Any James Cameron fan knows that Avatar is in essence a remake of his film Aliens. Avatar, however, reflected the Bush years—its wars, arrogant foreign policy, neoliberal economics. Aliens, which was made in 1986, reflected the heart of the Reagan years—corporate greed, the arms race with the Soviets, the secret wars in Central America. As a mirror of its time, Aliens is much clearer and deeper than Avatar, which is too long and spectacular, and collapses into a conventional love story ("white guy likes the [blue] beauty"). Aliens also has some of the most memorable dialogue in Hollywood cinema: "That's it, man, game over, man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?" (Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave, 686-6684, 9:30 pm, $6 adv/$8 DOS, 21+)