Alien: Resurrection

It becomes obvious early on that this flick was made mostly so Sigourney Weaver could have most, if not all, of the good lines. At least this time out she gets to trade in the previous outings' desperation for something more like occasional devilishness. That, and the bulk of this movie, are at least somewhat entertaining, even if at this point everything presented is redundant and derivative. Most interesting about this movie, in hindsight, is who was working behind the camera: Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed, and Joss Whedon wrote the script, both before going on to much bigger things. Say what you will about this franchise--and it's been all over the map--but it has always attracted top talent, even if its every presentation amounts to just a one note, dolled-up haunted house story. In this case, that's not enough to make a classic, but I never wanted to turn it off, either, so I guess that's a draw. Like its signature beastie, the series is a survivor.