First Alien movie is great, second one is cool and good fun, after that they started to decline a bit, but had their moments. AVP was okay, but it was poor in comparison to the other Alien and Predator movies, of which, I still think Predator is one of the greatest sci-fi action movies ever made.
I'm actually a big fan of the Alien movies generally speaking, I even bought some of the set from Aliens (Part of the Sulaco - how's that for sad?), but to be honest after seeing AVP at the movies I only really bought the DVD to be a 'completist' as far as Alien and Predator movies go. That's because both dramtically and in terms of believability within the Alien and Predator genre contexts it pushed credibility and it broke quite a few acceptable dramatic premises as far as scripting goes, but not in a good way.
Anyway, I'll go and see the new flick, but I don't exactly expect a masterpiece.
Oh, and as silly as it was, I thought The Cube was great for a low budget sci-fi thriller, and yes, if you've never read Starship Troopers, do so, it's a great read (as is most stuff from RH).
Chock