MEN IN BLACK 3

Columbia Pictures

Rated PG- 13

Running time: 106 Minutes



Click below to watch the MEN IN BLACK 3 trailer.



In Columbia Pictures Men in Black 3, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, Earth is about to be invaded from space. Man in Black Will Smith must go back in time in order to save his partner Tommy Lee Jones life - who was killed 40 years earlier, thus wiping out Jones present-day existence - as well as restoring Earth's defense system which Jones had set up to prevent extraterrestrial invasion.

In a sequel to the Men in Black movies - based on the comic books created and written by Lowell Cunningham, which was based on the UFO phenomenon of the Men in Black - alien criminal Jemaine Clement escapes from prison and seeks revenge on the MIB agent who took his arm - Jones. Clement's alien appendages were pretty graphic, thus emphasizing his alienness and his evilness as the bad guy. Having Clement going back in time and meeting himself was a pretty fun meeting, as they are both pissed off at each other's actions. Sonnenfeld had studied the Back to the Future movies because those movies got time travel right, and watching the scenes where Michael Chernus or Michael Stuhlbarg talked about time travel and alternate timelines did have a Back to the Future type of feeling to me. The time travel sequence was similar to the time travel sequence to the movie The Time Machine, so the sequence was more visual than the Back to the Future time travel scenes.

Josh Brolin was great as the young Tommy Lee Jones. I could believe Brolin was a younger Jones, although Brolin as a character was happier in the past than the mature Jones was in the present. As Smith keeps asking Brolin, "What happened to you?" "I don't know. It hasn't happened yet."

There was a plot point towards the end of the movie that was totally predictable to me as a writer, once the plot point started to be set up and play out. Even then, knowing what was going to happen, I still teared up at the scenes. Despite the scene being totally predictable to me - the scene was a total surprise to the guy behind me, so the scene worked for the movie. When I saw the movie at an early matinee, there was a small crowd. Usually, a small crowd means that it would be fairly silent in the theater - but the audience was laughing and reacting to the movie. So I can imagine how the audience would have reacted if it was a crowded evening theater.

Since Rip Torn was not in this movie, the movie played up Torn being missing. There were also pictures of the alien talking dog, Frank the Pug, as a reference to the earlier movies as Frank was also not in the movie. Smith makes references that Smith has been an agent for 14 years. It is hard for me to think that the MIB films have been around for that long, but in reality the original Men in Black was released in 1997. You can see in Men in Black 3 that Smith is quite a veteran now as a Man in Black. While Emma Thompson replaced Torn in the movie, she does not have the film presence that Torn had as the head of the MIB. But it was nice to see that Thompson does have a relationship with Jones whose relationship originated in the past with Brolin and the young Thompson - Alice Eve. When Smith went back in time, David Rasche was the head of the MIB in the past. As a fan of David Rasche since the TV series Sledge Hammer!, when I saw that he was the head of the MIB, I thought Rasche would be great in that role. It is a shame that Rasche did not have much to do.  Rasche had basically a walk on part.

When the holder of the time machines Michael Chernus warns Smith that Smith will be traveling to 1969, Chernus warns Smith that 1969 was not a good time for Smith's people. While this idea is not politically correct, I wanted to see more confrontations for Smith about his being black back in 1969 as Smith searches for Jones and Clement. At least more than what was shown, and with Smith being a black comedian, his showing up the prejudice of the time and it's comeuppance amongst the bigots that were back then would have been great to see. That would have added more realism and relevance to the movie to see that. It was also nice having Asian aliens in the movie, like restaurant owner Keone Young. It is rare that I  get to see asians in a science fiction movie. Being set in 1969, there were also major references to the events of the year - including references to the Amazing Mets, Andy Warhol - Bill Hader - and the launch of the first lunar Moon landing in the movie. Having visited Cape Canaveral, otherwise known as Cape Kennedy back then, the recreation of the Cape Canaveral spectator area looked pretty realistic to me.

Click below to watch another trailer of Men in Black 3.



Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 106 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

BATTLESHIP

Universal Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 131 Minutes



Click below to watch the Battleship trailer.



In Universal's Battleship, which is based on the game by Hasbro, screw up Taylor Kitsch is drafted by his Naval brother Alexander Skarsgård into the United States Navy with Skarsgard. While on RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, a multi-national maritime exercise in which the U.S. Navy participates in - they encounter an alien invasion force.

While the movie was based on the game of Battleship, there were very little references to the game, or the references to the ads in which most of the audience would be more familiar with if they have never played the game. That seems a poor marketing strategy on the studio's/writer's part. Those of us who grew up with the game like me would want to see a little bit more of that. The ads of the game today are based on the movie. The references in the movie were not always directly related to the game. You had to reach for the references to notice the connection to the game. The most obvious references were the alien artillery that were shaped like the pegs in the game, although the artillery pegs were not aerodynamically launched. The alien artillery flew through the air like thrown knives and I am surprised that they did not bounce off the ships when they were flying like that. The scene where the movie used tsunami warning buoys, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather tracking system, to locate the water displacement of the alien ships so they can call out artillery strikes against the alien ships is a direct reference as to playing the game. There was one scene in the movie that had dialog that was different than the trailer. Frankly, I liked the dialog in the trailer better for that scene than what they used in the movie. There was also a scene in the movie that was based on a true-life funny video that went viral on YouTube.

The movie is a combination of Top Gun, Under Siege, Independence Day, Battle Los Angeles, and Transformers. While the story is pretty standard, my favorite parts of the movie deal with the Naval exercise and the Naval ships themselves. Seeing the close-in weapon systems (CIWS) being used for the shipboard point-defense against the alien artillery was awesome. It was great seeing the old battleship U.S.S. Missouri and the old salt Navy men who had crewed the Missouri during World War II.  It was especially great since battleships are now considered obsolete because they are too expensive to operate, as well as battleships having been surpassed by aircraft carriers as being the leading capital ships for the Navy.

A touching subplot, which gives a sense of realism to the movie, deals with the wounded warriors and the therapy they must go through. Kitsch's girlfriend Brooklyn Decker - who also unfortunately for Kitsch just happens to be the daughter of Kitsch's commanding officer Admiral Liam Neeson - is a therapist who gives therapy to real-life wounded warrior bi-lateral amputee Gregory D. Gadson in Oahu. Unfortunately, Admiral Neeson and most of the fleet were caught outside the alien force field and Neeson was not involved in fighting the aliens. This was a disappointment as I was expecting Neeson to be heavily involved in the action, one commander of our fleet against the commander of the alien fleet. Having some of the alien devastation taking place in Hong Kong adds to the scope of the movie, while news clips and footage of President Barack Obama, as well as the use of actual Naval personnel as extras to the movie added to the realism of the movie. Although, Peter MacNicol's brief appearance as the U.S. Secretary of Defense did not add to the political realism to me. Special thanks was given to the United States Department of Defense at the end of the movie.

This was singer Rihanna's acting debut. While I have never heard her music, Rihanna did pretty good as a Gunner's Mate and weapons specialist who kicked alien butt. Her character was basically of a girl from the hood who had joined the Navy and fired some big guns on both of the small boats and being on gun control on the big ships. Having wounded warrior Gadson also kicking alien butt in the movie was also fun to see. This was basically Kitsch's movie, so having Kitsch give up command of his ship over to his soccer rival Captain Tadanobu Asano, while understandable, bothered me. Also, I am not sure if that is legal to give up command of your ship like that in the Navy.

The plot of the alien invasion was too similar to Independence Day. Alien ships arrive from space and start to cause havoc, mostly with the Naval forces while trying to control communications. The aliens were too humanoid to me for the aliens to be scary enough as a threat, the aliens were just big and mean. The aliens weapons were scarier and more destructive than the aliens themselves. The alien ships were more like submersibles instead of aircraft as the alien ships hopscotched across the ocean. However the alien ships hopscotching along the ocean allowed the alien ships to be targeted like in the game. 

At the end of the movie, there is a scene at the end of the end credits. This is the longest after credits scene that I have ever seen. I am not sure if this scene was just a nice tag to the movie, or a hint of what the sequel will be.

This was also the first time that I saw Universal's 100th anniversary logo. I thought the new introduction logo was cool.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 131 Minutes.

Click below to watch another trailer of Battleship.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.