Men in Black Film Franchise Review

Hello, Nets! This is Jesse from Rock Sugar and

you're listening to the GeekCats Radio Network.

Keep it right here. We work for a highly funded

yet unofficial government agency. We'll take

it from here. Who the hell are you? INS Division

6. There is no Division 6. Our mission is to

monitor extraterrestrial activity on Earth. You're

only here because you're the best of the best.

And we're looking for one of you. Hey. What's

up? I want to get some coffee. You want some

coffee? No, thank you. I'm fine. Hey there, fellas.

Hey. You guys get along all right? All right,

I'm in. From now on, you will have no identifying

marks of any kind. You are no longer part of

the system. Leave. are the men in black. You

know what the difference is between you and me?

I make this look good. Series 4 de -atomizer.

That's what I'm talking about. Noisy cricket.

I feel like I'm gonna break this damn thing.

Oh, it gets better. Ted, we have a bug. Unlimited

technology from the whole universe and we cruise

around in a Ford POS. Fasten your seatbelt. See,

now we got to work on your people skills. Columbia

Pictures and Amblin Entertainment present. I

knew it. This is an alien and you guys are from

some government agency trying to keep it under

wraps. No. Tommy Lee Jones. I'm gonna count to

three. He'll do it, Jeeves. One. I'm telling

you, that man does not look stable. Two. He's

always crazy. Why don't you get a massage or

take a creep? Three. Do you have any idea how

much that stings? Will Smith. What the hell are

you? Your world's gonna end. In a new film, we're

the director of the Addams Family and get shorty.

Men in Black. Protecting the Earth from the scum

of the universe. You know how to use these things?

No idea whatsoever. Every day, millions of people

go through the same routine while life passes

them by. But for the men in black, it's the same

old routine with a brand new style. I just walked

in to find you here with that sad look upon your

face. I should have changed that stupid lock.

I should have... Frank! Now Earth is in for a

world of trouble. What do we got? Big bad mojo.

And the only agent who can stop it... Bring him

in. Now. ...doesn't even know he's an agent.

You don't remember me, but we used to work together.

I never worked in a funeral home. There's something

I can do for you, Slick. Boom! Why do you think

you're so comfortable here? The Earth's very

existence may rest on what K knows. Get back!

Somebody said you were dead. You look good. Get

him over to denuralization. Let's go put it on.

What? The last suit you'll ever wear. Again.

Don't worry about a thing, folks. I used to live

here. Came by to pick up a few things. Well,

hey, man, what you doing? Always do the driving,

right? Wait, no. I don't remember that. So you

used to drive that old busted joint. I drive

the new hotness. Old and busted, new hotness.

That's naked hot. This Fourth of July weekend,

they're back in business. You're getting big.

What would you mean? Back in action. Hello and

welcome to the fift - Wait, what? That's not

the f - We're not up to episode 59, are we? Hello?

Hello. We're not up to episode 59, are we? Uh,

I'm where? Yeah. no we're not even near that

holy shit oh we're on 45 I was gonna say that's

what I thought oh damn hello and welcome to the

45th episode of the M -Wire today we're going

to be discuss what the hell okay we're gonna

be discussing the men in black film franchise

I am TFG1 Mike and I'm losing my mind and Steve

Megatron is here hello hello how are you My brain

is very well intact. Yes unlike mine Yeah, my

brain's not intact at all Yes, yes, so what's

been going on with you sir Besides podcasting

adding the new post blogs yours and mine to the

website Not really all that much else other than

you know just a bunch of like new movie news

in recent late days yeah yeah I uh it's funny

it took me what did it take me for I don't know

it took me about a week to write my Masters of

the Universe 2002 cartoon blog post I Was originally

gonna list and photo compare Every single major

character and I deleted a good lot of them off

the off the list. It's actually on the blog post.

It's like oh God, I don't because I thought I

had photos already of the 80 series one versions

and as I was watching the 2002 version I eventually

went, you know, I just took pics as I was going

along So I go back to do the comparisons, and

I don't have an image of 80s Merman, but I have

an image of 02 Merman. I don't have an image

of 80s Beastman, but I have an image of 02 Beastman.

I'm like, oh fuck. So I spent like, I don't know,

six hours one afternoon, back and forth between

DVDs, back and forth, back and forth, back and

forth, and it's like, oh god. Okay, that character's

getting cut, that character's getting cut, that

character's getting cut. But for the majority

of people, people should have gotten the jest

of the photo compares that I was doing. Yes.

Yes, that series, the O2 series is actually a

nice, nice updating. Unlike that crappy 90 cartoon

they tried to do. Science fiction my ass. Hehehehe.

Piece of shit. I still like that. I don't care

what you think. That thing is not Skeletor, it's

some weird looking thing. That's not what Skeletor

fucking looks like. Yeah, well to me that was

Skeletor. Well, you grew up in the wrong cartoon.

Well, I knew both of them, so... To hell with

you, to hell, to hell. So getting into today's

topic of the Men in Black films. Men in Black

is a 1997 science fiction action comedy film

directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. starring Tommy

Lee Jones, Will Smith, and Vincent D 'Onofrio

was in the first one? Oh yeah, he played the

bug, that's right. The film was based on the

Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham,

originally published by Arcel Comics. The film

featured the creature effects and makeup of Rick

Baker. The film was released on July 2, 1997

by Columbia Pictures and grossed over $587 million

worldwide against a $90 million budget. It's

currently the 49th highest -grossing film of

all time and is followed by a 2002 sequel Men

in Black 2 and an animated series entitled Men

in Black The Series. When was the first time

you saw this? Did you see it in theaters? No.

I actually cut it on cable. What, a week ago?

No. No, I mean the first... I've seen this a

long time ago. Like, around the time it came

out, but probably the first time it was on cable

TV. Yeah. Yeah, I think I saw this in theaters,

but I don't really remember. I don't know, I

saw it somehow. It might have been on VHS or

something. I don't know, hell. 97 VHS's were

still all the rage, so... They ruled you. Anyways,

as far as the setting, the MIB, the top secret

agency that polices, monitors, and directs alien

activity on Earth, has established the Earth

as an apolitical neutral zone for alien refugees,

as Agent K explains, like Casablanca, with no

Nazis. Oh god. But it wouldn't be as good without

Nazis. VMIB answer to no government. Their funding

comes from the patents they own on technology

compass from aliens such as Velcro, microwave

ovens, and liposuction. Oh wow, yikes. And now

you know where the stretchy face is and weird.

Yeah. When a new agent joins the MIB, every public

record of his or her existence is deleted and

all identifying marks, including fingerprints,

are physically removed from his or her body.

Any memory of MIB activity upon mustering out

of the MIB is erased and new identity is created

for the departing agent into whose strange world

as ushered initially skeptical Detective Sergeant

James Edwards, played by Will Smith, a NYPD officer,

as he becomes Agent J. One of the newest MIB

personnel, Tommy Lee Jones plays Kay, a senior

MIB agent who recruits and guides Jay as he learns

the ropes. MIB agents wear black suits and neckties

with white shirts and appear at UFO landing sites

similar to paranormal reports of real -world

men in black. Since the MIB are a secret organization,

no evidence of their existence can be left. Instead

of intimidating or threatening witnesses, the

MIB use devices known as neuralizers to white

witnesses' memories of what they have seen and

replace the memories with more mundane explanations

such as swamp gas or weather balloons. All agents

carry a pair of black sunglasses which they put

on before activating a neuralizer to shield themselves

from the effects. Neuralizers are also used on

agents who leave the organization for any reason

or for agents that do not have the mental emotional

capacity to continue with the organization. K

and J drive around in a seemingly inconspicuous

black car, which J initially identifies as a

Ford POS piece of shit. A 1987 LTD Crown Victoria

what? I was laughing. Yeah, that was funny. which

with the press of the red button on the gear

stick transforms into a high -speed rocket propelled

car. This movie was... I don't know. It was good.

It was alright, I guess. It was of the time when

Will Smith was doing his breakout movie career

thing. And singing at the same time. Yeah. Every

movie he was in he had to have a singing role.

Yeah, the theme song yeah, I don't know I kind

of like the theme song as much as I denounce

and hate rap You know I would have to say his

songs for like the movies including like this

and you know Wow Wow West I'd have to say those

would probably be my favorite if I had to say

I liked rap my favorite rap that yeah, especially

coming from him Yeah, yeah Yes The main plot

of the movie revolves around a quote -unquote

bug, word for member of an alien species, similar

in many ways to a very large cockroach, searching

for a miniature galaxy, which is also a vast

energy source. Upon landing on Earth, the bug

kills a farmer named Edgar, played by Vincent

D 'Onofrio, and uses his skin as a disguise to

aid in the hunt. A member of an alien royal family

masquerading as a diamond merchant has concealed

the galaxy on his cat's collar. When he is killed

by the bug, his government prepares to destroy

the Earth rather than let the galaxy fall to

the bug's hands. During their mission, Jay and

Kay investigate a morgue where they meet Dr.

Laurel Weaver, played by Linda Fiorentino, a

cynical deputy medical examiner. Eventually,

the agents kill the bug with Laurel's help and

recover the galaxy. K then has J erase his memory

so he can retire, and Laurel joins the MIB and

becomes Agent L, J's new partner. In the final

scene of the film, the camera pulls back to the

sky through space, past ourselves through millions

of stars, ultimately revealing that our galaxy

is contained within a circular container resembling

a marble. The container is then picked up by

an alien hand, which throws it, hitting another

marble. Which also contains a galaxy and what

resembles the game of marbles. Both marbles are

then picked up by the hand and placed into a

bag full of galaxy containing marbles. I never

liked the ending of this. The only part of the

ending that I liked was the whole Dennis Rodman

joke. Yeah. The whole marble bit, that was just

stupid. That was too much. Yeah, that was just

dumb. I don't know, what did you think of the

first film overall? The first film yeah, I I

liked it none of it was too over -the -top. It

was like a comedic X -Files of sorts Although

it had its advantages, especially with Their

awesome rocket -boosting car. I'd have to say

that to me would rank number two with the DeLorean

being number one Yeah, and then as far as like

the Neuralizers that that was pretty cool touch

And I liked Will Smith's cricket. Yeah, the cricket

was awesome. Because he gets, you know, Agent

K gets this huge blaster, and then he hands Jay

the cricket. The noisy cricket, yep. The noisy

cricket, which is, you know, as big as his, you

know, palm of his hand. And he starts waving

it around, and K's like... Hey, don't put that

at me, you know, and he's like what it's just

this and then he just like randomly fighters

a shot and Knacks him on his ass Yeah, I didn't

say that would be the most awesome weapon. Yeah,

you know like oh, that's nothing. Oh, yeah, you

want to see Mm -hmm. Yeah that first movie I'd

have to say is pretty damn good a lot of fun

moments in it a lot of Weird randomness. Yeah.

Um, I especially like Tony Shalhoub in this He

plays Jack Jeebs. The dog? No, that's Frank the

Pug. Yeah, he was cool too. Jack Jeebs was an

alien posing as a pun shop owner who deals in

illegal weapons. He can regrow his head if it

is damaged or blown off. That's right. That was

my second guess. I thought that was really funny.

Yeah, I mean the cast for the most part, you

know... Very well done for the film. It's funny,

Smith was cast because Barry Sonnefeld's wife

was a Fresh Prince of Bel -Air fan. Wow. Nice.

Well, that's nice casting. Yeah. And it worked

out. Yup. Besides Will Smith, they had two other

prospects. Chris O'Donnell, who turned down the

film because he found a role of a new recruit

too similar to Dick Grayson, whom he had played

in Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, and David

Schwimmer, also turned down the part. Oh my god,

Ross as Agent J? Oh god. Or Robin. I could deal

with Robin before Ross. Ross is too Weasley.

Yeah, it's not even - Real Smith brought that

nice dynamic. Because he's a complete opposite

of, you know - Probably. Yeah, Tommy Lee Jones.

Yeah. And plus the other thing is, if Chris O'Donnell

did it, if this was... I don't know if this was...

Was this released before or after Batman and

Robin? I don't know. Because they were both released

in 97. If Chris O'Donnell had done it, it wouldn't

be like Robin slash Dick Grayson versus Two -Face.

Because Tommy Lee Jones played Two -Face in Batman

Forever. Yeah. As we said before, there are soundtracks.

Two different soundtracks were released in the

USA score soundtrack and an album featuring various

songs in the UK. Only the album was released,

but the score is rarely available for import.

Danny Elfman composed the score for the film,

making use of his usual combination of orchestra

and electronics. The score also makes permanent

use of jazz for the MIB theme, which consists

of an ostinato usually played by lower instruments.

The official Men in Black game is the third -person

shooter developed by Gremlin Interactive. Wow.

The Grunts have their own video game developing

company? Yikes. So when they get water on them,

do they multiply? Don't feed them after midnight.

They turn into creatures. Let's see, as far as

the reception, Men in Black won the Academy Award

for Best Makeup and was also nominated for Best

Original Score, Best Art Direction. It was also

nominated for a Golden Globe of Best Motion Picture,

Musical or Comedy. The film received an overwhelmingly

positive response from critics, having 91 % rating

on the Rotten Tomatoes Film Critic website. Following

the film's release, Ray -Ban stated that sales

of their Predator 2 sunglasses, worn by the organization

to deflect neuralizers, tripled to five million.

Wow. And that's five million dollars, by the

way. Yikes. No, I thought it was five million

pennies. Well, you know, five million units are,

you know, that's... I was thinking more of...

Yeah, whatever. Um You know the first film was

was was good. I could have done without the bug

plot, but Yeah, the bug thing kind of creeped

me out. Yeah, I think the only time I was actually

happy about it is when he was stomping on him

at the end It's like oh is that a family member

here? Sorry crunch Yeah This is a 2002 sci -fi

action comedy starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will

Smith. The film also stars Lara Flynn Boyle,

Johnny Knoxville, Rosario Dawson, and Rick Torn.

The film is a sequel to the 97 film Men in Black,

both of which are based on the Malibu comic series

The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham. This one

was a little bit better. I think it was. I know

that a lot of people didn't really like it that

much, but... Basically, five years after the

events of the earlier film, Agent K, played by

Tommy Lee Jones, has assumed a civilian life

in Small Town's postmaster while Agent J continues

to work for the Men in Black. The self -funded

New York City -based agency that secretly monitors

and regulates extraterrestrials' activity on

Earth. Jay is largely without a partner, his

former partner, Agent L, having returned to her

former life as a deputy medical examiner, and

her successors having been expelled from the

agency by Jay himself due to their unsuitability.

While investigating a seemingly routine crime,

Jay uncovers a diabolical plot by Serlina, a

shape -shifting chylothian, Queen, who disguises

herself as a model, played by Lara Flynn Boyle,

but resembles a... Lernan Hydra? I don't know,

in her own form. To stop her, Jane must convince

Kay, who has no memory of his time spent with

the Agency, but is only a person alive who knows

what is needed to defeat Selina, to reunite with

the MIB before Earth is destroyed. Uh, huh. Yeah,

this second film, quite honestly, it wasn't that

great. I like some of the comedy bits, but the

overall plot kind of sucks. The overall plot

sucks. I like the fact that K was still technically

working around, because he's still too valuable.

He was still working around all of the aliens.

And the fact that Johnny Knoxville, who's quite

hilarious in this. Too head, yeah. That's almost

a waspinator moment That's funny Basically Yeah,

it's just I don't know I just right before we

started recording this I just finished watching

it and It was okay. I think the gadgets are probably

the best part about it Yeah, the worms are kind

of funny Frank the pug was fucking annoying.

I wanted to choke that goddamn dog And I like

dogs So Jesus Christ Yeah, that one yeah, I could

have done without him in this film Yeah, he was

not something that was needed the only three

technically needed were JK and chief said mm

-hmm everybody else is kind of yeah, whatever

Yeah Well Zed was all right. I mean you know

anything ripped or does is kind of cool, but

yes But yeah, you know the Johnny Knoxville stuff

was was funny as hell I don't think Will Smith's

comedy bits were or as good as they were in the

first film. He's pretty much got an eagle the

size of a hot air balloon, pretty much. Yeah.

And I really, really didn't like it that much.

Let's see, here's the other one. Patrick Warburton

as Agent T, that was kind of funny. He always

plays kind of a weird -ish... character. Yes,

he does. He's got that kind of like overbearing,

overacting style. Yeah, well that's what he's

used to playing I guess. I like how they base

Agent K's or his alternate life as Kevin Brown.

in a very extremely small town Massachusetts

post office. I thought that was very funny considering

none of the post offices in Massachusetts look

like that at all as far as the little lobby area

there. I mean, hell, it looked like a little

fucking house. Basically, they had him working

at a fake post office to make him think he's

working at a real post office. Yeah. to keep

him out of trouble. Okay, then. Yeah, again,

the addition of Lara Flynn Boyle and Rosaria

Dawson were good characters, I guess, but just

the overall plot just kind of sucked. K has some

sort of alien bestiality affair with some alien

that's dead and has a daughter. Great. And if

the daughter doesn't leave, the whole earth is

gonna blow up. Oh, lovely. Yeah, that... Yeah,

that's almost as bad as a chick turning into

a robot. Yeah, there will be no... Actually,

you know, it's funny. There was no tail, but

there was a horrible, horrible tongue -lashing

in this film. Take that. Oh, jeez. That's...

yeah, that's really funny. Yeah, I just hope

that with the coming of the third film, unfortunately

in 3D, they don't repeat too. Well, it's funny

you mention that Men in Black 3D will be the

third installment in the film's franchise It

will be released in 3D by Sony Pictures and directed

by Barry Sonnenfeld who directed the first two

installments The third was originally based on

a script written by Tropic Thunder and Madagascar

escape to Africa writer Etton Cohen Sony confirmed

that David Kep would serve as an additional screenwriter

joining Cohen Kep is currently rewriting a new

draft of the script which takes place primarily

in the year 1969. It was initially announced

that Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith would reprise

their roles as Agents K and J respectively, both

had previously expressed interest in reprising

their roles back in 2008. While Smith has officially

signed on to return as Agent J, Jones is in advanced

negotiations to return as Agent K. Josh Brolin

is also in talks to play the younger, 1969 version

of Kay. Others rumored to have parts in the film

include Sacha Baron Cohen and Jermaine Clement.

It was later confirmed that Clement had landed

the role of Boris, formerly named Yaz. Production

of the sequel is tentatively set to begin during

the 2010 fall season, and will welcome back producers

Walter F. Parks and Laurie MacDonald. Steven

Spielberg is also set to return as executive

producer. Men in Black 3D will hit theaters May

25th, 2012. Okay, so they're doing the Austin

Powers thing? D 'oh! Yeah, I have no idea what

that reference is. Austin Powers Was in the 60s

he went into the future and then he had to go

back to the 60s So What I mean is they're setting

the third film in 1969 and they're gonna have

a younger version of K What the hell else are

they gonna do as I mean, okay sure We get some

little plot point of that it's going to primarily

base in the year 1969. Well, what the hell are

they going to do in 1969? I didn't even know

the MIB could time travel. Do they have DeLorean's

now? Apparently. That's what the car's alternate

feature works. We not only can go fast, we can

travel time. Oh, good lord. And then you're going

to hear the song back in time in the background

when they go. You know what I may just put back

in time in this episode. Oh Damn that would be

such a travesty to back to the future though.

Yeah, unfortunately Oh shit, that's funny. Um,

you know, honestly Mean I I remember the first

film I don't actually have it so I didn't watch

it before we started recording this but I Honestly

don't think either film stands the test of time

at all. No, they look dated It's kind of almost

I mean It's almost painful for me to watch them

just because Time hasn't been nice to them. No

No, I think this is the first like I don't know

a couple of years ago at Christmas time I guess

Best Buy was running one of their sales like

I don't know DVDs for $7 .50 or I don't know

some sort of sale and I listed off a bunch of

ones that I wanted and my mom pretty much got

me all the ones that I wanted Men in Black 2

was one of them and it's the two disc Special

widescreen edition And it does have a bunch of

special features none of which I've watched except

for the trailers And the only reason why I watch

the trailers is to get the the audio for for

this episode But this is the first time I've

watched it in three years since I've owned the

damn thing Yeah, I actually don't own any of

them I remember enough of the first one and the

second one It's quite painful for me to watch

like I said So I yeah, I actually have had no

access to the second one so but From what I remember

when I saw the first time around it didn't keep

my interest very well It's like I said when I

first saw it when it first came out back in 2002

it was cool It was nice to see the characters,

you know Back, you know doing their thing Um,

but just the overall plots, they just suck. In

both films, they suck. You know, you can have

great actors, but at the same time, you can also

have really sucky plots. Now, I've never read

any of the Men in Black comics, and I don't plan

on to now, so I don't know if these stories were

adapted from the comics, I'm not sure. Um, but,

ugh, God. Yeah. I don't know. Quite honestly,

I hope that with them doing this third film,

they just end it here. Even if they somehow alter

history to where the aliens never actually take

an interest in Earth and MIB never forms, even

that would be fine. That would be an interesting

plot point. And somebody completely screws up

the past, you know, Jay's like, you know Just

walks up and says fuck this and then shoot some

of the cricket and then you know Where's the

past master when you really need him? And then

they show in the future of what the current time

is and it's just all cockroaches the end Wow,

so you're basically combining men in black with

with time travel so men in black back to the

future and starship troopers yikes yes us end

game oh lord that's funny alright so on that

will come back with the outro do not be alarmed

this transmission is being jacked by the lunchroom

we are here to tell you that the lunchroom has

been rebooted it is now a part of the keycast

radio network and is still available at thelunchroom

.net. It debuts every Monday or Wednesday or

whenever we see fit to give it to you. Any further

information can be found at thelunchroom .net.

We will now return you to your regular program.

Did you know that Justin Bieber's actually Webster

in a girl suit? Did you know that Teddy Ruxpin's

friend Grubby actually a tapeworm? Did you know

that Gargamel was really a cat lady? Did you

know? that Billy Zane is the only man to ever

beat Chuck Norris. If you didn't know any of

these things, then you should be currently listening

to Chicken Pop Pod Retro Comedy Podcast. Catch

it at chickenpoppod .com. It's about time you

guys got here. That pretty lady in there is causing

all kinds of hell. Thank you for joining us here

on M .Y .R. Movie Weekend Review. There are several

ways to get in contact with us or leave feedback

for the show. Visit the website geekcastradio

.com Join the forums, productonempire .com slash

nexus. Leave the show's feedback in iTunes. Please

do this. Follow us on Twitter. GCR and MWIRE

and TFG1Mike are mine. What is your Twitter?

SCP21. Become a fan on Facebook. Search Geekcast

Radio Network. We hope you enjoyed this episode

of MWIRE and wish you'll join us next time when

we will be reviewing Empire Records. For now,

I am TFG1Mike with Steve Megatron Phillips. Thank

you for listening, until next time. The guys

dressin' black, remember that Just in case we

ever face to face and make contact The title

held by me, M .I .B Means what you think you

saw and you did not see So don't blink B, what

was there is now Goin' black C with the black

Ray -Bans on Walk in shadow, move in silence

Scar to get sex structure matched for your violence

But yo, we ain't on no government list We straight,

don't exist, no names and no fingerprints Saw

somethin' strange, watch your back Cause you

never quite know where the M .I .Bs is at, uh,

eh Keep it sort of dark as the night on the horizon

Bright light, inter -site type Camera zoom on

the impending doom But then like boom, black

suits fill the room up Quick to quick, let's

talk with the witnesses Hypnotizer, neuralyzer

Vivid memories, turn to fantasies Ain't no one

my B's, can I please Do what we say, that's the

way we kick it Yeah, man, let's have a noisy

cricket get wicked on ya With your first, last,

and only line of defense Against the worst scum

of the universe So don't fear us, cheer us If

you ever get nearest, don't jeer us We're fearless

in my feet, squeezing up all the flags That stands

for Men In Black Let me see you just bounce with

me, just bounce with me, just bounce with me,

come on Let me see you just slide with me, just

slide with me, just slide with me, come on Let

me see you take a walk with me, just walk with

me, take a walk with me, come on And make your

neck work Now freeze Let me tell you this in

closing I know we might seem imposing But trust

me, if we ever show in your section Believe me,

it's for your own protection Cause we see things

that you need not see And we be places that you

need not be So go with your life, forget the

Roswell craps Show love to the black suit Cause

that's the men in, that's the men in Here come

the men and women They won't let you remember