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Actor: Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver played Ellen Ripley across four Alien films, in a part originally written for a man and left unchanged when she was cast, which is why the character behaves without any of the concessions the period expected.

Aliens brought a Best Actress nomination, which was almost unheard of for a science fiction action film, and she was nominated twice more in the same year for Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl.

Ghostbusters, Galaxy Quest and Avatar show a comic and commercial range, and she has worked continuously for five decades.

Alien (1979) film posterHarry Dean Stanton

Alien (1979) Review

Experiencing it blind, in a dark theater, with an audience that had no idea what was coming, that was specific and unrepeatable. The 8 reflects both what the film achieved and what watching it now is like, which are different…

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Aliens (1986) film posterBill Paxton

Aliens (1986) Review

Aliens earns its 8 by doing the one thing sequel filmmaking almost never manages: it doesn't compete with the original. Ridley Scott's Alien is a horror film about isolation and violation, one creature, confined space, systematic elimination of everything between…

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Avatar (2009) film posterGiovanni Ribisi

Avatar (2009) Review

Avatar is a white savior film wearing the costume of environmental progressivism, and the combination is more offensive than either element alone. The Na'vi, despite everything that makes them extraordinary, apparently needed Jake Sully.

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