ALIENS (1986) C widescreen 137m dir: James Cameron

w/Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, William Hope, Jenette Goldstein, Al Matthews, Mark Rolston

From The Movie Guide: "The long-awaited sequel to the successful ALIEN is a non-stop, high-tech, souped-up war movie, with gung-ho marines blasting special-effects creatures, and a genuinely convincing, exciting action heroine. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is found in deep space by a salvage ship and brought back to a space station, where Burke (Paul Reiser), a representative of The Company, tells her that she has been unconscious for 57 years. To her horror, Ripley also learns that the planet on which she and her crew found the creature in ALIEN has been colonized. It isn't long, however, until Burke tells her that they've lost contact with the colony and asks her to accompany a platoon of colonial marines to the planet as an advisor. Weaver is superb --- tough, smart, and the best fighter, male or female, in the movie. The rest of the small cast also performs well, and director James Cameron handles the action superbly. The cutting is quick, the suspense unrelenting, and the monsters thoroughly frightening."

ALIENS won two Oscars: Best Visual Effects (Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson, Suzanne Benson) and Sound Effects Editing (Don Sharpe). It was also nominated for Best Actress (Weaver), Editing (Ray Lovejoy), Score (James Horner), Art Direction (Peter Lamont, Crispian Sallis), and Sound (Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas LeMessurier, Michael A. Carter, Roy Charman).