In light of Romulus, I rewatched the original Alien last night, which I hadn’t seen since I was a kid.
Can someone who knows more about the technical details of cinema explain to me why, despite relying on “practical effects”, Romulus looks so much like a video game compared to the original Alien? Does it have to do with the “CG-enhancement” mentioned above in the context of the Ian Holm animatronics? Or is modern camera work, editing and lighting philosophy just completely different from it was in the 70s? Is the video game look considered desirable now, and not just a side-effect of computer special effects like I had always assumed it was in modern action movies?