You can’t say the “The Mummy” isn’t diverting entertainment. I know everyone wants to kill it (it can’t be killed, got it?) but there’s some measure of fun in Alex Kurtzman’s 3D romp through the desert of northern Iraq.

Yes, the sand dunes look like they were sampled from “Ishtar.” Some of the dialogue, too. The new “Mummy” is an action film a la “Mission Impossible” populated by zombies (think “Walking Dead”) with strains of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” playing in the background. It’s also the launch of Universal’s new, forced “Dark Universe” series meant to compete with Marvel and DC Comics.

Tom Cruise is kinda working for the US army but at the same time an acknowledged antiquities thief. The great Courtney B. Vance plays a general who’s looking the other way while Tom and his buddy (Jake Johnson from “The New Girl”) are are pillaging historic sites. OK. Blonde Annabelle Wallis is an English archeologist who’s — we learn this from early exposition– already slept with Tom’s character. They have zero chemistry while discussing this. She says their passion in the desert lasted 15 seconds, and you believe her.

In short order they discover an Egyptian ruin in Iraq. OK. And there’s a sarcophagus with a mummy inside. We’ve learned earlier in a long prologue that the mummy contains a murderous Egyptian princess with long dark tresses played by beautiful Sofia Boutella. Of course, once the sarcophagus is moved all hell breaks loose, Sofia breaks loose and wants to mate with Tom. (This never happens, btw.)

We do meet Russell Crowe, looking like he’s been to the taxidermist. He plays Dr. H. Jekyll (no kidding) who says he’s an expert on evil and wants to contain it and destroy it. Sometimes he’s Jekyll, other times he’s Hyde. (Don’t spend a lot of time on his motivation.)

Take “The Mummy” for what it is– a popcorn movie. The 3D is very good, even if the whole movie is a little dark and murky. There’s no question that it moves, and the set pieces with Cruise– aka Ethan Hunt from “MI”– blowing out of planes, blowing up, etc. are fun to watch.

What’s kind of scary though is that even with workouts and “work,” Tom Cruise is finally looking a little tired, and for the first time, older. His eyes are like slits; all character has been removed either by a surgeon or an FX editor. His trademark grin is weary at best. And compared to “Wonder Woman” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Mummy” feels like a movie from a long time ago.

There was quite a juxtaposition last night at the New York premiere of Tom Cruise in “The Mummy.” For one thing, an hour earlier, Sony Pictures Classics had a premiere in the very same Upper West Side AMC Lincoln Square complex for an Oscar buzzy film with Ethan Hawke and Sally Hawkins called “Maudie.”

The “Maudie” guests entered through the side door, only vaguely aware of the Def Con 5 security arrangements going on for “The Mummy,” which featured a tented red carpet out front on Broadway. For the first time I can remember, police also blocked off traffic on West 68th St. between Broadway and Columbus with barriers.

Later, at a dinner gathering for “Maudie” at the nearby American Folk Craft Museum, guests wondered about the firepower that had greeted them as they entered AMC Lincoln Square. “The Mummy” — not their movie– required NYPD terrorist squad police touting machine guns and wearing flack jackets. They were not just boys in blue but men in black who looked ready for a riot or any number of attacks.

This may have been because the original premiere of “The Mummy” had been scheduled for London’s Leicester Square. But after the Manchester attacks, that event was scotched. This premiere, not in the plans, had been so hastily assembled that to fill the balcony of the theater Universal handed out free tickets to the audience at the Tonight show, which Cruise taped just prior to coming uptown from Rockefeller Center. So while the perimeter was being held down outside by a small army expecting invited guests, a phalanx of 200 or so strangers arrived from NBC. That made total sense.

One insider said of the counter terrorism squad: “This is the new reality for public events.”

Once inside, Cruise, director Alex Kurtzman, and members of the cast (except for Russell Crowe) appeared at the front of the theater for introductions. Usually the director speaks about the experience, then introduces the star and so on. But this was the reverse: Cruise spoke, Kurtzman nodded and filled in missing names to be thanked. A very animated Cruise called everyone “brother” (that’s the new “dude” or “man.”) Cruise also plugged his late fall movie with Universal, “American Made,” which already looks from the trailer about a hundred times better than “The Mummy.” (That film’s director, Doug Liman, was sitting behind me.)

Cruise’s bottom line: “When I make a film it’s something that I just don’t make a movie, I’m always thinking of this moment of entertaining you, and I give it everything I have and everyone knows I expect it from everyone else.”

When the screening was over transportation arrived to take invited 300 guests to Tavern on the Green for a filmmaker’s dinner. Machine guns optional.

Steven Spielberg is racing to get “The Papers”  out for Christmas. His movie about the Pentagon Papers and how they were leaked to the Washington Post (after the New York Times published their scoop), was called “The Post.” But now it has a new title and a lot of new cast members.

As we knew, Tom Hanks is playing Washington Post editor in chief Ben Bradlee, and Meryl Streep is published Katharine Graham. But now Spielberg has added Matthew Rhys of “The Americans” and Sarah Paulson, whose credits are too long to choose from, to the cast. Rhys may be playing Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers and became a controversial national hero.

Also in the movie are Bradley Whitford, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemons, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Zach Woods. That’s an impressive list.

But “The Papers” is shooting now and still casting small roles. Today is June 6th. The release date of December 22nd for a regular director would be unthinkable. But Spielberg will do it, somehow, and maybe even win another Oscar. So hold on.

Just as I told you on May 16th: Al Pacino will play famed and disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in a new HBO movie. Barry Levinson is directing. Originally Brian DePalma was going to make this movie, called “Happy Valley,” but that fell apart some time ago.

Everyone reported this news last night and this morning, but I told you three weeks ago it was game on. Levinson has to hurry as Pacino has to make it out in time for a day off and then Martin Scorsese’s “I Hear You Paint Houses.”

Levinson and Pacino have a great history together. Levinson directed Pacino for HBO as both Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Phil Spector. They also made the really great movie “The Humbling.” The latter film was destroyed by its distributor, but rent it or stream it or buy it. A little gem.

EXCLUSIVE Sarah Jessica Parker is putting a toe back in the indie film world. The “Divorce” and “Sex in the City” star is co-producing and starring in a new dramedy about a woman grappling with a terminal illness.

Still untitled, the film stars Parker as Vivienne, a musician with a terminal illness who reflects on life. Sounds grim, but there’s music and a couple of twists no doubt since the screenplay is from “House of Cards” executive story editor Laura Eason. Eason is also a talented playwright with lots of solid credits including a play I really liked last year called “Sex with Strangers” starring Anna Gunn and Billy Magnussen. Fabien Constant is the director.

Parker is co-producing with Monika Bacardi and Andrea Iervolino. Shooting begins mid-July, after which presumably Parker goes back to HBO’s “Divorce.”