MOVIE - The Mummy

PG-13 (1:50)

Wide release 6/9/17

Viewed Monday, 6/12/17 at Carlisle 8 (comfy reclining seats)
IMBd: 5.8/10

RT Critic: 15 (Now that's pretty bad!)  Audience:  42
Critic's Consensus:  Lacking the campy fun of the franchise's most recent entries and failing to deliver many monster-movie thrills, The Mummy suggests a speedy unraveling for the Dark Universe.

Cag:  3/Liked it for the most part

Directed by Alex Kurtzman

Universal Studios

Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Courtney B. Vance

My comments:  I can't believe that both Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe would do such a silly, forgettable movie.  For the money?  Except....actually....as silly as it was, I enjoyed it for the most part.  I loved the ancient Egyptology, I loved going to Mesopotamia/Iran, I even enjoyed the legend...but why did they have to include zombies?  Her minions could've been done so much more cleverly.  It also seemed overly long.  Great ending.  Left it open for many more, and I'm guessing this one will be lucrative enough so there will probably be more coming.  Just not what I pictured as a Tom Cruise/Russell Crowe film.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend that has fascinated cultures all over the world since the dawn of civilization: The Mummy. Thought safely entombed in a tomb deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient princess (Sofia Boutella of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension. From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters. Cruise is joined by a cast including Annabelle Wallis (upcoming King Arthur, television's Peaky Blinders), Jake Johnson (Jurassic World), Courtney B. Vance (TV's American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson) and Oscar (R) winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator). 

MOVIE - Man from U.N.C.L.E

PG-13 (1:56)

Limited release 8/14/15

Saw this sometime in October, 2015

RT Critic: 67   Audience:  76

Cag:  4 Liked it a lot

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Warner Bros. Pictures

My comments:  I totally enjoyed this.  I was sure it wouldn't live up to my loving memories of David McCallum's Illya Kuryakin, but it did...and perhaps even surpassed those memories.  The two protagonists were cast really well.  The story was interesting, and the time flew by.  

RT Summary:  Henry Cavill ("Man of Steel") stars as Napoleon Solo opposite Armie Hammer ("The Social Network") as Illya Kuryakin in director Guy Ritchie's "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," a fresh take on the hugely popular 1960s television series. Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." centers on CIA agent Solo and KGB agent Kuryakin. Forced to put aside longstanding hostilities, the two team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist, who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him and prevent a worldwide catastrophe.

MOVIE - True Grit

So good!
Released 12-22-10 (Wide)
PG-13 (1:50)
2/5/11 at El Con alone
RT 95% cag 94%
Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen
Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon

Sure, I saw the original with John Wayne, Kim Darby, and Glen Campbell. I remembered the story, but it'd been so long I didn't remember the particulars.

THIS cast nailed it. Loved it. So good.