Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

 

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third (and hopefully final) entry into the Mummy franchise of movies. It is a 2008 sequel to the original 1999 movie and its 2001 sequel. Brendan Fraser and John Hanna reprise their roles as Rick and Jonathan. Maria Bello takes over the role of Evie from Rachel Weisz, and Oded Feher does not return. The major additions to the cast, aside from Bello, are Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Isabella Leong, and Luke Ford, who takes over the role of Alex, Rick and Evie's son. What made The Mummy work as a franchise was the character development and the chemistry the cast members had with each other. Without Rachael Weisz and Oded Fehr (whose character would not have fit into this story anyway), the movie is not the same and ultimately does not work well at all.

This time, the movie is set in 1946, in China, and the Mummy is played by the awesome Jet Li. In fact, the only reason I give this even 2 stars is because of Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. They both did a great job with their characters, and the cinematography and visual effects are great. However, there is a total lack of continuity in the story in the first two movies. First, you are expected to believe that Brendan Fraser has aged 26 years from the first movie without looking much older (this movie was made nine years after the original). It was a big stretch to believe that he had aged 10 years between the first and second movies (which were made two years apart), but they needed to do a much better job at making Fraser look older. Also, the kid Alex from the second movie is now grown up and has lost the British accent in favor of an American one, and is very little like how he was portrayed in the second movie. And John Hannah is given little, if nothing, to do in this movie, and it just seems like his character is there to tag along. I think the decision to recast the character of Evie was horrible, and they would have been better off to have killed off the character than bringing someone new in. Even though I do not think Bello was horrible in the role, the character just did not have the same feel as how Weisz played her.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. While the transfer is not as good as today's new movies get, it is much better than the first two movies and the CGI effects look more realistic than they did in the first two movies. As far as extras go on the disc version, there are a few deleted and extended scenes,  a 20-minute making-of feature, a commentary track on the film, and a handful of other items. This definitely does not have as many extras as the blu-rays for the first two movies did, but not bad for what is there. 

Ultimately, this movie did not have to be made. I think the producers thought they had a much stronger franchise with The Mummy than they really did. Without all of the original cast, which they did get for The Mummy Returns, it just fell very flat. Luckily, it seems that they got that message since no other attempts at continuing the franchise (and no, I don't count the Tom Cruise movie) have been made. It is worth picking up on blu-ray if you are one who wants to keep your collection as complete as possible, but it is definitely not a must-watch and nowhere near as good as the first two movies.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy Returns

 

The Mummy Returns is the 2001 follow-up to the 1999 movie. In a rare feat (one that would not be repeated in the last movie of the trilogy), the entire cast, including Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, John Hannan, Patricia Velasquez, and Oded Fehrand and crew, including director Stephen Sommers, from the first movie, returned for this one. This helped the movie retain some continuity from the first film, even though it really expanded on the story. The big additions to the cast are The Rock, playing the Scorpion King and Freddie Boath, who plays Alex O'Connell. 

The movie is set 10 years after the first movie. The Mummy is resurrected in order to kill the Scorpion King (played by The Rock in his first movie role), and of course, the events pull the now-married Rick and Evie O'Connell along with their son and her brother Jonathan. Oded Fehr and Patricia Velasquez also return and are given much more to do and are involved much more in the overall plot in this movie. Rachel Weisz was given more action scenes, including a sai fight in a barely-there outfit against Patricia Velasquez about halfway into the movie and another one at the end. She was much more of an action heroine in this movie than she was in the first. Which ultimately is good, although the plot twist through which that happened was kind of silly.

Like the first movie, this one is very special effects-laden as well. There are new creatures from the first one, and the effects, while not as good as they would be today, are slightly improved from the first film. Although the CGI characters still look quite cartoonish in this movie, If you are one of those who only want to see it because The Rock is in it (which was probably more of an issue when it was released in theaters and he was at the height of his WWF/WWE fame), he is really only in the move a total of about 15 min. 5 at the beginning in the flesh, and about 10 at the end as a dumb CGI creature. I think it would have been much better to have him resurrected as a human and essentially have a three-way battle between the main characters at the end.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. As far as extras go, there is a commentary track for the movie, a 20-minute making-of feature, a three-minute interview with The Rock that was actually done for the spin-off Scorpion King movie, and a short feature on the visual effects along with a few other things. 

Ultimately, whether you like this or not depends on your feelings about the first movie. If you hated the first one, then you will likely hate this one, too. If you liked or loved the first one, you will at least like this one as well. While some elements from the first movie were incorporated into this one, it was not a carbon copy of the first one. It is a good action-adventure movie that, like the first movie, has some humor mixed in. If you are a fan of the genre or the actors involved, it is worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy

 

The Mummy is a 1999 action/adventure movie starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and John Hannah. Oded Fehr and Patricia Valasquez have supporting but important roles as well. The movie is a retelling of the 1930s version of the story. It utilizes many of the same characters and story elements, but it is its own movie. It is not a shot-by-shot remake by any means. This version utilizes a ton of CGI animation and a green screen. It is set in the period between World War I and II, and so it blends ancient Egypt with the 1920s modern world. The premise of the story is that a group of adventurers and scholars are at a dig site in Egypt. They inadvertently release the spirit of high priest Imhotep (played by Vosloo), who then, as an almost immortal being, tries to resurrect his mistress Anck-su-namun (played by Valasquez).

The movie itself is a blend of action, comedy, and romance. Along with somewhat cheesy drama. In some ways, it pays homage to old monster movies, and in some ways, it is a tongue-in-cheek spoof of them. The ensemble cast of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and John Hannah all do a great job with their respective roles. Fraser shows he has the chops to be both funny and somewhat of an action hero...Although not necessarily a larger-than-life one. Hannah is great at blending being a cowardly, weasel with reluctant bravery when the need arises so that you actually like and root for his character. It is hard to buy Weisz as the nerdy librarian they portray her as in the beginning of the movie and their attempts to make her kind of frumpy and tone down how gorgeous she really is did not work all that well. But once they turned the character into more of a leading lady kind of role for movies like this, she worked well. I thought Vosloo, did a fine job as the mummy, especially given that so much of his performance was based on expression as opposed to dialog. He said very little throughout the film, and when he did it was never in English, Regardless of that he was able to portray being menacing, smug, concerned, and scared without needing to say much.

If you get the blu ray, the movie looks and sounds very good. The special effects are good but dated, so some of the things are not going to be as good as in a movie made today. However, it looks about as good as a movie from that time could without a major restoration (which it may get if it is released on 4k). There are quite a few special features, with the longest being a 50-minute featurette centered on the digital effects used to create the various mummies in the movie. There are also some deleted and extended scenes and a couple other short making-of featurettes.

Ultimately, the movie is enjoyable as long as you do not go into this movie thinking you are about to see an Academy Award-winning best picture or get a best actor/actress performance. You won't. It is purely a big-budget, special effects popcorn movie. If you look at it as a somewhat funny action/adventure movie, and if you generally like those kinds of movies then you will probably like this. Also, it is not meant to be an accurate period piece from either ancient Egypt or early 1900s Egypt. So, if you are one who would nitpick things that are wrong, you probably want to stay away from this. Otherwise, it is worth the time to watch.

DVD/TV Series Review: Alias: Seasons 1-5

 

+++Warning, this contains some spoilers from throughout the series.+++

This is the complete series of Alias which ran from 2001 to 2006 and starred Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Kevin Weisman, Greg Grunberg, Carl Lumby, and David Anders. In the early seasons, it also starred Merrin Dungey,  Bradley Cooper, and Sarah Shahi, and in later seasons, Lena Olin, Melissa George, Rachel Nichols, and Mia Maestro.  Alias was a great concept that got a little weird when it started to focus on the Rambaldi storyline. The first few seasons where the Rambaldi storyline was merely in the background and would be advanced in one or two episodes each season were great. Once it became the focus and the supernatural elements got more and more silly, the show definitely took a downturn. 

The crux of the storyline in the first season is that Jennifer Garner's character, Sydney Bristow, believed that she was working for the CIA (which she could not reveal to anyone), while she was really working for a shadow organization run by criminals. When the organization discovered that she told her fiancee that she worked for the CIA and he was killed by the organization she discovered who she was really working for and what she was really involved in. From there the show focuses on her life as a double agent and her attempts to bring down the rogue spy agency/criminal organization.

Where Alias really shined was character development and perfect casting. Every character that was around for a significant amount of time changed from the time they were first introduced. And of course, Alias was a world where being dead did not always mean staying dead. I think the best storyline of the series was the time jump and the way it was done. Sydney having lost two years with no memory, then finding out exactly how and why her memory was erased was a great payoff. Especially when that is the kind of story that often falls flat at the big reveal.

The one drawback to the series as I said before is by the end the entire focus was on the Rambaldi storyline, and making the whole supernatural/eternal life storyline. It really did change the feel of the show, and while it did provide a good explanation for Sloane's motivation from the beginning, I think it did better when those parts of the storyline were in a few episodes of the season as opposed to the focus of the season. Overall though if you are looking for a show that combines action, comedy, great acting, and a unique take on the spy world (plus the bonus of Jennifer Garner in skimpy outfits on a pretty consistent basis) this is a good one.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Emerald City: Season 1

 

Emerald City is a trippy and sometimes very odd reimaging of the Land of Oz based on the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland. In this adaptation, set in the modern day (as of 2017 anyway), Dorothy is a nurse in Kansas played by Jessica Alba lookalike Adria Arjona, who still gets transported to Oz via a tornado (although the circumstances are much different than in the movie), and still kills the Wicked Witch of the East (who is conveniently named East). But in this adaptation, East's death sets off a war between witches and the Wizard (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) which Dorothy into which Dorothy is thrown in the middle. Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays Lucas, a strange man with no memory (who is clearly an analog for The Scarecrow from the movie) who accompanies Dorothy through Oz.

The show looks and sounds great on blu-ray. There are, of course, a ton of special effects that make for really good visuals. The extras include a handful of short deleted scenes and a five-part making-of-documentary that runs about 45 minutes, give or take, in total. So, not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.

Chances are a lot of people who watch this will either love the show or hate it. It definitely tells a much different story than what was told in the movie. There is also a lot of violence and some sexual content. While there is no real nudity or explicit sex, it does push the boundaries of what could be shown on regular network tv, including a covered handjob. So, needless to say, this is not going to appeal to everyone and is not something that is appropriate for younger kids. I personally liked the fact that it included more characters than the movie did, and incorporated some of the neighboring kingdoms around Oz into the story. I think Arjona did a good job playing the series lead, but the entire cast including Joely Richardson, Stefanie Martini, and Isabel Lucas, did a good job in their roles. The show was canceled after just ten episodes and the writers were clearly setting up a second season, so if you do watch the show and like it, it may be a bit unfulfilling. 

DVD/Movies Review: The Librarian Trilogy

 

This is a two-disc set containing the three Librarians movies, starring Noah Wyle in his first major post-ER role. Wyle stars a Flynn Carson, a perpetual student with a multitude of pretty useless degrees and no life. Flynn receives an invitation to apply for a job as the librarian at the New York Metropolitan Library. He discovers that the Librarian collects and protects magical and supernatural artifacts like Excaliber, Pandora's Box, and The Ark of the Covenant. In the first movie, The Quest for the Spear, the Spear of Destiny is stolen from the Library, and Flynn and his Guardian, Nicole Noone, (played by Sonya Wagner) have to recover it. In the second movie, Return to King Solomon's Mines, Flynn and an archeologist named Emily Davenport (played by Gabrielle Anwar) must find, and guard the secret of King Solomon's Mine. The third movie, Curse of the Judas Chalice, is set in New Orleans and has a storyline that involves vampires and their version of the Holy Grail. 

The movies are basically Indiana Jones knockoffs with even more supernatural elements than Indiana Jones, mixed with a love story. In each movie, Flynn ends up falling in love with the female lead (Wagner in the first movie, Anwar in the second, and Stana Katic in the third). None of the movies had a huge budget, so the special effects could be a bit cheesy, but I think cheesy was the vibe they were going for. 

Each of the movies has some extras including deleted scenes and some behind-the-scenes featurettes. The extras run about 15 minutes or less per movie, so none of the movies have an extensive amount of bonus content, but it is there for you.

I'd say that the movies are good, but not great. They do have strong supporting casts including Jane Curtin, Bob Newhart (both of whom reprise their roles in the spin-off TV series The Librarians), Kelly Hu, Kyle McLaughlan, Olympia Dukakis, 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Jurassic World

 

Jurassic World is the 2015 reboot of the Jurrasic Park franchise starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Katie McGrath, Irrfan Khan, Judy Greer, and BD Wong (reprising his role from the original movie).  In an era of reboots for both movies and TV shows, it was really only a matter of time before it happened to Jurassic Park. In this movie, the site of the original park on the island of Isla Nubar is rebuilt and opened as Jurassic World. Apparently, nobody learned at InGen a lesson from the events of the first three movies and are hell-bent on creating a dinosaur zoo, which goes about as well as you expect it to. The only legacy character that appears in the movie is BD Wong's Henry Wu, who is still making new breeds of dinosaurs, which again, goes about as well as you would expect. 

The crux of the story is that Park Operations Manager Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) needs to "reinvigorate the public's interest" in the park. Her nephews Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson), fly over to visit her and get a tour of the park, but she is too busy and passes them off to her assistant (played by Supergirl and Merlin's Katie McGrath) and, of course, they get in mortal danger when things hit the fan. Chris Pratt plays the male lead, Owen, who is a velociraptor trainer, who butts heads with everyone in charge at the park, including Claire. None of the other legacy characters like Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm, or Ellie Sattler appear, although one of Ian's books is on display in one of the early scenes. The movie does have some nice tie-ins that pay homage to the original movie, some that are very obvious, and others you have to be kind of sharp-eyed to spot.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the movie looks and sounds great, as you would expect. The A/V quality is wonderful. The extras include deleted scenes, a featurette titled "Chris and Colin Take on the World" is an in-studio conversation with actor Chris Pratt and director Colin Trevorrow, a featurette titled "Dinosaurs Roam Once Again" about the updated special effects used here, a thirty-minute making-of documentary titled "Welcome to Jurassic World" that includes interviews with executive producer Steven Spielberg and producer Frank Marshall, a featurette titled "Jurassic World All-Access Pass" takes a closer look at the design of the park itself, Chris Pratt gives a brief tour of the park's visitors' center, and finally a featurette titled "Jurassic's Closest Shaves" that include attack scenes from all of the movies in the franchise.

Overall, the movie is good. It is not as good as the original 1994 movie, but I think it is somewhere between Jurassic Park II and the original movie in terms of quality. The characters make a lot of bad decisions, as they always seem to do, and there is the really goofy scene of Bryce Dallas Howard running from a dinosaur in heels. Even though you have to give her credit for being able to sprint in heels, it is pretty cheesy. And, of course, the movie continues to play into the myth that a T-Rex (yes, the T-Rex makes an appearance) cannot see you if you stand perfectly still. But there are a lot of good action scenes, Howard and Pratt have really good chemistry, and if you do not nitpick it to death and just enjoy it, it is well worth watching.

Blu-Ray Box Set Review: The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring / The Two Towers / The Return of the King Extended Editions)

 

These are, of course, the movie adaptations of the popular series of novels written by J.J.R. Tolkien and directed by Peter Jackson about a group of Hobbits, Elves, and Humans in the fictional realm of Middle-Earth work together to destroy the one ring to rule them all in order to prevent an evil lord named Sauron from ruling Middle-Earth. The books and movies have been around long enough that I will not do a detailed review of them, but for those who have not seen them, they are basically iconic fantasy stories that are a mix of medieval-era kingdoms and magic and were basically the precursor to Dungeons and Dragons, Game of Thrones, and anything like it.

This set has the extended editions of the movies (which were already long) in which Peter Jackon inserts a bunch of deleted scenes into the movies and extends many of the existing scenes. And these are not additions that just add a few minutes to the movies. They are substantial additions that add a lot of material (Return of the King gets an additional 50 minutes added to it, making the run time over four hours). On top of that, there are a TON of extras. Each movie has four separate commentary tracks, one that includes Peter Jackson and the writers, one that includes cast members, one that includes members of the production team, and one that includes members of the design team. Then there are seven different appendices, each of which contains hours of making-of and behind-the-scenes material that can be played in individual segments or all at once. There are 15 discs in all, and even if you just watch each movie one time, you are looking at over 11 hours to just watch the movies. Then you have hours worth of the appendices material. So, as my headline says, this is just for someone who is a die-hard fan of the movies (or really loves watching bonus content). If you are just a casual fan of the movies or the fantasy genre, then this is very likely overkill and more than you will ever want to watch. But, if you are a die-hard fan, this is definitely worth getting and devoting multiple days to watching.

Blu-Ray/Movie Collection Review: Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures

 

This set contains the other iconic series of movies that Harrison Ford starred in, starting with 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, and going through 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The concept of the series is that Indiana Jones, played by Ford, is a professor and archaeologist who hunts for artifacts (in Raiders it was the Ark of the Covenant, in Temple of Doom it is sacred stones, in The Last Crusade it was The Holy Grail, and in the last movie it is the titular crystal skull. The time frame in which the movies are set spans from the mid-1930s to the 1950s and pit Jones against a range of enemies from Nazis to Russians.

The A/V quality of the movies is great, with each film getting a very good HD transfer. There are a ton of extras, including a new hour-long on-set documentary for Raiders that includes interviews, bloopers, outtakes, and deleted scenes mixed into the behind-the-scenes material. The rest of the extras are ported over from the DVD releases, including a five-part making-of documentary and then several featurettes that range in length from a few minutes to about twenty minutes. Each movie gets a lot of material, but Raiders gets the most.

Overall, this is a quality set. There are some who complain that Crystal Skull is included, which to me is just silly. If there is going to be a collection of the movies, it is going to include all of the movies. If you don't want Crystal Skull you can buy the movies individually and get just the ones you want. I personally have never understood the hate for Crystal Skull. Yes, it has a plot that involves aliens, but Radiers had people's face-melting, and The Last Crusade had someone turn into a skeleton. So, the movies have not exactly been based on total reality. While I do not think it is as good as some of the other movies in the series, it is not nearly as bad as some make it out to be. My only complaint about the set is the packaging. It does appear that newer sets have updated packaging, but if you end up with the older sets, it has the horrible paper sleeves that you have to pull the discs out, which can cause the discs to get scratched. That is what knocks it down a star for me, but content-wise, the movies range from good to great, and there is hours of bonus content if you like watching that. So, it is a great pickup.