Tag Archives: Universal Pictures

Thoughts on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

30 Jun

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

  • Major Spoiler Alert

In preparation for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a rewatch of the first film (and original trilogy) was needed. To see how it all ties together is mildly explored. This latest entry takes place three years after and yes, some advancements in cloning technology happened to allow for the unthinkable.

Dr Henry Wu (B. D. Wong) is continuing his hybrid experiments. I hoped more detail would emerge about who his new masters are, but nothing is revealed. Without him, there would be no ongoing series. Another film is planned.

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R.I.P. The Mummy (1999-2008) Retrospective

5 May

the_mummyBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Before Stephen Sommers version of The Mummy gets fully buried in the wake of the upcoming 2017 film next month, I have to fondly recall the elements that I enjoyed from this past iteration. The 1999 film was heavily inspired by the pulps. Although its star, Rick O’Connell (played by Brendan Fraser) would gladly let his son Alex keep the world at peace, I do not think a consortium existed to help develop the continuity needed for the spin-off material.

If that was the case, I imagine the character of Anubis would play an important role throughout the entire saga instead of being a background character for the first two movies. He is the god of death, and before Osiris landed in the Underworld and succeeded to the role, was in control of many a person’s fate should anyone die within his domain, the land of Egypt.

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All Revved Up for the Fate of the Furious

27 Apr

furiousposter_0By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The ride is not over for the gang in The Fate of the Furious (F8). This franchise is still going strong since its beginnings in 2001 and even though it hit bumps along the way, I was thrown off and did not want to necessarily continue following until word of mouth coaxed me back.

Director F. Gary Gray keeps the visual action moving at a steady pace. There was never a dull moment and I had to whoop at the introduction fondly recalling how this film franchise started — all about racing — before dealing with heist scenarios and counter-espionage. While some knowledge of all the films is helpful before going to see this latest entry, at least I still remembered the basics:

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Resurrecting Familiar Tropes in The Mummy (2017) Second Trailer

13 Apr

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

After looking at the second The Mummy trailer multiple times in the past few weeks since its release, I still can not shake the feeling I have seen this story before. I’m not as excited as the first trailer has led me to believe.

While I plan to see how this reboot helmed by director Alex Kurtzman and written by Jon Spaihts and Christopher McQuarrie pans out, I am setting the bar low because of what I have seen in past and present products about bringing dead Egyptians back to life. King Tut must be rolling in his grave; A film about his haunted tomb sounds like a better idea than where the creators are going with this film. At the same time, I’m left wondering if all the studio producers wanted is to take the best from what Stephen Sommers created from his trilogy and make simple creative changes to make this reboot seem original. After reading the fourth issue of Hammer Comic’s The Mummy, I’m finding I’m liking their story better. At least cults and hungry devourers from the afterlife are involved than a secret agenda which Dr Jekyll (played by Russell Crowe) no doubt harbours.

Much like Rick O’Connell, Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) is a soldier fighting in a war, and after a building gets blown up, he stumbles across a tomb (actually, a prison) which he makes the mistake of disturbing. He may also have a past that connects him to the Mummy (Sofia Boutella). Jenny (Annabelle Wallis) is just as smart as Evie and has knowledge of Ancient Egypt’s lines of pharaonic successors. As revealed in the first trailer, birds come crashing upon the transport plane carrying the sarcophagus, and as for whether the corpse was awake to summon them, that’s a detail not revealed. Maybe someone has read from a book to awaken The Mummy and to cause the carrier to crash. Everyone should be dead, except for Morton, and Jenny provides all the back story that’s needed to get people interested in this film up to speed.

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