mutated DNA of the Engineer who drank the black goo. He was also attempting to show the origin of the Xenomorphs came from David's experiments in what was originally planned to be the first of two Covenant movies. David spent 10 years tweaking the goo and experimenting with it. David said the substance was highly mutable and unpredictable. The ending of Covenant 1 seems to be suggesting that David created the Xenomorphs. What Ripley's crew discovered on LV-426 was a "derelict ship". The way I see it, David lands on LV-426, and he performs more experiments on the humans in the cryo-pods. While he's there, an Engineer ship presumably from LV-223 lands there looking for David. They want revenge against David for killing all the Engineers in Prometheus. The Xenomorphs attack the Engineers. The Engineers destroy David but they don't survive the Xenomorphs. They attempt to escape but it's hopeless and so they send out the acoustic beacon which is actually a warning not to come there. This is the same beacon MU/TH/UR in Alien 1 hones in on and transmits back to Weyland Yutani. Subsequently she awakens Ripley and the Nostromo crew and instructs them to investigate.
Wow great series! The marketing team for Romulus should give you guys a serious bonus for creating such great informative content :)
Appreciate it! And man, I wish. Trying to work with some of the companies that do the marketing for the studios to get some early access to stuff, but we'll see if they bite!
@@FrameVoyager Good luck! Everything you put out is so polished and professional. It's been a real treat watching a new one everyday, must've been a lot of work :)
@forrestfire101 thanks! And yeah, we've been working on this at least research phase since the beginning of July. I'm glad it's over 😅
Woah, didn’t expect to see you here
@@FrozenVibraniumProductionssame 😅
I really love how much practical effects and sets were used for this film. I really enjoyed it. Just watched it in IMAX yesterday.
the alien human hybrid thing smiling was so freaky xD
Please tell me the design is good and not trash like resurrection
if you watch Prometheus, then the human hybrid thing look like that, translucent skin, extremely tall like engineer but so weird and just ultra skinny @sumstuff6956
The hybrid from resurrection is better@@sumstuff6956
@@sumstuff6956 looks a bit like something from "The Thing"
@@sumstuff6956it was perplexing to say the most defiantly ominous and weird
Dope movie loved it looking forward to many viewings. Fefe Alvarez is a gift that keeps on gifting looking forward to any movie he makes going forward. Bug fan of Evil Dead remake, Don't Breather, The Girl in the Spider's Web, etc. Honored to have him in Hollywood.
Edit: *Fede LOL. After re-reading my post there are many mis-spellings have fun! LOL!
Just saw this new movie--- it exceeded my expectation. Love ittt
Same! I wouldn't say it's the best film ever, but it's a solid Alien film. Hope they don't try to repeat this formula though, you can only do this so much before it becomes stale
@@FrameVoyager I was one of the vfx artists on the film, was truly a passion project for all of us
@@Mark-yk9olThank you for your hard work! It looked fantastic 👏
@@FrameVoyager they can do couple more chill
WAS AMAZING FILM!
Recover my hopes, for me within the TOP3. Great documentaries.
News flash. CGI is NOT completely invisible today.
Hugo is full of shit. Everyone can tell, and they only times they can't is when its mixed well with ptactical. Calling it propaganda pretty much means he's perpetuating cgi propaganda.
Yeah just ask Rook
@@mrtwubles you said it yourself, when it’s good, everyone can’t tell. But when it’s bad it doesn’t mean we should just throw the importance of cgi under the bus, that’s just disingenuous. Practical effects can be bad too, but do we say “practical bad, therefore cgi good” when that happens? No we don’t. Both are valid forms of art that takes a lot of hardwork and creativity, just different mediums and they can go hand in hand to make a great shot. The quality varies from movie to movie but that shouldn't define nor undermine the medium as a whole.
Hugo was butthurt. 😂
@@tishamac529 further proves Hugo's point. They keep marketing the movie as "all practical we hate cgi" and yet there's that whole Rook thing. Not to mention hundreds of other shots in the movie where the aliens and effects were completely in cgi
I loved this film.
Given the right production team, great things are possible. Through passion.
I already know this movie is gonna be amazing based on the single fact that Fede Alvarez filmed this movie on the foundation of using practical effects and not CGI. It’s rarity to have that these days and I hope this film crew/ production crew/ acting crew are rewarded for this new installment in the series
It was pretty good! I enjoyed watching it, there are definitely some shameless callbacks but it was a solid alien film. I just really hope they don't just keep going back to the well with future iterations. I like new takes, Prometheus was flawed but it was so close to reinventing the franchise. You can only make Alien/Aliens over again so many times before it gets stale.
@@VisualFXPro Sorry, but "VFX artist" isn't a protected category. If the public has a preference for the look of practical effects over CGI effects, then they'll voice that opinion. If that makes VFX artists sad, that's too bad. They should get new jobs in industries that don't put their work up to public scrutiny if they're that upset about it.
@@VisualFXPro You're saying that all practical effects in the film were replaced by CGI? That seems a bit absurd. Did they replace the practical effects in the BTS footage as well? They mostly look exactly the same as what's in the finished film
@@WizardMermenHaving seen the film, there’s a lot more CG alien action than most people would want to believe. Any shots where they’re crawling up walls, jumping, zero G shots. There were plenty of CG facehuggers mixed in with practical facehuggers. Shots with multiple xenos in them were also CG. (And yes I’ve verified this with people who’ve worked on the film)
Not to mention the space sequences, the practical sets were without a doubt enhanced and extended with CG. We’re not mad because we can’t take the scrutiny of bad shots (the crew that worked on that deepfake will be the first to tell you it looks rough). We’re mad because filmmakers claim EVERYTHING is practical and severely downplay the VFX artists role in the film. When in reality, both departments busted their asses off to achieve a cohesive final result.
@@icecreamisnice117 the fact it needed verifying speaks well.
The movie was great, see it in theatres if you get the chance. Point blank
New to your channel! All the Alien videos were awesome. Keen to go further down the rabbit hole with you. Subbed ❤
Appreciate it and welcome to the channel!
Prometheus and covenant had potential. I would love to know more about the engineers, the nature of life in the alien universe, what a planet run by a mad AI would be like. The problem was 100% in the execution. Supposedly smart characters written stupidly. Lame scares. Not enough giger.
I’ve been enjoying these videos a lot! Thank you for the hard work!
Appreciate it! Glad everyone is enjoying them! I'm also glad the series is over now 😅 ready to work on something else haha
I'm glad Scott didnt get to pursue his rather pretentious vision for the franchise, and now what we have is the best "Alien" movie since 1986.
Best my foot romulus is so MEH! The whole time I'm seated and not on the edge of my seat at all. That's how mediocre romulus is.
@@persada5913you might just be getting old or are pretentious i like ridley prequel films but even i. can admit he’s being too pretentious and i hate how he hates the queen because he didn’t make it when alien isn’t even his franchise he simply directed the first movie and thinks he can have all these ideas that are so smart but they’re convoluted and take away from the horror the only thing i sort of disliked was the black goo being in the movie
Perfectly said, couldn't have written that any better myself. Scott needed to be knocked down a few pegs. Now, he has the ultimate fan film of his iconic original that also manages to succeed in standing as its own thing with Romulus. Don't Breathe and Romulus are proof Alvarez is one of the more gifted horror directors of this era.
Films are really credible that reuse lines and scenes from their forefathers 🤔
Bro, your production, namely; your color grading and editing, are excellent. Bravo.
@@Kalama_Llama_King_Kong appreciate it!
Saw it today and it was amazing. I had to laugh about the guy saying CGI is invisible these days though because the most prominent CGI thing in the movie is VERY VERY obvious. Painfully so.
That one was a choice for sure haha. But there were a lot of vfx elements that were "invisible" that enhanced a lot of the practical in the film. But to be fair, no one seems to have gotten deep fake stuff down yet. I had no idea about that part of it going in but man you could tell pretty quickly.
When he says invisible he means removing wires from actors, extending practical sets, removing the gimbal from the alien puppet, adding additional background aliens.
No one is claiming full CG close up characters or environments are invisible.
In a way, Alien Romulus is a fresh take on the first movie and there is nothing wrong with that. I think it is absolutely crucial that they stick to mostly physical sets and CGi support, vs mostly CGi and shitty props. You can see it in the actors and their reactions. Just like the first movie, where the actors were ACTUALLY shocked and disgusted by a few shots, especially the chest burster. You can't fake those reactions as well as the real deal.
Kudos to the making of Romulus.
Story, shock and tension matter more, than giant sets and unrelatable, uninteresting or even annoying characters.
I always wanted a movie that picks up on Predators hunting and killing xenomorphs. Don't even bother much with humans, except killing them off right in the beginning. Then on a planet, infested entirely by Aliens, show a proper Predator hunt.
Go more into detail of a Predalien and Praetorian.
I feel that Predators can give more insight of the life cycle and physicalities of Aliens.
Perhaps the timeline can be merged again, where Predators become aware of Humans, disregarding the horrible idea of ancient hunts, but rather Predators finding a adversary in humans during Arnold's or Danny's encounter (Predator 1+2) Thinking it would be a great idea to combine and hunt Human/Alien iterations.
I didn't go into the film expecting much, being under the current Disney umbrella, but I have to say i was pleasantly surprised.
It WAS a good movie and it'll be added to my collection when its available.
This was a great series. Thank you.
I still want a conclusion to the Prometheus and covenant series
Covenant kind of blew up the Prometheus trilogy in my view, with David killing Shaw and then wiping out the Engineers. Waterson's character (can't even remember her name) was nowhere near as compelling a heroine as Rapace, and I didn't even think her scientist heroine was exactly stellar. I say that as someone who would rather rewatch Covenant than Prometheus any day, purely for the Alien action sequences.
@@jacobdavis3876 I agree but still want a conclusion…how covenant ended left me wanting to see what was going to happen next on the colony world/on the ship en route with David
One thing i like about Romulus is that the technology looks pretty accurate to the chronology, whereas Prometheus leaned heavily on the "futuristic" vibe, with transparent handsets, and volumetric displays the size of a room. That stuff kind of breaks the believability of it being a prequel to Alien or taking place in the same chronology at all.
I would put this film right behind "Aliens" in a list of best films in the franchise. A very close third.
Just saw it today and was really pleased with the call-backs to the original film, and a little extra spice to tie in with Prometheus (in a good way!).
It's great cinematography and an engaging screenplay with some good actors. And, bonus, the characters aren't complete idiots like the crew in Covenant.
I want to say more, but I don't want to give away any of the good stuff that happens.
If you can imagine a merging of Alien and Aliens, with a tiny bit of Prometheus and Resurrection thrown in, that's this film. It also adds a couple of elements to the zenomorph life cycle that I really liked and helps explain its rapid growth.
This is the best Alien film in nearly 40 years. Don't hesitate to get out and see it at the theaters!
Watching the BTS for this film really makes me wish they had a better script. It's clear that people on the production really cared about this film. The set and creature designs and their implementation in the film were really well done. The problem is that at the end of the day film is medium to tell stories so no matter how good the filmmaking and camerawork, it falls flat without a good script.
I'm the biggest Alien/Aliens fan, but also like Alien3. My question is why the 'sequels' are (except David/Walter) filled with rank stupid idiotic 1 dimensional characters?
Because of rank stupid idiotic writers
just discovered your vids 1 hour ago and am loving the content keep it up
Appreciate it! Welcome to the channel!
The Romulans cannot be trusted.
Also, "Disney wanted to recapture the magic", lmao yeah that always works!
They could if they actually cared more about making good movies, and let people take creative risks like back in the 80s and 90s. It makes me wish we got more movies like the black hole, and return to Oz, or hell, let Tim Burton remake his version Hansel and Gretel, that would truly be freaky.
"Fede is like a James Gunn or Guillermo Del Toro in terms of modern directors.." so right, his whole filmography solid, Evil Dead, Don't Breathe and Romulus are 10/10 horror movies, i never get scared but that last "screamer" in Alien Romulus was mad
Great timing. Just saw it. Not bad. Didnt quite have that Alien feel but few juicy parts I didn't see coming.
I kind of figured given who the director was. But honestly, seems like we get that nice blood horror style film Fede is known for. Still holding out hope for Covenant 2!
@@FrameVoyager Bring back David one day! Alien: Earth hype is real now though.
Best chest burster scene is in Space Balls
Can’t wait to see all the massive vfx breakdowns that come out by the vfx studios who worked on this.
It always does after they say they’re practical
Yep! Though I will say, it was nice to hear them hype up weta and others when talking about the creature effects and other aspects of this. It really is a lot of practical elements, but it is good to see Alvarez acknowledge vfx artists somewhat.
At least they will credit their vfx artists. Unlike nolan does to retain the rep of "practical"
I love Nolan films, but he drives me crazy with how the Oppenheimer film was marketed.
There’s a very legit reason everyone can’t stand CGI driven movies. It’s NOT invisible.
@theviking8513 I think it was a flex by execs. Actors were on strike, worried about being replaced by AI/VFX and screwed up the industry (especially for vfx workers). Maybe this was an attempt at a meta flex/troll by the executives and VFX but wasnt quite there.
I loved the expansion of the universe with Alien: Romulus and really enjoyed the return to heavy use of practical effects. I almost enjoyed the first 30 minutes on the mining colony more than the rest of the movie. There's plenty of meat here to support expanding the universe, aliens or not, and would love to see it!
We should have had engineers
I loved the engineers mythology. Covenant sort of ruined them for me but I still would have loved to see a continuation of figuring out who they were
@@FrameVoyager me too and it was unfinished like give us paradise
Wow this video is so well made I thought it was like an official mini documentary!
Appreciate it! I wish they'd hire me or pay me to make them 😅
I actually think Alien: Covenant and Prometheus, got too much hate. Prometheus got a good story, it was just presented -- or explained, badly. It showed David doing things against the crew, like he has rebelled, it wasn't shown to us that he was doing this to find immortality for Mr Weyland, and once he is revealed, it isn't explained either (or maybe i'm just stupid). The, plot, why engineers wanted to come with those pods to Earth, is never explained as far as I know...
And in Alien: Covenant, it isn't shown that David has been there and has been experimenting on making a perfect killing machine because he hates humans, which has been shown before that he has no regard for them, but it's pretty -- weird, he is the creator of the Xenomorph, it just doesn't click with people, but it kinda makes sense. Too bad the middle of the movie is mostly forgettable, but the start and finish are pretty good.
That's why I think they weren't inherently bad, they were just -- presented badly.
Anyway, can't wait till this one gets released outside the US, it's going to be a treeaaaatt looks like!
A lot of stuff did get cut. Like Vickers explaining she purposefully hired scientists that weren’t the most professional. As for David being the creator of the original xenomorphs I don’t see it. I’m personally convinced the derelict on LV-426 is something made by a species older than the engineers, maybe even the creators of the engineers. When you compare the derelict to the engineer’s ships, they look really different, especially the interiors. The derelict looks organic, meanwhile the engineer’s ships are metallic. And this also lets me keep avp in the canon. And with the original xenomorph and David’s creation, I believe what David did was reverse engineer a version of the xenomorph based on records, or messing with the neomorph dna to create this creature. But it’s missing the mechanical element that the original had. David’s creation looked too organic. And the chest bursters are different too. One being snake like, and the other having limbs like the runner alien. Idk, people say Prometheus and covenant ruined the mystery, I think they add more questions. After all, the engineers made us then who made them. Also as to why the engineers wanted to attack earth, it was the violence. Their attempt to help humanity, they took a human child to their home planet, and taught him their ways. But when he was brought back, he was crucified. Then something happened around the time the engineers were about to leave. And there’s a pile of bodies with holes in the chests suggesting chest bursters. However when the last one was awakened, he doesn’t start attacking until after he sees them hit Elizabeth Shaw.
At least Ridley Scott had the courage to try and expand and bring something fresh into the Alien universe. Which divided fans. Alien Romulus is pure fan service , people will like it , but many will hate it. As it doesn't offer anything we haven't seen before, actually this film basically references Alien, Resurrection and Prometheus, then ends.
@@bradical6019 He's been extremely hit and miss now he's older and more stubborn. He may add new things but they tend to be self indulgent and he dislikes the input of experts so his things seem stupid because he refuses to acknowledge the experts the studio hires. He's still in the 70's where the average audience member didn't know much and no one cared what any expert had to say. For prometheus and Covenant, the things he added did not make the setting better. It just made it reductive to a thinly vieled biblical allegory and a hokey ham-fisted literal christ narrative. Then again it could be fox executive with stupid notes as well.
@@bradical6019 Romulus is pretty much mushed baby food aimed at neckbearded 40 year olds. Nothing new. Kinna sad when you think about it.
What I liked about Prometheus was the originality and the creativity of bringing something new onto the table.
There was so much mistery and eerieness behind the engineers, I was just dying to see more interactions from them. Sad that some of its content got cut. But atleast it tried something new instead of recycling the same ideas and the exact same scenes from every single previous Alien film just to produce a lazy mass of baby food containing nothing but absurd references and old dialogues that make 0 sense and have no place in this film.
Stop hiring 12 year olds to write your scripts, Disney😂
I loved Alien: Romulus and it made me excited about the Alien franchise and gave me a desire to watch all the other films again. Not many films can do that, so I’d say Romulus is a massive success.
Man - I love Prometheus and enjoyed Covenant as well. Bummer to hear they aren’t making more films like them.
People want the same old recipe so they can call it 'mid' afterwards. This movie was good but nothing we haven't seen before. God forbid you want something refreshing like Prometheus... Will never understand how some people think. "Purists" my ass. 😅
I just watched it, and it was amazing to me. Loved it and gripping my seat in the cinema
F- Disney Corp. They won't be getting a penny of my money.
Watch out for Mickey Mouse my dude
@@FrameVoyager th-cam.com/video/2P63pM1F8h8/w-d-xo.html
I'd strongly recommend you make exceptions for these three films this year. TRUST ME. Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Alien: Romulus are among the year's best movies in my humble opinion and all three will stand the test of time as prime examples of their genres. I'm also not a fan of Disney for many reasons, but when the product delivers as in my view those films clearly did, the smart consumer thing to do is "vote with your dollars" and reward such excellence, so more of that same level of quality will get made.
I agree Disney is even worse then the Weyland Yutani Corp.
Just got done watching it. and all I'm saying is I love Andy
‘There’s something in the wa-uh’
D'eres sumfin in da wah uh*
"I don't know, derfs somefin in da fooking woodahh!!"
I loved the practical effects. I'm quite sick of over CGI films. This was a refreshing and thrilling film.
Alien Romulus is a Testament that pratical effects are not going Anywhere ❤
Firstly, thank you for the clear sound. Like your editing, too! Thanks for this. I likedededededed!
Haha you're welcome! Gotta love the Neuman mics!