‘The Mummy’ is back again.
‘The Mummy’
You can’t keep a good monster down, it seems.
Universal Studios’ original “Mummy,” with Boris Karloff in 1932, was released just 10 years after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. Since then, the tale has been revived often, most recently in 1999.
Now Universal is bringing the story back to life again — this time as part of the launch of its Dark Universe reboot of its all-star lineup of monsters. For insurance, the studio also packed one of the world’s biggest movie stars and an Oscar winner.
In this incarnation of “The Mummy,” an Egyptian princess (Sofia Boutella) is buried alive after being done very wrong way back in the day. Tom Cruise is an adventurer who inadvertently wakes her up, whereupon she brings the revenge party to modern-day London.
Russell Crowe plays Dr. Henry Jekyll (yes, you read that right), the head of a secret organization out to save the world from such monsters — or, are they? “The Mummy” is rated PG-13 for violence, some suggestive content and partial nudity. It runs for 107 minutes.
‘It Comes at Night’
What’s worse than the world ending? How about the evils that come after?
Welcome to “It Comes at Night,” this summer’s indie-minded horror entry written and directed by Trey Edward Shults.
Joel Edgerton and Carmen Ejogo play a couple who were ready for whatever has befallen the planet, planting themselves and their 17-yearold son (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) in an isolated, fortified and well-stocked cabin deep in the wilderness.
When another couple (Christopher Abbott, Riley Keough) and their young child show up seeking help, choices are made, trust is tested — and new horrors arise.
USA TODAY film critic Brian Truitt gave “It Comes at Night” 3 stars, calling the movie pretty grim but also “an artful, often Hitchcockian look at our own human failings in dealing with a threat we know is there but cannot see.”
“It Comes at Night” is rated R for violence, disturbing images and language. It runs for 95 minutes.
‘Megan Leavey’
Megan Leavey was a soldier serving in Iraq who, after a disciplinary hearing, was assigned to work with a K-9 unit. There, the sometimes-unruly soldier bonds with an aggressive, hard-to-train dog named Rex, forming an unlikely but effective team — until they’re both injured by an IED.
Based on Leavey’s story, “Megan Leavey” stars Kate Mara as the title soldier, with a supporting cast including Edie Falco, Common and Madison native Bradley Whitford.
The movie’s reviews are pretty solid. “Though it may hit a few predictable notes, its embrace of flawed and messy characters and refusal to repair every frayed emotional connection give it a dynamic, in-the-moment vigor,” The Hollywood Reporter’s Sheri Linden wrote.
“Megan Leavey” is rated PG-13 for violence, language, suggestive material and thematic elements. It runs for 116 minutes.
‘My Cousin Rachel’
It’d be going a little too far to say that Daphne du Maurier is having a moment, but the novelist — a favorite of Alfred Hitchcock’s and author of such mid-20th-century bestsellers as “Rebecca” and “Jamaica Inn” — is back in the spotlight.
Following the release this spring of “Manderley Forever,” a new biography/tribute of the author, there’s a new adaptation
Set in 19th-century Cornwall, “My Cousin Rachel” centers on a young Englishman (Sam Claflin) who is convinced his guardian’s death was actually murder. When the young man sets out to prove that the new widow (Rachel Weisz) did the deed, however, he finds himself falling under her spell.
New Jersey-based film critic Stephen Whitty gave the movie 3 stars, crediting Weisz’s performance as well as the location shooting in the British countryside, which “feels like yet another old and welcome character in this old-fashioned yet modern Gothic.”
“My Cousin Rachel” is rated PG-13 for some sexuality and brief language. It runs for 106 minutes.