The Mummy

CHICAGO – Universal Studio’s “Dark Universe,” which is centered around its stable of classic movie monsters, isn’t a bad idea. But in the darkly inauspicious debut feature called “The Mummy,” everything unravels. This is a mixed, muddled, marvel of a mess that contains an assembly of special effects, but precious little life.

CHICAGO – It’s incredible to think about the influence of the wave of Universal monsters movies released by the studio in the ’30s and ’40s and recently collected in a gorgeous box set titled “Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection.” Sure, several of the iconic characters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy had source material to draw from but it really is the way that the Universal films, their directors, and the actors cast in them brought them to life that really defined them.

CHICAGO – In our latest trilogy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Blu-ray, we have 5 Blu-rays up for grabs for the home entertainment release of “The Scorpion King 3: Battle For Redemption”!

CHICAGO – The threequel that culminates with “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is so hackneyed that even the main star of the previous two films – Brendan Fraser – wasn’t enough to sell audiences on a third return. Universal Studios needed to enlist co-star Jet Li to stand a fighting chance and take the mood the Asian way.