One of the things I like about digital cable is the menu function, because you can get a listing of all the movies that start at a certain time. Seeing as how I don't really get out to see movies all that often, chances are, there's something I might like to see. Or at least something I'm curious about.

Last night, it was The Mummy Returns. This was an almost unfathomably bad movie. It would be one thing if it were a low-budget monster flick, as it sort of reminded me of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad in it's silliness, but this is being passed off as blockbuster-quality entertainment. The ramifications of this are painfully insidious. First, I guarantee that marketers tried to make comparisons to actual good movies about archaeologists in the desert, namely the Indiana Jones movies. I'm sure they spun any and every quote that painted the movie favorably in that light. And someone, somewhere, believed them. Based on nothing but relentless marketing hype, there is at least one person, maybe more, who thinks The Mummy Returns is on par with even Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

I'd make another media consolidation argument, about how a film company can game the system to make people think this is quality entertainment, but thinking about how this movie managed to make big money is making my head hurt.