I was going to mention Prometheus. The one caveat I would propose is that it's not a complete story.

I understand that Alien and Aliens are revered by many. And it's a little unfair, that in order to talk up Prometheus, it seems like one must criticize Alien and Aliens.

But Prometheus is really a great prequel. Ridley Scott founded a major paradigm of SF films. And yet, after multiple sequels, games, and spin-offs, he identified one unexplained detail that was a point of fascination and yet was never expanded upon — the Space Jockey. And he used that detail to spin out a whole backstory representing what amounts to "the myth of the origin of the xenomorph." Prometheus covers the origin of the xenomorph, the origin of humanity, the origin of language, the origin of the space corp, and the origin of the mechanical replicant, and it creates a visual masterpiece that rivals (and surpasses, IMO) the visual design of his original movie. And Prometheus really deals with foundational concepts in SF films, that he himself had a major part in establishing.

It's definitely not what people expected. And I understand the common complaints and criticisms. But in the end, I think it's better that he committed to his inner convictions and made the film he thought was worth making, instead of the film that everyone thought they wanted.

There is a bit of a parallel between Ridley Scott and the Engineers. In his career, he made a lot of concessions for the sake of popular acceptance and profit — like consenting to the voiceover narrative in Blade Runner and putting together a director's cut of Alien that he left was completely unnecessary. And a lot of people benefited from the groundwork he laid in Alien. But he created the Alien franchise, and he alone has the priority to deconstruct it in any way he likes. I feel like that attitude really comes through in the Prometheus BR special features.

I do think Alien and Aliens are canonized a little too vigorously. For their time, they were great and important films. But they wouldn't be anywhere near as well regarded if they were released today or even ten years ago. They're iconic because they set a bar that has been surpassed.