Weekly Round-Up (6/3/12 - 6/9/12)

Once Upon a Time in China II (Tsui Hark) ***1/2 - The second film in the Once Upon a Time in China series follows the further exploits of historical figure Wong Fei-hung. This time around, he's battling a religious terrorists hellbent on driving foreigners out of China while at the same time helping out democratic revolutionaries. Someone says this is the best of the series. I don't know about that but it is about as great as the original. The action scenes are truly something to see. They're often more exciting than most modern day action sequences these days. The action and drama is punctuated by humor. It's terrific, fun entertainment.
 
Prometheus (Ridley Scott) *** - Director Ridley Scott is responsible for two films considered to be among the greatest science-fiction films ever made, Alien and Blade Runner. His record since then has been spotty, to say the least and even his good films don't quite match up with those two revered classics. He returns to the Alien-verse somewhat with this sorta-kinda prequel to the Alien-saga, almost as if to prove that he still has it. He's only partially right. This doesn't quite measure up to the first Alien film but it's as a standalone film, it's still a very good piece of sci-fi, the type we seldom see these days where everything has to be action-packed and PG-13 so that alone makes it seem fresh.