Journey to the Center of the Earth - trailer!

[The Curmudgeon]

You know one thing that makes The Curmudgeon a happy bunny this year? Brendan Fraser is back in movies. Yeah, I know he's always been in movies, but certainly never to this extent since the original Mummy. For anyone who's seen his performance in Gods and Monsters or his heartbreaking turn in Scrubs - this guy is under-rated.

And you know what? The new Mummy film doesn't actually look all that bad

www.apple.com/trailers/universal/themummytombofthedragonemperor/large.html

Fair enough, the Mummy II sucked beyond all recognition, but if they can capture the fun and invention of the first film I won't be complaining.

And here's the trailer for Brendan's other film, where he plays a curiously similar character, in a film that will no doubt have Jules Verne purists retching.

www.apple.com/trailers/newline/journeytothecenteroftheearth/trailer4/

The trailer (from Wanted) I saw was for the film in 3D, which really looked like a lot of fun. It has a lot of warning signs flashing up for me; "witty" banter in the face of imminent death, a wholesome family, but I'm willing to overlook that.

The question is; will anyone else? With the likes of Batman and Wall.E out this year, these two films could easily sink without trace. Let's hope they're both good enough to stay afloat.

[Benjamin Haines]

With The Mummy Returns being as wretched as it was and The Scorpion King so forgettable, I'll be waiting for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to come on TV before I see it. I want to like it, but I'm not spending any money to see it. The lack of Rachel Weisz is awful, and without Arnold Vosloo present it really shouldn't be carrying "The Mummy" moniker. The Dragon Emperor would have been a better title, but I can see why they made it what it is for marketing purposes.

Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D looks fun. Maybe I will venture out to the theater to see that one if any of my friends are interested in it too. I like Brendan Fraser and it is good to see him making something of a comeback. Hope he's able to keep it up.

[The Curmudgeon]

Shit, I forgot all about the Scorpion King, which was absolute garbage. I don't know if it was the same director or not for that film. Like I said, there's probably too many other things out that warrant first viewing rather than the Mummy, but I think it looks a decent rent, if nothing else. But yeah, calling it The Mummy without actually having THE Mummy in it is a bit of a stretch. They should have taken a leaf out of Army of Darkness and called it Brendan Fraser vs The Dragon Emperor. Which sounds much better.

[trashcanman]

BOOOOOOOOO! Brendan Frasier's likeable enough, but not a believable action hero. I will see neither of these. All of the CG and cheese of every other big budget Hollywood remake/sequel + Brendan Frasier = no dice.

[The Curmudgeon]

Bah, Trashy you old killjoy. Yeah, so it's the usual CGI overload but dammit, I still want to see both of them, even if they probably will be grating and average.

The problem with action heroes nowadays is - there aren't any. There's been no-one since the Arnie/Sly days to really take the throne, even if Arnie "passed the torch" to The Rock, who it seems would rather move on from that kind of thing. Which would be a shame, if every film The Rock made didn't suck monkey balls.

I dunno, I could buy Brendan as an old fashioned matinee idol kind of action hero. He's big enough and he's good looking enough, he just doesn't have any "bad ass" factor that Bruce Willis etc had. But then, he's never cast as that type anyway, it's always Indie-lite fare.

Meh - I want them to be good, and I want them to do well, and I want to see both of them. And I'm ready to be disappointed.