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Tom Cruise is starring in "The Mummy" remake

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  • turnbolt
    Veteran Member
    • Jun 26, 2008
    • 424

    #91
    As a massive Universal Monsters fan (I mean I sleep in a Frankenstein themed bedroom.) I was excited and trepidatious for this new Dark Universe. Especially with the Tom Cruise factor. I mean I liked him 20 years ago. can't remember the last time I paid to see a movie starring him. So I went with medium expectations and after a clunky staring 20 minutes or so I was pleased with the outcome. It is popcorn movie nonsense...but so are the originals. the horror was fun and well done. Russel Crowe was fantastic...can't wait for his movie...it was fun. I rarely go to the movies for that purpose. I love serious subject matter but this worked. I am sad it has gotten bad reviews. I don't get it. Most of it is generic Hollywood claptrap...but it was a good movie. Oh and Rotten Tomatoes rarely gets things right. I don't trust most critics. They usually have their own agenda. Give it a chance. It will be far more satisfiying on the big screen.
    I like toys.

    Colonel Raines' Toy Chest

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    • Hector
      el Hombre de Acero
      • May 19, 2003
      • 31852

      #92
      I'll give it a chance at Redbox. My gripe are not the bad reviews, my gripe is the major massive spoiler in one of the trailers.

      I won't pay movie theater price just for that one major gripe.
      sigpic

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      • hedrap
        Permanent Member
        • Feb 10, 2009
        • 4825

        #93
        Little salty, but they hit on a number of larger points about studio motivation which I found valid.

        Comment

        • palitoy
          live. laugh. lisa needs braces
          • Jun 16, 2001
          • 59204

          #94
          RLM is often right on the money. I adore them.
          Places to find PlaidStallions online: https://linktr.ee/Plaidstallions

          Buy Toy-Ventures Magazine here:
          http://www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

          Comment

          • hedrap
            Permanent Member
            • Feb 10, 2009
            • 4825

            #95
            ^yeah. Sometimes it's apparent they need to detox , like the WW review. But the Mummy one is great because they point out why certain illogical decisions were made, and it's not always ineptness.

            Comment

            • palitoy
              live. laugh. lisa needs braces
              • Jun 16, 2001
              • 59204

              #96
              I thought their WW review was fair. They didn't love the 3rd act but still said they would tell others to see it.

              When they reviewed "Civil War" Stoklasa smashed it pretty hard with little reason and I always felt that was a shining example of genre fatigue.
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              • hedrap
                Permanent Member
                • Feb 10, 2009
                • 4825

                #97
                Fatigue. That's the right word.

                My issue with their WW review, was while I agreed with the CGI overkill and how "is your love strong enough" is off-kilter, his solution is based on how fatigued he is of superhero third acts. He just wanted the opposite for the sake of it being so. You can tell he gets massive headaches from the summer barrage...so I can't wait for their Transformers review.

                I like trying to figure out the context of the skits and the prop symbols. The Crystal Skull for Mummy was a great analogy for the lack of earnest intention.

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                • Bruce Banner
                  HULK SMASH!
                  • Apr 3, 2010
                  • 4327

                  #98
                  Variety were reporting that Cruise had an "excessive amount of control" over the picture and allegedly made substantial changes (article via Yahoo news):


                  The Mummy has reached the international box-office, taking huge amounts in China and becoming Tom Cruise’s biggest international taking with a $142 million opening weekend.

                  However, with a rumoured budget exceeding $190 million, plus marketing costs over more than $100 million, the first Dark Universe franchise instalment may struggle to make back its money.

                  One factor has been the critics’ negative reaction, many heralding the film as a disaster. Of course, studio executives are looking for someone to blame, with many pointing to leading star Tom Cruise.

                  According to Variety, the former Top Gun had an ‘excessive amount of control’ over the project, making significant changes.

                  The damning report, which cites numerous sources, describes what happened as another ‘textbook case of a movie star run amok’.

                  They claim Universal contractually guaranteed Cruise huge amounts of control, including script approval, post-production oversight, and decisions regarding marketing.

                  As mentioned previously, Cruise brought numerous new writers on board after signing onto the project, even being asked to give director Alex Kurtzman the go-ahead.

                  In perhaps one of the most revealing passages from the report, sources claim ‘as Kurtzman struggled to adjust to scope of the project, it felt more like Cruise was the real director, often dictating the major action sequences and micro-managing the production.’

                  Cruise's role was also beefed up by the new writers: whereas his character and the titular Mummy shared equal time initially, they made him more central. Also, a huge character twist towards the film's end, one the studio 'weren't thrilled about', was added by the writers.

                  Supervising art director Frank Walsh said of The Mummy: “This is very much a film of two halves: before Tom and after Tom. I have heard the stories about how he drives everything and pushes and pushes, but it was amazing to work with him.

                  "The guy is a great filmmaker and knows his craft. He will walk onto a set and tell the director what to do, say ‘that’s not the right lens,’ ask about the sets, and as long as you don’t fluff what you’re saying to him… he’s easy to work for.”

                  Universal have issued a statement on the report, saying: “Tom approaches every project with a level of commitment and dedication that is unmatched by most working in our business today.

                  “He has been a true partner and creative collaborator, and his goal with any project he works on is to provide audiences with a truly cinematic moviegoing experience.”

                  Over the past decade, Hollywood has seen the gradual progression from star-power selling tickets, or brand power. Marvel, Star Wars, and DC are making huge amounts despite having relatively unknown director and stars helming projects. Whether a good or bad thing remains to be seen.
                  PUNY HUMANS!

                  Comment

                  • hedrap
                    Permanent Member
                    • Feb 10, 2009
                    • 4825

                    #99
                    That's Universal in CYA mode. It doesn't deal with how Kurtzman originated the MCU swipe idea and then tossed two directors in the process so he could direct, or how he brought Cruise in, (they worked together on a Mission film), who backed him as director. I'm not a big Tom fan, but the people he brought in, (McQuarrie for example), are way more proven.

                    Kurtzman was doing what Lindelof tried to do with Alien, which is follow the Abrams/Trek model: Take over a property you really don't care about and turn it into a sandbox for your friends. I mean, Abrams tried handing the Trek directing reigns over to Kurtzman.

                    Comment

                    • Criadoman
                      New Member
                      • Jun 9, 2016
                      • 5

                      Just caught the movie. Personally liked the Frasher movies better. As a spoileresque question, what Universal Monster did he start transforming into at the end of the movie?

                      Comment

                      • hedrap
                        Permanent Member
                        • Feb 10, 2009
                        • 4825

                        Cruise becomes the Mummy for the Dork Universe

                        Comment

                        • monitor_ep
                          Talkative Member
                          • May 11, 2013
                          • 7362

                          The major problem with this movie is that paid for Tom Cruise to be in it thus making him the focal point when it should have been The Mummy. They could have saved a lot of money and cut out his part and the movie would have been better, why they killed the Mummy kinda made no sense in if they are to be connected.
                          Last edited by monitor_ep; Sep 11, '17, 11:37 PM.
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                          • hedrap
                            Permanent Member
                            • Feb 10, 2009
                            • 4825

                            Cruise actually saved the movie, financially. The West forgot to inform Asia he's no longer a giant movie star, because they still turn out in yuge numbers for him. If he wasn't on the marquee in China, it would've crashed. But, the guy has draw there, South Korea and Japan.

                            It's a major quandary for Universal. It was a bad production and stateside experience for Cruise so he's not keen on a sequel without more control. But more control means more action, less horror which guarantees more domestic box office disaster.

                            After all the mid-budget horror success, followed by IT shattering nearly every record, a number of people should be fired. But it won't happen.

                            Comment

                            • knight errant00
                              8 Inch Action Figure
                              • Nov 15, 2005
                              • 1766

                              Just Redboxed this last night (late to the party, I know) -- thought it was fun and basically enjoyable, but, yeah, it couldn't decide if it wanted to be action or horror, and that undercut both elements.

                              SPOILER POINTS OF DISCUSSION
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                              I liked the new take on the Mummy, and to answer one of the criticisms, I think, like most Universal monster movies, the ending doesn't preclude her return at all.

                              Russell Crowe surprised me (pleasantly) -- from the trailers, I'd just assumed be was some 5th generation Van Helsing or something similar. What the did was fun and expected for me.

                              I think the big problem was this movie's story lifted a lot of cues and structure from The Avengers while forgetting that it was Marvel's sixth movie in the franchise, not the first. And i think that was the problem with Cruise's involvement -- they could have launched with this film, but Cruise's character would have had to step out of the spotlight to introduce the other players, and then maybe have more of a plot to bring the monsters all together to stop the Mummy (picture Hyde and the Frankenstein monster teaming up for one sequence, and Cruise being backed up by the Wolf Man for another encounter, etc.) -- more League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in structure at least, with maybe a big reveal at the end, bringing in Van Helsing and setting up Dracula as the BIG bad for and upcoming re-team.

                              Which also brings up, as I was wondering after a while -- with all the talk of curses and Cruise's apparent change at the end, was he supposed to be the new Wolf Man of the franchise?

                              Fun but flawed, it's a shame they most likely won't kick off the series with this, from what I've read.

                              Comment

                              • Nostalgiabuff
                                Muddling through
                                • Oct 4, 2008
                                • 11290

                                I think Cruise was becoming the new mummy, not a wolfman

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