Category Archives: Doc’s Classic Movies Reviewed

Vesper (2022)

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Day: Jan. 1, Movie 1

2023 starts off with the first of the Genre-ary Sci-Fi DailyView which was a film I heard about from Robert Meyer Burnett’s films of the year from 2022. It was a sci-fi film called Vesper, a film that I had never heard about before. I went to Vudu and was able to rent it and I kicked off the Genre-ary with it this morning.

Directed by Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper, Vesper is a post-apocalyptic film where engineered viruses escaped into the world and wiped out a large portion of life. Enclosed cities, known as citadels, were where the well-off went to thrive while others struggled to survive in search of food.

Vesper (Raffiella Chapman) is a 13-year old who is taking care of her father Darius (Richard Brake) who is paralyzed and can only communicate with Vesper through a flying drone. Vesper’s uncle Jonas (Eddie Marsan) runs an orphanage where he would harvest blood from the children that he sells to the citadels. Jonas was not motivated by a family bond.

One day, Vesper discovered a young woman named Camellia (Rosy McEwen) who had crashed, along with her father, in one of the citadel’s ships. Vesper took Camellia back and helped heal her, but there is more to her than what we see.

The movie was well shot and required specific attention because there were some really creative and intriguing ideas being used in the movie. Some of the concepts really worked well and created the feeling of hope among the desperation that enveloped the world.

Speaking of the world, this film did a fantastic job of world building. Creating a futuristic society with rules and dangers can be a difficult thing that, at times, weighs down a film. It many times leads to an excess of exposition, but Vesper handled the introduction of the ideas extremely well and the film worked it in to the story smoothly. In fact, several of the details that the film brings up are never expanded upon and feels as if there is significant story yet to tell. It is a setting where I would welcome further exploration.

The visuals were done vey well, helping to build the feeling of a world that felt dirty, grimy, but it never feels hopeless. You believe that Vesper is going to overcome with her intelligence and heart.

A nice start to the Genre-ary Sci-Fi DailyView.

Boy Interrupted (2009)

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I was looking for an interesting documentary to fill the afternoon hours here on New Year’s Eve before I started by Avengers binge, and I found a fil on Hulu (by way of HBO Max) that I started to watch. I immediately realized that this was not the kind of doc that was in the celebratory range.

Boy Interrupted was the story of 15-year old Evan Perry, who had a short life suffering from depression and bipolar disorder and ended up committing suicide by jumping out of his window. The doc recounted the story of his life through his family members and close friends.

It was desperately sad watching his mom and dad telling the details that led to the eventual suicide as a 15-year old. It was clear that the wounds were not healed by any stretch and you could see the pain etched on their faces when talking about everything.

I can’t imagine the pain that goes along with a child who you love taking his own life. I know that the few students that I have had who have committed suicide was always painful, but I have no idea what it is like for a parent. I can only imagine it is the worst nightmare someone could live through.

It stirred up a lot of memories in myself watching this developing tragedy. Everyone can relate to this in some manner even if you can not fully grasp the anguish facing and guilt the parents and family members.

It is a tough doc to watch, but it is important to understand the signs that are being shown by kids, signs that you do not want to ignore.

A Christmas Carol (1951)

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There have been dozens of adaptations of 19th century novelist Charles Dickens’ iconic classic A Christmas Carol. While The Muppets Christmas Carol is my personal favorite version, the version that is considered by many to be the best was the 1951 film starring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge.

This was the version that I remember watching as a young boy and learning the story of Scrooge. Reflecting back on it, I remembered thinking that I did not like how Scrooge only came around when he saw his tombstone. I wanted him to show more change going through the different scenarios that he was placed in by the Ghosts. Watching it now today, there is more of that than I remembered with Sim showing that the past and present affected him too. However, I do think I like versions that show Scrooge changing more obviously than right at the end.

This was a fascinating watch considering I hadn’t seen it since I was young. There was way more scenes included in the past than any other version that I have seen, which was interesting. Some of the things included in the trip to the past felt as if it could have easily been dropped out, such as Scrooge’s power play with Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern) with their business. There were some new info that I did not know before, but I am not sure that it was as impactful as it could have been.

Then, I thought the scenes with the Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis De Wolff) were short changed, especially the scenes involving Fred (Brian Worth). Fred’s Christmas party showed a little dancing and that was it. The scenes at the Cratchit’s house with Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns) were fine, but this was also the biggest Tiny Tim (Glyn Dearman) I had ever seen. This kid did not seem too sick and that pulled me out of his scenes every time I saw the giant lad. I also thought that poor Bob Cratchit would never be able to carry him on his shoulders (he did though).

Alastair Sims was the reason to watch this film as he brought a sensational performance, especially when Scrooge returned from the future and was bouncing around his room and scaring Mrs. Dilber (Kathleen Harrison). I nearly fell off the couch laughing when he went to stand on his head. Sims brought an undeniable energy to that scene in particular and it was amazing to watch.

I appreciated the effects used on the ghosts too considering this was 1951. The different ghosts, especially Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Past, looked really good. There have been scarier versions of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come before and this one was just basic.

Another weird thing was Scrooge’s fiancé from the past, which I always knew of as Belle, was named Alice (Rona Anderson) in this version. I am not sure why the film changed the name of Belle to Alice. The recent Spirited also changed the name of Belle. This made me wonder what the novel called her and, after a touch of research, I do see that it is listed as Belle in Dickens’ original novel.

After rewatching this version, it is pretty clear that this is a great adaptation that still holds up. Alastair Sim stood out among the rest of the film as the highlight, and, despite the fact that I thought they could have cut some of the past and increased some of the present, A Christmas Carol (1951) was one of the best adaptations still.

Frequency (2000)

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I was watching the Top 10 Show today and they were live and were talking about sci-fi movies. I know that my overall sci-fi movie fandom is not as full as it should be and they started talking about a film called Frequency. I had heard the title before, but I had never seen the film. It sounded as if it were an interesting movie and I wanted to watch it. I found it on Vudu and I was able to rent it.

According to IMDB, “A rare atmospheric phenomenon allows a New York City firefighter to communicate with his son 30 years in the future via HAM radio. The son uses this opportunity to warn the father of his impending death in a warehouse fire, and manages to save his life. However, what he does not realize is that changing history has triggered a new set of tragic events, including the murder of his mother. The two men must now work together, 30 years apart, to find the murderer before he strikes so that they can change history–again.”

The firefighter was named Frank Sullivan and he was played by Dennis Quaid. Frank’s son was John and was played by Jim Caviezel. LOST’s Elizabeth Mitchell played John’s mother and Frank’s wife, Julia.

The movie was very original and creative, taking the idea of communicating with the past in order to adjust what happened to a new level. As John was able to convince his father about what was going to happen (thanks heavily to the Amazin’ Mets of 1969), things continued to change, including a serial killer case that suddenly became so much worse.

The function of the communication was a neat idea and was steeped in the relationship between father and son. The way things changed were clever and worked very well. You could feel the continual desperation of both Frank and John as they tried to find a way to make everything alright.

Sure, with every time travel story, there are flaws and imperfections and Frequency is no different. However, most of the things that happen make sense and work with the story that they were setting up. They never broke their own rules, which many of these types of movie do.

Both Quaid and Caviezel were strong in their roles. They had a great chemistry and I believed that they were father-son.

Other actors involved in Frequency included Andre Braugher, Noah Emmerich, Shawn Doyle, Daniel Henson, Michael Cera, and Melissa Errico.

This was a gripping thriller that I was never quite sure where it was going. The two lead performances were great and the serial killer angle worked very well. Frequency was a lot of fun and I’m glad I heard the Top 10 Show talking about it.

Avatar (2009)

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Avatar: The Way of Water comes out next weekend. Before it hit theaters, I wanted to make sure that I had a chance to rewatch the original James Cameron film from 2009. The first time I watched Avatar at home on DVD, I do not think that I made it all the way through. I was never invested in the film, but with the sequel coming, I wanted to give it another shot. This time, of course, it would be on Disney +.

I found Avatar way more interesting and exhilarating today than I did back then.

Are there still flaws to it. Absolutely. Is it just the movies Ferngully and Dances with Wolves redone? Yes. Are there narrative structure issues, such as a white savior? Yes. Were there problems with some clunky dialogue? I would agree with that as well.

However, the story gripped me immediately, unlike the first time. I connected with the characters much better than I did with the first viewing and I saw the positives in the film that made it into the highest grossing film of all time.

The special effects are stunning. They do hold up, although there were some times when you could see, in comparison to today’s CGI, where there were some spots lacking. In particular, the facial features of the Na’vi had some moments where they felt like the CGI used in She-Hulk. Of course, this was 23 years ago so this was ground breaking special effects at the time. I actually expect the sequel to have flawless special effects.

Sam Worthington was solid as Jake Sully, the paraplegic ex-Marine who was sent into Pandora to collect information on the Na’vi, via the use of an avatar. Sigourney Weaver was great as she always is as Dr. Grace Augustine, the scientist involved with the avatar program. Zoë Saldaña is in full motion capture as Neytiri, who becomes Jake’s teacher, trainer and eventual love.

Stephen Lang is a total bad ass as Colonel Miles Quaritch, the head of the mining operation to gain the natural resources of Pandora, Unobtainium (a silly name, still). Lang is a fantastic villain and the third act battle between him and Jake and Neytiri was satisfying.

Speaking of that third act, I want to call out those people who complain about comic book movies having an overstuffed CGI battle-fest in the third act. Those that bitch about that making a film not cinema must not watch the third act of this movie, because there is absolutely a comic book-style third act CGI battle in Avatar. Perhaps since this is Mr. James Cameron, they look at that final part of the film in a different light, which is one of, but not the only, hypocrisies of these movie snobs.

Watching this movie has helped create more of a buzz for the upcoming sequel for me than I had before. I found it much more compelling than I did when I first saw it and enjoyed the film despite the flaws that are here.

The Village (2004)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 13

M. Night Shyamalan was one of the hottest young directors working after his debut The Sixth Sense and the Bruce Willis vehicle, Unbreakable. Unfortunately, the reported wunderkind’s work began to take a downward spirals, to the point where they were not even placing his name on the trailers promoting the movie.

Part of the problem was that Shyamalan films started with a couple of epic twists and he became known as a director whose movies will always feature a mind bending twist that makes the movie special. This became expected, and, this became an albatross around Shyamalan’s neck.

The twist completely crushed The Village beneath the banality of the truth of this movie. Any positivity that the film may have built up with its 19th century aesthetic and eerie creatures is undone by the twist ending that Shyamalan presents.

I was astonished by the cast of this movie. As the opening credits flew by, the names of the actors involved in The Village was way more remarkable than I remembered. Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Cherry Jones, Brendan Gleeson, Judy Greer, Celia Weston, Jesse Eisenberg, and Frank Collison was an amazing group.

There are moments in the movie that work well. The relationship between Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) and Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) is nicely developed, but some of the oddities of the characters could be developed more. Adrien Brody’s character was ill-defined and felt more like a plot point than anything else.

Boy, does the plot require some stretching and, in the end, has so little reason to it that it destroys the goodwill it may have had. The initial appearance by the creatures from the woods was creepy and they looked good, but the answer to the mystery just was unsatisfying. There could have been a really strong horror film with some adjustments to the story and the elimination of the twist ending, but it was there to the film’s detriment.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 12

I saw this Mel Brooks comedy in the theaters. It attracted my attention because Cary Elwes was in the role of Robin Hood, and it played upon my love for him as the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride. Unfortunately, I hated this movie. So this week’s Do Over brought back Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Watching this one today, I did not feel the hatred that I did when I first saw it in the theater, but I would not say that I liked it. Much of the humor was forced and just not funny. I’ve seen much funnier Mel Brooks films such as Young Frankenstein, which is the bar for all of these.

This was the basic Robin Hood story, parodying the Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Roger Rees’s Sheriff of Rottingham was a clear parody of Alan Rickman’s performance from that movie. I am not sure if it is intended or just a side effect of having Cary Elwes play a familiar role, but the film felt as if it were also parodying The Princess Bride at times.

Dave Chappelle played Ahchoo, Robin’s friend and the son of the man who helped Robin escape from a jailhouse during the Crusades. Richard Lewis played Prince John, who was ruling the kingdom in his brother’s absence. Amy Yasbeck was Maid Marion with her metal chastity belt protecting her honor.

There were a ton of cameos in the movie including Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Isaac Hayes, Megan Cavanagh, Patrick Stewart, Tracy Ullman, Dick Van Patten, Robert Ridgely, and Avery Schreiber.

I did enjoy the song and dance routine to “Men in Tights” that featured most of the main Merry Men. I remember hating this in theater, so this piece of the film was an improvement.

I did not find any of the “blind” jokes about the character of Blinkin, played by Mark Blankfield, to be funny. It was a joke that carried throughout the entire film and just seemed to be poking fun at a handicap. It just did not age well.

In the end, I did not hate this movie as much as I did when I was younger, but I did not like it very much either.

Clerks 2 (2006)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 11

I’m not for sure that I have actually seen this movie before. If I had, then I certainly did not remember much about it. Clerks 3 is due out later this year and the Do Over has been dedicated to rewatching the previous two. I thought Clerks was a decent film. Sadly, Clerks 2 was horrible.

The Quick Stop burned down sending Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) out for a new job at a fast food restaurant. Dante is engaged and preparing to move away from Jersey to Florida, however his friendship with his boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson) may complicate things.

Honestly, there are some good parts of the film too. The relationship between Dante and Becky was solid. Rosario Dawson was charming and amazing as Becky. She was shining like a true star every time she was on screen. There were some funny bits and the ending with the fight between Dante and Randal was actually quite effective and took this friendship into a deeper territory than I expected.

I also enjoyed the continuous pop culture references scattered throughout the movie. There was everything from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars to Silence of the Lambs (which was probably the standout reference in the movie). The dance number involving The Jackson Five’s ABC was fun too.

Sadly, the sexual jokes and dialogue was nonstop and was very over the top. It was too much and it overpowered anything that was trying to happen in the story. Too much vulgarity and gross out moments that did not highlight the film but that took away from the story it was telling.

Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) were back to continue their running jokes from the first film. Not much new with these two.

Overall, there was a scrap of story inside the juvenile plot and vulgar language. Some of that type of humor goes a long way and Clerks 2 went too far past it. Rosario Dawson was above everything and stood out among the mess.

Clerks (1994)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 10

I watched Clerks when I was younger, but I can honestly say that I remembered almost nothing about the movie. I remember the hockey on the roof, the black and white filming, and that Jay and Silent Bob were in it. Other than that, Clerks was a big blank slate in my memory.

I have become a big Kevin Smith fan, though I have not always enjoyed his movies. Watching his podcast Fatman Beyond is always a great time and, from watching, I knew that he had been working on Clerks 3 and that it will be released this year some time. So I decided that I should probably give the previous Clerks movies a Do Over before I watch Clerks 3.

A convenience store clerk Dante (Brian O’Halloran) gets called in to work on his day off and he deals with all sorts of craziness with his friend and fellow clerk from the neighboring video store Randal (Jeff Anderson), his current girlfriend (Marilyn Ghigliotti), and his former girlfriend Caitlin (Lisa Spoonauer).

There is not much narrative structure, but that is what was intended with this film, which is a series of incidents and the way in which it affected Dante. Dante’s constant complaint that he “wasn’t supposed to be here” was the rally cry for Dante’s continually downward spiral of a day.

The dialogue of Clerks is absolutely the selling point of the film. It is, at times, vulgar, reflective, combative, depressing, hopeful, but at all time hilarious. The fast-paced, fast-witted dialogue sparked each bizarre scene with a burst of energy that creates a remarkably entertaining film.

Randal, the consistently badly behaved and poor influence, seemed to have the key to encouraging Dante to do things that he wouldn’t normally do. Randal does it in such a deadpan manner that he feels more like the devil-on-the-shoulder than a friend to Dante.

Jay (Jay Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) start their run of appearances here as the film kept coming back to see them in a series of weird moments (almost vignettes) of the pair dancing to music or doing other juvenile activities.

As with a lot of Kevin Smith movies, there are plenty of references to drugs and sex, but it all seemed to be stream of consciousness for the misbehaving duo.

The black and white shots made this feel so much more classic than just a couple of losers talking about their failing existences. It gave the film a distinct feel and was a fascinating choice.

This was very original and you could see how this helped launch the career of Kevin Smith. Next week we will look at Clerks 2.

National Champions (2021)

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June 30th, Movies 31

The June Swoon comes to a close today with the final film in the binge. The choice I made was a football movie featuring J.K. Simmons and Stephan James called National Champions. Truth is the film is less about football and more about the system of college football and how the NCAA makes billions of dollars while the student-athletes get nothing.

In National Champions, two football teams are preparing for the college championship game when the star quarterback LeMarcus James (Stephan James) and his friend, another player Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) announced that they were going to boycott the game unless the NCAA changed their system and began paying and providing benefits to the players that the NCAA was building their brand upon.

LeMarcus and Emmett went around to players on the team trying to build up support, others to join in on the boycott. Meanwhile, Coach James Lazor (J.K. Simmons) was trying to hold his team together before the big game and met up with the officials of the NCAA trying to break down the boycott.

The fact that the NCAA is a billion dollar business that absolutely takes advantage of the young men to make that money, and then the athletes are not allowed to benefit for it. The small percentage that go on to the NFL may benefit from their college games, but the vast majority of the players will not play any more. Many of them find themselves back in poverty or in financial difficulties and facing injuries or pain from their playing days.

The film really did a great job of building tension as they approached the game and what the individuals involved would do in order to get the game played. JK Simmons was fantastic as always, but so was Stephan James. These performances were what this film depended on.

I do believe that the storyline involving Coach Lazor’s wife Baily (Kristin Chenoweth) and a professor at the college Elliott Schmidt (Timothy Olyphant) was too far, and, in the end, was a strange twist. This actually hurt the story and distracted from the overall story. It is a shame because I do love Timothy Olyphant.

The film’s message is one that is absolutely a problem that needs to be addressed and the movie does a great job of showing the troubles with the NCAA and college football. It is able to present the message while still being entertaining.

Beckett (2021)

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June 29th, Movie 30

The penultimate day of the June Swoon was filled with the Netflix film Beckett, starring John David Washington.

According to IMDB: “While vacationing in Greece, American tourist Beckett (John David Washington) becomes the target of a manhunt after a devastating accident. Forced to run for his life and desperate to get across the country to the American embassy to clear his name, tensions escalate as the authorities close in, political unrest mounts, and Beckett falls even deeper into a dangerous web of conspiracy“

Washington was solid in this man-on-the-run story. He made a good every man struggling to do whatever he has to do to survive. Are there things that Beckett does that he probably should not be able to do. Still, most of the action works well.

The story was convoluted. I liked the mystery of what was happening, but it never really felt like it came together well and some of the twists were hard to buy. Still, I liked the way it worked itself out and ended up.

Beckett may not be the greatest film ever but it is a fairly fun time and has an enjoyable lead character who battled to survive against the villains. It is not a deep film, but I liked watching it.

Best Sellers (2021)

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June 28th, Movie 29

As the June Swoon moves into its final few days, I have been having some troubles finding movies from 2021 that I wanted to watch. I have a list of films still, but a lot of them are films that just do not appeal for me. The DailyView was easier considering the number of years available, but, even then, I had stretches that it was tough to find what I was in the mood for.

Yesterday, I watched the Billy Crystal film Here Today which has been on my Amazon Prime for quite awhile and now I am getting to another longtime film on the “My Stuff” queue, Michael Caine’s Best Sellers.

Harris Shaw (Michael Caine) was a ill-manner, cranky retired author who was approached by Lucy (Aubrey Plaza) the daughter of his friend and editor. She was now in charge of her father’s publishing company and she wanted him to fulfill a contract he had signed years ago for another book.

Harris was anything but helpful and Lucy was nearing her breaking point. She had an offer to purchase the publishing company, but when Harris arrived with a new manuscript, she was ecstatic. She wanted him to go on a book tour, but he was unhappy with that idea. He eventually agreed but his bad behavior was not helping the book sales.

Michael Caine was his typically excellent self and he and Aubrey Plaza made a strong team. Much like Crystal and Tiffany Haddish in Here Today, Caine and Plaza were the best part of this movie.

The story was filled with clichés though: the alcoholic author, the lost wife, the sentimental home. The film does take a few of the clichés in a different direction, including the shocking moment near the end of the film in a book store.

A lot of what happened required some suspension of disbelief. I am not sure that social media would work the way this film indicated that it worked, but all of that could be dismissed if you connect to the two main characters.

Best Sellers had some good moments and a strong pair of leads. Again, it is not perfect, but it is interesting enough.

Here Today (2021)

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June 27th, Movie 28

Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish starred in a film called Here Today, a story about a successful long time comedy writer who was suffering though the onset of dementia and who met a much younger singer who helped him face the troubles of his life.

The film’s strength was easily the pair of Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish. They had an easy chemistry and a platonic charm that carried most of the film. The intimacies that they shared was much greater than sexual and they worked extremely well.

There are some definite laughs in the film, much through the dialogue and banter with Crystal. Crystal, who played Charlie, worked on a SNL-type sketch show as a comedy writer, and a mentor to some of the others on the writing staff. Though this was a secondary plotline, I really enjoyed this piece of the movie. It brought the strength of Billy Crystal to the forefront.

However, the film is too sentimental and emotionally manipulative through much of the dementia storyline. Parts of it worked very well, but other parts of it felt as if it was being included to pull on the heart strings. I think some of the dementia sections of the film needed some tightening up.

These sections were intertwined with the story of Charlie’s wife, who had died in a car wreck. These were mostly well done and the flashbacks were used effectively.

Here Today had been on my list at Amazon Prime for quite awhile and I am happy that I finally got around to watching it. It is not a perfect movie, but it has enough entertainment value to watch.

Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)

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June 26th, Movie 27

“This is garbage. I don’t know why they are trying to remake the classics. They’re never as good as the originals.” — Jeff McKenzie (Rob Delaney), Home Sweet Home Alone.

You know, this is never a good sign when a movie makes a meta reference about how bad films that try to remake classics are, when that is exactly what your film is trying to do.

I did not watch this last year when Home Sweet Home Alone came out on Disney +, but, if I had, this atrocious film would have been atop the Top 30 Worst Films of the Year, over taking Tom and Jerry.

We know the general story. Little kid, this time named Max (Archie Yates), gets left behind by his family who are on their way for vacation over seas (this time to Japan) and he has to defend his house against two intruders.

Now, most of the time we have seen this concept, the intruders are criminals looking to rob the house, or to get revenge on the kid. This time however is a little different.

The intruders are a married couple Jeff and Pam McKenzie (Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper) who are trying to retrieve a rare doll they think Max has stolen. Instead of being reasonable and, I don’t know, calling the police, they decide to break into the house to find the doll. This leads to a series of non-creative yet violent assaults on the McKenzies.

It is completely full of crap and a horrendous movie.

I do want to say that I do not blame the kid, Archie Yates. Archie was great in Jo Jo Rabbit and he has plenty of upsides to his career. He just should fire those people who got him this script and had him star in this movie. They do not have your back.

Home Sweet Home Alone is a mess. If you have some kind of morbid curiosity about it, it is on Disney + but otherwise, stay away.

Men in Black II (2002)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 9

Sequel time this week on the Do Over and we head into the early 2000s with Men in Black 2. I remember being a big fan of the original Men in Black and also of Twin Peaks and The Practice, where our main villain of this film, Lara Flynn Boyle, appeared. It couldn’t have failed. However…

I disliked the sequel quite a bit the first time I watched this. Will my opinion hold up?

Spoiler alert: Yes, it does.

A new intergalactic threat arrived on earth in the tentacled form of Lara Flynn Boyle and she was in search of a new MacGuffin called The Light of Zartha. Coincidentally, only the neuralyzed K (Tommy Lee Jones) knows where it is so his old partner J (Will Smith) had to retrieve K. help him get his memories back before the The Light of Zartha explodes (apparently in the next couple of days) and destroys the earth. All the while avoiding the dangerous alien Lara Flynn Boyle. Oh, Johnny Knoxville is here too, with two heads as if one isn’t bad enough.

The plot on this is just ridiculous coincidental. There is no way everything falls into place perfectly for this movie to have taken place. Everything dealing with this story is just poorly written and lacks any comprehensive story design.

There was a ton of CGI and special effects in Men in Black II as well and most of it is clearly at a lower level than we are used to. I would go as far as to say that it was not up to par for a film in 2002 either.

Then, a lot of the same jokes and beats from the original are reused in the sequel. That is not an uncommon thing, but there are really a lot of them. Everything from K now being the person unfamiliar with the real world and having to take hints from J to blowing the head off of Tony Shalhoub so it can grow back. No matter how much I loved Tony Shalhoub, I think that is the only reason to include this character in this movie.

There are some good jokes scattered throughout and, of course, the chemistry between K and J shined like a light through the mess around them. Jones and Smith are easily the best part of this movie and anything that was enjoyable about it was directly from them.

Although did enjoy Rosario Dawson too, though her part was underwritten and I wanted more from her even if her part of the plot was perhaps the biggest eye-rolling section of the film.

In the end, there is enough here to not hate myself for re-watching it, but it is not a good movie and my original opinion looks to be right on the money.