Men in Black 3

I have made it a personal endeavour to find the best 3D content that the second generation 3D hardware is capable of rendering. It depends greatly on the context of the film and the director's vision as to what optical candy gets used where in equal parts of when why and woah. This is how 3D films are being made now. Gone are the days of smudgy gorillas growling at cameras and paddle balls bouncing off your forehead (all due respect to House of Wax). Now the viewer can be immersed into the environment of the antagonist or protagonist depending on your flavor, depth that once gave a simple reach in and touch the back effect to having objects or people or land formations or spaceships writhing with creatures alien bioware technology that pops off the screen with no artifacting in sight. Some of the coolest scenes in this gem are during up close and personal dialog between characters and there's all sorts of 3D weirdness going on in the shot in layers. What used to look like box panaramas can now be digitally enhanced in so many different ways you feel like your eyes are going to pop out. This is the only movie to date I've seen that makes a car ride look completely realistic and vibrant and I don't have to tell you what that means for the viewer of a car in an MIB film. If you know anyone who has or is thinking of getting a 3D home theater, I highly recommend getting them this movie. Bravo to the 3D design team on this one. I guess I should talk about the actual movie. Relax. I don't do spoilers. That being said this is a genuinely funny film. There are a lot of laugh out loud moments and the 3D complinents the story, the jokes and the weirdness with the adept professionalism of crystal glass juggler on on mind altering substances. The comedy of Smith and Jones is spot on as your every day agent type team exchanging esoteric dialog in expository format, a lot of which are referencing the prior two films' character development and where they are now in the more than obvious father/son subtext. But its well done and presented in a somewhat more mature fashion than you might expect from the franchise. Again, the 3D is very much in a lead role along with Jones and Smith as you can almost immediately tell they are trying to carry on their daily routines while all the 3D mayhem takes centerstage. And that is when you know you're in for something special. Plus, field sequential digital 3D doesn't strain the eyes or hurt the head. Is this Martin Scorcese Hugo 3D? No but that's the point. Its Men in Black 3D. Just for reference for anyone who has considered 3D as an addition to their home theater now is probably the best time. As of the time of this review, the second generation is being phased out with third generation hardware. Which looks fantastic by the way and if they've improved on immersion technology at all, combined with Windows 10 or the Xbox One, virtual reality is here. But I like many of you live in the real world and paying upwards of 6k for a tv with embedded 3D is out of immediate reach. But that is where 3D home entertainment is going. Its a luxury item. Why do I say this? Because the 3D second gen hardware is affordable now. I bought a Vizio 55" LED (the smooth motion makes the 3D look amazing) a samsung 3D bluray player and 5.1 dts theater for about $500 all told. Get the passive technology like in the theater. The active technology doesn't improve the image noticeably enough to warrant the upcharge not to mention they're rather expensive and they are fragile so if you have kids, the glasses like you get at the theater work. Inexpensive and you won't rupture a blood vessel if you have to replace a pair. I'm immensely satisfied with my system and Amazon here makes buying 3D movies a lot less painful. I just bought Antman 3D for 16.99. Is Antman's 3D good? That's a different post. Later. I'm going to play Star Wars Battlefront. In 3D

I get out to the theater to see a movie about once per year; I'm now a slave to the Blu Ray home entertainment era. However, I did something this Memorial Day weekend that I haven't done in over 20 years: I went to the theater twice in 2 days (with my kids) to see The Avengers and Men in Black III. And neither of the movies let me down; both were excellent. While The Avengers is getting high marks from the critics, I am very surprised by the so-so reviews that MiB III is getting. I'm glad that I went to the theater, because the abundance of "just average" reviews might have even deterred me from putting MiB III in my rental queue. I'm here to say don't be deterred. MiB III was almost as good as the original MiB (and the original MiB was classic), and MiB III was better than MiB II ...wayyyy better. The best part for young audiences that may not have seen the predecessors from 15 years and 10 years ago respectively, is that MiB III stands alone as a great movie....There's no need to have had to have seen either of the first two in order to fully enjoy MiB III. Although it does help mainly to see how effectively awesome Josh Brolin is at capturing the essence of Agent K that we all know as Tommy Lee Jones; and I suppose that it also helps to establish the dynamic of the bond between Agent K and Agent J (Will Smith). So MiB III is a fun blast from the past...or should I say blast into the past. In 1969 Agent K maims, arrests and has bad guy Boris the Animal thrown into an intergalactic maximum security prison...on the moon. But 43 years apparently gave Boris a long enough time to figure out how to escape. But escaping is not all that's on Boris' mind; he jumps back in time to 1969 to change history and murder Agent K. So when he succeeds it's up to Agent J (Will Smith) to jump back a little further in time to stop Boris. As I mentioned earlier, Josh Brolin really makes you believe that you're seeing a young Tommy Lee Jones, or should I say young Agent K. The personality differences and dialogue between Brolin and Smith are amusing to watch, and some of Smith's scenes with and without Brolin are out-and-out hilarious. Comedy Writer Etan Cohen (not to be confused with popular Writer/Director Ethan Coen) teams up with MiB veteran Director Barry Sonnenfeld to deliver a movie that's funny, witty and fun for the whole family. At a run time of just over 90 minutes I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. So do indeed get out to see Men in Black III; at minimum get it into your viewing queue. For me, it will be preordered, viewed again on Blu Ray, and sit in my collection next to MiB I & II.

In “Men in Black 3,” director Barry Sonnenfeld returns to direct the threequel in the franchise he began. This film see Agent J (Will Smith) having to go back in time to 1969 to defeat alien assassin Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) from killing Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones in the present, Josh Brolin in the past). If Boris kills K, not only will J lose his mentor, but K will not have successfully deployed a defense network that protects Earth from a Boglodite invasion in the present. While the previous entry in the franchise attempted to give J a love interest, the emotional heart of this film is the paternal relationship between K and J. There are some continuity issues introduced in this film, such as K’s line, “I guess you weren’t even alive in ’68” from the first film or that the ArcNet should have protected Earth against the Arquillian Battle Cruiser in that same film. That said, these films are action comedies rather than typical sci-fi movies, so continuity between films isn’t necessarily the writers’ biggest concern. The film is the first in the franchise not to feature Frank the Pug, Chief Zed, Jack Jeebs, or David Cross’s character, Newton. It does explain Zed’s absence while introducing O (Emma Thompson), who will appear in “Men in Black: International.” Usually, a decade between films would be detrimental, but each film in this franchise feels so episodic that it the passage of time doesn’t detract from the story. Further, having most of the story occur in 1969 helps keep the plot fresh. The way writer Etan Cohen describes time travel and Sonnenfeld films it is fun and visually distinct from most previous time travel films while still working for the aesthetic of the “Men in Black” franchise. Bonus features on the Blu-Ray include a “spot the alien” game, a making-of special, background on the creation of the 1960s MIB aesthetic, a focus on visual effects, scene breakdowns, a progression reel, a gag reel, and the music video to Pitbull’s “Back in Time,” which recalls Will Smith’s video for “Men in Black” or “Black Suits Comin’ (Nod Ya Head),” though it is somewhat sad that Smith didn’t contribute a third song to this entry. For what is likely to be the final “Men in Black” film with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones’s characters, this offers a nice amount of closure while continuing the franchise’s themes of a larger world that most people fail to perceive.

Few movies work as hard to ruin franchise goodwill as MIB III does in its first thirty minutes. Your boredom quickly turns to hostility once you realize that no matter how unimpressed you are with the tepid dialogue, forced jokes, and glacial pacing, Tommy Lee Jones is even more unimpressed than you. By a wide margin. It's as if the man could scarcely stay awake to deliver his lines. Will Smith, on the other hand, vamps for audience with as much enthusiasm as he can muster, although he seems to realize that he's becoming an old dog with tricks of a similar vintage. When he and Jones share a scene together in a car early on, you feel as if you are watching two old boxers, both on the take, just waiting for a few more rounds to pass so they can call it a day. And then... The movie jumps back to 1969, trades Jones for the living miracle that is Josh Brolin, and for the next hour and a half becomes the best summer action movie you have ever seen. The pretense for having Agent J (Smith) go back in time is to prevent an alien named Boris the Animal from killing Agent K (Jones) later in 1969--something J realizes Boris has accomplished one night when K and all evidence of his existence after 1969 go missing. Why J can remember K post-1969 when no one else can is never satisfactorily explained, but you will stop caring once J meets 29-year old K, played by 42-year old Josh Brolin. That Brolin could not and does not pass for a 29-year old is a lazy joke the movie wisely ignores, because Josh Brolin plays Tommy Lee Jones better than Tommy Lee Jones ever has. Once you have seen Brolin's spot-on impersonation and realize that it not only matches but in many ways exceeds the original model, you will wish that other Tommy Lee Jones movies would be remade with Brolin standing in. He's just that good, and his performance elevates Smith, who finds in Brolin all the chemistry he had with Jones in MB1. The "save K" mission is complicated by two overriding concerns. First, J isn't allowed to tell K that Boris winds up killing him in 1969 because of the time-space continuum, or some other nonsense. Second, K's untimely death at the hands of Boris kept the "Arc Net" from being deployed in the future. What is the Arc Net? A plot device mostly, but also a giant shield that would have ultimately protected the earth from a catastrophic invasion in 2012 by the evil race of aliens led by Boris the Animal. So, if K dies in 1969, then earth ends in 2012. Smith and Brolin go traipsing through 1969, and obligatory (and obvious) references to the free-love era abound. Nearly all of these fall flat, and they take up too much time (an extended sequence with an MIB agent posing as Andy Warhol is about as clever as it sounds). So what works? Brolin. No matter what he is doing, it is hilarious. And Smith, as long as he is in 1969 (the race-based interactions are particularly funny). And the technology jokes (it's 1969, so all the MIB gadgets are...bigger). And the action sequences, especially the clever climactic battle at the Cape Canaveral launch pad which is smarter than it is loud. It demands all of your attention at a point in the movie when most other big budget blockbusters typically run out of steam. But the script, and director Barry Sonnenfeld’s earnest interpretation of it, truly shine with the tender elements, and not just the whopper at the end (which you will not see coming). The smallest things--interactions between the younger K and a female agent he is sweet on, a moving vision of a baseball game from the future being watched by a time-traveler seeking refuge from his knowledge of suffering yet to occur--are presented with none of the rush or camp that you normally find in summer tent poles. The story’s somber undercurrent leaves room for one of the most heartbreaking finales you will ever see in any movie, but the shift in tone is appropriate and well-earned. Agent K's steely demeanor has always belied a tragic past, a frustration at having to do the wrong thing for the right reason for far too long. The big reveal does not disappoint, and you can feel every inch of Agent K's despair as he is presented with an awful choice, and then something worse. The scene is piercing, and it will linger in your memory more than any other in the series. It is impossible to overstate the difference between the first quarter of this film and the rest. Had there been some tighter editing at the outset, this would be a five star movie. As it stands, the two dissimilar parts add up to a solid, four star whole. Enjoy.

You know, the only way this could have been better is if Michael Jackson were still alive and costarred in this movie as Agent M. But since that's not possible, I guess this is still a pretty cool movie. I gave it 5 stars because they've saved the galaxy from the bugs in the last one, and hell, if I saved a galaxy from a race of giant cockroaches, I'd perhaps want 5 stars too, even if the stars are being applied to a newer movie without a galaxy that needs saving from the race of giant bugs. Let's take a second to mention Prime and Amazon's streaming. I'm an Apple/ iOS guy, and most of my electronics are Apple. I'm also a Prime member and enjoy streaming my Prime subscription on my iPad, my Mac Book Pro, even occasionally my iPhone as well as through my game consoles and Apple TV onto my HDTVs. Amazon makes the process very very simple. You just download the app and use it to store your downloaded movies or to stream free, rented or purchased movies. Because I can use Amazon movies, shows, all video on my iPad, I'm happy to check between Amazon and Apple when I'm interested in purchasing or renting a movie. I like the ability to check between different streaming apps and get the best deal offered. The other little perk which has been popping up on Amazon Prime a lot is the free credit for slow shipping perk. Amazon sometime offers Prime customers who choose it a credit to be applied to video or tv streaming purchases and downloads. For example, I purchased quite a few things during Christmas. I no longer worry about buying my Amazon stuff in one "shopping trip" since I have Prime. So I may place 12 orders over the course of a couple of weeks. On the orders that would be eligible for 2 day free shipping with Prime, I've been offered a credit if I choose the standard 4 or more days shipping. You know, the one that historically they've always said would be almost 2 weeks but arrives in like 3 days usually. That one. On stuff I wasn't worried about getting quickly I would do it. I racked up $6 in a couple of weeks and used those credits to buy a movie about some aliens that hang out on the Earth with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Loretta Lynn's husband. Or something like that.

Is the third of a series a sequel or a threequel? And does a threequel have to be bad, especially if the sequel disappointed? In this time line and reality (you have to see MIB III to get the joke I just made), MIB III is definitely a hit and does not disappoint. It exceeded all my expectations and that's my favorite reality of all. (again, you have to see MIB III to get my joke). We need some history to understand why. My History with MIB: I was captivated by the original Men In Black. The chemistry between Tommy Lee Jone as K and Will Smith as J was remarkable, and the story line was tremendous fun. Here was a sci-fi adventure with lots of fancy looking gadgets, insanely complex aliens, a nasty yet hysterical villain, a ton of comedy and a happy ending -- proving that a sci-fi movie doesn't have to be all doom and gloom, horror, gore, and filled with pessimistic technobabble about the hopelessness of the future, or endless wars with evil slimy aliens intent on destroying humanity, with the humans only winning at a tremendous cost. Here, humanity was the good guys and we won. It was brilliant. I wasn't so excited by the sequel, MIB II. The chemistry between Jones and Smith was still there, the aliens were there, as were the fancy gadgets and sets, but it just didn't quite come off for me. It seemed, well, tired. The ending wasn't so happy, and though there were jokes a plenty, it had a much darker mood than the original. It was the lightness of the original that made it for me. The sequel seemed too forced and was just not that great. Happily, along comes the threequel, MIB III, and it has it all again. In some ways, it's the best of the lot. Why I enjoyed it so much: Will Smith is again brilliant as J. He had kept in-character throughout the series and delivers his lines spot on. The jokes are fast and furious, and his expressions and body language are wonderful to watch. He makes the character fun. Tommy Lee Jones reprises his role as K, and like Smith is very consistent. He's also a delight, and as sour as K ever was, but in this film, we find out why. He's not on screen that much, but when he is, he's great. Now he has some serious competition! A few "newcomers" appear who are definitely worth mentioning. Emma Thompson as O, the new leader after Z has passed on (we don't know why he died) is excellent as a leader of the MIB. She's always just plain fun to watch. Her character is quick, and just a bit silly. Josh Brolin appears as the younger K (yes, this film is all about time travel and paradoxes, it can make your head spin) and carries the role off by making it his own. To be honest, I didn't know the full cast when I started watching and was partly convinced that Brolin was actually Pierce Brosnan (they look a little alike and some of Brolin's mannerisms reminded me of him). Brolin's K is a much more approachable agent of the MIB, just as funny and wise as Jone's K, but in a more human way. He's also just plain fun to watch. It looks like he's enjoying the part he plays. Michael Stuhlbarg almost steals the show as Griffin, the friendly alien who can see all possible futures and works with K and J to stop the villain and save the day (and the Earth from invasion). He is so animated, his eyes are so bright and his facial expressions are so open... he's an easy candidate for my favorite alien. Great actor. While it's easy to like the "good guys", they won't stand out much as characters unless they are up against a read baddie. And this MIB has a villain even more amazing than the original MIB I (remember the cockroach guy, hysterical but also menacing)? Hats off to Jemaine Clement as Boris, The Animal (actually a sort of hybrid of several alien animals in one body). He's really scary and dangerous, bent on destruction - not a complex villain with angst, he just wants to change history so his race can invade and eat the Earth - and he's pretty much unstoppable. So here we have a great cast (there are others to mention, I didn't see any performance I didn't like). Do we have a great story? The Story: I can't put in any spoilers here, it would not be fair. Suffice it to say that while the story uses a number of tried and true sci-fi cliche's, it does it with a freshness that is brilliant. They put in just the right twists on the tried and true, spin it in a different direction that it kept me on my toes while watching the film, guessing, but never correctly, what was going on or what would happen next. The script and writing on this movie is top notch. There are jokes a plenty as one would expect, and they come fast and furious. I had to rewind and watch several segments repeatedly to savor them all. A few things about the story really stand out. They manage to get suspense not only because of the plot twists, but also from some extremely uncomfortable (for me anyway) visual effects. If you get an adrenalin rush from very high places without a net, you'll love some of the scenes in this movie. How they filmed it has me wondering! This makes not only are some of the alien bits "edge of your seat" stuff, but also some of the action sequences -- just what you'd want in an action adventure. And they don't look faked, at least, not to me! Using height to excite the audience is nothing new, but this movie does it with more of a roller coaster effect. The script is also very strong on heart. As one character says to J (I paraphrase here) "You must really love the guy to go through this for him". And that's what we get a lot of in this movie - heart. J is devoted to K as his partner. He's got his back and will do anything for him. More than that, the younger K is open to J's devotion and accepts it without curmudgeon (as we expect from the older K). But he also is a hero and must do what he must do, in spite of the risks. He can't let J's devotion stop him from fulfilling his destiny. The relationship is very touching. Griffin, the alien, brings a sense of wisdom to all the adventure. He delivers some very wonderful lines, memorable and touching. There is nothing particularly shocking in the film, just great suspense and action, plenty of surprises and the greatest surprise comes at the end of the movie. The writers set us up for one "reality", but what plays out is something completely different, totally unexpected, and so amazingly well done that it ties up the entire K-J relationship together in a single, poignant scene. Everything makes sense, but it comes at a surprising cost for the characters, and our emotions. Sets and Scenery: MIB III delivers here as well, with some oddities. The set for the MIB HQ in our present day has been upgraded. Unfortunately, the HQ now looks like it was designed by APPLE engineers. Everything is white, silver and glass with very little color anywhere. Yes, this contrasts with the "black" of Men In Black, but I would have enjoyed the HQ being less "Applish". Apple is a great company, but why does it have to be imitated in so many sci-fi movies (i.e. Star Trek, the alternate Enterprise bridge)? Nevertheless there are a few sight gags in the sets. For example, look closely at O's office. I don't want to give the joke away, but most of the time, we see it in parts, an edge here, an interior shot there, bits and pieces of it. However, when J leaves it to start on his rescue of K, the camera backs off enough that we see the entire office and its shape. That shape will look very familiar. Hint: This is a movie about aliens in more ways than one! The MIB HQ in the past (1969) is a great homage to architect Frank Lloyd Wright. To get that, you have to look at images of the interior layout of the Johnson Wax building that Wright designed. That's an interesting view, but there is a huge joke in the HQ as well. To get it, you have to have seen MIB I and remember where the cockroach's escape spaceship comes from. In a very quick pan of the MIB HQ of 1969, you'll see it again as the camera makes a pan across the room. Conclusion: MIB III is an unexpected delight. It has everything I want in a lighthearted and entertaining sci-fi movie. The acting is brilliant, the writing and sets... well, let's just say I thought the whole thing was brilliant. Entertaining, engrossing, kept me guessing, and it has just the right touch of heart to make it a "I'm really glad I saw it." movie. And a note about Amazon. I watched this on Amazon Instant Video as a 24 hour rental based on a Christmas gift certificate I received. Once again, Amazon comes through with an easy purchase. I simply found the movie, applied my gift certificate code, and was even able to download MIB III temporarily to my PC (so it would play more smoothly.) I was even able to watch some of it as it was downloading (on my computer this caused a bit of jerkiness, which is to be expected, my computer is an older model). Picture quality was excellent and it played very well once fully downloaded. So hats off toe Amazon for their process in being able to "rent a movie". And hats off to MIB III for being a great $3.99 rental. Money well spent. I loved it!

I will be honest here. I liked MiB II, despite the general consensus being that it's terrible. I mean, I didn't think it was as good, fun or interesting as the first one, but I don't think it's deserving of the hate it keeps getting. That being said, I didn't have much hopes for this movie. I kept reading about production problems, script rewritings, filming delays and such, and it did look like MiB (the first movie) was going to be the highlight of the series. After watching the movie in theaters, I'm pleased to announce that is not the case. I'm prepared to call this movie the highlight (although marginally). Despite all the problems it had, it's just that good. Yes, the film has a couple of problems and noticeable plot holes, and you get to notice that different scenes of the movie were written by different people. Why 5 stars, then? Because it's a really, really entertaining film. The special effects are great, there's no doubt about it. While the side aliens are not as interesting as other ones in the previous films, the main ones are some of the best, both in concept and portrayal. Main guys Smith and Jones are as good as ever, if not better. The 60's setting is very well done (as you might know, this movie involves time travel). One of the film's highlights, of course, is Brolin's portrayal as 69's Agent K. His job as portraying a younger Tommy Lee Jones is, at minimum, superb. The script is more interesting too, despite suffering from so many writes and rewrites. The story is quite engaging, and the movie is character-driven, and surprisingly emotional. A part of the film will most likely leave you in tears, even in your second or third viewing. All in all, the good far surpasses the bad, so this is a film which deserves to be watched several times. As for the Blu Ray, the quality of the film is top notch. I haven't watched the extras yet, but I might update the review when I do.

Men in Black 3 looks great in 3D and is easily the strongest 3D presentation in the series. The depth is well done, clean, and immersive without being overdone. Image quality is sharp, colors pop, and the picture holds up extremely well on a large screen or projector. The standard Blu-ray also looks excellent, with good detail and contrast, and the audio is punchy and clear during action scenes. Having the Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, and DVD all in one package is a nice bonus. If you have a 3D setup or you’re a fan of the Men in Black movies, this is a solid pickup and well worth adding to your collection.