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Review: Men In Black II
The story line is almost irrelevant. Will Smith (Agent Jay) has to neuralize one dumb partner after another, and ends up with a smart-mouthed, sometimes hilarious pug for a partner. He pines for his former sidekick Tommy Lee Jones (Agent Kay), now neuralized and working for the institution with the greatest number of aliens, the U.S. Post Office. (The movie, like the first, gets off some great double entendres and inside jokes).
The movie opens with a campy Peter Graves spoof on the Ed Woods' style sci-fi movies of the 50's and 60's. Simply, Lara Flynn Boyle plays Serleena, the powerful alien queen ravaging earth to get her hands on a distant planet's light source. If she isn't stopped, the world will be destroyed, of course. Her prescence forces the MIB agency (headed by Sid, played by Rip Torn) to go and de-neuralize Kay, who comes back to re-join his buddy and save the world.
This is all beside the point, of course. The whole film is a device for Sonnenfeld's loopy rags on Martha Stewart (not perhaps as funny as it would have been a month ago) and Michael Jackson. There are hilarious locker room and worm aliens, and blessedly, the movie never takes itself seriously for a single second. Like the better parts of the Scream series, the movie ends up spoofing itself and the people who loved it.
If you go see it, all you need to know is that the surprise originality of the first is missing, mostly because we know what to expect, but the loopy and inventive spirit of MIB is very much alive.
CmdrTaco my 2 bits is that this movie was bland. It probably is my least favorite of the last half dozen movies I've seen. I loved the original, but this just doesn't have the punch of the first. Its got its moments, but the whole ride is weak. Watch Lilo & Stich instead ;)
As corny and stupid of a concept MIB 1 was, I loved it. I despise Will Smith, but he was tolerable. I have free movie passes and might go see this one...
100% Insightful
Give the previous story more than 4 minutes of fame. Jeez!
BTW, Men in Black 2 was good the first time I saw it... when it was Men in Black 1. Rather than try anything really new, they went back to the original two stars, and a too similar plot.
"He's a Ballchinian!"
--
grep "xercist"
It has also lost some of the originality. What happened to new movies with original screenplays?
Crapdot
News from birds. Stuff that splatters.
Rip Torn's character is Zed. Not Sid.
Saw Lilo and Stitch opening weekend. Like attendence at Powerpuff Girls, we were the only ones in our demographic in the theater. We also laughed harder and louder than anyone else. People probably thought we were stoned.
Speaking of which...why hasn't there been a slashdot review of Lilo and Stitch?
Say what you will for this movie. The short that preceded it was absolutely hilarious.
:)
I believe I laughed more for those few minutes then I have at many full length movies.
I don't want to start too many spoilers on a root thread, so instead of listing the appearances, I'll just ask. Who all did people notice that they think may have been missed. I'll look for them next time.
"Sid"?? I'm pretty sure (and now positive after an IMDB check) that it's "Zed".
However, I will agree that the movie wasn't like the first, and for some reason, most of the CGI SFX seems poorly meshed with the rest of the visuals (for example, the two-headed alien). And TLJones didn't have the same deadpan that his character really needed (compared with the first). I will say, however, that getting Patrick Warburton (star of "The Tick") to play Agent T was a good choice and provided some good opening laughs.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
MIB2 is worth seeing just for the cute animated short at the beginning. In the tradition of pixar shorts, this one is a bubble-gum spoof of the movie's genre.
Very cute.
...you should read this real review. Most disturbing is that MIB2, "...contains nudity rarely seen even in R-rated features." Who would of thought!!
The Boss's name is ZED , not Sid. That's zed as in the last letter of the alphabet in all English-speaking nations except the U.S., where, for some unkonwn reason, we call it zee
www.wavefront-av.com
Title says it all. My 10 & 12 year olds got a HUGE giggle out of this because of seeing a PG-13 rated movie. Smart they are, sofisticated they ain't. The adults in the group were bored shitless by the whole thing.
You've been advised. Act accordingly.
"why hasn't there been a slashdot review of Lilo and Stitch?"
It's in the queue behind "Pokemon II", "The Care Bears Movie", and "The Land Before Time IV"
Wasn't Linda Fiorentino supposedly understood as being Jay's "new partner" at the end of the last movie? I wonder how many times she got zapped after that :)
Mouse, Mice. Goose, Geese. Moose... Moose?
Um...the review is hosted on the slashdot site, you know...
http://www.apple.com/trailers/columbia/men_in_blac k_2/
The Trailer for MIB, have not watched it yet (ill wait until i next boot windows) probably contains more spoilers than this review.
Interesting review by Katz, but this is a movie I was probably going to go and see anyway.
This post is just an excuse to say that CmdrTaco should post a comment like everyone else and let the moderators decide.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Her prescence forces the MIB agency (headed by Sid, played by Rip Torn) to go and de-neuralize Kay, who comes back to re-join his buddy and save the world.
Rip Torn's character (like all MIB agents) is named after a letter in the alphabet - "Zed", not "Sid" (that's how the English refer to the letter "Z")
Who are you, and what did you do with the real JonKatz?
Is your workplace ADA compliant?
Katz, yet again you live up to your moronic reputation. The movie sucked royally. I haven't seen a movie that bad in a long time. Thank god for a short running time. I can't count the number of product placements, plugs and corny-assed jokes I witnessed last night. The only thing missing was an overly obvious placement for the Segway like I've seen in nearly every sitcom on TV lately. Mercedes, Sprint, Cohiba, Mountain Dew and countless other plugs made me sick. Then Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson stepped in. I almost threw up. But yeah, go see the movie, Katz always seems to know what he's talking about.
It was alright, but only at matinee prices. A few entertaining lines, pretty decent effects a la the first one, however it's weak by comparison to the first installment. The story was a bit too rushed, I think. The opening 'toon was nicely done, though.
.02.
My
We all get along together like tornadoes and trailer parks.
Photoshop TLJ and Will Smith in MIIB? IDLink =228134
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
working for a super-secret government agency
/.ers puts more credence in? :)
I got the idea in the first one that they didn't work for the government and were autonomous because it asked too many questions. Either way, anyone else find it funny how CmdrTaco simple 3 line review completely contrasts and pretty much cuts down JonKatz's review? Of course the question is which one will
I stole this Sig
Don't waste your time on this pathetic & unimaginitive piece of trash someone called a movie.
I think I laughed all of once. The humour is mundane and boring, the acting and plot wooden, and the "surprise" ending isn't even good enough for a *bad* Twilight Zone.
PS: Minority Report is HIGHLY overrated, as well. Yet another example of Steven Spielberg's saturday-morning-cartoon version of cinema.
"Steven Spielberg's saturday-morning-cartoon version of cinema."
Minority isn't a cartoon. When was the last time Spielberg did a cartoon? Was he involved in a prime time failure about a cartoon dog?
Jeebs (the black market weapons-selling guy) has a beard and medallion and looks much more middle eastern than in MIB 1, and there are fireworks that kinda become symbolic for god bless america, a tired phrase these days.
Hollyweird has gotten so bad these days, that you can *practically* guarantee that anything with a number behind it will suck big time.
Nonetheless I was surprised when a sequel to MIB was announced (I didn't feel it needed one, but you know how Hollywood is..if the 1st made even a smidgen of money, sequel it!) and even more so that it didn't pick up where the last one left off (with Linda F. has Will's new partner).
So, I go see the film with reservations, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Sure, the film takes itself even less seriously than the last one, but it does expand more on the aliens and esp. the worm guys. It's funny, without degenerating into slapstick or schlock.
I think what helped that was having the same director for both.
In any case it's *certainly* better than other current sci-fi offerings currently playing at the theatres.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
It's dumb, it's action and silly comedy. I'm prepared to deal with that. Hell, I'm even looking forward to that. Nothing beats seeing summer popcorn movies at the theatre on a Saturday afternoon.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
The reviewer should pay a little more attention when he decides to write a review. The fact that he missed the part about the leader being Zed, not "Sid" is a big indicator of how much he missed.
MIB movies are not really about the plot. They are about mind expansion. About reading between the lines. And about perspective. That our perception is marred by the flaws of our memory, and our wishful thinking, and our emotional pain.
That your world view is just one of many, and pointedly, that thats OK.
I thought the MiB boss was called `Zed'.. as in the letter -- notice the pattern with Jay, Kay, etc...
Rich
Point B: With the possible exceptions of The Godfather Part II, Aliens, Superman II and Raquel Darrian's boob job...*all* sequels s***.
Point A + Point B = MIIB S***s!
Chris
Spoiler.
According to IMDB:
The original ending of the film included a scene in which the World Trade Center towers opened up, releasing a swarm of UFOs into the air. Following the towers' destruction the ending was re-shot and now takes place at the Chrysler Building.
No it doesn't. Anyone know what the story is with this? Did the script or storyboard for this scene ever leak?
--
Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
You left out the most important part: the previews!
I heard rumors of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings previews. Were these rumors true? Anybody else who has seen it please let me know.
Thanks.
Zed, not 'sid'. they're named after letters, get it?
J, K, Z?
Okay, when I went to see MiB2, I wasn't expecting to see a movie that outshined the original
Like Aliens or Godfather II
But at the same time, I wasn't expecting to see a movie that made me hate the entire francise
Like Aliens 3 or Godfather III
And it is COMPLETELY unacceptable that they didn't keep Agent W or whatever her name was from the end of the first movie. Writing her off in one line about her wanting to go back to the morgue is just plain wrong
WRONG-wrong wrong, wrong...wrong, wrong WRONG-wrong...yerwrong yerwrong YERWRONG
The truth is, we are alien slaves and this movie was an attempt of the Human Brotherhood of STAGING OUR REBELLION!!!
WE MUST FIGHT BAc:#$S@]3]|3@?~
^^^&%
[NO CARRIER]
Crapdot
News from birds. Stuff that splatters.
"Zed" sounds a lot more like "Sid" than it does with Z which rhymes with pee.
Glad to see he made it all the way thru that without a single 9/11 reference, but I think I still need to go with Taco on this one, it was pretty weak compared to the original.
I saw this the day it came out. The plot was very thin, the whole movie felt like it was just made because they NEW they'd make money, since the first one did so well. It was very bad... the special effects weren't even up to par, and that's all the movie had going for it..
Anyways, that's my opinion of it, I definatly don't recommend this movie to anybody..
Did anyone else thing this movie was really short?I went to see it at 5 and I was out of the theater by 6:35, and thats after 20 minutes of trailers and watching the credits. It took 5 years to make that?
Regardless of what the Slashdot crowd says, it couldn't have been worse than "Orange County" or "The New Guy".
/me cries as he remembers the monetary loss.
CmdrTaco: Watch Lilo & Stich instead ;)
I had to look that up in my universal tranlator, because it sounded a bit odd. Apparently it translates to english as:
I am Disney's little bitch. Fund the war on freedom.
Paying the people who oppress you is dumb with a capital "DUMB", Taco.
Minority report kicked ass. Even if they could've chosen a better name.
I sorta missunderstood the doctor scene. If what's his name put the doc away, then why did the doc operate. Did I mention that I can't remember names very well?
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Don't whant to go off-topic, but I agree with you on that one. Not the best movie I saw in my life, but it was good. And now, I want the same "mouse" as tom for my computer!
I'd rather be sailing...
Superman II lived up to Superman I.
Each "Max Max" film much better than the one before.
"Wrath of Khan" kicked Star Trek: The Motion Picture's ass.
There are probably many more examples.
MIB
MIB II
Take a look. Tommy Lee Jones is K, or "Kay". Will Smith is J, or "Jay". Linda Fiorentino was L, or "Elle". They're choosing letters which are pronounced like names, so it is "Zed" for Z!!!!
I also enjoyed the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers trailer as well. However, I thought it would have been cooler to leave Gandalf out so those that don't know the story would still think he was dead. Can you imagine the sound of suprize in the theater when he popped up again?
Click here or here.
I would have rather seen an ending in the movie like in the book...
In the book, Anderton does do what the Precogs said he would... Had more of a Greek Tragedy, the Oracle said it would happen, everyone does everything they can to avoid it, and it happens because of everything they did to avoid it...
My Stuff: pspChess and foobar2000 plugins
What about the CGI? The monsters in the tv commericals looked terrible. I mean, why is this movie's budget so high if almost no effort was put into the special effects? Besides the bloated salaries of Sonnenfeld, Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Danny Elfman there should be 30 or 40 million dollars floating around somewhere.
It's a fleecing of america I tell you, and I'm not going to stand for it!
ok, you got me, i'm just gonna download porn...sorry
Click here or here.
I've noticed an odd effect, roughly for the past two or three years, prior to watching a movie, I've been a little exited by the hype, then while watching the movie, I'm usually really digging it. Then, anywhere from a couple of hours to maybe a day later, I'm thinking about it and going, "man, that movie actually kinda sucked".
I mean, Episode I, despite Jar Jar, I was really exited and into it, because my 6 year old son was. But later, thinking about it, I couldn't find any really redeeming qualities to it except maybe a little satisfaction at knowing some of the earlier history of Star Wars.
Same with Episode II. Damn, nearly every movie I've seen in the theaters for the past 2-3 years, except maybe Being John Malkovich.
That said; having seen MIIB yesterday - it sucked. It sucked really bad. I want my money back. I want my two hours back. Seems the only way Will Smith can get people to listen to his RAP anymore is to get in a movie and virally infect the soundtrack with it. The ONLY worthwhile bit was when he says his car originally had a black driver, but he kept getting pulled over. And I saw that in the trailer.
And I'm not going to see Minority Report, because I'm boycotting the Church of Scientology.
Depressingly, the next movie I'm looking forward to is LOTR II. At least I got to see the trailer. But even more, I'm looking forward to LOTR I's DVD with the extra hour of footage.
Fuck this. Movies suck, work sucks, I'm the only person in the office - screw it I'm going to the beach.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
"Zed being the European way to say Z"
And we know that Will Smith, Rip Torn, and Tommy Lee Jones are all Europeans. Hell yeah, the movie even takes place in Prague.
How much product placement was in this steaming pile of shit?
I was hurt by how cheezy the plot holes in the movie where.
We have an orginization that is in control of the worlds aliens and does all check ins yet has no backup plan for a rogue alien in the terminal?
After agent K get's deneralized, and I mean as he gets out of the chair, he is talking about how he can't remember what they are looking for becuase he neralized himself to make him forget where he put it or what it was. Um what about the deneralizer you just used to get your memory back?
I am not one to bitch about a movie using suspension of disbelief to get a point across. As I have told people before I am paying $8 to see fantasy, if I wanted to see real life I would go stand on the street corner for two hours. Their is a limit of course and I feel that this movie did not do enough to try and cover for that. Something as simple as having his memory coming back over years durring the course of the movie would have worked. With him hitting the relevant information at the right moment. Could have had some great jokes embedded in it, like having him bitch that agent X neuralized him after cheating at poker for example. The lack of thinking in the writing gives the movie the feel that it is a quick cash in for a buck and that is it.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
It is great. It helps defray the cost of the film, and it makes things look more realistic.
Sure looks a lot better than things like "Home Improvement" where they drank generic cola in a vaguely coke-labelled can all the time.
One of the first, rather controversial uses of it was in "Superman I" when young Clark ate Cheerios at the breakfast table. Shocking! As if someone would eat Cheerios in real life!!!
What no review for the Powerpuff Girls? I loved it. There were some great Planet Of The Apes refs. (* Plus going by the quality of the other 10 or so "movies" I have seen this summer -- it's kinda hard to be any worse.)
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Was I the only one to see a pretty funny cartoon before the movie (a kind of parody on Star Wars)? Does anyone know why did id get in before the movie? Or is it only shown in United Artist cinemas?
The MIB aren't part of ANY government agency, they own the patents on a few little gadgets they have confiscated over the years...
How much did you even pay attention to the first one, reviewer? Doesn't sound like that much, and I'll wager your review of the sequel is probably as well thought out and concise as your knowledge of the first movie.
Blow me, critics.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
Americans are putting dollars sign in front. I know that french canadians are putting it afterward. I don't know about english canadians though ..
I don't think it's the same in all countries..
My wife and I saw the first MIB in the theater in Springfield, MO.
One scene that stands out was when Zed said "Thank you gentlemen, you are everything we have come to expect from years of government training." We were the only two in the room to laugh. We got some funny looks too.
From what I've seen and heard coming out of hollywood recently. I'm going to save my money and wait for LOTR II.
SCO to Hell
They do not work for ANY government agency.
they fund themselfs through patenting alien technology, then licesing it.
"I'll have to buy the White album again"
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Seriously, why does this movie constitute a review on Slashdot? Lord of the Rings, OK. Attack of the Clones, OK. Matrix, OK. Monsters Inc, OK. Those are somewhat "geek oriented" movies in story or technology. MIB wasn't really, and I am guessing that this one isn't either. Is it considered Sci-Fi? Are all Sci-Fi movies going to be reviewed? But I don't really understand why Katz is allowed to post any story.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
i watched the movie the very first day and was disappointed with it. as we the ads in minority report were not sufficient, we have 3 roles in MIB2..will smith, tommy and the BENZ. i think they have lost it....
As another poster mentioned, the agency gets their money from patents that they hold on alien innovations.
I dimly recall that Kay said at one point that the agency used to be part of the government, but found that too confining, so that now they are independent.
See Gattaca, also. I am quite sure that there is no hint in Gattaca whether the Gattaca organization is a private firm or a government agency.
That would be Zed and Not Sid, mmmkay... I didn't believe the first 12 posts on the miss-print, but after reading the last 15 that really cleared it up for me... but I am still having my doubts so could a few more people please help clarify...
and ends up with a smart-mouthed, sometimes hilarious pug for a partner.
When I first read this, it gives the impression that the dog was randomly found. It's Frank, the street informant, "intergalactic Huggy Bear" from the first movie.
From what I hear, this movie is a sequel, nothing more. A repackage of the same jokes from the first film. Reading the review, it seems the reviewer didn't see or doesn't remember much about the first, and it all seems new and fresh.
Linus Torvalds! cant you people see how many other people replied about the Zed thing, its no longer needed! its not like your going to be reading htis post since you didnt read all the other replies with the correction!
i'm american, but i don't see the point of putting the dollar sign in front of the amount. it's clearly read as 10 billion dollars, so it should be written that way (10,000,000,000$). are there other symbols that are placed at the end like that?
No offense buddy, but I hesitate to place too much credence in a movie assessment by somebody who knows what Raquel Darrian's boobs looked like *before*... (I do now, thanks Google Image Search :-D)
Freedom: "I won't!"
The Men in Black work for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. (INS, Division 6, if I recall correctly).
I'm going to take this opportunity to propose a /. "Open Standards" movie ratings system. I've used this myself for quite a while:
;-)
ONE DVD (or less): This movie sucks. Your entertainment time would be better spent watching something on cable or--gasp--doing something outdoors.
TWO DVDs: Worth renting, but not good enough to justify a full-freight movie ticket.
THREE DVDs: A good movie--you won't feel ripped off if you drop the cash for a theatre ticket. Buy the DVD if you can find a good price.
FOUR DVDs: A great movie. See it opening weekend, and buy the DVD as soon as it hits the streets.
I think we'll call this the GNUvie Movie Ratings Standard. If it really catches on, expect Microsoft to claim they invented it, and that having just anyone handing out DVDs is bad for the movie industry and national security. You'll only be able to rate movies if you have the appropriate DRM key.
On the GNUvie scale, I'd give MIB2 *TWO* DVDs. It was enjoyable, but I was glad I caught it at a cheap midday show. For me, "Minority Report" was a solid *THREE* DVD flick. I'm pretty stingy with my four-DVD ratings. The last one I saw was probably "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
The GNUvie scale. For the people, by the people.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
I thoroughly continue to enjoy it. But I'd be glad to take suggestions on what to listen to instead.
I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
Jon Katz is off topic.
Went last night to see MIBII and it pretty much sucks. Nothing new, just same old repeat from MIBI. If you must see it do so at a mattenee to save yourself a few bucks.
First of all--if you went expecting stunning dialogue, exceptional acting, or a serious plot, fuggedaboudit. You shouldn't have gone to see the first one, either.
The whole point of MIB/MIIB is that it's supposed to be *fun*. Not a major, serious, Issues Of Our Time movie, but the kind of flick to sit back and just have fun with. And IMO it worked. Frank (the pug) was a howl--the whole theatre howled when he was singing "I will survive." Will Smith was, of course, Will Smith. (Let's face it, the guy plays a single character in all of his movies.) And the locker creatures were just hilarious ("and the adult entertainment's in the back!").
Personally, I enjoyed it. And if you didn't, hey, that's your opinion. And you know what opinions are like--everyone's got one, and nobody thinks that theirs stinks.
Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
I actually think the first MIB could have been
much stronger. It started out with great premises, background story and characters.
Instead for whatever reason, bad direction, bad
writing, studio pressures, suggest your own theory, they took the gobs of strong material
and squandered it.
An example is helpful here.
If you take one of the last sci-fi/fantasy spoofs
that I can think of that works really well, i.e. Ghostbusters, and make point by point comparisons the weaknesses in MIB become apparent:
the lead characters;
the ensemble acting between characters;
the love interest.
More importantly, lots of the humor in G'busters
was contextual, i.e., driven by the logic of the
plot. While MIB was humorous, the overall feelings
was that there was much more cheap, throwaway humor
(which has its place).
G'buster, in almost
every respect pay more attention to the craft of
story-telling, and what's sad about MIB is that
is started with a great story.
I guess when it comes right down to it, I suspect
that the movie makers did not give the original
material (in terms of the screenplay, I don't know anything about the graphic novel) the
respect that
it deserved, and the probably in some ways
mirrors their attitudes toward the audience
as well.
The idea that MIIB continues down the same
depressing road is not lighting a fire under me
to see it.
It is by coff... er, will, alone I set my mind in motion...
Please mod up funny. CHRIST
Black holes are where the Matrix raised SIGFPE
Here's all you need to know. It's terrible. If you really liked the first one, you may be mildly amused. If you didn't really like the first one you are wasting your time and money.
"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey
Which of you idiots gave this post a "5" rating? This post deserved a two at most.
The Light of Zartha (sp?) is not a planets light source you moron! Were you sleeping through the ending? The girl was the "Light", they stashed the heir to the Zarthan crown, so to speak, on Earth. She was destined to save her people, not act as a flashlight.
of people pining and moaning about how bad movies are. Get over it. If you go to a movie like this expect very little and hope for the most. Do that and You just might get more than you expected making the movie a better experiance all around. I figured MIB2 was going to suck, but I was happy to see a decent funny movie.
if you want "No More Hiroshimas" then I say "You First. No More Pearl Harbors."
I'd rather stay at home and watch Lilo and Grub. :)
I swear, you people are self destructing yourselves so that you can't enjoy the $7 spent on watching a movie.
So far, I've read a lot of comments like 'unoriginal' or 'repackaged' or 'sucked' or whatever.
Blah blah blah.
You guys are kinda missing the point to watching a movie. The idea isn't to get exposed to some killer plot, the idea is to have fun. That means: Don't take it too seriously. MiiB is not part 2 of an epic trilogy. It's a comedy, it's meant to entertain for about 90 minutes or so. And it does do that. But, if you sit there being all critical about it the whole time, you're ruining it for yourself. Blame the movie if you want, but remember that's your $7.50 you're burning up.
The first problem I see is that it's being horribly overanalyzed. One guy went on to say "they shouldn't have written out the chick at the end of MiB, bad bad bad.". Err okay. So you didn't like the movie because it didn't extend the first one by 90 minutes.
Another guy went on to say '...another Wil Smith pop-corn action movie.' Can you say 'oversimplified'? Put it like that, and anything can sound stupid. 'Slashdot is like another Wil Smith pop-corn action movie'. See my point?
You can't possibly enjoy a movie if you sit there and pretend you can make it better. (you can't. All you can do is 'fix' the problems you see with it.) Instead, just sit down, watch it, have fun. MiiB is meant to be silly. It's not meant to be epic, it's meant to be fun. Smile.
If it's not your type of movie, don't go see it. Don't bug us about it either. We clear?
Agree.
I hate to see people ruin their lives by having kids at 16 or even 19 or 20. They don't realize that once you have a child you will spend most of the rest of your life caring for it.
Agree.
The odds of you performing any truly valuable service for humanity just dropped to near 0.
Disagree. The most valuable service you or I can do for humanity is to perpetuate the species with quality humans. The effect will be exponential over time.
If your parents or mine decided NOT to have children, then we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Having kids isn't for everyone. Some people can have kids and a career and do both well, most people can't. I just want people to think about it before they have children.
Well put.
Chris
Great...all of the Anonymous Cowards support my opinion. Just great...
.sig file, it changes it for ALL of your old messages.
At least Kintanon has the guts to make a point and stand by it. I don't necessarily agree with him, but I respect his opinion.
Chris
P.S. This thread was once about a Disney movie, right? Also, once you change your
You mean like Saving Private Ryan right? Or maybe you're talking about Schindlers List?
Haven't seen Minority Report yet. truth is I don't feel any real desire to because the story just doesn't interest me that much. Spielberg has thrown some light stuff out there (and plenty of it) but I think you dismiss him too easily.
When you want a cartoon he can do cartoons. When you want something more it's there as well.
It's interesting to note that Warner Bros. has confirmed they are making a large (more than 6) number of shorts destined for leadins to big screen movies using the standard Looney Toons characters (eg Bugs, Daffy, etc). Along with Pixar's bits and this ImageWorks thing, there appears to be trend towards this in the movie industry. Of course, there's tons more ads and movie previews of late (for PPG today, for example, I had at least 15 min of both), so this might not last long if it takes away too many screenings from theaters.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Did anyone read the NYTimes review?/ 03BLAC.ht ml
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/03/movies
The reviews seem awfully identical verging on plagiarism!
It would have been nice and that's the way they should have done it. On the other hand almost no one would have been surprised since prior to the movie opening they would have been let on by _______ (insert random media source here) that Ian was back in the role of Gandalf.
In the best of all worlds you got it 100% right though. In ourse there could be no surprise. Ok, maybe a handful of people at best.
Ok, so you have the details from the first movie memorized and you can correct the guy for missing a few of them in his review.
Aren't you in a sense reviewing the reviewer?
Doesn't that make you in one sense or the other a critic?
How's that dick taste?
Ohhh man, I got dragged to that by my 13 year old stepson. He loves the games so he wanted to see the movie.
Reading slashdot couldn't have got me out of it but it would have at least let me know what I was facing. I regret being in the same species as the people who made that. It sucked ass.
Now he wants the DVD. At least there are other rooms in the house I can go to.
I've read Men in Black II marks the first appearance of Apple's Mac OS X in a big movie.
...can anyone confirm this?
The article (I lost the url) said it was shown in a custom/adapted version for a round display, with the Dock flowing along with the form of the display...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Yes, Danny Elfman rocks! He also did the score to Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, Black Beauty, Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice...
Oh, yeah, and if you like the Gladiator soundtrack, make sure you scoop up some Dead Can Dance CDs.
Christina! Bring me an axe!
...maybe for most folks, but not everyone. Some of us remember that there was a MIB comic years before - the same comic the movie is (somewhat) based on. I met the guy behind it (Lowell Cunningham) eons ago, back in Atlanta in a now-extinct bookstore. It was an independent B comic... no Marvel/DC/etc.
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
Speaking of which...why hasn't there been a slashdot review of Lilo and Stitch?
Three reasons.
For one thing, "Lilo" is taken. Not only is it the name of the old Linux bootloader (before distributions started using GRUB instead), but wasn't "Leeloo" (probably the same underlying name as "Lilo") a character in The Fifth Element, played by Ms. Jovovich?
For another thing, Lilo and Stitch is released under the Disney label. The Walt Disney Company (parent of Disney, Touchstone, and Miramax) was the biggest corporate sponsor of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and one of the biggest proponents of the DMCA's circumvention ban (among movie studios, only Time Warner gave the U.S. Congress more money in 1998).
Finally, because you haven't submitted your review for consideration by the Slashdot editors.
Will I retire or break 10K?
first, i agree with most everyone else about the movie not being as great as the first...
however, the best part of that night was when the teaser for T3 came on the screen...as soon as the theme music started, the whole theater (being mostly filled with MIT kids) erupted in applause.
then we saw the "Summer 2003" and we all cried...
----
i do not use drugs, i AM drugs -- Dali
70 damn minutes. Why bother? It was almost as short as the short that played before it. 25 minutes of commercials, trailers, and chubb chubb, then 70 minutes of movie.
Though I have not yet seen this excuse for a movie, I cannot imagine this is a real review. How much of the marketing budget did Columbia Pictures use up to pay you? Not much I think.
"My pre-algy teacher used to tell us the "
Is that something oceanic? Something to do with primordial ooze?
Pre-algy must be some sort of nonphotosynthesizing plankton.
"Should we stop referring to the People's Republic of China as China?"
Yes. Right now, there are two Chinas: the mainland one ("People's Republic of China", or more commonly "Red China"), and the island one ("Republic of China" or more commonly "Taiwan").
Which one is more legitimate? The first one is so much bigger than the other, but it is a totalitarian dictatorship with no shred of democracy or legitimate government. It tried to purge itself of everything Chinese during Mao's horrific onslaughts.
The second one is real tiny, but it is more Chinese (having not experienced anything like the Cultural Revolution), and it is a democracy and a legitimate nation.
I've read Men in Black II marks the first appearance of Apple's Mac OS X in a big movie.
Actually, there's a TiBook on Meg Ryan's boss' desk in Kate & Leopold, if I remember correctly. Did the TiBook ever run OS9 (only)? If not, we can make a pretty good argument that OSX was in that flick.
Belloc
I got more rhymes than Jamaica got Mangoes.
I liked the opening, I liked the middle, and I liked the end (mostly). When I went in to this movie I wasn't expecting to see anything deep... just fun. And it was fun as hell. Frank "singing" along with "Who let the dogs out" was a riot. I don't care about plot in these movies, just entertainment. And it delivered full measure on that judging from the reaction of the audience at my showing. For those of you reading these reviews go see it and judge for yourself. At least you'll keep cool in the a/c.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
"star wars = speilberg = disney... i.e. cartoons, screenplay for children"
Spielberg doesn't do cartoons. Some of his stuff is for kids, some is not. Star Wars cartoons? There are some, but pretty much forgotten (Ewok Adventures, the Holiday Special cartoon featuring Boba Fett). If you've seen any of the 5 films, you know they are not cartoons.
Disney? Yes. Many cartoons there. Also, many that are not cartoons or for children (Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures).
"In Latin America (not sure if it's in all countries though), people are taught in school that America is a continent, North America, Central America and South America are parts of that continent"
That's geographic ignorance. The continents are pretty well distinguished from each other, more than with others. Also, Central America is just part of another continent. It is not a continent by itself.
However, it is perfectly valid to call the two continents together "the Americas". This is often done in Latin America. Are you sure you don't mean that they call it "Americas" instead of "America" ?
"where North America (from Panama to Canada based on your dictionary) is considered a continent by itself."
North America actually starts inside Colombia, which extends out into the ithsmus a little ways.
Now, does anyone know why Latin America is called Latin America?
"NOT right the same way you can't call the germans non-europeans"
A lot of people don't know where Europe is, either. They seem to think that it stops at Poland's eastern border, if it even gets that far: ignoring a huge percentage of European land which is in Russia.
Now, how about those who use the name "Asians" for people from Japan and China, but they don't call Turks and Palestinians "Asians" even though they are every bit as Asian as the Chinese?
Finding God in a Dog
The thing I've been wondering since I first heard about this movie is, which Japanese Anime did they steal this idea from? :)
Or is it possible that Disney has finally come out with it's first truly original full length motion picture?
Didn't the fact that in one scene Jay was left-handed, and in the next he was right-handed bother anybody?
Spielberg does do a few cartoons. I could not get into Animaniacs since i thought it was poorly drawn. Tiny Toons? I wanted them to do more real Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, not pale immitation characters. However, since I never liked Yosemite Sam, I thought Montana Max was an improvement.
He's that evil kid next door who likes blowing up toys. Who could mistake him for the benevolent protector of the Earth Zed?
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
Let us check "The Simpsons" the ultimate authority on everything:
"I hate every ape I see. From chimpan-A to chimpan-Z"
(from "Stop the Planet of the Apes I Want to Get Off")
Click here!
I'd bet you were hopeing that trolling commit would get you modded +5 insiteful.
Greetings!!
jafac wrote:
"I want my money back. I want my two hours back"
This forces me to ask the question... what movie did you go see? MiB2 was only about 70 minutes long!! That's 1 hour 10 minutes for the mathematically disinclined. It wasn't even long enough to be considered "feature length". That takes 90 minutes.
Sure, it is listed as having a running time of 85 minutes, but that includes the moronic "Chub Chubs" junk at the beginning. That isn't even a part of the actual film.
In case anyone is wondering, yes, I am disappointed in the length, I felt if they were going to give me half a movie, I should only have been charged half price.
I laughed a few times during this, but mostly, I just sat there wondering "why, oh God, why did I come see this??"
There was one bright point, I did enjoy the part where Agent Kay stuck his finger into the orb when they were in MIB headquarters, and subsequently caused the major disruptions to the contents thereof. That's about the best part of the movie. And that wasn't even real good. Just kinda funny.
All in all, my review would be summed up as:
"Somewhat amusing, don't pay full price though."
-Zzyzzx
You people, do you fail to understand everything that comes your way? The movie, plot, acting, etc is irrelevant! What you are supposed to take away from this movie is the knowledge that life is somehow incomplete without a BK Black Stack, Will's awesome new tune "Nod Ya Head", and a shiny new E-Class Mercedes. Why should we keep coming up with great product endorsements if you people are too stupid to recoginize your burning desire for the products?
Hollywood is obsessed with sequels right now because they generally make more than the originals do. On the go right now (to name but a few): Ocean's Twelve (good lord), Meet the Fockers, a Fast and the Furious sequel, another American Pie, Indiana Jones, X-Men, etc etc etc...
The assgoblins in Hollywood don't care if there's logic for a sequel, they just want all of us to take it up the tailpipe a couple more times so they can screw us outta a few more bucks (and some of my faith in humanity).
Hopefully they'll get over this damn trend soon.
"But the cars are all flashing me, bright lights are passing me, I feel life passing me by" - Stiff Little Fingers
Actually MIB 1's plot was scaled back a lot *after filming*... the DVD goes into how the galaxy was being transferred between races (the scene where Mr. Rosenburg gets shot had a meeting between both) and the bug stole it just to start a war. This was Too Complicated so they looped a lot of dialogue etc.
Once again proving that logical inconsistency is the hallmark of Katzian discourse:
"originality of the first is missing [but] inventive spirit of MIB is very much alive"
Jon Katz is Slashdot's own Geraldo Rivera.Will nobody rid us of this opportunistic lightweight?
A big part of the original movie was that it wasnt a government agency at all. Governments of the world had no idea about the MIB. I can understand small mistakes, but if you saw the orignial, that piece of info should have stuck.
The origional did so well in part because it was
rated PG-13 and there was virtually nothing out which
had a similar rating. It's success spurred the production
of movies aimed at the young teen audience.
I've seen both films and neither is very origional. There
are origional movies coming out all the time in my neighborhood
but people do not go see them. Alas.
-G. G. Wood
a war on terrorism? How can we end a war on a method?
Say what you will about the rest of the movie, but David Cross (the bald video store guy) was hilarious. His performance was reminiscent of the ones he used to give in the oft-overlooked-yet-incredibly-funny HBO sketch-comedy series Mr. Show , which was a good deal more amusing than MIB2. The commercial-free episodes, which ran 30 minutes each, were also slightly longer. (:
No, but I'm pretty sure I saw the World Trade Centre a couple of times.
I did not know that, but it make mucho sense.
It is by coff... er, will, alone I set my mind in motion...
I saw this movie in a theatre that only had about 20 or so people in it, on opening day! Usually, if a movie is good, albeit funny, dramatic, or maybe both, the crowd usually goes nuts. Not so for this one. There were numerous punchlines I which the sprint pin could have been heard hitting the floor. Most of the movie was a rehash of the first one. If it was not for the short before the movie, it would have been a complete waste of money.
Also, I must say, commercials and trailers? It now takes 25 or more minutes for the "blockbuster" movies to start. Doesn't it anger anyone else that tickets prices, food prices, even video game prices have gone up at the theatres in the last year, and now I have to watch tv ads too?!
Truly exasperating.
Just like Taco to piss all over somebody else's review.
Jeez, let people do their jobs already.
The last film I saw was SW2:AOTC in a DLP theater. Now I know why DLP is so cool--the brightness is amazing, so the first ten minutes of MIB2 was spent thinking "god...its just not as bright."
...and his gf was way too cute.
****spoilers alert*****
Anyway, i think i generally liked it enough, though there were a few cheezy moments. My biggest disappointment is that they didn't develop the video store guy enough...here's a guy who, having seen all those mysteries unknown videos, who probably has a good idea of what MIB does, and he really wasn't showing it off (which woulda really annoyed Kay and Jay since they try to be all secret and shit.) C'mon...he coulda had his own black sunglasses or something.
I've read 7 reviews, and NO ONE MENTIONED THE CHUBB CHUBBS! It was a great cartoon.....worth the price of admission....worth going back to see again, to catch what I missed in it the first time.
Ah....but who will Moderate the Meta Moderators?
Actually, the first warning sign that this was going to be a crappy movie (unheeded by me and my wife) is the Will Smith song. If a plot can be neatly summarized in a hip hop song, that should be a clear indicator to just stay away from the theatre.
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You just said Canadia. That's funny.
Did you mean to? Oh... Well that's still funny.
I think the reason why people have loved Lilo & Stitch is because of the fact the writers (Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois) created some extremely impressive character interaction between Lilo, Nani and Stitch. That plus the fact the animation was very well done and the ending of the film worked so effectively is the reason why the movie is doing a lot of repeat business. :-) That's why I've seen the movie three times already.
Who is Lilo and Stitch?
Hollywood IS bland...
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
you are just constraining yourslef (as most people do) to a very narrow choice (Hollywood blockbusters).
Try more Indy cinema and foreign films, many riches are to be found there, concentrating more on the movie and less in the artists and the hype.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
If one go movie after movie just having fun, well, one ends just a simplet uninteresting moron, or one was one in the first place.
Even fun has to be presented in an intelligent, original manner.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Tommy Lee's character is "K" not "Kay".
You make a good point, but I don't think making yourself out to be a Frenchie-Canuck is cool.
Not that this matters. Way offtopic now. Put your dollar signs in front, like a good patriotic American. Or the FBI will come after you for being part of some terrorist plot to undermine our dialectic syntax (or lack thereof).
Only in slashdot are posts of solidarity modded at -1 Redundant, while posts of antagonism are modded as -1 Flamebait.
The big payoff for Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Sonnenfield, and Will Smith, is the rumored 10% each of the NET take for the first ten days of the film. If this sequel is not as successful as the first movie, and trails off or even tanks after the first week, the distributor will be taking a bath on it. I have heard of deals like this before, such as Saving Private Ryan, which Tom Hanks and Spielberg each got 17.5% of the box office over the entire run of the movie. 35% for Hanks and Spielberg is a giant backend deal almost equaled here by MIBII, although only over the first 10 days of US release.