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A Crossed Pair of Eyes look at MEN IN BLACK 2!
Hey folks, Harry here with a couple of looks at MEN IN BLACK 2. I was surprised to hear just how insanely short this one ran... 88 minutes with end credits... 81 without. At least it can't be a huge waste of time, and some of the greatest team comedies in history are this length... Lots of the Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello... Of course those were genuinely brilliant, but hey, who's picking out the toddler's eyes here? Anyway... What's it all about... Alfie?
Just realised that I've not seen any reviews of Men in Black 2 on the site
yet, so thought I should drop you a line. This is pretty short and lacking
in detail I'm afraid, but it should give you a rough idea of what to expect.
The one positive point about this sequel is that the filmmakers have
recognised the virtue of the original's brevity. However, they taken it too
rather ridiculous extremes here, delivering a film which by my watch clocks
in at about 77mins (not counting end credits). That it still feels long at
that running-time is obviously not a good sign...
The shape and tone of the film is exactly the same as the original, although
without the (admittedly dubious) pleasure in the set-up of the organisation
itself. The film starts with a tongue-in-cheek vintage TV show which lays
out the foundation of the plot - something about a special Light needed by
the people of a benign planet to ensure its survival, the evil creature
which wants it and Agent K's part in safeguarding the good guys. It's so
slim that it barely sticks in the memory, hence this rather cursory summary.
After that it's business as usual - for Sonenfeld, for the actors and
characters, and for us. There's no real joy or love to any aspect of the
film, no sense of awe or excitement in the myriad special-effects creations.
It's just an assembly-line - it chugs along predictably without any
variation in pace. Creatures are confronted, cracked wise at and then
destroyed. Will Smith looks barely engaged by the proceedings (it's not much
of a challenge for him after Ali), Tommy Lee Jones brings his customarily
professionalism to the part (and actually has a really nicely-delivered
little monologue during the film's action climax), while Lara Flynn Boyle
was obviously the cheapest sexpot they could find to mutate on-screen. She
really does nothing much more than stroll around in Sarah Douglas cast-offs
from Superman 2, shoot out tentacle-type things now and again and deliver a
few 'wicked' one-liners. Johnny Knoxville- as Boyle's two-headed sidekick -
doesn't really cut it here and fails to provide the breath of fresh air that
the movie needs. At least Rosario Dawson is good and adorable, although she
deserves a better film. In the end, the real star of the film - and the only
character that the makers have invested much time in - is Frank the
talking/singing dog. It's that desperate!
Although I wasn't exactly looking forward to Men in Black 2, I at least
expected a harmless enough diversion - a bit of special-effects fun, some ok
gags and enjoyable turns from supporting actors like Patrick Warburton,
David Cross and Tony Shalhoub. The film doesn't even really manage any of
that - it feels tired and cynical all the way through, with scenes barely
set up in the rush to get to the pay-off. Nearly every sequence seems to
contain some sort of creature or effect or other, and it's not long before
your eye doesn't even register them anymore (especially when they all sort
of look and move the same - there's variation in the design of these things
but they all seem to weigh the same and have the same sort of textures).
There's certainly nothing interest in the story or the characters, so all
you're left with is one effects skit after another, with woefully extended
digressions like a race of furry creatures who worship K and live in a
locker in Grand Central Station (this scene is mildly amusing at first but
is milked to death).
I doubt whether any subsequent big movie this summer will go through the
motions more lazily than this one. As a franchise it's clearly keeping a lot
of special-effects artists in work, but I can't see how it can hold any
further attraction for either Smith, Jones or Sonnenfeld and it's unlikely
to provide any lasting pleasure for audiences. If they have to make a third,
turn it over to Joe Dante!
- Alfie ConnHere's Officer Bud White reviewing a science fiction comic book comedy... Somehow I wouldn't of picked that for his beat, but maybe after being shot to hell his tastes changed... here's his look...
Hey Harry,
Long time reader, short time writer. Saw MEN IN BLACK II last Friday night at an advanced screening at the AMC Theatres Empire 25 in NYC. Sorry it took so long to write in, but I'm getting married this week, so forgive me. Suffice it to say, that if you liked the first one, you'll like this one. It's got great design, mostly excellent special effects and many hilarious moments. The kind of moments where you can't hear what the characters say next, because the entire audience is laughing loudly long after the joke passes. We're back in the same place, with most of the same characters, but though little has changed, it doesn't feel like a retread of the exact same jokes like THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME. The universe of the MIB movies is a fun place to be and I find myself sitting though much of their running time with a grin on my face.
Then I leave the theater a tad unsatisfied. The longer these movies sit with me, the slighter they feel. My main complaint with the first one is that I felt the ending was severely rushed and even haphazardly cobbled together, as if they cut ten minutes to keep it around an hour and a half. I figured with the sequel they would take a little more time. Wrong! This one feel even more rushed than the first. I didn't time it, but I be surprised if the film was more than 88 minutes long. What's the big hurry? After Tommy Lee Jones returns to the fold, the movie hurls headlong to the hardly climactic climax. What thin tissue of a mystery that the plot is built around is resolved so effortlessly it's ridiculous. But why? We love these characters; why not allow them room to breathe? Everyone from the first film fares well, but the new people don't really have time to do anything. Lara Flynn Boyle basically just acts mean, and Rosario Dawson seems like a lovable chick, but that's as far as either character goes. Johnny Knoxville is fairly funny at times, but I found the CGI second head of his to be the worst special effect of the film. David Cross doesn't expand his repertoire here but I just love him as he is
All that said, MIB II is a hell of a lot of fun, and deserves to be seen, it delivers perfectly in many ways, but just doesn't go any extra mile. Oh, and Frank the Pug steals the film by the way.
Call me,
Bud White
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I loved the first one, gotta see the second one.
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That is the question.
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Jun 27, 2002 7:49:58 AM CDT
WHO ELSE THINKS WILL SMITH WAS DESIGNED BY PEPSI? Both men and w
by chuckrussel
'nuff said.
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They really screwed up not waiting for her to recover from whatever the hell it was that side-lined her. Christ, I just get the willies looking at Lara Flynn Boyle in the trailers trying to be sexy.
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Just like the first one! And Famke Jansen=double the box office? Heh heh, good one. sk
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Jun 27, 2002 8:41:34 AM CDT
wow chuckrussel, considering you have named yourself after a (no
by scorpio2nd
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Jun 27, 2002 9:38:36 AM CDT
Finally a comedy where not all gags have been given away by the
by stanley2017
I have just come from a screening of MIIB. I liked the first one, I also liked this one. I was afraid that - as with so many studio movies - that when you have seen the trailer, you have basically have seen it all and have really little to be surprised by (recent example: Spiderman). Gratefully that is not the way this time. Some of the effects are very cheasy, Will Smith is cool, Tommy Lee Jones is cooler.
Don -
Most black people stopped liking Will Smith after Driving Miss...I mean Baggar Vance. Even back in the day when "I'm the DJ he's the rapper was hot" Will was sort of regarded as the funny suburban cousin of the black community.
Sort of Welcomed him back when "Summertime" hit, but then came "Baggar Vance."
Oh yeah, as Doogie Howser put it, "He raps happy." Big mistake...
Like it or not, the Black Community is fickle as hell and since most of us are crammed into tiny pockets of concrete and tar we demand some sense of street credibility from our few representatives in Hollywood. Maybe someday things will be different but...
Want a good for instance? Ever wonder what happened to Cuba Gooding Jr. after that ass kissing performance at the Oscars?
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Yeah, so it's not the most anticipated of the summer, when fanboys are drooling over AOTC + Spiderman + Scorpio... well, not so much THAT one, but hey, I liked it. This is one for the family, plain n' simple. My ex-boss will probably take a day off to see this with his wee ones. As for me, somewhere after Blade 2, a 2nd viewing of Spidey, + Panic Room... yeah, I'll see this. Uh, on a rainy day... when I'm trying to avoid my laundry... + topless supermodels are handing out free passes. Out.
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Hiring Lara Flynn Boyle was a big mistake. She has to be the blandest white person on the planet, right next to Martha Stewart or Billy Joel or Carly Simon or any of the network news anchors or Martin Mull or the cast of Friends or Mad About You or Will and Grace or Wings or the Lawrence Welk Show or the Cosby Kids sans Lisa Bonet... Wait a minute, they're not white...
Speaking of Lawrence Welk, there's something scary about that shit right there. Maybe it's just from a black perspective.
Seriously though, I don't get what you guys see in her. Now Famke Jensen I can understand, but LFB looks like and has all the charisma of a blank sheet of paper, or a slice of white bread, or a glass of skim milk. -
I'M SORRY CHAPS BUT THE WHOLE MEN IN BLICK THINGIE IS A RIPOFF OF THE DARK SERIOUS AND COOOOL U.F.O
I MEAN,TOP SECRET ORGANISATION BATTLING ALIENS,SECRET HEADQUATERS UNDER POWERSTATIONS,AMNESIA TO CONTACTEES,STATE OF THE ART VEICHLES.GERRY OUGHT TO SUE!I LIKE MY SCI FI SERIOUS[MIND YOU ULTRAVIOLET IS A RE-WORKING OF THE SHADO ORGANISATION-AMERICA HASTN'T SEEN THIS COOL BRIT SHOW]ROLE ON REIGN OF FIRE.TANKS V DRAGONS,THAT'S AS COOL AS F 18'S AGAINST UFO'S! -
On a related Will smith note.
I saw Ali last night for the first time.
It didnt really look that exciting when it hit cinemas so I waited for the DVD and I have to say I am glad I waited.
It was a very poor movie.
It was a real shame because Michael Mann had good actors to work with, he obviously had a generous budget and the history of ALi should make an intriguing storyline for a movie. The film was shot poorly, looking like some poor Soderbergh rip off. Smith was good as Ali as was Jamie Foxx who surprised me but the movie just skipped some major episodes in Alis life. And no attention or recognition given to huge jumps in time. I could barely keep up with what was happening and I know all about Ali's history. And as for the sub plot with MLK and Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and FBi/CIA guys what bearing had that on the story. I know it was important in historical context but if I want to explore that topic I will go watch Malcolm X.
I hope that Mann's film was cut to make it shorter because otherwise he just messed it up.
I know this means nothing but in relation to MIB2 but I just wanted to get it off my chest.
Am I right or wrong??
Any opinions?? -
Jun 27, 2002 11:03:43 AM CDT
Frank the Pug should've been on the Entertainment Weekly "It
by lance rock
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I already knew it wasn't going to be a good moive. "Good" in the sence that it had the orignality of the original MiB. I mean sure its a sequal, but instead of going another direction, they just broght back all the orignal charaters and made a simple hash:P
I mean come on, we all know what happend at the end of MiB, they COULD of got some new charaters, new actors and taken off, instead they bring back K, then entire cast, and say "Hey, we can make this movie cheaper with the faster computers out there!"
NOT going to stop me from watching it though. I read the book of the first MiB movie (Yea they DID make one, but it might of been a book after the movie.) and it had alot of extra stuff that they just didn't explain. I am hopping the sequal book for MiB 2 will be good.
Kind of sad to wait for the book release of a movie:P -
MIB II HAPPY ALIEN BLOW UP JOY AMERICAN SPACE THING SMILE MOVIE FACE EXPLOSION!!! Seriously dude, I have no clue what you were trying to say there. So far as MIB II, well, I was kinda hoping for some decent dumb entertainment there, but 77 minutes doesn't seem promising. Not that length has anything to do with entertainment value as such, but when you've got this many people trying to make that much money off something, brevity is a bad omen. Barry Sonnenfeld has been churning out CRAP lately ("Big Trouble," anyone?) Oh yeah, and Famke Jannsen may not equal double the box office, but it certainly would have meant half the space in my pants. Yum.
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This is all slightly too calculated for me, a bit like Paul McCartney blatantly rehashing Beatles riffs when his sales fall. Willie hasn't had a bona fide movie hit since Enemy Of The State (I quite like WWW, but it fell WAY short of what was intended for it.) Enemy even then was outgunned to an extent by The Rugrats. Sure, Will got his Oscar nomination but a 500lb white guy could have played Ali and still got one-it was politically obvious that its relatively bad BO and reviews would be glossed over with Academy 'acceptance'. Tommy Lee hasn't hit big since MIB come to think of it, neither has Sonnenfeld. I'll still guiltily get in line, though.....
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UFO was a 1969 brit tv series the format being really close to that of mib2.In fact paul foster was the guy in the show who got all the chicks.Interesting how unreality mirrors reality[yeah,right!]
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Ah...now I get it. Sorry, after watching PPG last night and sleeping for only about 3 hours afterwards, the all caps thing skewered my remaining brain cell. Hmm...anyone know if the show the Col's talking about ever saw a video release?
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you have to be dry shaving me. harry, you fat fuck, you sold everyone out and ocnvinved the good women at kotex that all your readers are fat sloppy pussies just like you. congrats on the ad space sale, you slippery vaj.
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If you liked the first one you'll like this one. Well I haven't seen the first one so....
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Even though I wasn't a huge fan of the first movie...A matter of fact, I didn't go to the movies to see it, I rented it..I will going to see MIB2 with about a dozen sexy striper friends of mine. I'm only going because they call me Big Willie Style..Hey what can I say. HOES Night on the town. Nothing better than Popcorn and G string Pants..God I love america!
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check out www.ufoseries.com
it's a us site,the show has just been released over here in shiney disk in 2 box sets and topped the charts.The shoe is like a reverse x files,Cmdr Straker is the guy that mulder was always looking for.Like the x files,and being british there is not much humour,the Aliens come to earth to abduct us for transplant surgery and also they breath liquid ala the Abyss[Brigmans Dive]cool miniatures and the best music ever!and made in69/70
check out the website! -
Pugs are fine dogs. Very friendly
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may have lost his street cred, but i still think he was grown by Pepsi. in a vat. in an underground laboratory watched over by ex-Nazi mandroid scientists. wheels within wheels.
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pug was also a character in the beano,he was called pug,short for pug uglr,so ,there you have it.
Throw me a frikkin bone! -
...see AOTC two more times, rent LOTR, see Goldmemeber, see the Power Puff Girls, buy the new Eminem album, clean my apartment, write a few anti-Pledge of Allegiance editorials, help my girlfriend move, rewatch every 6th season episode of Buffy, find a new job, scratch myself, loose another 25 pounds, and then maybe, JUST MAYBE, I might see MIB2 (but I doubt it). Hey, I got my priorities.
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Jun 27, 2002 4:10:49 PM CDT
What about the X2 teaser trailer before the beginning of MIB2?
by moderator
Is it actual footage like the Daredevil teaser, or rather nothing at all like the Hulk one?
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they replaced the sexy Famke Janssen with the just plain freaky Lara Flynn Boyle. I'll catch it on video though.
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Cause the only reason anyone is doing this film is for the $$$. Sorry, but this looks like it's about as fresh as the fish at Red Lobster. But the main reason I'm staying away is the absence of Linda Fiorentino. And to the person who was talking about the old Brit show UFO, that show was awesome, or at least I thought it was when I was a kid. So, yes it did show in the States, and all my friends had the super cool Dinky toys of those vehicles. I also remember some sexy see-thru outfits on the women. It would be fun to check it out again. C'mon Nickelodeon or Sci/Fi...get with the program.
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Jun 27, 2002 4:33:44 PM CDT
thefuckingdevil: it's retards like you that are keeping the
by yankeessuck
it's bad enough to hate white people, but to hate black people whom you perceive to be 'white?' really, you're a retard. what is 'white' anyhow? apparently being white means being literate, polite, successful, fully dressed, civilized, and happy. or does it mean not using the words fuck, nigga, or beeatch every other breath? or not being ridiculously enamored with anything related to 'murder?' or not enjoying the pleasures of antagonism? you want to paint yourself into a corner, go ahead. just don't try to speak for 'most' black people. idiot.
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Jun 27, 2002 5:17:55 PM CDT
80 minutes long?? so thats why they have so many interesting tra
by inkymae
they have to fill time to make it seem like a real feature.
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May I be the first to humbly inquire just what precisely has rammed itself up your pinhole tight sphincter? It's ironic, to put it mildly, that you accuse someone of racism in one breath and then equate their desire for street credibility with "being ridiculously enamored with anything related to 'murder." There is nothing whatsoever in Thefuckingdevil's statement that comes within 50 yards of justifying your rant. Frankly, methinks you would have to have a pretty dim view of blacks to assume they mean they are "enamored with anything related to 'murder'" when speaking in relation to credibility. This was completely, contextually, logistically, and utterly without merit or cause. Wanna get rid of racism? Start by keeping your damn mouth shut and taking yourself out of the gene pool. Out.
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Not only was Straker(Ed Bishop) the commander off S.H.A.D.O. but, he also ran a studio! Colonel Virginia Lake(Wanda Ventham) was a hottie!
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Jun 27, 2002 6:09:00 PM CDT
Ok, now i REALLY want to see Reign of Fire, Perdition and Signs.
by togmeister
My personal summer scorecard so far : SLAMDUNKS - MINORITY, AOTC, SPIDEY, LILO & STITCH, INSOMNIA, SUM OF ALL FEARS. PASSABLE - UNDERCOVER BROTHER, UNFAITHFUL, ABOUT A BOY, BOURNE IDENTITY. HONORABLE FAILURES - WINDTALKERS, YA-YA, SPIRIT. UTTER CRAP - BAD COMPANY, SCOOBY-DOO, ENOUGH. A better summer than last year then, which for me read as follows : SLAMDUNKS - A.I., MOULIN ROUGE, SHREK. PASSABLE - RUSH HOUR 2, JURASSIC PARK 3, A KNIGHT'S TALE, ATLANTIS, MUMMY RETURNS. HONORABLE FAILURES - PEARL HARBOR, FINAL FANTASY, PLANET OF THE APES. UTTER CRAP - CATS & DOGS, THE ANIMAL, AMERICAN PIE 2, SCARY MOVIE 2.
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Becoming curious, I started looking around for UFO stuff, and according to Amazon, a box set of half of the series on DVD will be released July 30. I anticipate a second set to follow in the near future. Well if that don't make me smile?
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Famke Janssen got pregnant, couldn't do the movie ... sucks, yes, I know.
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UFO F&*KING ROCKS!!
On DVD in the UK, mind you, Gabrielle Drake in a purple wig? PHWWWOOOOOAAAARRRR!!!!!!?! I used to have a Dinky model of the Shado Tank!! The theme tune still rocks as well!!
Whatever next? Roland Emmerich remaking Space 1999? LEAVE IT ROL-AND!!
Strange to see that Pug lands a role in a big hollywood movie, wonder if Smiffy and co, made it too? He is so ugly tho' so it kinda makes sense to be in the film!!
I'll probably go and see the film, the first one made me laugh a lot (oh, and I have the original comic books - am I sad?). Oh, and lastly, the person who said that Will Smith wasn't good in Ali - you obviously haven't seen the film. Its flawed for sure, but Smith was brilliant and nailed the role down.
Dammit, Gabrielle Drake in bacofoil and a purple wig. Oh man....... LOL!!
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Will Smith is the most arrogant, overrated, piece of shit actor I have ever seen in my life. I fucking can't stand him and all his shit movies and songs. I hope he goes fucking backrupted and falls off the face of the earth. Never saw one Will Smith movie and probably never will. He sucks dick!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Horribly mediocre. Please go away.
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The book and the movie. Zooey, Zooey, Zooey...
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At least, until it added that lame-ass alien doctor guy and changed Elle's wonderfully sexy voice to a whiny little squeak. Ah well, the first flick was amusing, and this one loos like a fun way to kill 80 minutes (sans Will Smith-dominated credits).
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Jun 28, 2002 12:54:48 AM CDT
U-Fo on DVD? This lessens the pain of John Entwhistle's pass
by titusandronicus
My 5 1/2 year old daughter and I have spent many a nice evening together watching the "Thunderbirds" DVDs (courtesy of our local library), and I can't wait to turn her on to this one! Oh, to see the purple hair, the SkyDivers again... Back to the topic at hand, she wants to see MIB II, I'm holding out for the PowerPuff Girls Movie. And Harry, still coming to Seattle in July? I just ran across the flyer at Barnes & Noble. See ya then!
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It,s bloody fantastic,the origional 35 mm print looks amazing,the animated menus,INCREDIBLE,and some real gory deleted footage from the intro of the pilot,Identified.
Oh yes,alot of love and care has been put into this.I got mine from www.blackstar.co.uk
AND I really want to shag Nina Barry.er it's not real.Is it?? -
I thought that shot and directiona nd acting wise Ali was brilliant. Like you I waited for DVD and I thought it was so pretty. But and this is a big but, If i ever have to see any of that film again I'll go on a wild hollywood killing spree. I guess if your interested in Ali himself then it was a well shot documentary but I'm English, I'm a girl and I hate boxing. There was nothing for me to relate to. I don't get the world of boxing and I don't get the sport so this man's struggle meant nothing to me. I thought the Malcolm X bits were the only vaguely interesting bits at all. It was documentary pure and simple and like all documentaries their only really interesting if you have some interest in what its about.
The other killer though was the length of time. I remember thinking well i 've watched this much I might as well watch the last half hour, lean over the bed, look at the running time on the dvd, there was another fucking hour and a half to go! That film was not interesting unless you like Ali but I stand by it being pretty.
OH yeah MIB2 - It's gonna suck, why is every other film news on this site about a sequel? Come on make new films stop rehashing old ideas and release BUBBA HOTEP SOMEWHERE SO I CAN DAMNED WELL SEE IT!!! -
admittedly, i made an unwarranted assumption with the 'murder' comment, but how would YOU interpret thefuckingdevil's opinions about will smith and the cosby show? as for your suspicion of racism on my part, let me ask you this: is chris rock a racist for distinguishing 'niggers' from the rest of the african-american population -- or more correctly, from the rest of the entire population? and it's also interesting how you assumed that i'm not black myself. how did you arrive at that conclusion?
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after re-reading my rants, it is clear that my senses must have abandoned me for a while there -- that's what happens when one's job is in jeopardy such as mine. transferrence of anger.
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isn't he in the sequel? I heard he had a very effective cameo. can anybody confirm that? and lara flynn boyle is not white bread. she's trying to vamp a la the dangerous movie ladies of old (Hedy Lamarr and Ava Gardner especially). You may not think she's got the goods, but at least she's representing the old-school style of hard-eyed beauty instead of the weepy, wobbly fragility of the Winona Ryders of today. I'll take Lara's ruthless black-Irish "blandness" over the presumably toastier charms of a dozen other actresses.
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Well, to answer your questions as you presented them: I would interpret Thefuckingdevil's statement to mean that Will Smith uses his race to get him ahead, and ignores it when it might stand in his way. I think the issue is that he's bland. I really don't see any venom in Thefuckingdevil's statements, just mild annoyance, so I really think that's all there is to it (although I would certainly ask the man himself.) Second: is Chris Rock racist for distinguishing "niggers" from the rest of the black populations, etc...well, I don't know, I haven't heard the context of his statements, although I should mention I don't think I'm being racist when I call the shithead that used to live below me white trash for beating his girlfriend after she refused to clean up the spit marks he made while chewing tobacco (I know it's a cliche, but facts is facts...) I'm white, by the way. Which leads me to...I didn't assume you weren't black yourself. I did, however, assume that regardless of your ethnicity, you seem completely unfamiliar with the groups of people who "are crammed into tiny pockets of concrete and tar," as Thefuckingdevil put it. I've lived in black neighborhoods for extended periods of time, and methinks you have no clue what they're on about. The fact that I said that you might have a dim view of black people doesn't change one bit if you happen to be black. I have a dim view of my own race sometimes...but I have the common sense not to post it in a public forum, or let it grab a hold of my world view or, God Forbid, hold someone else responsible for my flawed judgement, like you did here. Thefuckingdevil just said (I think) he thought Will Smith blanded out...why did that prompt this whole exchange?
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I loved Wild Wild West. It started like the TV show with the opening credits and all. I kind of hope there will be a sequel, but I know there never will be. It just wasn't as big a hit as Smith's other films. I haven't seen Bagger Vance but West has got to be more entertaining than that. Hell, West is way more entertaining than MIB. Come to think of it, just destroy the MIB franchise altogether and bring back the Ghostbusters.
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Jun 28, 2002 2:44:59 PM CDT
poleofjustice, i am really impressed with your reasoned argument
by yankeessuck
i stand corrected -- see my post at 2002 6-28 10:43:04 for an explanation of why i blew up at thefuckingdevil. and fyi, i live in philadelphia. that's ghetto.
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Yowza man, yeah, the whole potential unemployment thing can certainly knock you for a major loop. A friend of mine used to work for Andersen Consulting...she was all the way over in Paris, and she STILL lost her job, although she didn't come anywhere near the whole Enron fiasco...I mean, she's in PARIS, for Gawdsakes...sorry, I digress. Anyways, s'all good, I'm just a bit oversensitive about that kind of thing, 'cause my family is really, really white, which means that every time I would visit someone, they'd ask me "Are you still living in that neighborhood? Do you see a lot of gang violence?" As if someone went around super gluing gang violence to anyone who happened to be black. But again, I digress...hope the job thing smooths out...
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NO DON'T DO IT!!! YOU'LL REGRET EVERY MOMENT!!!
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Nothing in this looks remotely entertaining. I loved the first one though. I guess it was largely due to Linda Fiorentino though. She's such a fierce beauty. I'm actually glad she's not in this pile of shit. She deserves better. I hope Rosario Dawson rises above this. She also is too talented for this
movie. -
I find it strangely amusing that my original post has caused such a stir.
I guess what I was trying to say was that while we do sometimes have a tendancy to think with our hearts which lends itself to reactionary statements and actions, such as calling someone a sellout without considering their reasoning or state of mind, Will Smith's case is different.
I think it comes down to the fact that he seems to be too willing to play the Hollywood game. Maybe it's the money, maybe it's the acceptance, maybe neither. Who knows, maybe it's all part of his plan to become one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood so he could then make a difference. Could be, I guess...
I mean, we all know how effective complaining is(Spike Lee)or coming at them with that "Pity us, negro spirituals crap."
While I think both ways are justified, they simply don't work, especially when you consider that African-Americans, or "Fu-ckin' Nagger" as I was just called by some hilljack in a speeding car in Ohio two days ago, make up a mere 13% of the US population. I know, I know, seems wrong, but it's basically the same thing as how the UPN or BET fools people into thinking that there are a lot of African-Americans on TV.
In short I'm saying that to most of us down here in the cellars(so to speak)it's a little annoying to see someone to whom you can relate seem to compromise their identity in order to succeed. It's definitely not the first time though. And no, to be Black doesn't have anything to do with speaking clearly or promoting violence, but first; there is a certain cadence(that has it roots in African language/culture)to the way we speak(even when we speak clearly), conduct ourselves. Every race has their own variety of this. And to be brutally honest, our culture is and always has been heavily dance, rhythm oriented. Nothing to be ashamed of. Doesn't mean that we are limited to only those things...
And second; Since most of us do have unresolved rage issues stemming from direct racism, environment, poor self-image, it tends to sway our motivations one way or another and taint our art, literature etc. in a way that's distinctively our own. I bet you'd find the same kind of thing in the Palestinian Community.
Stop looking at things from such an idealistic standpoint. Life just ain't like dat.
I'm out...
By the way...I don't hate white people. Went through that stage like ten years ago. Besides, "Some of my closest friends are white..." Always wanted to say that.
Oh yeah, to Poleofjustice, thanks for getting my back.
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Jun 29, 2002 6:54:16 PM CDT
I don't think people can possible not like the first and be
by theginger twit
I think this one will be the same somehow.
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Jun 29, 2002 8:16:59 PM CDT
Personally, I should think they should've left this one as "
by screenplaywriter
I think it was better seeing MIB as just one film instead of second, but who knows what they'll put out of their bag of tricks. I think the cartoon was more of a better sequel because it just continued on with the movie without trying to scoop up a new/yet borrowed idea from the first movie.
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Saw MIIB tonight at a special preview for retailers of a product placed in the film.
The story is not quite as interesting as Men in Black, but the return of K is pleasant. There were few scenes which caused me to laugh out loud -- far fewer than the original, but enough to find the film fun to watch. The "violence" special effects are glossed over quickly with little detail... actually, the special effects all feel even less real than in the first film. Look for cameos by Peter Graves, Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson, all playing themselves. Lara Flynn Boyle's villain is far less interesting than Vincent D'Onofrio's Edgar in MIB. I think it is a script problem, rather than one of talent. In fact, little is revealed about any of the characters -- the film is driven by the conceit of the audience knowing the first film and nothing more. It is an amusing, non-offensive bit of summertime fluff, without the joy of discovery that the first film brought to its audience. (I'd like to see an entire film about the Grand Central Station locker contents.)
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