Alien

Alien is currently streaming in Australia on Disney Plus, and in the UK on Disney Plus, and it earns its premise rather than just borrowing genre trappings. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. An 8/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Tom Skerritt's performance is the anchor the more ambitious scenes need. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Disney Plus.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, Alien is worth clearing space for. Alien uses its genre premise as cover for asking bigger questions. During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed. Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver lead a cast that makes the ambitious moments land. Alien came out in 1979. The world-building is meticulous enough to sustain multiple rewatches, with details early on that only make sense later. It rarely drops the ball, and when it does, it recovers fast.

Viewers burned by ambitious sci-fi that could not sustain its premise should give Alien a chance. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Tom Skerritt grounds the bigger ideas in something human. Once you are in, you will want to talk about it.