GREAT CINEMAMASTER LIST
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Search 713 spoiler-free recommendations from 1916 to 2026. Filter by the night you want—not the list you’re supposed to finish.

Direct film viewShowing master rank #26 on its own—not above the ranking.
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Artwork
DirectorAll directors

Most represented · 6+ films

More recurring directors · 3–5 films54
All directors · surname A–Z438
ActorAll actors

Most represented actors

Big Three membership
Major award winners

1 selected film

Master Rank balances Greatness, Engagement, and Ease. Sort by Greatness for the artistic-canon view.

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View Aliens film page
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

When Ripley's lifepod is found by a salvage crew over 50 years later, she finds that terra-formers are on the very planet they found the alien species.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

Fifty-seven years after surviving the Nostromo, Ellen Ripley learns that humans have established a colony on LV-426. When communication with the settlement stops, she accompanies a squad of Colonial Marines to investigate and encounters the young survivor Newt.

Why it belongs

Aliens expands intimate terror into lucid military action while Ripley and Newt give the spectacle an urgent human center.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Cameron expands the first film's terror into lucid military action through industrial production design, Stan Winston's creature effects, spatially coherent set pieces, and Ripley's bond with Newt, which gives survival tactics an urgent emotional center.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Academy Awards2 wins1987 · official ceremony record ↗

Plus 2 additional wins

No headline-category win to name

BAFTA1 win1987 · official BAFTA 1987 Film Awards results ↗

Plus 1 additional win

No headline-category win to name

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Institutional reference ranks

Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 25071AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score

Great Cinema Master List scores

Greatness9.2
Engagement9.8
Ease9.1

English · R
Narrative Feature
Mood: Terrifying & Gripping