By It took forever, but James Cameron finally brought three of his classic films into the modern age a few months back with the release of “The Abyss,” “True Lies” and “Aliens” on 4K UHD disc and streaming.
“The Abyss” and “True Lies” had previously been stuck with DVD-only copies or HD cable/streaming transfers, while “Aliens” did have a Blu-ray prior to these releases. The results were… mixed, to say the least.
Of the trio, “The Abyss” came out the best as it had only been available on a low-quality DVD prior to this, and the new print was obviously handled with care.
The other two have suffered heavy criticism for the A.I. used to strip the film’s grain. “Aliens” was shot on a film stock famous for being heavily grainy and looks positively odd with this new look, whereas “True Lies” looks like a bad DVD.
With “Aliens” there’s a touch more detail on hand than the 2010 Blu-ray, but in all other aspects it seems visibly worse – some tech boffins suggest that it seems to be an upscaled and A.I.-powered digital noise reduction version of the print used for that old Blu-ray.
Speaking with THR about his new documentary series, Cameron was asked about the poor reaction to the “Aliens” 4K disc and he didn’t mince words:
“When people start reviewing your grain structure, they need to move out of mom’s basement and meet somebody. Right? I’m serious. I mean, are you f—— kidding me?
I’ve got a great team that does the transfers. I do all the color and density work. I look at every shot, every frame, and then the final transfer is done by a guy who has been with me [for years].
All the Avatar films are done that way. Everything is done that way. Get a life, people, seriously.”
Cameron also responded to recent comments by filmmaker Roland Emmerich about why he left the Cameron-produced “Fantastic Voyage,” the German filmmaker called Cameron overbearing. Cameron has now responded:
“I’ve never said anything negative about Roland. But anyway: Yes, I’m overbearing. Damn right. When it’s a project where I’ve contributed to the writing, I might actually have an opinion on it.
I actually don’t even remember talking to Roland Emmerich about Fantastic. I remember the other directors that we worked with for months on end trying to develop that project. If I talked to Roland, it was for two minutes. I have a pretty good memory and I don’t remember that at all.”
Asked if that film is still in the works, Cameron says: “Move on, that’s a non-story.”
Cameron’s six-episode “OceanXplorers” premieres Sunday, August 18th and streams on Hulu and Disney+.
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