This week’s episode of End Credits goes on Cruise control. I know. Sorry, it had to be said. Before getting into the latest Mummy movie, we’ll also talk about Tom Cruise’s other pet franchise in the making, a sequel to a film more than three decades old and is very much a victim of its time. We also talk about Canadians behaving badly by smack talking their own remakes, and whether a return to allegorical apartheid in sci-fi form is in the offing.
This Wednesday, June 14, at 8 am, Adam A. Donaldson, and Vince Masson will discuss:
1) I Ain’t Afraid of No Boast. Dan Aykroyd once called last summer’s release of Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot a film that was both funnier and scarier than the two films Aykroyd had acted in and co-written, but what a difference a year makes. Now the Canadian comedian is saying that Feig is persona non grata on the Sony lot because he lost millions of dollars by, wait for it, not listening to Aykroyd’s advice on the picture. But is Aykroyd being fair to Feig? To Ghostbusters? And what does it say about the Blues Brother that he threw a colleague under the bus on British television?
2) Neill or No Neill. South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp was once considered the next great filmmaking voice of genre cinema, but it’s now a long way from District 9, and Blomkamp’s last film, Chappie, had squandered much of the remaining good will he had among fans. What can he do to change that? On the one hand, he’s talking about taking on a new film project in the same world as District 9, but he’s also started a new project called OATS, which will allow Blomkamp to test the waters of his own ideas with a series of experimental short films. Is this the start of a comeback for Blomkamp?
3) Top Done! While promoting The Mummy, Tom Cruise has been doing a bit of promotion on another potential project, a movie sequel that’s now more than 30 years in the making, Top Gun: Maverick. Do we really need a Top Gun sequel though? Cruise has promised the return of dogfights, Harold Faltermeyer, volleyball, and all the things that exemplify the cheesy action quality of Tony Scott’s original, but in the age of drones, and dirty wars, and the moral ambiguity of the military digital age, is Top Gun still relevant? And is the entire idea of a Top Gun sequel just a fun idea that’s kind of gotten away from Cruise in his giddiness?
REVIEW: The Mummy (2017). The Mummy is back, and this time, he’s a girl! And she’s part of a shared universe!! Yes, this Mummy is meant to open the door to a Dark Universe, where all the classic monsters lie in wait to attack a world that doesn’t know they’re coming, and the only one who can save is Tom Cruise! Cruise stars in this first-parter of a grander horror/action franchise alongside Annabelle Wallis and special guest star Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll *and* Edward Hyde. The villain is Sofia Boutella as an ancient Egyptian princess cursed with ungodly powers and ready to stalk the modern world to unleash Set, the God of Death. Does Cruise survive to face off against the next monster? The question answers itself…
End Credits is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 8 am on Wednesday.
End Credits 