The Mummy (1999)

“You heard the man no mortal weapons can kill the creature.”

“Then we’ll have to find some immortal one.”

“There goes that ‘we’ again.”

            We all have those movies in our lives that we count as classic and cherished family memories. In my family we have several but one that is oddly very near and dear to us is The Mummy from 1999. I was eleven and a half years old. I remember going to see this in the theaters. It was my first “scary” movie in the theaters. My youngest brother would not be born for another few weeks when this was released. He is actually the reason why this movie holds so many good memories for all of us because as he got a little older he would watch The Mummy on repeat almost every single day! He got into The Mummy when he was around two because of The Mummy Returns. He had all the toys that came out for the second movie. My entire family teases my brother to this day (he will be sixteen soon!) about his love of the movie and how he would watch it constantly.

            In a cheesy sentimental way I am dedicating this write up of The Mummy to my brother… and I am doing so because he will never read this!

            The story begins back in Ancient Egyptian times. A high priest named Imhotep is caught messing around with the queen Anck Su Namun. For his treachery Imhotep is condemned to the worst punishment: he has his eyes and tongue ripped out and then buried alive. Imhotep and his priests are placed in Hamunaptra for all eternity.

            Thousands of years later in the 1930s the French Foreign Legion is fighting an Egyptian force called the Medjai for control of the ancient desert site of Hamunaptra. Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) is an American fighting for the French Legion. He gets far into the ancient. He is standing in one particular spot when all the sudden he hears a voice speaking in Egyptian and then the sand kicks up around him as if on the attack. Rick runs away and a face is revealed in the sand.

            In the city of Cairo is the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. A young scholarly English woman named Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) work as a librarian. She desperately wants to join a professional group of scholars but keeps getting rejected despite the fact that her father was a very famous explorer. Her brother Jonathan (Jon Hannah) comes to the library one day to show her an object that he supposedly found on a dig. Evelyn reads the ancient Egyptian text on the object and says he may have found something. She presses a button a piece of papyrus comes out. She believes it is the location to Hamunaptra. When they take it to her boss he dismisses Hamunaptra as a legend to amuse tourists and burns off a part of the map. Jonathan then reveals to his sister that he lied and stole it off a guy who is in jail.

            The guy stole the object from turns out to be Rick O’Connell. When Evelyn and Jonathan go to the jail to see Rick, they find out he is about to be hanged for some kind of crime. Rick is a mess of a man and very rude. He tells Evelyn that he knows the location of Hamunaptra by heart since he was fighting for it and if she wants to go there he has to get her out. Evelyn manages to bribe the jailer and Rick is set free.

            On the same boat as Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan is a group of American men who are also traveling to Hamunaptra. While Evelyn wants to go to the ancient city for scholarly reasons the Americans want to go purely to find treasure to become rich off of. Rick knows there is only one other person who knows the location of Hamunaptra and that person is a little weasel of a man named Beni that he had fought with in the French Legion. That night the boat is burned up by the Medjai who are trying to keep both groups from continuing on to the ancient city.

            Despite the setback on the boat both groups manage to make it to Hamunaptra. They almost kill each other fighting for spaces to explore and dig. Evelyn finds another place to go further under the ground. In their exploration Evelyn, Rick and Jonathan find the sarcophagus of Imhotep. They see he was alive when he was buried from the scratch marks inside the coffin and Evelyn reads that he suffered the worst of all ancient Egyptian curses. The Americans, in the meantime, have found The Book of the Dead and canopic jars with ancient body parts inside. That night Rick steals The Book of the Dead from the Americans. She reads on the surface under the night sky while below under the sand in his tomb the mummy of Imhotep comes back to life.

            Now Imhotep’s mummy is looking for the canopic jars the Americans stole and taking their lives in order to regenerate. It is now up to Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan to stop Imhotep from gaining power and destroying Egypt.

            I fucking love The Mummy so much! It is so cheesy and silly and I love it the more I watch it. When I was little I was totally obsessed with Ancient Egypt. I was that weird kid that loved history with an insane passion and Ancient Egypt was where that insane passion went towards. The Mummy was like my dream. I wanted to be like Evelyn Carnahan who was an awesome female Ancient Egyptian Scholar and I still would love to be like her! My history loving heart will never fade I have a degree in Art History and museum studies for crying out loud! The story and adventure is also a lot of fun and entertaining. There are so many great scenes and lines I cannot even say what my favorite scenes and lines are. As I mentioned, I have great memories attached to The Mummy from going to see it in theaters when it was released to watching it all the time with my little brother. Maybe he will read this review one day and appreciate how happy the memories of him watching The Mummy over and over again when he was small makes me feel. That would be nice.

             If you have not seen The Mummy… what have you been doing with your life for the past fourteen years?! It is like one of those movies you have to watch. It is such a silly entertaining movie you will have so much fun watching. 

Oz The Great and Powerful (2013)

 “I might not actually be a wizard...”

“Yes, but they don't know that.”

            Ever since I was little I have loved The Wizard of Oz. One year in pre-school my mom and my grandma made me my very own Dorothy costume. One of my earliest memories is of my mom and grandma taking a pair of white Keds and adding red sparkles on them for my costume. I even had a stuffed dog in a lunch box that looked just like Dorothy’s. Not too long ago I read the book by L. Frank Baum and loved it. When I heard about that Disney was making the pre-queal Oz The Great and Powerful I had to see it. Unfortunately last year I was going through some stuff and I never got to see it in the theaters. Low and behold this past week while I was working (I work at a library) I found Oz The Great and Powerful on DVD and I borrowed it. I do not think I had too much expectations for this movie and in many ways I am thankful for that.

            Oz (James Franco) is an illusionist in a traveling circus. He is not a very good man with a good heart. He tries to seduce women and gives them a story about a music box and how it was his grandmother’s and on and on. In one of his shows Oz levitates a woman and a girl in a wheelchair wants him to make her walk. Obviously his illusions are just that he is not a real magician. The crowd gets angry with him. He takes his anger and frustrations out on his assistant Frank (Zach Braff). When he returns to his train car a girl he loves named Annie (Michelle Williams) is there. Annie has come to tell him that a man named John Gale has asked her to marry him but she wants to know what he (Oz) thinks. Oz knows he cannot be a good faithful man to Annie so he tells her to marry John. Oz looks out his window to see a one of the women in the circus begging her boyfriend the strongman not to get upset over the music box he found. The strongman immediately goes after Oz. Fortunately for Oz he has a trapped door in his wagon and gets away before the strongman can crush him. Oz runs into a hot air balloon and manages to cut it free before the strongman can pull it close enough to reach Oz.

            Thinking he is very lucky Oz turns around and realizes he is heading straight towards the middle of a tornado. The hot air balloon is thrown all around the tornado and slats from a fence come tearing into the basket. Oz yells out that he does not want to die and that if he lives he promises to be a good man and make something of his life. All the sudden everything around Oz seems to lose gravity and is suspended in the air. The balloon is brought to a bright and colorful world.

            The balloon and Oz crash land into a shallow lake. On the shore waiting for him is a beautiful young woman named Theodora (Mila Kunis). She tells him he is in the land of Oz. When he says his name is Oz (at least that is his nickname his full name is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs) Theodora exclaims it is a sign that he was meant to be the great wizard who would come and rule their land. She bring him to the Emerald City where she lives with her older sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz). Right away you can see that Evanora has a not very good plan up her sleeve. She tells Oz that another witch Glinda (Williams in a dual role) has killed her father so she could take over and destroy everything. She wants Oz to be the one to kill Glinda and then he can take over the throne. He has to go through the Dark Forest in order to get to Glinda.

            Oz accepts Evanora’s wishes but only because he can become king and have a vast amount of riches. He takes along his new flying monkey friend Finley (Braff, also in a dual role). Along the way they come across a town made of china. The town with broken houses is bare and eerily silent. When they walk past one of the houses they find a small china girl hidden behind a table. She cannot move her legs have been broken. Oz, with the glue he has in his bag, puts her legs back together. He tells her to come with them. When they get back to the yellow brick road Oz tells the china girl she cannot come with them she has to go to the Emerald City. The girl cries and hugs Oz’s leg to let her come with them. Oz reluctantly agrees that she can come along.

            When they reach the edge of the Dark Forest two crows cackle they are going to die. They come to a scary house and a cemetery. A clothed dark figure walks to the cemetery gates. In order to destroy Glinda they have to break her wand so she will not have any powers. They manage to grab the wand but before they can break it they are surprised by the cloaked figure. When the figure removes her cape away from her face she is a beautiful woman with a kind face. Oz cannot get over how much she looks like Annie. Glinda walks them to where her father is buried. She tells them she is not the one who killed her father. Evanora is responsible the killing and for everything bad that has happened.

            In the Emerald City, Evanora sees what is happening between Glinda and Oz. She is upset and wants to make her sister upset as well. She knows that Theodora loves Oz so she makes it appear that Oz no longer loves her. Evanora tricks her sister into eating an apple that has a spell in it to turn her heart cold so she will not have to feel anything. Theodora writhes around the room in agony then falls to the floor. When she gets up she is not the girl she once was both physically and personality wise.

            Glinda brings Oz, the china girl, and Finley to her home. The people of her home are all good and honest and hard working. Oz tells her he is not a wizard he is just a man. She tells him the people do not know that he is not a real wizard. They all have faith in him that he is the one to help them. All the sudden dark clouds appear and the kingdom’s protective wall has been broke. It could only be broken by two strong and evil witches. Something comes crashing down in a ball of flame. It is Theodora only now she is green and wears all black.

            With the help of the good people Oz works with all of them to come up with a plan to attack the Emerald City to take it back.

            There are many issues with this film. The main issue I had was with the casting. Seriously, James Franco as the Wizard of Oz? I like Franco I think he is a good actor but come on. He was so wrong for the part. Michelle Williams I am not a fan of. She is not the worst actress but there is no way she is one of the best (still cannot believe she was nominated for an Academy Award). Mila Kunis as the Wicked Witch… not even going to go there. Rachel Weisz and Zach Braff were the only good actors in this whole movie. I have seen Weisz in enough of a wide variety of films to be able to say she is a brilliant actress. She was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to see this movie in the first place. I was so excited to see her as a bad guy. Weisz was awesome. I did feel bad for her and Michelle Williams when Glinda and Evanora had to fight each other in the air. It was so bad I was laughing so hard I could not take them flying around seriously.  Zach Braff pretty much played a bit more serious JD from Scrubs when he was voicing Finley. He was perfect as the wise cracking monkey.

            The costumes for Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis were beautiful. Mila Kunis is a pretty girl and she looked stunning in the first few costumes she wore. There was one costume she wore that was a black and white dress with a red shawl or covering over it. The dress reminded me of a 1950s Dior dress it was gorgeous.

            I was absolutely dying over the sets. The Emerald City was all 1930s Art Deco that was a great homage to The Wizard of Oz.  The set of Glinda’s kingdom was in the Art Nouveau style. Art Nouveau draws its inspiration from nature and it is very soft and flowing it was perfect for Glinda’s kingdom. There are a pair of doors I was drooling over they were so beautiful, ha ha.

            Oz the Great and Powerful felt like it was trying too hard. It was trying hard to be just as magical and colorful as The Wizard of Oz. The worst thing about this movie was the CGI. There was way too much of it and in a few scenes you can see the blue outline around the actors. One of the great aspects of watching The Wizard of Oz or any old film is the fact that all the whimsical or action scenes were all done by simple technology and a lot of creativity. I am not knocking the special effects/CGI people in the movie business today they are amazing and definitely artistic but it is not the same as people building sets and creating a total different kind of art. The story to Oz the Great and Powerful was not too bad. What brings the movie down is the CGI and the acting. Besides the CGI and acting I still recommend seeing Oz the Great and Powerful some time. I do warn you though do not in any way compare this with the original. I apologize if it sounds like I was comparing the two. They are completely different films. 

Deep Blue Sea (2011)

The Deep Blue Sea is a movie that I am not sure how I feel about it. The story was alright but the acting was amazing which I have to say I was expecting since Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston are in it and their performances are never disappointing.

            The story is about a woman who is destroyed by love. It takes place after World War II. Hester Collyer (Weisz) is married to a judge named William. William is older than Hester and she feels trapped in their relationship. His mother is not very nice to her which puts more strain on her. She has an affair with a man her own age named Freddie Page (Hiddleston). Hester really loves Freddie and is willing to sacrifice everything for him. When William finds out about her affair he refuses to give her a divorce and promises to make things difficult for her.

            When Freddie is out of town Hester tries to kill herself but the landlady finds her before it is too late. The landlady calls William to come. He is not mad at her and asks Hester if she is still in love with Freddie. When she says yes he tells her he will give her a divorce. Freddie comes home that day, Hester does not tell him what happened but he finds her note to him and he goes into a rage. He cannot believe that because he forgot her birthday she tried to kill herself. Freddie storms out.

            We see that Freddie and Hester’s relationship blew hot and cold from the beginning. As Hester to explains to William Freddie’s life ended when the War started, he has not been the same since. But no matter how upset and angry Freddie gets Hester still loves him.

            Freddie decides to take a test pilot job down in South America. Hester asks if she can go with him but he says no because they are lethal to each other and that their relationship ended the day he read that note.

            The ending is sad but it is one that you could see coming.

            I know my summary probably sucks and you have no idea what is going but I was not impressed with the story and it flipped back and forth from the present to the past. I do not mind when movie plots use those devices I love flashback but with this film they are a bit complicated to explain. My favorite flashback of the movie is when Hester is running to Tube. She stops short of the platform and she remembers a night when she and William had to take shelter in the Underground during the War. The entire scene from Hester running downing the steps to the platform to her flashback to her leaving the platform was beautifully filmed.

            Rachel Weisz is an incredible actress. The more movies I see her in the more I like her. She was fabulous as Hester. Weisz had the look for a woman living in Post-War England. Her best scene was the Tube scene I just really liked that scene. Tom Hiddleston was also great. He had a great scene where Freddie freaks out on Hester that was fantastic, he blew that scene out of the water. I hope Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston will make another movie in the future they looked great together.

            I have to give a mention to the score. It was very haunting and at times very eerie. It reminded me of the Psycho by Bernard Hermmann at times.  

            The Deep Blue Sea is a sad love story. I am not really a fan of stories like this or Wuthering Heights where the main characters love each other so much but just destroy each other. That to me is not a love story. It was just really sad to see this woman who all she wanted was love but she was just on a self destructive path the whole time. She was in love with a man who had just as many problems as she did. As of right now The Deep Blue Sea is not available on DVD in the US, right now it is only available overseas. If you can get a hold of a copy give the movie a try not so much for the story but for the acting and the direction.