Lee Cronin's The Mummy Review

 

It's Saturday night which means it's time to review a brand new movie. Let's dive in.

Lee Cronin's The Mummy or simple just The Mummy, is a supernatural horror and another reimagining to The Mummy franchise. The movie's produced by New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions and Wicked/Good with Warner Bros. acting as the distributor. If the name didn't give it away, Lee Cronin both wrote and directed.

The story is, Charlie and Larissa's eldest daughter Katie was kidnapped by mysterious stranger. Eight years later they daughter has returned but she's found in a sarcophagus and has been mummified yet somehow still alive. Soon, Charlie and Larissa will learn that their once innocent daughter is now possessed by ancient demon.

Initial Reaction

My simple reason for wanting to see this movie is because I was curious. I was curious how Lee Cronin was gonna tackle The Mummy. I really dug what he did in Evil Dead Rise, so I figured he bring new elements to this franchise as well.

Cons

The biggest con to this movie was the lack of Mummy elements. I mean they're there. We get to see some lore behind the ancient evil, the people behind it who worship or fear it, and Katie is mummified, but when watching this movie I got more of an Exorcist vibe. Which wouldn't have been a bad thing had this movie gone by another title, but since it has The Mummy as it's title, ya can't help but feel like the movie has an identity crisis.

Middle Ground

My only mixed feelings was with the story, or to be more specific the parent element to it. I get what Lee Cronin was going for. Despite Katie's appearance and some HUGE red flags, the mom and dad just wanted to bring their little girl home since she was gone for eight years. The story is touching on themes of grief, loss, and the fear of their child has been changed even though they've returned to them. But man, sometimes it's hard to get into the story when the parents make some very questionable choices. Sure there's the possibility Katie is now the spawn of Satan, but mom and dad are pretty certain it's okay to leave her with her younger siblings. So I do admire the story's thematic ambitions, it's just some of the character choices can be a little frustrating.

Pros

The biggest praise I can give this movie is it's special effects. Their the movie's biggest highlight. Ya got Katie's mummy appearance where she looks all decayed and nasty looking, other good body horror moments, and plenty of gore to go around. I reminded me very of Cronin's Evil Dead Rise. So if you liked the elements of that movie, then you'll like what happens here. The last thing I'll credit is the acting. The cast truly ground the movie and can make the stakes, especially the family stakes, very convincing. But I gotta give the most praise towards Natalie Grace as Katie (the Mummy one, not the child one). She was incredible. She killed it when the character had to give an eerie vibe or whenever she had to go full blown demon mode. She was spectacular in this and I hope she gets the chance to star in more projects.

So overall Lee Cronin's The Mummy isn't bad, it's just an okay movie. I didn't hate after I was done watching, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it anytime soon.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's a wrap. Come back on Monday, Apr 20th, because of that day we return to the Road to Avengers: Doomsday! Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Scary Movie (2026) - Scary Movie 3 Review

 

Alright, we're back on the Road to Scary Movie (2026). Only this time we don't have the Wayans Brothers, so that begs the question. Will this be any good or are we looking at a dud?

Scary Movie 3 is a parody and the second sequel to the franchise. Where as the first movie spoofed Scream & I Know What You Did Last Summer, the second making fun of haunted house films, this one spoofs the movies The Ring, Signs, among others. Production was done Brad Grey Pictures with Dimension Films being the distributor. Craig Mazin and Pat Proft wrote the screenplay while David Zucker directed.

The story is, Cindy now working as a local reporter has come across a cursed video tape that when watched will kill you in seven days. Meanwhile George and his widowed pastor brother Tom have discovered crop circles and learn that aliens are coming. Soon, they realize these two are somehow connected and they need to find out how to put a stop to both.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Much like the previous Scary Movie flicks the humor can be a mixed bag. Let me praise some of the good stuff first. Now initially I was worried going into this the quality would drop significantly because as previously stated the Wayans Bros. weren't involved in anyway and I also found this was rated PG-13 while the previous two were rated R. But thankfully the movie is still pretty funny. Under David Zucker's direction Scary Movie 3 has a vibe similar to his previous works like the ever classic Airplane! We truly do get some very funny moments, my absolute favorite being a character's funeral going horrible wrong. However there were moments that I couldn't really get behind. Sure the 8 Mile parody had it's moments but that along with some Matrix Reloaded spoofs kind of felt tacked on. Sure the previous two Scary Movie movies had jokes about other films in there but they were mainly just one and done gags not part of the plot.

• Positives

The pacing is good. I won't go another further than that because I'll just be repeating what I've said from the first two reviews. So yes, much like the previous ones, the pacing is handled well.

But I will continue to praise Anna Faris. Once again she's great as Cindy Campbell, continuing to deliver that ditzy but lovable character we've loved since the first movie. She also has great chemistry with Simon Rex giving romantic but goofy romance, but mainly goofy. Then you have great performances like Charlie Sheen who despite not being in this too much, still gives us good laughs with a lot of his delivery being deadpan reactions or laugh out moments like when his character is having one last moment with his dying wife. The cast whether it's Regina Hall or a scene stealer like the late, great Leslie Nelson also do a tremendous job with the material regardless of how big their roles are.

So yeah, I actually really enjoyed Scary Movie 3 far more than I thought I would. It still isn't perfect but definitely felt like an improvement from Scary Movie 2. Although that may not be a fair state considering Scary Movie 2 was rushed while this one was given more time to breath during it's production stage. Regardless, this is a fun watch.

My final rating is, Good.

Alright that's all for now. Sorry I uploaded this so late, but my dad needed help with raking leaves and thanks to the slight rain making everything humid thus making everything hot and unbearable, by the time I was done I needed to take a long break before writing this review. But hopefully you'll come back on Saturday, Apr 18th, for my review of Lee Cronin's The Mummy. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Thrash Review

 

Alright Netflix is giving us a shark. Will be a huge hit that'll become a classic like Jaws? Doubt it, but hey as long as it's fun.

Thrash is a survival thriller movie that's produced by Sony Pictures and Hyperobject Industries with Netflix being the distributor. Tommy Wirkola both wrote and directed.

The story is, a coastal town has been hit by category 5 hurricane thus making the streets completely flooded. But the residents of this town will quickly realize it's the storm that they should be trying to survive, but the swarm of hungry sharks.

Initial Reaction

Now originally there wasn't a long term plan to review this. Not because I wasn't interested but because I didn't know about this until like Tuesday or Wednesday. At first I wanted to see because it looked like it could be a fun shark movie, but then I found out it was directed and written by Tommy Wirkola, and he brought my newer favorite Christmas watch traditions [Violent Night]. So now I truly wanted to see it more then ever.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

One grey area is the characters. They're very basic people. You got the kids, you have your character with a troubled past, and so on and so fourth. I didn't hate them by any stretch, well expect maybe the foster parents because they were awful people, but other than those two I didn't hate these characters. If anything they served their roles just fine. The other mix bag was the special effects. Now the hurricane and flood were great. They felt very immersive. The CGI on the sharks however aren't exactly bad but I don't see anybody overly praising them. The effects are slick and look better underwater, but when it came time for the sharks be in the light, you can tell it was CGI. Nothing I found laughable like with an Asylum or SyFy original movie, but you know it was CGI.

Pros

I give credit for the use of humor. I don't know what was going in with Tommy Wirkola's mind when he was writing this, but given his track record use tongue-in-cheek absurdity mixed with action and gore, I think even he knew this movie was gonna be a very pulpy B-movie so he added in some humor. Which again, I didn't find bad, especially since there were some pretty funny moments sprinkled throughout. Another praise I'll is the pacing. This is a breeze to get through. It starts off with a nicely slow build up but once the disaster strikes that's when the shark attacks begin and the thrills and humor never stop. Lastly I'll give credit to the performances. Nobody is gonna win any awards for this, but everybody did provide a sense of fun and energy to their roles, so whether it'd be the acting or shark kills I can't really say I was bored when watching this.

Thrash is by no means a perfect movie. However I think if you want to sit down and watch some turn off your brain popcorn flick entertainment, then give this a chance.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's gonna do it for me. Come back on Monday, Apr 13th, cause of that day we're going back on the Road to Scary Movie (2026) with my review of Scary Movie 3. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day. 

Cinematic Disasters - The Babe Ruth Story

 

Alright, a brand new Cinematic Disasters. Only this time it's a movie about one of the most iconic baseball players and his "true" story. You'll soon find out why I put true in quotation marks.

The Babe Ruth Story is a biographical sports film about the iconic baseball star Babe Ruth, with production being done by Roy Del Ruth Productions and distribution was done by Allied Artists. Bob Considine and George Callahan wrote the screenplay with Roy Del Ruth directing.

The story is, George Herman Ruth Jr. was once just an ordinary kid but by the time he turned 18 he's incredible baseball skills are discovered. Soon he called "Babe Ruth" and before we know it he won't be just another baseball player, he'll become of the legendary baseball stars.

My Thoughts

Oh boy...where do we even begin? Let's start off with William Bendix as Babe Ruth. First let me give you a side-by-side.

William Bendix (left) and Babe Ruth (right)

Yeah you'll notice this two don't even come close to looking alike. But even if we can ignore that Bendix's performance is way off. Movie Babe Ruth is childlike, kind of bumbling, and can be an innocent simpleton. But the Babe Ruth in real life had a far more complex and flawed personality. I guess they didn't want to showcase that flawed personality what with Ruth's rapidly declining health from esophageal cancer. But come on, you could've showed some of his flaws.

Now let's get into some story elements or lack there of. What I mean is this movie focuses so much on his baseball career that it's easy to forget that Babe Ruth has a personal life. We don't spend that much time with his friends and family. The filmmakers completely skip over his wife Helen, and what love interest we do get with Claire it's barely mentioned. Hell, there were times I forgot Babe Ruth and Claire are suppose to be a couple in this movie. I know more about Babe Ruth saving a dog's life then his marriages!

Then we have the tone of this movie. It's so squeaky clean and sugar coated it's actually insulting then uplifting. When making a biopic you're suppose to tell us the story of the person behind the fame. We as an audience both from 1948 to now want to see how our idols overcame struggles. And Babe Ruth had a lot of issues to touch upon. There was his womanizing, his temper issues, heavy drinking, among other things in his life. What's funny is they could've easily had these issues in the movie and still give us an inspiring, uplifting tale but the production was being rushed because Babe Ruth was dying from his previously mentioned cancer and wanted this out while he was still alive. So both Hollywood (and Ruth's estate) gave us a tribute that made Ruth a quirky hero without any scandal they felt could tarnish his legacy. I get it was only for good intentions (or hopefully good intentions) but the problem is we have a movie that's so polished that it feels like it's talking down at us because apparently the filmmakers thought nobody could handle any "adult" subject matters.

Now let's get into the baseball scenes...there's none of them! No I'm seriously we get no baseball in this baseball biopic. Sometimes we'll see Ruth up to bat and then cut to somebody saying "Oh wow! Did ya see that swing! That was amazing! I've never seen anything like it!" A matter of fact most of Babe's games are told through newspaper transitions! No I'm serious, we don't get to see a single game we get newspaper clippings. How exciting! And when it's not baseball scenes that we barely or don't get to see, it's scenes like how Babe Ruth got arrested for starting a bar fight and how it took twenty-four policemen to arrest him. Well at least the movie did actually if even slightly touched on the anger issues thing, too bad we didn't get to see it!

Lastly let's touch upon how the movie portrays Babe Ruth. Yes I mentioned how his personality in this movie is nothing like his real personality but there's also the other thing. What's the other thing? Well...apparently...Babe Ruth is Jesus Christ. Not only does he go out of his way to save a dog's life but he can cure a paralyzed kid by saying "Hiya kid" but he can also cure a boy's cancer by winning Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. I shit you not this actually happened in the movie! Babe Ruth is so great at baseball he can perform miracles! That's why I was putting true in quotation marks folks. This brings the movie from frustration to unintentionally hilarious.

So that was The Babe Ruth Story. Oh boy, if you want advice on how not to make a biographical movie here's your guide. It's just so bad as a biopic, a sports movie, and as a Babe Ruth film. If you want to know the story of Babe Ruth then either watch the flawed-but-much better 1992 film The Babe starring John Goodman or watch some documentaries. Watch this if you just want a good laugh.

My final rating is, So Bad, It's Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Apr 11th for my review of the newest Netflix survival thriller movie, Thrash. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

A Look Back at The Boys - Season 4

 

A the final season of The Boys will be arriving soon. So it's time to look back at the previous season one last time.

The Boys is a comic book TV series based on Garth Ennis' comic series of the same name with production by Sony Pictures Television, Kripke Enterprise, Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kickstar Entertainment, KFL Nightsky Productions and Amazon Studios, the later of which is also the distributor. The show is developed by Eric Kripke with this season consisting of eight episodes.

The story is, it's been six months since the events of the last season and the stakes are ramping up. Homelander is a mission to supes to rule the entire country and achieve the supes supremacy he's been wanting. Meanwhile, The Boys are trying everything they can to put a stop to this. But personal issues from past sins and one of their own only having months to live is putting the team is dark and hopeless spot.

• Negatives

Oh boy...where to begin. Let's start with the most obvious and frequent thing this season has been getting criticize for, the not so subtle politics. If you thought it was bad in the previous two seasons you haven't seen nothing yet. The show wants you to believe it's still tackling both sides of the political parties but that's clearly not the case. The writing is so obviously only poking fun at the right aka Republicans that it because not only annoying to watch, but boring to watch. If you're gonna do satire, you need to target everyone! That is the basic rule of comedy! And you don't believe count how many times that make fun of Republicans' belief like abortion. Because of this terrible way of writing Eric Kripke feels like his taking a page out of James Gunn's book. Where he wants to oh so edgy, but at the same time he wants to be woke. And even if you can ignore that, which I don't how you could, the dialogue just isn't good. Count how many times people talk like a Reddit post and not actually people. I mean for crying out loud, they actually had Butcher say "incel". I kid you not. The bad only gets worse once you think about characterization. Something that use to be the show's strongest points even in a weak season, but here it's just plain garbage. Starlight started out fine at first but as the show went on she only got worse. She actually victim blames Hughie despite the fact he was tricked in a very brilliant way. The writing is made even worse when this season Hughie himself is an assault victim not once, but twice in this season. M.M. was useless in this season. You'd think it would be because of the stress he's under what with now being the leader, and yes that does play apart, but it's also because the writers just make incompetent. Frenchie has a mess of a story arc. At first he's feeling bad for his past sins, then he just spends time in prison for awhile, and then his right back with the time like his prison time meant nothing. Which begs the question, what was the part of him trying to serve time if you were just gonna bring him back an episode or two later? At first Kimiko seems like she was gonna have a pretty good story about the people she hurt during her terrorist days, but by episode four that storyline is just dropped and never talked about again. And things on the Seven's side aren't any better. The newest additions to the time those being Sister Sage and Firecracker suck. Sister Sage is suppose to be "The Smartest Person in the World" but it's clear as day that Eric Kripke and co. didn't know how to write a genius character. Because the only reason any of her plans worked is because time and reality got warped. Logically speaking nothing she did should've worked. Like how she plans to misdirect The Boys yet every single one of those plans gave them the information they needed. Not to mention her origin story for hating humanity is just so stupid. Basically she found the cure for cancer at the age of ten, showed the doctors, and they didn't believe her. Note, she's suppose to "The Smartest Person in the World" and yet she didn't thin for one moment that maybe a ten year old saying this wouldn't have been a smart idea. Now I think I said enough about so let's move onto Firecracker. Not only is she the show's not so subtle way to poke fun at Republicans, but there's really nothing else to her character other than having a rivalry with Starlight during the beauty pageant days and being a Homelander simp. Then we have Homelander's son Ryan. The writers really need to decide what they're doing with this character and stick with it! One moment he's Homelander Jr., then he feels remorse for what he's done, then he's Homelander Jr, then he's bonding with Butcher, then he's Homelander Jr., then he's this, then he's that! Either turn him into villain or don't! Speaking of Homelander what happened to him? Sure he had a good moment in episode 4, but instead of being an interesting villain he's now been reduce to being the Donald Trump stand-in. Which as we all know is just a daring, brave, and brilliant story element that hasn't been going on since 2016. The only saving graces were Victoria Neuman and Billy Butcher. Victoria was actually a pretty fun political character who's willing to do evil deeds to make her political campaign a success. Then we have Butcher, I was really enjoying his story of coming to terms with dying and that plot twist (which I won't spoil for you) was actually really good.

Then there was the humor. I already talked about the political stuff so I want bother going over it again. But all of the shocking stuff this season just didn't work. It was so bad the shocking stuff now just feels like a parody of edgy comedy instead of actually being funny.

• Mix

The mix bag is the action. There was time when it was alright, but then there where times when you could tell things were choregraphed or a quick cut was used not for excitement but because the editing just wasn't good that day.

• Positives

The only real praise I can give is the acting. Despite how awful the material was, everyone still did a great job performing. But it's just sad to think how these people deserved better storytelling.

So yeah folks, it goes without saying but I hated this season. Hated it so much there were actually times when I took a day or two of not watching episodes because I just needed a break to get away from the crap I was witnessing.

My final rating is, Bad.

You know what's worse than watching this season, it's I have no faith for season five. I'll still hope for a miracle but after watching what I just watched I doubt we're gonna get one. Anyways, sorry to bum you out, but thankfully that's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 9th, for a brand new Cinematic Disasters review. Don't worry, that one's gonna be pretty funny...only not in the way the filmmakers intended it to be. But until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review

So we've got another Mario movie. But it is just as good as the first or is this sequel a bust?

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is an animated adventure comedy movie that's based on Nintendo's broader Mario franchise, but the story takes influence from the 2007 video game Super Mario Galaxy and it's 2010 sequel. The movie also serves as a sequel to 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This was produced by Illumination and Nintendo with Universal Pictures serving as the distributor. Returning to write the story is Michael Fogel and also returning to direct are Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

The story is, Princess Rosalina is the ruler of the Comet Observatory and mother to the Lumas, and she's just been kidnapped by Bowser Jr. who plans to both free and avenge his father. After receiving word of what's happened, Mario along his brother Luigi and their friends head off to outer space to save Rosalina and put a stop to Bowser Jr.'s plans.

Initial Reaction

So the reason why I wanted to go and see this was because the first movie was a fun surprise. I wasn't expecting it to be so good. So once more and more information of a sequel was released and then later a trailer, I was looking forward to this.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

There is one slight problem with the story. Now all of the space adventures, action, and comedy are very well done, those were the biggest highlights. But I feel as though Bowser's story was rushed. Now if you feel like I'm heading into spoiler territory then feel free to skip to the Pros section of the review! Okay, so at first it does seem like Bowser is turning over a new leaf. He has moments of out burst but he later apologizes for them. He also helps Mario & Luigi and shows worry/guilt for their safety and/or well being. But the moment he's reunited with his son Bowser Jr. and Bowser Jr. takes him down memory lane it's right back to villainy with him. Now I totally get it, Bowser is a recurring villain of the franchise so of course he was gonna turn back to his evil ways soon enough. But it felt like a little bit bummer when they dangled that story element over you and then just threw it away. Again, the story is still good, it's just that part felt rushed.

Pros

First praise will go to the pacing. This movie was a breeze to get though. It's a nice tight and brisk watch and not one minute is wasted. I also want to yet again give props to the voice cast. Once again Chris Pratt and Charlie Day are very entertaining as Mario and Luigi. And Anya Taylor-Joy also did a great job with Princess Peach, and even though she's not in it that much Brie Larson was also very good as Rosalina even getting rid of my originally fear she'd either be insufferable, wooden, or both. But I think my favorite newcomer was Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr. He was wonderfully charming in a very chaotic way. I just couldn't get enough of him. The last thing I'll praise is the animation. Wow, I hope the animators were paid well because they did a fantastic job. The space parts were incredible and captured the cosmic charm of the Mario Galaxy games. There were two moments that are stuck in my head. One was a beautiful moment where the characters are watching shooting stars and another was when Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi were out running a castle crashing right behind them. That was an awesome action moment.

This isn't a perfect movie, but I think professional critics saw a totally different film then the one I saw. Because the one I saw was a blast.

My final rating is, Good.

That's gonna do it for me. Come back on Monday, Apr 6th, for my Look Back at review of season four of The Boys. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, and tomorrow, I hope you all have a very Happy Easter. 🐰

Raiders of The Lost Media - Family Guy: The Lost Pilot

Once again it's been awhile since I've done a Raiders. So it's time to change that. Let's get to it.

Part One - What is Family Guy?

Really? Do I really need to explain what this show is? I'm sure you know about one way or the other. Oh well, let's do it anyway.

Family Guy is animated sitcom created by Seth McFarlane that premiered on Jan 31st, 1999 on FOX following Super Bowl XXXIII with the rest of the first season airing on April 11th of the same year. The show was originally canceled shortly after the third season in 2002. But due to favorable DVD sales and high ratings from syndication, FOX was convinced to revive the show in 2004. The fourth season would later air in 2005, since then the show has continued with currently twenty-four seasons and over 400 episodes. The show also spawned two spin-offs the first being The Cleveland Show (2009-2013) which focused on the character of Cleveland Brown. The second is Stewie focusing on Stewie Griffin and as of writing this is scheduled to air somewhere in the 2027-2028 season.

The main plot of the show is about the dysfunctional family called the Griffin family consisting of married couple Peter & Lois and their three kids of Chris, Meg, and Stewie along with their talking dog named Brian, who are just trying to living normal lives in Quahog, Rhode Island. But often times that normalcy takes a curve ball when something or someone crazy gets involved and turns their day upside down.

Part Two - History of the Unaired Pilot

Before the pilot episode titled Death Has a Shadow aired there was an unaired pilot. It was 16 minutes long and was made sometime during 1998. The pilot would eventually become the aired pilot but when you watch the two side-by-side you'll notice differences in clothing, character designs, and scenes.

FOX gave Seth McFarlane a very small budget, a total of $50,000 to be specific, where most animated half-hour pilots are giving a budget of $1,000,000. Seth spent six months animating the pilot along with Jim Keeshen Productions, but according to Jim Keeshen he was the one who did all of the work. He would later file a lawsuit against both FOX and McFarlane on June 1st, 1999 but it would later be dismissed on Dec 28th, 2000.

At first the unaired pilot could only be found on the volume two DVD of the show, but it was only 7 minutes long with a "Coming Soon" bumper replacing the rest of it. The other proof of its existence were images found on fan sites, IMDB, and a few articles on BlogSpot. There were also some snippets of it that aired on early commercials and interviews with Seth McFarlane. It was also assumed that the full pilot was shared around years ago, where exactly though was never confirmed.

Part Three - Discovery

So the story of it's discovery is a short one. On Mar 20th, 2025, a user going by the name GhostTheDeadGirl discovered the full 16 minute pilot was on Robert Paulson's personal website and it's been there since Sept of 2022. Paulson's credited as one the "Digital Ink & Paint" crew members and is also credited under "Compositing".

So that's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Apr 4th for my review of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.