Just so you know, TCM: The Beginning had a higher budget then the first film, TCM had a budget of 9 million, while The Beginning was made for 16 million, check boxofficemojo. HHE 2 was made for the same amount as the first I believe, 15 million.
I thought The Beginning was far superior to TCM.
I think Aliens vs Predator will be superior to the first though, mostly because it doesnt seem like its going to have much of a connection to it, as Jeff(or is it John?) Habberstad said, 'the film can absolutely stand on its own, but also continues the story of the first film', or something like that. I think that means we will be getting something a bit like Evil Dead 2, where its sort of a sequel, but because of the way the opening is done, you will not need to see the first film, allowing this to work as a stand alone film