Prometheus (2012)

So this was the big prequel. Or maybe that should be a question? Prequel, sequel, schmequel. I don't think it really matters. With the possibility that a few names may have been used throughout the saga, and the fact that the dates are set before Alien in this film, it could be a sequel.
That's the problem with doing prequels in this genre - the movie tech today is so far beyond what it was when the original was created that it can't help but look more recent, regardless of when it was set.
This film was not as gritty or as scary as Alien. In and of themselves this does not make Prometheus either better or worse, just different. This film was iconic in its portrayal of the aliens and horrible tings happening to people in space suits, but other than that, it was much more straight up sci-fi, as opposed to the suspense sci-fi of the original.
The big stars of the film did as one would expect big stars to do and with the exception of Guy Pearce as Weyland, they were a pleasure to watch. Of course Noomi and Charlize were a pleasure to watch, I guess that probably went without saying. My problem with Weyland isn't really anything Pearce did or didn't do, it's the fact that he looks like a young or middle-aged man in old man make-up. Very old man make-up. It's funny but of all the things one could have a problem with in this movie, that' this is what gets me.
What does the ending of the movie mean? Are there going to be another set of movies that stand beside the Alien quadrilogy? One could easily follow the Shaw character through several more films. Personally, I would watch them.
While I was watching, I kept thinking of something Scott said not too long ago, that Alien (and Prometheus) take place in the same universe as Blade Runner. When I saw the way that Theron was playing the Vickers character I entertained the idea that she might be a replicant, especially when the captain asks if she's a robot. What if she is and just doesn't know it? That could mean that the outcome to the film is not quite what it seemed for her character. Or was Scott just saying this as a matter of world building that will really have no effect on the film franchises. Maybe he's setting something up for the new Blade Runner film he's working on.
Okay, you thought I was going to end without bringing up something very important to the film, but I'm not. What does Prometheus do to the whole Alien Vs. Predator story arc. I realize those take place several hundred years before Prometheus, and that's okay. What isn't okay is that they're explanation for the Aliens differ from what was put forward in this film. Though, you might be able to reconcile them. Scott didn't mention anything about those films, so I'm just going to pretend that they don't exist in the same universe. It's my blog, I can do that if I want to.

Prometheus on IMDb

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

The movie is to the first Sherlock Holmes exactly as Iron Man II was to Iron Man. Which is not surprising since both star Robert Downey Jr. I liked this movie, in spite of itself at times. It seems that at a few spots that it added in action scenes just to out-do the first installment in the series. The movie felt too long - it did clock in at over two hours, but it didn't need to feel like it did. They could have shortened some of the action sequences and perhaps expand on the interaction between Sherlock and Simza, or between Watson and his new bride.
Stephen Fry really made the movie for me. I would have liked it with another actor, but would have probably ended up feeling disappointed at the over all film - not that it was bad, but that it wasn't as good as the first. I think Fry as Mycroft pulls it up a notch. Noomi was great too, her Simza was a bit understated, which worked for me, but she was definitely under-used.
The one thing about this movie that both bothered me and tickled my funny bone, was Holmes's Clouseau moments when he is in his "urban camouflage". This film definitely played to humor more than the first, but I'm not sure if that worked. I think they should have either gone for more "quirky" humor so that the film was better balanced with it, or cut back entirely.