Tom Cruise’s The Mummy is the beginning of a new Dark Universe for Universal Studios, and as such is tasked with connecting this film to a bunch of other ones in the franchise. The Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, and a bunch of others will soon be hitting the big screen, all under the Dark Universe umbrella. So, what fits them all together? The plot device — I mean, the Prodigium, of course.
Universal’s Dark Universe is kicking off with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy, which is only a week away(!!!). While we know that this movie will, indeed, feature a mummy who is hunting down Tom Cruise for some reason (I mean, weren’t we all, at some point in our lives?) a few things still remain a mystery. What is Russell Crowe’s Dr. Jekyll’s role in all this? How did Cruise and his team of archaeologists stumble upon the mummy’s tomb anyway? And why does she want Tom Cruise so badly?
If we’re being honest with each other, I’m not typically a big fan of behind-the-scenes videos and features. These days they all seem the same: an actor jumps in front of a blue background and lands on a blue foam pad, and everyone stands up and smiles at each other for a job well done. My one big exception is Tom Cruise movies. Cruise’s action films are a testament to doing things the hard way, so every highlight reel of the actor slamming into cars, hitting his head against walls, or getting punched in the face is a testament to a dying trade.
Every year, when the bottom drops out of the summer movie season and audiences decide to stay home and watch television instead, some well-meaning critic will publish an article asking if cinema is dead. And every year, I pose the same question in response: “Is Tom Cruise still an action star?” As long as Tom Cruise is running across multiplex screens — fighting rogue nations, government consiparcies, and even the occasional mummy — there is still hope for cinema. Then, when Cruise’s career is done and Hollywood is in ashes, then, cinema, you have my permission to die.
The Nice Guys opens with a shot of the Hollywood sign in 1977, dilapidated and covered with graffiti. While modern film nerds look back at that era as a kind of Golden Age, the Los Angeles of The Nice Guys is a place that has lost its luster. The town is swimming in smog and porn; it is literally and metaphorically dirty from top to bottom. The crumbling Hollywood sign is historically accurate, but it also makes a convenient symbol, not just of the place as it was, but as it still is — particularly at this time of year, when everything is based on something else and it sometimes feels like the studios are remaking movies that were just released a few weeks earlier.
Warner Bros. has taken a pretty clever approach to marketing The Nice Guys, Shane Black's new dark comedy noir starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as a mismatched pair of investigators. In keeping with that idea, these new video shorts feature Gosling and Crowe playing fictional versions of themselves, forced to attend couples therapy to work out their issues so they can more amicably promote the film together.
In addition to helming a new 'Predator' sequel, 'Iron Man 3' director Shane Black is heading back to detective work with his new film 'The Nice Guys.' And what better pair of guys can you get than Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, who have both just been cast in Black's newest project as a detective duo.
The story of Noah as it is written in the King James Bible is about three pages. If you want to Google it, read it, then come back to this you can go ahead. I'll wait here as I continue to stream some of Clint Mansell's spooky and enthralling score to the new Darren Aronofsky film starring Russell Crowe.
Back? Yeah, so, not a whole heck of a lot there. But did you catch the tiny references to thin
'Noah' is the first movie to release its 2014 Super Bowl ad, and now we're starting to get a look at the larger picture of the film. There's the familiar images of Russell Crowe preparing his ark, and looks at his family, but now we can see that fire is raining down from the heavens.