Isle of Dogs: Fluid and Stable

This may have been one of the most advertised films I’ve seen that’s not a sequel, reboot, or part of a cinematic universe in quite a long time. I think I’ve been seeing commercials for Isle of Dogs in theaters as far back as December, if not before that (I definitely know I saw it before watching Three Billboards Outisde Ebbing, Missouri (2017)). This probably shouldn’t be surprising, considering Wes Anderson is widely considered to be the modern-day example of an auteur filmmaker. To be completely honest, this is the first work by Anderson that I’ve ever seen – though The Grand Budapest Motel (2014) and Moonrise Kingdom (2014) have been on my list because of recommendations; I’ve just never gotten around to them. Based on what I’ve seen from Isle of Dogs, there is no doubt that Anderson is good at what he does – I’m just not sure that what he does is quite my taste. I have seen a few reviews, however, that say this is not the strongest work that Anderson has ever presented, so perhaps I’m working with a poor example.

The Mummy Forgot the Monster

Why is it that we love monster movies so much? Back when most of them were introduced, it was that they were genuinely frightening – these creatures were something fantastical and horrifying to us, creatures so unlike us that we had to be in awe of them and fear them at the same time. As the years have gone on, characters were put into their movies for us as an audience to relate to, like Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell in the 1999 Mummy film. It is not enough for us to connect to the human protagonists anymore, apparently, since it seems to be the aim of the new Dark Universe of Universal Studios to create monsters that are relatable and the saviors of the human race, rather than just being the enemy of humanity. In 2017’s The Mummy, sure there is a mummy (and honestly it’s the best mummy we’ve had), but we’re supposed to root for Tom Cruise and his band of humans until the moment they find the dark monster to defeat the other dark monster, turning these fearful creatures into the Avengers because everyone loves a connected universe.