I saw Men in Black at the cinema when it was released, and I recently saw it on video tape (since the local SchlockCluster and Crawlywood didn’t deign to carry the DVD). I find MiB amusing, but it seems to be “lacking something”. I don’t know. Maybe I was turned off by the Commercial Pop song that was so overplayed on the radio a few years ago.
On the other hand, Tommy Lee Jones hanging from his seatbelt and singing along with Elvis was pretty darned funny.
So what do you think? Did you like MiB? Hate it? “Kinda like it”?
Liked it a lot. Not in my Top Ten, but good enough for me to have seen it multiple times. The baby-birthing scene always cracks me up. It also receives the coveted Mr. Kitty Seal Of Approval, which is a rare thing, indeed.
Showed it to the 'rents when they came to visit. They were less-than-impressed. I think MamaKitty actually fell asleep at some point. ::shrug:: No accounting for taste, I s’pose.
I liked it, and have the collector’s edition of the DVD (the two-disc set with the nicely understated cover). Will Smith was great, bu the real discovery was Tommy Lee Jones. I had no idea Jones could do comedy so well.
I liked it enough to buy it when it was on sale for $14.95 at Best Buy, but not enough to buy any of the more deluxe versions.
It’s a very funny movie, with great performances, especially from Vincent D’Onofrio as EdgarBug. I look forward to seeing MIB II, which appears to be even funnier and more action-packed.
There are three DVD releases available: The “Collector’s Series” (the “entry level” choice), the “Limited Edition” and the “Deluxe Edition”. Between the latter two, which is the better disc set? It looks like the “Deluxe Edition” is better because it has some “exclusive” stuff and is about 25% cheaper than the “Limited”.
On a related note, I have a Hamilton “Ventura” watch on order. Very cool piece that was first released in 1957. Guess what? MiB2 apparently will have the guys wearing the new chronometer version with the three subdials. (The one I’m waiting for is the 1957 style, black face, silver case – no subdials.) I wonder what made them choose it?
I thought the first one had a great premise, but just wasn’t “epic” enough for a film. It felt as if there was a TV series called “MiB” and this was just a two-part episode that happened to end up on screen.
It appears that my identification of my “Men in Black” DVD was in error. It isn’t the “entry-level” collector’s edition, but rather the “Limited Edition”. The “Deluxe Edition”, which is the most recent version of “Men in Black” on DVD, appears to be almost identical to the “Limited Edition”, except that it has preview trailers for the upcoming sequels.
I firmly agree with this. It was enjoyable, but not stellar. In a lot of ways, it was like the movie Star Trek: Insurrection – a passable but less-than-totally-thrilling adventure – except that we hadn’t had years of previous storytelling to increase our level of interest.
I hear the sequel rectifies this problem. I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks, Atreyu. I guess I’ll get the “Deluxe Edition”. My sis gave me a $25 gift certificate for my birthday, and my company gets a 15% discount on DVDs at Borders on Monday 24th.
I guess I agree with Cervaise and KXL. MiB needed more “backstory”. Pretty good, could’ve been better. But hey; I like it enough to pick up the DVD!
It’s good crap. Actually, there’s nothing crappy about it, I think it was a great movie. Enjoyable, silly, and just plain fun. The opening sequence was great, and Tommy Lee Jones was fucking awesome in it. I’m a firm believer that not every movie needs to be “epic.” It was just good ol’ fashioned fun without being too childish, something a lot of movies seem to lack these days.
And I’m really looking forward to the sequel as well.
I enjoyed it in the theater, but it quickly left my consciousness. I don’t think I’ve seen it since. It was too short; it played like the first episode of a TV series.
A good, fun, entertaining movie – and with so few movies trying to entertain (i.e., delight the audience, rather than bombard them with noise and special effects) that makes it stand out. Certainly one of the best SF comedies to make the big screen.
Like Johnny L.A. said, it was “amusing.” The concept is basically a parody of “Dragnet” with alien crooks but it was funny nonetheless. I do think the scene at the beginning when Vincent D’Onofrio tells the voice in the alien ship that’s landed on his pickup that he can take his gun only when it can pry it out of his cold dead hands is classic. After that scene, I don’t see how any gun nut could use that slogan and hope to be taken seriously.
) and the writing was fairly snappy.