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A Men Thing
It's too hot. I spent most of my day trying to survive the hellish temperature. That means renting a few movies and reading some scripts. Doesn't my life sound so exciting? Good ol' Dr. Strangelove saw MIB 2 yesterday and gives us his report. I wrote a little something about one of my favorite actors too. Enjoy!
MIB 2 Review
"Doctor Strangelove here with an advance review of one of the summer's hottest sequels, Men In Black II. What I have to say, in a nutshell, is that the film is entertaining, but nowhere near as good as the first film. So, if you don't want plot details or analyzation, don't read any further.
The film starts off with a television show, hosted by Peter Graves. It's a carbon copy of the show 'Unsolved Mysteries' except in comedy form. The show informs us that back in the seventies, a group called the Men in Black played a part in the cover up of a superweapon which is described as 'the light' which can either kill or heal, depending on the person who holds possession over it. The show concludes that the MIB defended the light so it could leave Earth before the evil Sereena took hold of it.
Following the prologue, we watch as Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent T (Patrick Warburton) follow a huge bug into the New York subway system. Agent T fails early on in the task by taking the bug on like an action figure. J, always cool and calm, saves the day, and discovers he has to 'neuralize' (erase the memory of) his partner (the latest in a LONG line). Meanwhile, on the other side of NYC, an incredibly small space ship has landed and a beautiful woman, Sereena (Lara Flynn Boyle) has emerged. Her mission is the same as the one she failed twenty years ago: to retrieve the light. With the help of a fellow alien (Johnny Knoxville), she kills anything in her path.
J and his new partner, the pug named Frank, do some investigation into the murder of a pizza shop owner somehow connected to the light. They interrogate a beautiful witness and follow that up with a hunt for J's former partner, K (Tommy Lee Jones). For those of you who have seen MIB, you know that K also was neuralized at the end of the first film. He is now a worker at the United States Post Office. The two partners reunite and try to save the day once again.
I'm sorry to say that this film was a predictable rehash of the first film. It took everything special and entertaining about it's predecessor and exploited it to the point of being excessive. Don't get me wrong, the film is entertaining and I have seen far worse. However, it just didn't stay with me as much as the first one did. It has the same main themes of the Earth being destroyed and it uses much of the same methods of driving the plot. The characters are the same, the plot is the same, and nothing seems to take you by surprise. The one thing that did was Michael Jackson's cameo as an alien. Now that was something fresh. I just wish Sonnenfeld, Smith, and Jones would have been given something more unique and memorable to work with. I kept hearing about how hard it was to wrangle all the talent up again and I cringe at how this opportunity was wasted. This seemed like an episode of the cartoon, not a sequel."
(Review submitted by Dr. Strangelove)
T3 Trailer Comments
Here's the good Doctor's thoughts on the trailer to Warner's big 2003 summer release:
"Adding to the disappointments of the night was the teaser trailer for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. This was one of the worst trailers I have ever seen. All it shows is the Warner Brothers logo morphing into liquid metal and forming a giant T with a 3 carved in it as the theme song blares. There is no Arnold, there is no action, there is NOTHING. The THX logo for the Ultimate DVD was more interesting than this crap. Overall, it was a disappointing night at the cinema, but at least part of it was entertaining."
Jason Lee, Movie Star
It's been no secret in this column that I'm a huge fan of Jason Lee. He's one of the funniest actor in the business today. I've been following his career very carefully since Mallrats. Lately, he's been playing strong supporting characters in movies like Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky. I've been raving to everyone that it's time for Mr. Lee to become a lead actor. Well it happened, not once but twice. We'll soon see him in A Guy Thing followed by Stealing Harvard.
Last week, the first review of A Guy Thing hit the net. You can read it here and it was extremely positive. The reviewer raves about Jason Lee's performance and how he deserved to be the leading man. I can add a few details to the project. A month ago, I managed to get my hands on both the A Guy Thing and Stealing Harvard scripts. Both are very funny and well written. A Guy Thing was my favorite of the two. The script was laugh out loud from beginning to end. It's a great role for Jason. There is just one succession of catastrophes after another. Everything that can go wrong, goes terribly wrong. You start to feel bad for the guy but you can't help laughing about him. I was positive Jason could pull it off and from the looks of things, he did. I'm hoping MGM will hype the hell out of this one and turn it into a solid hit. Jason needs to be taken seriously as a lead. As for Stealing Harvard, that's another story and column...
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
