Prometheus

There is a debate among filmmakers and film fans alike. Is Prometheus a prequel to Alien or not?

The answer is both yes and no.

Prometheus tells the story of several scientists, from different fields, traveling to the moon of a distant planet where they believe the creators of man kind to live. Led by Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace (the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), the team finds that the creators of the human race had an outbreak of a virus they were going to use as a weapon. But are they all gone?

The debate among the audience is a ridiculous one, as are most other debates. For one, Ridley Scott, the director, stated that it wouldn't be, but acknowledged the fact that it would take place in the same universe as the Alien movies.

This is the filmmaker we are talking about. I feel he would know more than anyone.

"But, Mike! The ship they find in the Alien is the same ship in the trailer!"

May I point you to a dictionary?

pre·quel

  [pree-kwuhl] 

noun

a literary, dramatic, or filmic work that prefigures a later work,as by portraying THE SAME CHARACTERS AT A YOUNGER AGE

The characters in Prometheus are not the same characters in Alien. However, the event in Prometheus lead up to the events in Alien. Therefore, it is and isn't a prequel at the same time. NOW STOP ARGUING ABOUT SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T MATTER.

I digress.

Prometheus is a great movie that stands out from it's alleged sequels. It has a completely different feel and has more story behind. It has been a while since I've seen the Alien movies, but I don't remember much back story for the characters in it. Prometheus reveals much backstory for certain characters.

There are some great characters in this film as well. David, played by Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Inglourious Basterds). David is a robot, created by the financier of the mission. He follows the agenda of "his father" which at times can seem sinister. Michael Fassbender was great. He really sold the fact that he was a robot. The little things he did to portray the character made the character complete.

Overall Prometheus is a fantastic movie that separates itself from its counter parts.

My Rating: A-

The Chernobyl Diaries

If there is one thing you should know about me when it comes to movies, it is the fact that I do not care for horror movies. I give them all a shot, but I find that many of them are the same, formulaic, predictable story with the same stupid characters. It also doesn't help that it takes a lot in a movie to scare me. The Chernobyl Diaries is no exception.

Written by Oren Peli or Paranormal Activity fame (also a lackluster movie), the film revolves around a group of 20-somethings vacationing in Europe who decide to go to Chernobyl, in Prypiat, Ukraine, where the biggest nuclear plant disaster in the history of man kind happened in 1986.  After walking around the abandoned city for a few hours, they find that their van had been tampered with while they are gone.

Now trapped in the abandoned, radioactive city, they do what all stupid characters in horror movies do. They split up. And, of course, they start dying.

I had a problem with this movie before I even went into it. In the trailer, they make it look like what they're doing is illegal and extremely dangerous. They even call it "extreme tourism". It's not illegal, nor is it extremely dangerous or even that "extreme" (depending on your definition of extreme). In fact, it is so not illegal, dangerous or extreme that they have a website to sign up for tours (With a 100% money back guarantee!).

Book your Tour of Chernobyl and Prypiat here! I hope I can get that as a graduation present. (Mom.... Dad.... No? OK! Moving on!)

I am one of the biggest babies when it comes to doing extreme things (I would never go sky diving or bungee jumping. Or even ride a bike one-handed) and this has been the only thing on my bucket list since they've started doing tours.

But, I was willing to push that aside. So I went in to see it, and they still acted like it was a highly illegal tour. But that is not why I didn't care for this movie.

None of the character seemed important to the filmmaker. They all seemed expendable. It felt as if the filmmaker didn't care about any of them, thus making it nearly impossible for me to care about them. I didn't worry about them when they went missing. I didn't care if they were in any real danger. I didn't care what happened to them. All of the characters felt like supporting characters and the acting wasn't impressive or even believable.

The only great thing about this movie was the scenery. I love abandoned buildings. There are a lot near where I live, and there is something so humbling about them that they just give me a great sense of calm. The scenery and locations in this movie were great, but they didn't have to try to hard with that, since the sets were more or less already created for them.

I could see horror fanatics enjoying this a lot. I know a friend of mine who has a terrible taste in movies and loves horror films loved this movie. But for movie-goers who only like GREAT horror movies, such as myself, you could skip this one if you want.

My Rating: C-