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When it comes to fantasy and soft science fiction, the concept of “world building” is at least as important as narrative and character development. “World building” refers to the ability of an author or filmmaker to craft a new and ama...

For whatever reason, the character of Mr. Bean has never caught on in the United States. Rowan Atkinson's most popular creation has a small following in this country, but labeling him as an "acquired taste" would be an accurate descriptor. Unfort...

The 1999 remake of the horror classic The Mummy surprised Universal Pictures with its box office success. The studio had expected it to be profitable, but not that profitable. However, long before the worldwide gross crept close to $400 million,...

The Mummy is pretty silly stuff. But that's okay when you consider that, beneath all the action/adventure and horror trappings, it's actually a comedy. Think of a big-budget, high profile effort in the vein of Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness wit...

When Universal Pictures remade The Mummy in 1999, they wisely opted for a radically different tone, shifting from the atmospheric horror of the 1932 original to a Raiders of the Lost Ark-style adventure motif. Now, for the third major film to b...

It has been a bad year for Indiana Jones and his knock-offs. In the wake of the lackluster Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we now have the second sequel to The Mummy, called Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. It is easily the worst o...

A film of uncommon depth, intelligence, and sensitivity, Munich defies easy labeling. Watching the movie is like reading a top-notch espionage thriller by Le Carre or Deighton. Yet, at the same time, this is a visual experience. The moral and ethic...

To the extent that My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is about cross-cultural pollination, try this one out: instead of “Opa!”, how about “Oy Vey!” Yes, they’re back, and not because anyone was pining for their return. The “lovable” Portokal...

Nanny McPhee is an excellent movie… if you're a seven-year old girl. That's less a negative evaluation than it is a statement of fact. This isn't a "family film;" it's a "children's film." What's more, it's for girls who are old enough to unde...

Neighbors contains many of the qualities that make raunchy, profane comedies a popular commodity: sex, T&A, drugs, a barrage of four-letter words, and slapstick of the broadest kind. At first glance, one might be tempted to lump Neighbors into the ...