Blu-ray Review: Men In Black 3

it's been ten years since the last "Men In Black" movie gave us a Burger King in MIB HQ, Frank the Pug in a suit, and Johnny Knoxville's second talking head, the stink of the second movie in the series hung around just long enough to make the possibility of another one seem like more of a threat. And as news trickled out about "Men In Black 3"--Tommy Lee Jones was getting sidelined for most of the movie, chief among the problems--every indication was that we were headed for another disaster.
But this time traveling plot, which sees Will Smith's Agent J hurtle back to 1969 to save his partner and the timeline, doesn't just get the series back to its roots, but ends up being... touching?



After one-armed criminal Boris the Animal escapes from a lunar prison, the already brittle relationship between J and K starts to deteriorate as it becomes clear that there's something the senior agent is holding back about the alien escapee. But before J can coax some answers out of his partner, Boris erases K from history, forcing J to hop back to 1969 to prevent K's murder and prevent an alien invasion by tentacled spaceships. All J has to do is go back in time (in a wonderfully inventive sequence), kill Boris, avoid the younger version of K (Josh Brolin), and get back to 2012

Josh Brolin's great here as the younger K as is the late 6's version of the Men In Black and New York. Brolin's K has a lighter touch than his older counterpart, easy with his smile and sweet on junior agent 0 (Alice Eve) and around the margins, we start to realize something really horrible is coming that will shake K so much that it's closed him off in the future. Plus, "Boardwalk Empire" and "A Serious Man" star Michael Stuhlbarg has a sweet and funny part as an alien blessed and cursed with the ability to see into all variations of time--he holds the secret to 1969 J and K's mission and that it might be a success, but could still end badly for them.

That's where "Men In Black 3" ends up being so effective and so touching: the movie treads takes its time to make the characters feel like people this time out. Whereas J and K felt like the two bickering halves of a comedy duo in the second movie, we get to see some of the roundabout, sad friendship they've developed over 15 years.by charles webb

Anna Karenina Novemeber 16th 2012

Director Joe Wright reteams with Keira Knightley for this version of Anna Karenina, which boasts a script by Tom Stoppard. Knightley stars as the title character, a Russian woman who cheats on her respected husband (Jude Law) with a young soldier (Aaron Johnson) and suffers greatly for her betrayal. Wright sets the action in a theater, often segueing from scene to scene by utilizing different spaces within the same set. Anna Karenina screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

New On Blu-Ray BRAVE

Even just a few years ago you could get away with saying that an okay Pixar film was still better than everyone else's animated films. That's just not true anymore. The animation industry has seriously stepped up its storytelling game in recent years, with all major studios putting out quality, original animated films every few months. And so we've entered an age where an okay Pixar film is, well, an okay animated film. But that's all industry competition talk that's less a reflection on the film and more on the change in the animation landscape.

Regardless of what other animated films came out this year, Brave just isn't a particularly great film. It has odd tonal shifts in its comedy, which flips from juvenile sight gags to heavy mother-daughter conflicts and back again. Once magic is introduced to the story, though, it realigns with the normal wonder and awe one feels when swept up in a Pixar story. In a way, it's refreshing because it is indeed abnormal for Pixar to make a movie as incongrous as Brave, but that doesn't make Brave a better movie, it just makes it an interesting footnote in the studio's filmography.

Special Features: Commentary with Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brian Larsen, and Nick Smith; Short films 13 minutes of extended scenes; 50 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, diving into everything from an initial research trip to Scotland and an introduction to the core artists at Pixar; Marketing materials; Another handful of short, ~2min featurettes on art and characters.by peter hall

THE DETAILS

A suburban family man inadvertently opens up a Pandora's box of dysfunction, treachery, and murder while attempting to grow the perfect lawn, and run a family of raccoons off his property. Jeff (Tobey Maguire) and Nealy Lang (Elizabeth Banks) have an ideal marriage; they've just celebrated their 10th anniversary, they've got a spacious house in a nice neighborhood, and a newborn son to make their family complete. But Jeff has lost the ability to love his wife, and he's desperate to regain the spark that's made their marriage work for the past decade. His inner malaise growing deeper by the day, Jeff diverts his attention to nurturing a lawn that will be the envy of all his neighbors. One problem leads to another, however, when Jeff begins an obsessive mission to rid his yard of some unusually persistent raccoons, and has an unsettling encounter with his reclusive, feline-hoarding neighbor. Before Jeff knows it, a simple pest-control problem has snowballed into a full-blown existential crisis involving bows and arrows, extortion, and multiple extramarital affairs. ~ Jason Buchanan

FLIGHT November 2nd 2012

 

A pilot with a substance-abuse problem has to land a crippled airliner in this Robert Zemeckis-directed drama for Paramount Pictures. Real Steel's John Gatins provides the script. Denzel Washington heads up a cast that includes The Hurt Locker's Brian Geraghty, along with John Goodman and Don Cheadle. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

SKYFALL 007 Novemeber 9th 2012

 

 

007 (Daniel Craig) becomes M's only ally as MI6 comes under attack, and a mysterious new villain emerges with a diabolical plan. James Bond's latest mission has gone horribly awry, resulting in the exposure of several undercover agents, and an all-out attack on M16. Meanwhile, as M (Judi Dench) plans to relocate the agency, emerging Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee Mallory (Ralph Finnes) raises concerns about her competence while attempting to usurp her position, and Q (Ben Whishaw) becomes a crucial ally. Now the only person who can restore M's reputation is 007. Operating in the dark with only field agent Eve (Naomie Harris) to guide him, the world's top secret agent works to root out an enigmatic criminal mastermind named Silva (Javier Bardem) as a major storm brews on the horizon. Albert Finney co-stars in the 23rd installment of the long-running spy series directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) and shot by acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins (True Grit, The Reader, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). ~ Rovi

Jack & Diane Novemeber 2nd 2012

 

Two teenage girls enter into a passionate romance that threatens to fall apart when one announces that she will soon be leaving for school, which creates a swell of emotions and brings about a disturbing transformation. When it comes to love, New York City tomboy Jack (Riley Keough) always plays it cool. But when she meets Diane (Juno Temple), something just clicks. Beautiful and unassuming, Diane captures Jack's heart almost instantly. But trouble starts to brew when Diane reveals that she won't be in the city much longer. School is starting, and when it does, she'll head back to Europe. Crestfallen, Jack puts up an emotional wall that Diane does her best to break through. Upon realizing Jack has no intention of continuing their relationship, Diane finds her emotions surging out of control, and the disturbing visions that have been haunting her threaten to lead them both down a terrifying path from which neither may ever return. Kylie Minogue co-stars. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi