Film Review - MEN IN BLACK 3 ★★½☆☆☆

Men In Black 3 is simply and exactly what it says it is: the third Men In Black movie in the series. It's been ten years since MIB2 if you can believe that, and this latest entry at times feels like a run of the mill go-round for Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

As the story goes, its been 15 years since Jones' Agent K recruited Smith's Agent J into the super secret Men In Black alien task force. Sadly with this passage of time, we have to say RIP to some familiar MIB's. Our beloved Frank (the talking Pug) is no longer on the roster, or is Chief Zed (Rip Torn). Both absences are acknowledged, and are missed in this entry.

The plot? MIB arch enemy Boris The Animal (played by a snarling Jemaine Clement) escapes from the Moon's Lunar Max prison to exact revenge on Agent K, the man who not only captured him 40 years earlier, but also shot off his left arm. So he's still pretty pissed and sees fit to wipe K out from history by killing him in 1969 via a Hollywood no-frills time travel plot. Agent J is the only one who realizes K has been erased from the timeline and in turn travels back to the past to stop Boris of skewing history.

What's missing here is the truly fun banter between the day and night personalities of J and K. As written, their field partner relationship has sadly become stale after all these years. By the nature of the series run, Smith's Agent J is no longer the wet under the collar rookie, and that makes for far less fun with Jones' sorely veteran Agent K. But the plot remedy for that is to limit Jones' screen time and introduce us to young Agent K in 1969, played with dead-on uncanny confidence by Josh Brolin (and easily ranks up there with Rob Lowe's younger version of Robert Wagner's Number Two in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me).

When dealing with the finer points of a time travel plot, screenwriters can either adhere to the rules with brain freeze inducing results (insert possible catastrophic universe ending paradoxes), or throw all thinking logic to the wind and just do it. The latter was the wise way to go here and no sci-fi mind games are put on the table.

Throughout the film, meaty back story details are teased and beg for some fleshing out, especially when we have gotten to know these characters since 1997, but get swept under the rug with the movie's brisk pace. While this can be a plus when many movies don't know when enough is enough, MIB3 jaunts from place to place like a film that was meant to be a chunk and change longer.

There were of course the reported script problems that lead to shutting down production halfway through filming, and although the story is in no way plagued with huge plot hole problems, it is a bit scant on needed rest stops by the time we reach the big showdown at Cape Canaveral as Apollo 11 is set for mankind's first manned moon landing.

Seven-time Academy Award winning make-up icon Rick Baker provides plenty of old school tangible eye candy visuals that help sell Boris The Animal and the various background creatures featured throughout the film. It's good to see that CGI FX haven't completely replaced old fashioned prosthetics. Danny Elfman returns to collaborate with MIB director Barry Sonnenfeld to once again deliver a rousing score that effectively helps to move the pacing of the film along even further.

Tommy Lee Jones has a surprisingly small role in the film. Older K for all intents and purposes merely bookends the film, which changes up the expected dynamic. But the addition of fun cameos by SNL's Bill Hader (as Andy Warhol), Emma Thompson and Alice Eve (as older and younger Agent O), and Will Arnett as J's partner in the alternate timeline, provide some solid extra support.

Men In Black 3 is a fun film, and yes it's in 3D, that sprints along and gets you harmlessly in and out of your theater seat in no time. But overall it doesn't quite pack the expected punch of a decade-in-the-making event film for our favorite sharp dressed alien investigators. Although it lacks a big 'must see' feel to it, Will Smith can be counted on here as Agent J to provide some light summer time travel adventure, and Brolin without question brings his A Game to K.

Men In Black 3 opens in 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D this Friday which also happens to be Geek Pride Day, May 25th.

REVIEW RATING: ★★½☆☆☆
Directed By: Barry Sonnenfeld

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 104 minutes 

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'Skyfall' Teaser Poster Revealed

Columbia Pictures has released the first teaser poster from the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall. Daniel Craig is seen in an iconic image that should be familiar to 007 fans all around the world.
 

According to the official synopsis, "Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost."

Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, is set to hit theaters on November 9th with Daniel Craig returning as James Bond, Dame Judi Dench (M), Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Naomi Harris, and Ben Wishaw (Q).

 SOURCE: 007.com

Preview: 'Amazing Spider-Man' Four Minute Super Preview

Columbia Pictures has released a four-minute extended look at this summer's highly anticipated The Amazing Spider-Man. In addition to some previously seen footage from the other trailers, there are exciting new scenes included, the majority of which are at the top of the clip and show Spider-Man saving a young boy from a car that is about to plunge off the Manhattan Bridge.

The dark moody tone has been quite clear from the last few sneak peeks at the reboot of the iconic Marvel Comics wall-crawler, but there is sure to be some of Spider-Man's quick wit included as well. Even looking at some of this footage on a computer screen, it's already apparent that the film will have an epic scope in IMAX 3D.

C. Thomas Howell appears in the bridge sequence as the father of the boy the unmasked Spider-Man rescues following an encounter with The Lizard.  It was Howell who was the first to confirm last March that The Lizard would be the Spidey's adversary in the movie in an interview with Movieweb.

"I play a relatively small role. I play a construction worker who's son is caught in the middle of a battle between the Lizard and Spider-Man on the Manhattan bridge," he revealed.

Directed by Marc Webb (500 Days Of Summer), The Amazing Spider-Man stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/ The Lizard, Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, and Sally Field as Aunt May.

The Amazing Spider-Man swings into theaters in 3D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D on July 3rd.

SOURCES: SpiderManMovie, Movieweb

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TRAILER: 'The Amazing Spider-Man" Trailer #3

Hot on the heels of the new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises debuting earlier this week, its no surprise to see a new preview for Columbia Pictures' The Amazing Spider-Man debuting online today as well. With Marvel's The Avengers hitting theaters tonight at midnight, it's been a banner week for the superhero genre on the big screen.

Directed by Marc Webb (500 Days Of Summer), The Amazing Spider-Man stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/ The Lizard, Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, and Sally Field as Aunt May.

The Amazing Spider-Man swings into movie theaters in 3D and IMAX 3D on July 3rd.