American Gangster was probably a 3/5 film for me. Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut was simply a watchable version of a previously almost unwatchable film. Ridley Scott has a long way to go to back to his glory days IMO.
Got the Alien Anthology for Xmas and I'm not sure I've seen the director cut of any of these film except Alien 3. I know the Alien 3 director cut greatly improved the film. What about the first two?
They improved, though I don't know how "greatly". It had been a long time since I'd seen either one. I recall some unfamiliar footage...In Cameron's cut, the story of Newt's parents finding the alien ship and bringing back the facehugger was attached to the front; seems like the original just had the finding of Newt entirely from the marine team's perspective.
Over the years I have started to like Aliens less and less - whilst loving Alien more and more. The stereotype gung-ho marines, Newt and Paul Reiser are all incredibly annoying. The alien(s) have gone from being mysterious and fierce to easily killed. The director's cut is a slight improvement - at least for folks who care for the overall story. Alien3 DC is much improved over the theatrical version. And any extra bit of Alien that can be had is gold in my book.
