Create And Destroy A Universe All In One Movie..."The Mummy"

The Mummy (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson

Directed by Alex Kurtzman

The Story:

An ancient evil is uncovered during the war. It claims the life of Nick (Cruise) and Veil (Johnson) before giving them the power to return from the dead. Meanwhile Dr. Henry Jekyll (Crowe) is convinced that Nick could be just the research experiment he needs.

Let's put the cart before the horse and see what happens!

Instead of rolling out the latest relaunch of the Universal Monsters, Universal decided that like Marvel, but really, more like DC, they wanted to have their own cinematic universe.

Imagine the possibilities with Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and all the rest sharing screen time once again.

Except...

The film isn't really that good.

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad nor is it unwatchable.

But...

Forgetting the 30s and 40s Universal Monster movies...

This makes Brendan Fraser's turn with The Mummy franchise nearly 20 years ago, look like Indiana Jones.

And please, don't take that as any sign that Fraser's Mummy was terrible. I loved it then, after watching this version, I love it even more!!

No, this was like Universal was excited to get Cruise as their leading man.

However, Cruise wanted to make another Mission Impossible movie.

Which probably made Universal see all kinds of dollar signs, except the execution was poor.

Instead, they shoehorn in a Dr. Jekyll story, instead of making that the standalone beginning to the universe, so that when he shows up, briefly at the end, it would be more like Nick Fury assembling the Avengers.

Versus DC just shoving all the characters in your face at once, and saying don't you just love what we've done?

Clearly, audiences just didn't gel with this attempt, and Universal has since shelved pretty much everything else they had lined up to follow.

That's a shame, really.

Not that they are abandoning the "Dark Universe", but that they are going to let these properties sit in mothballs.

As the low-budget horror films have proven time and again, and even the bigger budgeted It, audiences still love a good scare, as long as you craft a halfway decent thrill-ride to entertain us with.

Try again.

Don't worry about a big star, it's the name on the franchise that will get us through the door.

Final Grade:  C-

Not Quite The Bite Of The First One..."Hotel Transylvania 2"

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

Rated PG

Starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Asher Blinkoff, Mel Brooks

Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky

The Story:

Now that Mavis (Gomez) and Johnathan (Samberg) are married and have a little boy (Blinkoff), Dracula (Sandler) is hoping that he will turn into a vampire before he's 5 so that they will continue to live at the castle with him. It's looking unlikely though, and Mavis is beginning to ponder a life outside of the castle walls.

If you saw the trailer where Dracula lets his grandson fall from the very tall tower, then you know exactly what you're getting from this movie. Dracula wants to make sure his grandson is partially vampire, though everyone else has written him off as just another human.

So part 2 is essentially two road trip movies rolled into one as Dracula and the gang take the boy out on adventures while the happy couple look to see if Mavis can handle life out among the normals.

I really enjoyed the first one.

I also enjoyed the second one, maybe just a little less.

The jokes and characterizations for the first film were all new, so it was all a great new sense of fun.

This time around, you already know roughly what's going to happen, and there isn't a whole lot of surprise.

But don't take that as a negative.  Most sequels don't live up to the original.

The best bits are The Invisible Man (Spade) finding true love, and the genius casting of Vlad (Brooks) for the finale.

If you enjoyed the first film with your family, then this will be a cozy family reunion for you.

Final Grade: B-

"Dracula Untold" Was Worth Telling

Dracula Untold (2014)

Rated PG-13

Starring Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance

Directed by Gary Shore

The Story:

Inspired by the true story of Vlad Tepes (Evans), this take on the legend of Dracula shows how the ruler became a legend in order to save his wife (Gadon) and son (Parkinson) from the cruel leader of the Turks (Cooper) who was going to enslave 1000 of the children under Tepes rule, including his son. Vlad found a way to get the power he needed to thwart the enemy, and it would last for 3 days unless he gave in to the hunger of the blood.

Oops.

:)

Well of course he gives in, he's Dracula after all!

However, it's the struggle to avoid being consumed by the power that is the heart of the story of Vlad who seeks only to save his family, and his kingdom from the tyrannical Turks.

Evans remains one of my favorite "B movie actors" who is finally getting a chance to work in "A Level material", undoubtedly thanks to the success of his turn in Fast 6. I welcome his arrival as the star and hope he lands more leading roles in the future.

Dracula Untold shies away from a lot of the bloodshed and violence that a movie like this seemingly demands.

However, I don't think that was a bad decision. We don't need to be drenched with blood to get the point of the film, sometimes not being shown allows us to think of the horror in our own minds, which usually is way scarier, and cooler, than the effects on screen.

Plus, bonus points for the creative way in which Dracula was shown to move in this film. Visually stunning, and very creative to the legend.

I enjoyed it, your mileage may vary.

Final Grade: B- (like the blood type)

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 35 ~ Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein

One thing that this list is short on, are horror/monster movies.  Again, going with the criteria of "do I get to enjoy it with the whole family?", the majority of scary movies don't make the cut. 

Today, we have an exception.

Of course, it had to be made in 1948, and feature the classic Universal Monsters, but it still qualifies.

: )

Bud Abbott & Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein is a classic romp featuring the trademark rapid-fire humor audiences had come to expect from Abbott & Costello by then.  Now, while the title refers to the boys meeting Frankenstein, that wasn't the only Universal Monster they wound up meeting.

In fact, while Karloff did not play the monster, they were lucky enough to snag Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolfman.  Add a last second cameo by the Invisible Man (Vincent Price) and I would say you more than get your money's worth from this film.

Unlike nearly every other Abbott & Costello movie, in this film, Costello actually gets the upper hand on Abbott in much of the word-play, and going after the leading ladies.  The fact that they are all nearly falling over Lou does seem unlikely, but the real reason behind it is revealed before too long:

His brain!

The movie works as equal part loving homage to the Monsters, and classic Abbott & Costello romp.  The Monsters are played straight and not made fun of, which is why the movie works so well.  They could be easily mocked, or they could have played the movie as one giant "well, only Costello actually sees them..." but by bringing Abbott in on the shenanigans, the film works even better.

This one normally gets a spin in the household at least once a year, normally as we get closer to Halloween.

If you don't own it or haven't seen it in ages, it is available to stream on Netflix as of this writing.