Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026) | REVIEW

Natalie Grace as “Katie,” the titular mummy in LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Lee Cronin — Screenplay by Lee Cronin.

Given that more than a dozen movies about a mummified corpse coming back to life have been released over the years, including but not limited to the Universal Classic Monsters films, you can’t just name your movie The Mummy anymore without confusing audiences. To distinguish their latest film from the multiple other films called The Mummy — including the iconic Boris Karloff-led original, the beloved Brendan Fraser-led action-adventure film from 1999, and the Tom Cruise-led 2017 film, which was designed to kickstart a shared universe of Universal Monsters (called the Dark Universe), which was cancelled as a result of that very 2017 film failing — producer Jason Blum suggested that they should put their writer-director’s name in the title of the film, despite Lee Cronin by no means being a household name, not even with many horror film fans. Cronin, however, did put himself on the map with his sophomore feature Evil Dead Rise, which was both a critical and box office success. Because I really liked his Evil Dead installment (and some pretty strong trailers), I was really excited to see his vision of The Mummy. Having now seen it, I can say that while there are things that I really liked here, this is a pretty significant step down from his aforementioned sophomore effort.

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REVIEW: Red Notice (2021)

Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and Gal Gadot in Red Notice — Photo: Netflix.

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber — Screenplay by Rawson Marshall Thurber.

Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Red Notice is an action-adventure buddy comedy film about the search for three priceless eggs once owned by Cleopatra. In the film, FBI Special Agent John Hartley (played by Dwayne Johnson) is forced to team-up with Nolan Booth (played by Ryan Reynolds), an internationally renowned art thief, in a race against time to find all three eggs before Booth’s main competitor, The Bishop (played by Gal Gadot), finds them and sells them to the highest bidder.

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REVIEW: Jungle Cruise (2021)

Emily Blunt as Lily Houghton, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Frank, and Jack Whitehalll as MacGregor Houghton in Disney’s JUNGLE Cruise — Available now in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access — Photo: Disney / Disney+.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra — Screenplay by Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra, and John Requa.

There are many films that have been turned into theme park attractions as a direct result of their popularity. However, the reverse doesn’t happen successfully as frequently. We rarely see great films that are instead based on popular attractions. Disney did find that kind of success, when Gore Verbinski turned the Pirates of the Caribbean-attraction into a beloved film franchise. It wasn’t Disney first or last attempt at making a successful film out of one of their many theme park attractions, but they have all mostly failed to garner the same success that Verbinski’s beloved films did.

Some of the not-so-successful attempts include the Eddie Murphy-led The Haunted Mansion and Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland. Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise is based on the Disney attraction of the same name, and, even though it is not a true home run for Disney, I think it’s definitely the best of its kind since Verbinski’s swashbuckling action-adventure trilogy set sail.

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If You Liked Tomb Raider (2018), Then Watch These Films

As inspired by other recommendation articles of the same kind, If You Liked …, Then Watch These Films hopes to guide you in your movie-watching. I suggest that you clean up your watchlist and redesign it with the recommendations listed in these posts. In this month’s recommendation article, I give you four recommendations for films to watch if you liked the new reboot of the Tomb Raider-film franchise. Continue reading “If You Liked Tomb Raider (2018), Then Watch These Films”

30 Things 2017 Taught Cinephiles, Critics, and the Industry – Special Features #18

In true Jedi Master-fashion, every year in film provides us with lessons and guides that form trends and a changing landscape in the filmmaking industry. 2017 was a great year for film, and today I want to talk about the lessons that I will remember 2017 for. Continue reading “30 Things 2017 Taught Cinephiles, Critics, and the Industry – Special Features #18”

REVIEW: The Mummy (2017)

Theatrical Release Poster – Universal Pictures

The following is a review of The Mummy – Directed by Alex Kurtzman.

Back in 2014, Universal Pictures tried to make a new series of films featuring the classic Universal Monsters characters. The first film was Gary Shore’s Dracula Untold, but, after that film was both critically panned and financially unsuccessful, the ‘monsterverse’ was eventually cancelled.

Now Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy is the first film in the new shared universe of Universal Monsters known as the Dark Universe. Unfortunately, while the film’s leading man is one of the biggest action movie stars in Hollywood, Kurtzman’s The Mummy is completely forgettable and quite dull. Continue reading “REVIEW: The Mummy (2017)”