Men In Black 3

If you’ve ever been confused by why J and K are a pair of alien busting bad boys in black suits, you’ll wonder no longer after viewing this atomic fly-swatting romp that covers the space-time continuum from New York to Florida and back. Tommy Lee Jones as K, now, and Josh Brolin as K in 1969…perfect. Josh has the character to a “t”. Deadpan with just the tiniest hint of emotion. Emma Thompson glides into the role of O, the new head of the organization (similar to Judy Dench’s M in the Bond series, but with a ton more tongue in cheek). She delivers a flawless eulogy that you won’t soon forget, you probably won’t understand it, but you’ll enjoy it. Of course, there’s a new bad guy and he’s really nasty (reminiscent of Tim Curry in anything where he plays the bad guy). You may not want to eat sushi or Chinese food after this, just sayin’. Don’t dump your pets (goldfish, baby snakes, alligators, etc.) into the sewer…you never know what they’ll grow into. There’s a much more serious tone to this episode, not the laugh fest of the first or second, just toned down on the comedy and ramped up on the special effects. Probably more eye-popping in 3-D, but this writer opted for 2-D as the cashier put it. I countered with, you mean just a movie, right? Yikes, what’s the world coming to when someone doesn’t understand that most films aren’t 3-D? She realized her faux pas and laughed, thank goodness. So, look into the neurolizer and forget everything I told you here. Let’s go get pie…I like Loganberry best, and you? Oh, and don’t forget to leave a tip. Rating: 3 Exhilarating Stars

The Avengers

Smashing! That’s what I say. Marvel Comics come to life, what was anyone thinking! Superheroes, dynamic duos, big green guys who bounce off walls and crush aliens like flies? Absolutely loved the fact that this bunch of unlikely collaborators: Captain America, Ironman, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor and The Incredible Hulk; come together and deliver the goods many times over. It’s a great start to the summer movie season, even though you couldn’t prove it by the weather here in the Great Northwest as anything more than a very soggy spring. We’ve sprung a leak and so has the sky by bringing back Thor’s nasty old adopted bro—Loki-- to wreak havoc on Earth. Gadzooks, how will he ever be stopped from destroying life as we know it and most of Manhattan in the process? All of the players: Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Ironman), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki and Johnny Weir’s Irish twin), Clark Gregg (S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson), Colbie Smulders (S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill), and bringing up the rear, Stellan Skarsgard (Dr. Selvig) rip a new one in the space/time continuum. Comicon will be having a field day with all of the characters, actors, and writers trying to find out what’s next, much like the comic books that this film is drawn from (sorry, that was a pun). Not recommended for small children and even though it’s difficult for some people to realize that your five year old doesn’t get it as being a fantasy, they do see violence, blood, destruction of tall buildings and in this case, the aftermath, as very real and scary. So parents, even though it’s from a comic book, remember, it’s rated PG-13 for a very good reason. We had to convince my brother that flying monkeys weren’t real, too. His comment, and I quote, “It’s only trick fertography, it’s only trick fertography” as he went running out of the room scared out of his mind. I’m also one of those people who don’t leave until the credits are completely over. You never know what you might see before the last logo hits the screen. Just sayin’. Rating: to the moon, Alice – 4 stars and stripes