Blog where we review MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, and AWESOME things like that. In our realm, it's all a PIECE OF CAKE.
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake." -Alfred Hitchcock.
My name is Emmaus Nakagawa. Nice to meet you.
Hey there folks, it's been a long while since I posted stuffs. And I want you to know it's all been for a good reason. I've been thinking of how I can better the blog, and I realized that most of you don't want to read an entire summary of a movie, that's what the movie's for.
So I've decided to go back to the beginning of when I started to blog. That's right, WAYYY back in the day we're going. I'm going to restart, writing like an actual film critic. But don't worry, I'll try to not be pesky about it.
The idea is that for every post I re-write, I will delete the old one. And I also realize I've given a false sense that I will be able to review every single new movie that comes out... which you all know by now to not be true.
So starting from the beginning of the blog gives me a lot of content. And if I do review a more recent film, you'll know. I'll still review video games and trailers and whatnot, but now I'm going to get into a weekly rhythm of blogging. I want to blog 4 to 6 times a month, so you'll never be bored! And once I start feeling the groove, we'll make that number bigger.
That's about it, but stay tuned to my YouTube Channel too because I'm gonna be doing 2 videos a month as well. I'll be a busy bee pumping stuff out for y'all, so watch out!
Alrighty folks, sorry for the lack of activity, but here we go with the new review! I understand that I'm quite behind, but please understand that I'm busy making new videos for y'all, too! Hang in there!
T H E
M U M M Y
Tom Cruise stars as Nick Morton, a military operative who is a high-key treasure hunter. Where he's stationed, it's crowded with enemies. He and his buddy Sergeant Vail are on their own, and Nick wants to go into the enemy-infested area to look for some loot. Vail doesn't like it, but Nick assures him, "It'll be quick. In 'n out."
Next thing you know, they're being shot at, and Vail is freaking out. He gets so worked up that he calls in an airstrike, and the tangos leave almost immediately after getting bombarded. One of the shots from the airstrike opens an enormous hole in the ground, and it reveals a mummy-looking statue. You can guess where the mummy is.
Now, I didn't mention the beginning before this particular sequence because I want it to be a surprise for you folks. It's the new mummy's origin story, and it's actually quite interesting. It's unique to Ahmanet and who her character is developed to be.
Okay, anyway, Nick's superior comes onto the scene along with Jenny Halsey, an archaeologist. Apparently, Nick and Jenny have a history, one as soon as the evening before. The backstory explained here is awkwardly dropped in front of Nick's superior, and it feels out of place in the whole unraveling of things. But watching the rest of the film, there's really no other place they could have done it. I kind of wish the two didn't know each other before this encounter, but it's whatever.
They dig up the sarcophagus, and as they're doing so, Jenny is examining the grave. She makes a bunch of ominous realizations (out loud thank god) about how the set up of the chamber is not anything good. The statues looking like Anubis are facing inwards, not outwards, meaning that they are guarding the individual from leaving, not from anything coming in.
The other thing is that there's a pool of mercury covering the sarcophagus, which is being
suspended by four poles held down by enormous rocks that act as a sort of pulley device. Mercury is significant because that's what the Egyptians believed could restrict the powers of darkness. Kind of like Dracula and silver.
And finally, there's no treasures inside the tomb. This is symbolic of no preparation for the afterlife. So whatever this person of nobility (hence the personal tomb) did, it was nothing good. And that's also why it's so far from Egypt itself. It's actually located in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq. In other words, the Egyptians wanted nothing to do with this force of evil. So it's gotta be pretty bad. Of course it is, otherwise there wouldn't be a movie, right?
From there, I think you can deduce what happens. The only riddle you'll really have to solve is how Tom Cruise is alive for the remainder of the movie since he dies in the plane crash. So go and see it!
T H E
M U M M Y
Ratings:
Family Friendliness - 8/10 Sarcophagi The film is suprisingly family-friendly. I mean, don't gemme wrong, the mummies themselves are pretty scary. They're almost zombie-like, which kind of irked me because it felt like a World War Z-esque film. Nonetheless, there's hardly, if any, swearing, no nudity, and only a few scenes of intense violence and scary images.
Story line - 8/10 Mummies Alright, the story was there, no doubt. And since it was acting as a springboard into Warner Brother's "Dark Universe", it was good in that respect. It was interesting and unique, and I believe the writers did a fantastic job.
Compared to "The Mummy (1999)" - 6/10 Monsters DO NOT GET ME WRONG, this was a good movie on its own. But literally everyone has seen the 1999 version of an ancient Egyptian god come to life and terrorize the planet, so it's hard to live up to the precedent that film set. Had I never seen Brendan Fraser's incarnation of the movie, I would have loved this one so much more. But here's the reason why this 2017 version didn't live up: character development.
As a standalone reboot of the franchise we all know and love starring Brendan Fraser, it was kind of a disappointment. Each character, no matter how minor in the original Mummy, had something that defined them and made you understand them. That way, when they died, you felt bad! Even if they were being jerks to Rick! In this version of The Mummy, you felt no pity for those who
died. You were only attached to Nick and Jenny, and they were overall stale characters.
Also, if you compare Imhotep and Ahmanet, I believe Imhotep is a better mummy. Not because he's more badass or anything. Here's why: background. Imhotep was driven by love to summon the dark arts. So his rage came from something that was pure, and that made his story tragic. I pitied Imhotep, even though I knew he had to go.
Ahmanet was driven by rage from the get-go. There's nothing behind that except greed. So I don't really pity her because she was just being a selfish and whiny baby because she couldn't get the throne. AND she was so pissed about the throne being taken from her that she KILLED A BABY!!! How messed up d'you have to be to kill a baby? You've gotta have a screw loose or something. I don't think even Imhotep would have done that.
Story Action Balance - 7/10 Buses There was a lotta lotta action, and I don't think there was enough build up to the mummy's grand reveal to make her scary as much as Imhotep was scary in the original Mummy. Then again, that's my nostalgic self looking for something to live up to Brendan Fraser. Unfortunately, you can't look at this movie that way.
Overall - 7/10 Stars Personally, I think this is a generous rating. But I try to be generous with films as much as I can. I hope you can forgive this film more than I have, and I haven't even completely expressed my distaste for this movie so as to give you folks a chance to watch it. So please lower your expectations and give it a chance guys.
Hey folks! Emmaus Nakagawa here. I mean, I've been the only contributor to this blog for some time now, but that's okay I can still introduce myself.
Alright, as has been so clearly labeled in the title post above, I have an announcement that
I would like you all to be aware of: Piece of Cake's new website is looking great! So far, I have built up the general skeleton and I've put some layering on. Now, the hard part is adding some cool animation so that it's not just a boring click website.
I'm going to be working on linking this blog to the primary Piece of Cake site, and also linking some more important pages to that site like a YouTube Channel that I can hopefully start soon. I am saving up for a pretty nice camera, so if I do post YouTube videos soon, don't expect 1080 P Resolution.
Now the whole idea behind Piece of Cake was originally that I wanted to do some movie reviews. I love movies so so much, and I loved the idea of being a legitimate film critic while I'm still relatively young. I wanted to do movie reviews because I think we can all agree that film critics today are as trustworthy as Weather Forecasts: most of the time they're wrong, and there's a slight 1/10 chance that they get something right and the viewers agree with them.
But now, Piece of Cake has evolved in my mind to be much more than that. I want to put myself into one media form that encompasses who I am as a whole. I have many different interests, and I wanted to see if I couldn't put all of me into something easy and accessible. So I thought, "Well hey! Websites are pretty versatile!" So I started building one.
Now, the name of Piece of Cake won't just be related to movie reviews and the occasional video game review. It's going to be about ADVENTURES, WILD IDEAS, MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, MAGIC, and hopefully so much more.
I want to put myself out there because I want to, not because I need the approval of a bunch of people I call my friends. I want to put myself out there because I am Emmaus Nakagawa, and I feel like I have something to say about myself.
Hopefully people see that and think it's pretty cool who I am, but even if I get three views on my blog and two likes and fifty dislikes on my YouTube videos, I'll keep at it. Because I'm going to love every minute of it. I'm going to keep doing what I love because I don't need your approval.
If you see me and bash me in other videos of yours, you're only making my name more popular. And there will probably be a handful of people that actually go to my channel to see if I'm really that bad, but they'll disagree. They'll like me, and they'll appreciate me. Those are the ones I'll
be thanking for putting up with my shenanigans.
Anyway, this turned into a longer rant than I wanted, but I hope you understand that I am making the name of Piece of Cake more versatile. And as such, you will see me posting on this blog, my YouTube Channel, and whatever other platform I take up as "Piece of Cake". Don't worry, I'll still be around, just under a different name and a different banner.
Thanks guys! And bear with me! I'm teaching myself how to code my website, so to get it actually up and running may take awhile. But I'll definitely keep you guys posted!
