Film Review: MEN IN BLACK 3 (2012)

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writers: Etan Cohen, Lowell Cunningham (based on the Malibu comic by)
Running time: 102 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 25^th May 2012

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 24^th March 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I very much enjoyed the first MIB film, the second was still good, but had lost a little and so we come to the third. I guess I watched it in the hope that the critics were wrong; maybe I’ll disagree with them on this one (it does happen). Well I’ll tell you at the end; for now I can tell you its very slick with your two favourite MIB agents back doing what they do best. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

When badass alien Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) escapes from a maximum security prison on the moon, it can only mean trouble for the MIB. In particular he has a grudge against the man who put him there, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones). In order to get his revenge he travels back in time to 1969 and kills the young Agent K, erasing him from history. The trouble is, his partner, Agent J (Will Smith), can still remember him. Realising there’s a time rift problem, their new boss, Agent O (Emma Thompson), sends Agent J back one day before the young Agent K was killed (with me so far?). Back in 1969, Agent J meets up with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) and a being called Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), the last of his species, who can see all possible futures. They use his ability to track down Boris… but is it too late? Guess I’d better leave it there or I might say too much!

It’s very well made, very slick and everything we’ve come to expect from an MIB movie. It has been said that Tommy Lee Jones plays the part like he really didn’t want to be there and I can see what they mean; he seems to be just going through the motions in many of his scenes. I thought Josh Brolin did a decent job as the young Agent K and Will Smith played Agent J with his usual panache. I did feel they went for a few too many cheap laughs, but it was good to hear ‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ by Status Quo in the Andy Warhol party scene. Maybe not as good as the first one; about on a par with the second… Worth a look if you’re a fan of the franchise; otherwise, I’d give it a miss.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (just)

My score: 6.5/10.

IMDb Score: 6.9/10 (based on 142,538 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/

MetaScore: 58/100: (Based on 38 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 70/100 (based on 255 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 72/100 (based on 435,194 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/men_in_black_iii/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Agent J: I'm looking for K, have you seen him? Sort of a surly, older gentleman, smiles like this...
[J makes a poker face]
Agent O: K's been dead for over forty years.

[a tasered J wakes up in 1969 MIB headquarters]
Agent J: You have got to turn the voltage down on that thing, I can't feel my tongue!
Young Agent K: How do you know my name?

Young Agent K: Who are you, and what do you know?
Agent J: I'm an agent of Men in Black, but I'm from the future. We're partners, twenty-five years from now you're going to recruit me. And 14 years after, the guy you DIDN'T let me kill at Coney Island he escapes from prison, and jumps back in the past and unleashes a full-scale invasion of Earth. We have about 19 hours to catch him and kill him, so really we need to go right now!
Young Agent K: [deadpan] All right.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/meninblack3/
Trailer:

Film Review: ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998)

Director: Tony Scott
Writer: David Marconi
Running time: 126 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Drama/Thriller
UK Release date: 26^th December 1998

Watched on DVD Sunday 26^th August 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

After the untimely death of director Tony Scott this week I thought it would be nice to have a look at a few of his films. I started with this one because I have always found it entertaining and there are some great ideas used to link the action together. I will explain more after this very brief summary.

When labour lawyer Robert Clayton Dean is passed a disc that shows the assassination of a US Congressman his whole life changes. In order to cover up his involvement, one Thomas Brian Reynolds uses the resources of the NSA to track Robert in the hope of recovering the recording. This effects his family and friends, including Rachel Banks, who Dean was using as a liaison between him and a private detective who calls himself Brill. When things go wrong, Dean makes direct contact with Brill, who turns out to be former NSA employee, Edward Lyle. He tells Dean how to avoid detection; but they are closing in and Dean has had enough; it’s time to turn the tables. I will leave it there or the NSA will be bugging me (still).

A very slick production with some great touches; I particularly like the way street cameras and satellite images are used to link certain scenes. A very clever use of the available technology. I know it may have been a little advanced for its day, but its well within the realms of possibility today. As far as performances go, well Will Smith did a decent job as Robert Clayton Dean; the usual wise-cracks, but also some nice acting in-between. Gene Hackman did an excellent job (as ever) as Edward Lyle, as did Jon Voight as the cool calculating bad guy, Thomas Brian Reynolds. Honourable mentions must go to; Lisa Bonet as Rachel Banks, Regina King as Robert’s wife, Carla Dean, Jake Busey and Scott Caan as the heavies Krug and Jones, Gabriel Byrne as Brill and Jack Black as Fiedler.

Quite an enthralling and captivating film. It does take a bit of time to get going but once it does it keeps the pace pretty well until the end. If I have one criticism, it’s that it’s far too long. I enjoy a complex plot as much as the next guy, but this one did take a long time to tie all the various threads together. Over all a film with some very nice touches and some decent performances but I guess it’s one you can’t watch too many times. Even so, worth a look if you either haven’t seen it, or haven’t seen it for a while.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED.

My score: 7.5/10

IMDb Score: 7.2/10 (based on 109,067 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/

MetaScore: 67/100: (Based on 22 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 71/100 (based on 83 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 76/100 ‘Liked it’ (based on 346,391 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/enemy_of_the_state/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
Zavitz: Fuck a duck.

Robert Clayton Dean: Actually, I believe the term "shyster" is reserved for attorneys of the Jewish persuasion. I believe the proper term for me is "eggplant".

Robert Clayton Dean: Why are they after me?
Brill: You have something they want.
Robert Clayton Dean: I don't have anything.
Brill: Maybe you do and you don't know it.

Krug: [while ransacking the Dean home] Ooh, nice blender!
[takes Robert's blender]

[the NSA team is watching satellite footage of a conversation between Dean and Brill on a rooftop]
Hicks: Can you get a feature scan and pattern matching on him?
Van: No, he's smart, he never looks up.
Jones: Why does he have to look up?
Fiedler: The satellite is 155 miles above the Earth. It can only look straight down.
Jones: That's a bit limited, isn't it?
Van: [Sarcastically] Well, maybe you should design a better one.
Jones: Maybe I will idiot.

Robert Clayton Dean: What the hell is happening?
Brill: I blew up the building.
Robert Clayton Dean: Why?
Brill: Because you made a phone call.

[last lines]
Larry King: How do we draw the line - draw the line between protection of national security, obviously the government's need to obtain intelligence data, and the protection of civil liberties, particularly the sanctity of my home? You've got no right to come into my home!

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: SEVEN POUNDS (2008)

Director: Gabriele Muccino
Running time: 118 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 12

UK Release Date: 16th January 2009

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 6th March 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I can’t say I’m the greatest fan of the work of Will Smith, but if he continues to produce performances like this I may have to change my view. I found him really engaging in the part of Ben Thomas, a tax collector with a heart… and a secret. There was the occasional glimpse of the clown he’s better known for, but these were fleeting enough to ignore. I have noticed he has matured in the last few performances I’ve seen, The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), which I wasn’t too enthralled with, and I Am Legend (2007), which I quite liked (see my review here: I Am Legend - Review). But enough of Mr Smith, I’ll tell you a bit more about the film.

Ben Thomas is a troubled man, we see him ranting at a telephone salesman, Ezra Turner, for no apparent reason. He has flashbacks of an incident in his past that has obviously affected him deeply. He talks on the phone to a man, possibly a lawyer, about a plan that they have as he goes about his business as an IRS tax collector. He helps an old woman in a nursing home to achieve some dignity after her doctor is less than caring. It’s almost like he’s looking for good people who are worth saving from the circumstances they find themselves in. As part of his search he finds Emily Posa, a young woman who has tax problems and a heart condition. The pair become friends and, when Emily collapses due to her condition, Ben stays by her bedside, which brings them even closer. There is also a sub-plot where Ben’s brother is trying to find him, exactly why I will not say, but it’s fairly crucial to the plot. I really can’t say any more without giving away crucial plot points, so I’ll leave my little synopsis here.

I have heard good reports about this film, and so was quite keen to see what all the fuss was about. A very well made film with quite a slow, deliberate pace. The music was pretty good too, but if you put the band Muse in the soundtrack, I’m bound to like it! A great performance from Will Smith as Ben Thomas and honourable mentions also go to Rosario Dawson as Emily Posa, Woody Harrelson as Ezra Turner, Michael Ealy as Ben’s brother and Barry Pepper as Dan Morris.

I wasn’t aware that the director, Gabriele Muccino, had also brought us The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), which I’ve already said I didn’t much enjoy. I was pleasantly surprised though, not just by the performance of Will Smith, but with the film as a whole. There is quite a sense of mystery at the beginning which sets the wheels in motion, unfortunately this cannot be maintained all the way through and it does get a bit bogged down towards the latter third. But very enjoyable none the less with a really great ending that may have you in tears! Over all, a really good, heart warming tale and a film I can recommend.


My score: 7.4/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0814314/
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/sevenpounds/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi2170028057/

Film Review: I AM LEGEND (2007)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Running time: 98 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15

Watched on DVD Sunday 30th August 2009.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This film, in case you didn’t know, is a remake of the 1971 film The Omega Man directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. Now, I have seen the original and as such I can’t help but draw comparisons between the two, you have been warned. In the modern version, the Will Smith character, Robert Neville, has a companion, his dog, Sam, whereas in the original, the Charlton Heston character of the same name has no companion. Why do I bring this trivial matter up, well, mainly because the underlying theme to the film is that Robert Neville is incredibly lonely, having lost all of his family and friends to the virus, and it is his loneliness that drives him to take some of the risks he does. I feel that the original film portrayed this so much better. But I digress…

Set in the near future, in a world where the vast majority of the Earth’s population has been wiped out by a virus that we are lead to believe was accidentally created by mankind, thinking they had a cure for cancer. Of those that are left, only a very few are totally immune, the rest are sensitive to daylight to the extent that they only come out at night. Robert Neville is a military doctor who is assigned to Manhattan in New York where, as the only survivor, he lives with his dog, Sam, and works on finding a cure. His wife and daughter were killed when the island was evacuated three years previous. As he thinks he is getting closer to a cure, he is beginning to notice a change in behaviour of the mutants, they are becoming more daring.

Although slightly flawed, it’s still a very good film. A creditable performance from Will Smith as Robert Neville, whose witty one-liners kept, what might otherwise have been, a rather dull script, alive. Honourable mentions go to Alice Braga as Anna and Charlie Tahan as Ethan, although they were not on screen for very long. Some really good CGI work as well, I particularly liked the herd of deer running through the desolate streets of New York. Over all, a pretty good effort, quite entertaining, although I did find it a bit depressing at times.

My score: 7/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/
Official Site: http://iamlegend.warnerbros.com/_main_site/