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An error has ocurred. Please try again(Films where the insane character starts out insane, such as 'Psycho' or 'Silence of the Lambs', do not count. To qualify, a film has to show the progression from sane to insane.)
Reviews
The Mummy (2017)
Abort this franchise while you still can, Universal
Thousands of years ago, the evil Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) murders her family and attempts to use a magical dagger to perform a ritual to summon Set, the God of Death, into the world. As usual, of course, the royal guards catch her in the act, mummify her alive (yes, in the first five minutes, the movie is already ripping-off ideas from the Brendan Fraser trilogy...), and bury her in a tomb in Iraq. In the present day, cocky treasure hunter Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) unearths the tomb, and... well, frankly, even if you haven't seen the trailers, you can probably guess what happens next. Ahmanet's sarcophagus is carted back to the UK, where she escapes, and sets about reclaiming the dagger to try the ritual again. Tom Cruise gets superpowers, falls in with this secret government organisation that fights monsters, and endeavors to stop her. The end.
'The Mummy', you are probably aware, is intended to kick-off a franchise featuring reboots of all the classic Universal monsters from the 30s. 2014's 'Dracula Untold' was originally slated to kick-off said franchise, but Universal de-canonized it on account of it, well, sucking so hard. I'm all for second chances, but if 'The Mummy' is what Universal offers when it gets one, all I can recommend is that Universal cancels this franchise before it's even started.
'The Mummy' is a bland, limp, stale, clunky, boring, soulless movie - throughout, you can easily sense that it was made for no purpose other than to initiate a series, which in turn is being made for no purpose other than to make money. Neither the director, actors or screenwriter seem to give a rat's ass about the entire project. It contains nothing but generic CGI action sequences - there's not the faintest trace of either fear or excitement, none of the quiet suspense of the 1932 original or the campy fun of the Brendan Fraser series. The special effects, which are perhaps the one sphere in which it could have offered up something interesting and original, aren't anything you haven't seen a million times before - all shambling zombies and swarms of bugs and billowing clouds of sand pursuing after the protagonists. Any and all shots at humor fall flat as pancakes. Ahmanet is a forgettable non-villain, and Morton an even more forgettable non-hero - there is no way that such characters could carry a string of sequels. If something this blandtacular is what they do with the Mummy character, then I've absolutely no desire to see what they do with Count Dracula or Frankenstein's Monster. Not a damned thing about the movie works.
Fool me once ('Dracula Untold'), shame on you. Fool me twice ('The Mummy'), shame on me. This franchise is not going to be viable, Universal. Follow through with it, and you're going to have a series of box office bombs on your hands. Please, for your sake, and ours, pull the plug on it this instant.
We Bought a Zoo (2011)
Pleasant, but predictable
Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is a former adventure journalist whose family - consisting of obligatory cute, precocious 7-year-old daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabth Jones) and obligatory moody, confrontational teenage son Dylan (Colin Ford) - has been in a funk ever since his perfect, pure-as-the-driven snow wife Katherine died. Deciding that a move to a new house is the means of snapping them out of it, Mee discovers a property that seems perfect, only to then be informed that it is in fact a zoo - a dilapidated zoo that is forecasted to close unless someone purchases and refurbishes it. Initially discouraged, he elects to buy the property anyway after he observes what a shine Rosie takes to it. Will the family be able to refurbish the zoo in time for its grand reopening? Will Benjamin and Dylan reconcile with each other? Will Benjamin enter a new romantic relationship with the attractive divorced female zookeeper (Scarlett Johansson) who runs the zoo?
Gee, what do you think?
'We Bought a Zoo' is a fluffy, amiable, inoffensive film, but there's no getting around the fact that it's incredibly, incredibly schematic. There's no plot development that you can't see coming from a mile away, no dilemma that isn't solved by a convenient contrivance, and little dialogue that isn't trite. (At one point, prior to the move, when Rosie can't sleep due to the next-door neighbors having a party, she declares: "Their happy's too loud."). Hell, there's even a "villain" in the form of Walter Ferris (John Michael Higgins), a snooty, "evil" zoo inspector who swaggers around, looking down his nose at Benjamin, and threatens to close the zoo unless every square inch of it complies with draconian regulations. (Walter Ferris joins the likes of Principal Edward Rooney from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', and Walter Peck from 'Ghostbusters', as an example of a character who is framed as a "villain" simply by virtue of doing his damn job!).
If it's a rainy afternoon, you're feeling depressed, and you just want some generic, no-frills, Hollywood feel-good comfort food, then 'We Bought a Zoo' actually works quite well. I'll be the first to say that there is, in fact, nothing inherently wrong with such a movie. But if you're in any way jaded or cynical, or in any way a connoisseur, then 'We Bought a Zoo' is liable to make you roll your eyes hard.