Chukchi Husky
Lone Wolf
Over the past few nights, I've watched the 1932 The Mummy, the 1999 The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Which movies have you watched? XVI - This title not included in your subscription
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Synobun
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In keeping with tradition, you need to call it Smummy.
Zkribbler
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A friend of mine is a big mummy fan. He loves all of the movies except for the Dragon Emperor.
I have a problem with George of the Jungle as an action hero.
What did you think?
I just finished Borat 2. Since @Zardnaar was kind enough to create a dedicated thread I won't spoil here, except to say that Cohen does what he always does, and the Giuliani scene is as billed.
Zkribbler
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Man on Fire. Denzel Washington is an alcoholic merc, hired as a bodyguard for Dakota Fanning, the daughter of a Mexican aristocrat and an American arm ornament. When Dakota is kidnapped, Denzel sets out for revenge. I find most revenge movies to be brainless shoot-em-ups, but not this one. 
Brendan Fraser was born to have his career die with that role.
Chukchi Husky
Lone Wolf
That's strange. I keep being told that Dragon Emperor is the best one.
I have a problem with George of the Jungle as an action hero.
What did you think?
I'm not a critic.
EgonSpengler
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I loved The Mummy (1999) but the rest were meh, at best. I can't remember a thing about The Mummy Returns. I'm, like, 90% sure I saw it. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was awful. I don't think I even finished it. The recasting of Maria Bello as Evie was a disaster, and I love Maria Bello.
Like most people, I didn't bother to see The Mummy (2017), even though I like Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella. I've liked some of the things Alex Kurtzman has written, but I've never seen anything he's directed himself; maybe that's where this fell down, I dunno.
Liam Neeson's Taken told sort of the same story a couple of years later, but with different (lesser, imo) emotional stakes. In that movie, the father was estranged from his daughter, a young woman rather than a little girl, but that film is more interested in the action, which starts sooner and goes on longer. It didn't have the same balance that Man on Fire had, spending less time on the relationship between Neeson and his daughter, and Neeson doesn't sacrifice anything by letting Big Nasty out of his cage to save her.
Like most people, I didn't bother to see The Mummy (2017), even though I like Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella. I've liked some of the things Alex Kurtzman has written, but I've never seen anything he's directed himself; maybe that's where this fell down, I dunno.
You didn't mention the best part, imo. The reason the violent portion of the movie works well is because it spends so much of its running time with the two characters before the action starts. To my memory, fully half of the movie is a father-daughter drama. Washington's character has some emotional baggage that is never fully expounded upon, and Fanning's character may be the thing that keeps him from dying by suicide. He, in turn, helps her overcome her anxiety and hesitancy and feelings of abandonment - she's a competitive swimmer held back by a mental block, likely caused by emotionally-distant parents, particularly her father. This goes on for an hour, I think, but, like in a classic 'Western' or samurai movie, we know there are stormclouds on the horizon. There's a hard rain comin', and everybody's gonna get soaked. When the little girl gets kidnapped, Washington doesn't play Creasy's former self as either unhinged or reluctant; it's just the opposite, he's back in his comfort zone, composed, confident. iirc, he stops drinking, stands up straighter. All of that matters to the viewer because we spent so much time with the two characters overcoming their emotional hurdles. Washington has to unravel all of the emotional growth Fanning helped him make and be the stone-cold killer he never wanted her to even know about, let alone meet, knowing that, by the time he's done, he can't go back to her. He'll get her back to her family, but she's lost him forever; the man who kicks down doors and breaks people's fingers isn't the man she loves.Man on Fire. Denzel Washington is an alcoholic merc, hired as a bodyguard for Dakota Fanning, the daughter of a Mexican aristocrat and an American arm ornament. When Dakota is kidnapped, Denzel sets out for revenge. I find most revenge movies to be brainless shoot-em-ups, but not this one.
Liam Neeson's Taken told sort of the same story a couple of years later, but with different (lesser, imo) emotional stakes. In that movie, the father was estranged from his daughter, a young woman rather than a little girl, but that film is more interested in the action, which starts sooner and goes on longer. It didn't have the same balance that Man on Fire had, spending less time on the relationship between Neeson and his daughter, and Neeson doesn't sacrifice anything by letting Big Nasty out of his cage to save her.
BenitoChavez
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Troy (2004) - I think the last time I saw this is when it came out in theaters. It's got some entertaining battle scenes but as a whole it is mostly forgettable.
Synobun
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Shockingly, it could have been a good movie. A lot of the pieces were there. But as is typical of the era, it just didn't come together. And the failure of it probably sank the idea of a cinematic universe.
I also loved the original The Mummy. It was so much fun. It had a great balance of action, adventure, thrills and comedy, similar to Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean.
The new The Mummy is way too dark and serious... its no fun. They should have named it something else.
EgonSpengler
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Robert Downey Jr has evidently floated the idea of an "expanded universe" of characters centering on his Sherlock Holmes. Something like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I guess, except not sucky. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote another character, Professor Challenger, who was inspired by Doyle's friend Percy Fawcett, the explorer who disappeared in the Amazon looking for the lost city of "Z." It's not a bad idea, but like anything, it would have to be executed well.
There's a little subgenre of action movie that I frequently think of as "adventure movies" to distinguish them; lighthearted, if not outright comedies; often the characters are on some kind of quest to find something; they're usually "PG" or "PG-13." In addition to the ones you've already named: Romancing the Stone (1984); The Goonies (1985); National Treasure (2004); Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017).
Zkribbler
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EgonSpengler
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Disney+ has made new trailers for some of its classic movies (I bet I'm not the only one here who remembers these). These new trailers are almost satirical, but they're kind of awesome, too - which I guess makes them the best kind of satire, like This is Spinal Tap, where you almost can't tell if they're being serious. There are more, I just picked the three I remember liking when I was little. It looks like the films themselves must have been remastered, as well, which is cool. I know I saw The Black Hole in the theater, but I think I saw these other two on television, with the old "pan n' scan" technology that was used to squeeze cinema-screen films onto an old television screen (yes, that was as terrible as it sounds), and I think the tv we had when I was a little kid might've been smaller than the PC monitor I'm looking at now.
tjs282
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I saw The Love Bug (and one or two of the sequels) when I was in primary school -- even had a novelization of it, so it might be fun to see that again. Think my boys might even enjoy it (so long as they haven't been too spoiled by the F&F movies).
Never saw The Black Hole, but always wanted to (along with The Last Starfighter).
So that's at least 2 more reasons to (temporarily) re-subscribe to Disney+...
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