With almost everyone in possession of an iPad, iPhone, or Android device movie studios have started venturing into the app market, and the latest addition comes from Sony Pictures and Gameloft who have teamed up to create a Men in Black 3 game. The free to download game was launched today (the same day the movie opens) and give users the ability to create and manage their own MIB agency.

Here’s the Men in Black 3 game back-story, along with features and a trailer.

Agent, humanity is in danger! The vile Radiant has arrived on Earth and he must be stopped now. For the first time ever, you will be in charge of the MIB agency, but don’t worry, Agent O, Agent K and Frank will help you to run the agency and fight against this new threat to mankind.

Good luck.

CREATE AND MANAGE YOUR OWN MIB AGENCY
• Train your agents and assign them to missions
• Access a wide range of MIB weapons and gadgets like the Neuralyzer, the Deatomizer and the infamous Noisy Cricket.
• Build dozens of different rooms to upgrade your weapons and develop your agency.

TAKE DOWN ENEMIES IN 1969 & 2012 NEW YORK
• Travel in time to fight aliens in different areas of New York including Brooklyn, Times Square, and Central Park
• Utilize your agent’s futuristic weapons and equipment
• Meet dozens of aliens faithfully inspired by the Men in Black universe

ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN THE AGENCY
• Invite your friends from Gameloft LIVE! & Facebook to play
• Ask for your friends’ help during fights to defeat powerful aliens
• Visit your friends’ headquarters and get rewarded for lending a hand

As mentioned earlier, the game is free to download (although there are in-game purchase options) and you can get it on the iPhone, iPad, and Android phones (links below).

Apple Store | Google Play

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When the first Men in Black movie came out in 1997, my dad and I built a homemade neuralizer for me to play with. We took a piece of hollow silver pipe, drilled a hole in one end near the top, secured a red light in it, then ran wires down the middle of the shaft to a button on the back. It didn’t actually wipe anyone’s memory, of course, but I didn’t care – I had my very own neuralizer, and it was awesome. I loved the first Men in Black movie. I had Will Smith’s theme song memorized (who am I kidding? I still do), and I was excited about the sequel when it came out a few years later. But the mediocrity of Men in Black 2 turned my devotion to the series into total apathy, and I haven’t bothered revisiting those movies since then. A lot of people my age had similar reactions.

Now it’s 15 years after the original and 10 years after the second movie, and director Barry Sonnenfeld and stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back again for more alien action in Men in Black 3. Why? Because they can, I guess. There doesn’t really seem to be a great reason for this movie to exist, other than the genesis of it came from Will Smith and he’s powerful enough to make it happen. No one was clamoring for a sequel, especially after a pretty questionable second attempt. Against all odds, Men in Black 3 is not a terrible movie. But it feels like a movie that knows it barely has any reason to exist, cribbing a Back to the Future time travel story and providing just enough of a narrative to keep us interested.

The film starts with Boris The Animal (Jemaine Clement from “Flight of the Conchords”) breaking out of a high security prison. He’s got a chip on his shoulder, but not much beneath that – Agent K (Jones) shot his arm off 40 years prior and sent him to the maximum security facility, and Boris is out for revenge. He finds out a way to travel back in time and kills K, which is quite the shock to Agent J (Smith), who wanders into MIB headquarters the next day looking for his partner…but everyone tells him he died in 1969. Turns out K also installed a huge force field over Earth in 1969, but since he was killed by Boris, Boris’ race comes crashing down to Earth, destroying civilization. So in a Back to the Future-inspired plot device, J has to travel back one day further in 1969 so he can kill Boris before he kills Agent K. Once there, he accidentally meets up with the younger Agent K (Brolin) and eventually teams up with him in order to save the world.

If that sounds confusing, I assure you the film does a far better job of explaining it than I did. In fact, the time elements are so by-the-numbers that the movie feels like Time Travel for Dummies. Time travel movie junkies (myself included) love the complicated nature of crossing timelines and cause-and-effect paradoxes that often come up in these stories; here, everything is pretty easy and goes pretty much according to plan. There’s not a lot of time (heh) to spend thinking about the consequences of anyone’s actions, and even though the big reveal at the end (which I won’t give away) causes us to rethink what we know of the first two movies (specifically Agent K’s motivation in recruiting J), the movie doesn’t bother to address these points beyond surface level.

There’s also a guy named Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), an alien who can see all possible events in all possible timelines simultaneously, that comes along to offer some exposition to the audience, but the film isn’t concerned with complicating things too much. It’s a simple, entertaining movie, and that’s about it. Sonnenfeld brings his familiar visual stamp, and the score is pretty much just the main instrumental theme played 400 times throughout the movie, so it all seems designed to make you go, “Oh yeah, I remember these movies!” There are some good setpieces and the 3D was surprisingly decent (but still ultimately unnecessary unless you love wasting money), and Smith is his usual wise-cracking self, back on screen after a five year absence.

But the real stars of this film aren’t Smith and Jones (the latter of which is only in the movie for about 20 minutes): Josh Brolin as a young K and Rick Baker’s makeup and creature effects are the main draws here. Brolin is really great, impersonating Tommy Lee Jones but also allowing us to see a side of this character we’ve never seen in an MiB movie before. He’s straight-faced but jovial, and we’re genuinely curious to find out what happens in this man’s life that turns him into the sourpuss we know from the other films. (Don’t worry, that question is answered.)

Baker’s work, on the other hand, is much more subtle. The seven time Oscar winner has designed over 100 new aliens for this movie, many of which only appear on screen for a few seconds, but he’s almost singlehandedly responsible for making the MiB Headquarters such an iconic location because of all the craziness going on in the background. His crowning achievement this go-around is Jemaine Clement’s Boris The Animal makeup, rendering the comedian almost unrecognizable. Unfortunately, all this makeup may have hindered Clement’s performance, as his Boris is completely devoid of everything I assumed they cast him for in the first place: wit, sarcasm, comic timing, etc.

There must be something in the air in Hollywood, because this is the second big-budget movie in two years to involve a story that takes place around the moon landing mission, the other being Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The back half of this movie, much of which takes place in Cape Canaveral, works pretty well from both story and character perspectives, especially considering that when filming began, the screenwriters had only finished the first act. (Word to the wise: this is not a good way to make movies, it just so happened that they got lucky this time.)

I’m still at a loss as to why the film exists, but I suppose it’s not a big leap when you realize a movie studio spent hundreds of millions of dollars to capitalize on nostalgia that no one really wanted in the first place. (Ahem, Battleship.) Men in Black 3 isn’t so bad that you’ll want to neuralize yourself, but you can borrow mine if you still want to try. Until next time…

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There are three new films opening wide this week, The Dictator, What to Expect When Your Expecting and Battleship. Unfortunately for all of them, The Avengers is still going strong and is likely to remain at the #1 spot.

While The Dictator isn’t doing half-bad at 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, right now the general consensus seems to be to skip everything out this weekend and just watch The Avengers again if you just have to see something in theaters. That’s just one of the reasons why I think the superhero team-up will take 1st place for the 3rd time. Around $55 million should be a good take for The Avengers and bring the film to almost $460 million in 17 days.

These days alien invasions seem to be all the rage (yes mighty Avengers, I’m looking at you too) and people flock to them no matter what. I don’t know why, maybe it’s just something always entertaining about kicking some intergalactic ass (or getting your own kicked by said intergalactic ass). While the name would not suggest this in any way, Battleship, very loosely based on the famous Hasbro board game, is a film about an alien invasion. I have seen the flick and out of its 130 minutes running time, there were definitely at least 30-40 minutes of entertaining stuff in there, so for me it’s a passable fun-dumb-summer-blockbuster (as good a rating as you’ll probably get for Battleship). At the box office it should do ok business, $40 million this weekend sounds about right and more than enough for 2nd place. It won’t end up as a big money loser like John Carter was for Taylor Kitsch but one thing is certain, this just isn’t his year.

The other two wide releases, The Dictator and What to Expect When You’re Expecting, fight each other for 3rd place, aiming for $20 million each. Now Sasha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator has been out since Wednesday, grossing $4.1 million that day. That’s a lot less than what you’d expect from his films but it can bounce back this weekend, although right now What to Expect When You’re Expecting definitely has the upper hand. Starring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Brooklyn Decker (she is also in Battleship), Anna Kendrick, Dennis Quaid or Chris Rock, this PG-13 romantic comedy might not be anything to write home about but it sure has a lot of star power. So in the end What to Expect When You’re Expecting will probably make more money than The Dictator, at least this weekend.

Rounding out the top 5 will be Dark Shadows with $14 million or so for a very disappointing 10-day total of $52 million.

Next weekend Will Smith goes back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones and a series that’s been on hiatus for a decade now, Men in Black 3. There’s also another film from the crazy mind of Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) that’s not a found footage flick, Chernobyl Diaries is the name, this is the trailer.

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I’ll start this by saying that I love buddy comedies. When a film offers a good dynamic between its two male leads, I’m game. I am even willing to look past many issues found in this sub-genre. Take Men in Black 2 as an example, it wasn’t a particularly great sequel yet I very much enjoyed the film thanks to the great chemistry between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith.

Now in theaters we have another buddy comedy, 21 Jump Street, and from the looks of things, it’s definitely going into my personal collection. Then there’s Men in Black 3 in little over 2 months, so this is the perfect time to take a look at the top 10 highest grossing buddy comedies in North America, ever.

10. The Other Guys (2010) $119.2 million – When it comes to buddy cop comedies we are used to seeing the awesome duo that solves crimes while blowing up half the city with little in the way of consequences. But then there are The Other Guys, you know, the ones sitting behind the desk, doing what is in reality a very big part of the job. While this might sound boring at first, it’s not. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg work great together and The Other Guys soon turns into a great action flick that you should definitely catch with a buddy.

9. Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) $130.4 million – Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, man I loved those guys. Hell, I even had a Lethal Weapon marathon with a few friends many years ago. Anyway, this was the last entry in the series and I’m happy to say that it most certainly delivered. So watch this, though I recommend taking them in order starting with the first one.

8. Bad Boys 2 (2003) $138.6 million – Coming from the king of blowing stuff up (Michael Bay), this entertaining sequel delivers on just about everything from the action to the buddy dynamics between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Some might call this the new Lethal Weapon but I wouldn’t go that far. I say if you don’t have time for a Lethal Weapon marathon, you can’t go wrong with a Bad Boys one. But keep in mind, Bad Boys 2 can drag at certain points and clocking at about 2 hours and 20 minutes, so make sure you have enough popcorn.

7. Rush Hour 3 (2007) $140.1 million – I did not like this film all that much when it came out. Sadly Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, while still funny, were not as good together this time around. Maybe it’s just me or maybe things got old.

6. Rush Hour (1998) $141.1 million – Now this I loved. It was fresh, it was funny, and the chemistry between Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan was top notch. As far as buddy comedies go, this is in my personal top 5 so definitely check it out if you haven’t already (which I seriously doubt at this point, I mean it’s freaking Rush Hour).

5. Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) $144.7 million – I most certainly wasn’t the right age when I first caught this on TV. But then again, I was like 5 when I saw Predator so props to my parents for being so cool. Lethal Weapon 3 was maybe not as lethal as the two before but it still provided more than enough laughs and action.

4. Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) $147.2 million – Fans seem to be split here, some like this one better, some like the original. Since I saw them much later for the first time, back-to-back, I tend to remember them more as one film than two. I love how the first introduced us to the characters of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover but I think I enjoyed Lethal Weapon 2 a bit more. This was also the one that introduced Joe Pesci’s character and who didn’t like Leo Getz.

3. Men in Black 2 (2002) $190.4 million – It feels like yesterday I saw this in theaters yet almost 10 years have passed. I was a big fan of Men in Black, couldn’t wait for Men in Black 2, and when I finally watched the film, I must say it was a lot of fun. Sure, it can’t hold a candle to the awesome original that you will find higher on this list, but Men in Black 2 was a blast. Props to Frank for stealing every scene he was in.

2. Rush Hour 2 (2001) $226.1 million – As you can see, this is one of the rare cases where the sequel greatly improved on the box office success of the original. In terms of quality, Rush Hour 2 was entertaining but not as much as Rush Hour. Either way you should see this.

1. Men in Black (1997) $250.6 million – Surprisingly enough, this 15 years old sci-fi buddy comedy based on a short-lived comic book series, is still number 1. Here we meet for the first time Kay and Jay, played by Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The Men in Black are a secret organization whose sole purpose is to monitor and suppress alien activity on Earth. As mentioned in the intro, Men in Black 3 is due for a May 25th release date in North America and around the world so for me personally, a Men in Black marathon is on the horizon

As expected with this sort of lists, the best of the best are not necessarily among the most popular films. Hot Fuzz (2007), one of my favorite buddy comedies, is one such film. I simply lack the words to explain to you just how awesome Hot Fuzz is. Seriously, you owe it to yourself (and your friends) to watch Hot Fuzz. Then for the Jackie Chan fans out there we have Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights. The Rundown is also a very fun flick starring the Rock and Stiffler while 48 Hrs. I already mentioned in the past, starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. There are more but these are just a few on my mind right now.

So what’s your favorite buddy comedy?

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Sony Pictures has released the full length trailer for Men in Black 3, the newest installment of the popular comic-book-turned-movie franchise. This trailer definitely brings a necessary dose of plot and nostalgia, instead of just relying on the “Josh Brolin impersonating a young Tommy Lee Jones” Gag, and gives us everything we loved about the first two and then some.

In addition to Brolin, Men In Black 3 brings back the usual cast of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Agents J and K, in addition to Emma Thompson as Agent Oh, who is head of MIB in the present day but will be seen as a secretary in 1969 (portrayed by Alice Eve), and Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords who will play the villain.

Check the trailer out below:

Agent J travels in time to MIB’s early years in the 1960s, to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history.

Of course we have the usual formula of an evil alien who must be stopped from destroying the world by Will Smith, but the trailer gives some teasing hints that there’s much more in store this time around. For starters, time travel is involved, giving us a new setting in the form of the 1960s, which is filled with the standard jokes of time travelling of the main characters interacting with famous icons. This is a smart move to change things up, keeping elements such as the plot and characters familiar, but with more mystery and intrigue to keep things fresh.

Honestly, the teaser trailer really didn’t get me interested at all, as it looked like just another mediocre sequel. Luckily the newest trailer promises the complete opposite, providing a deeper look at the mystery involving Jones’ Agent K, a more detailed look at the time travel and consequences (Agent J only has 24 hours or he’s stuck in the 1960s forever, oh no!), and still having that Men in Black brand of humor to move everything along. I have to say, Men in Black 3 has finally made its way to my must-watch list for the summer, but let’s hope the formula isn’t overdone and doesn’t fall flat like the second one did.

Men in Black 3 hits theatres in both 2D and 3D May 25th, 2012 in the U.S.

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Columbia has unveiled the first teaser trailer for Men in Black 3 which reunites Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Agent J and Agent K, members of a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth.

The trailer doesn’t show us anything we haven’t seen before, but it introduces us to the time-travelling storyline and we get a brief glimpse at Josh Brolin as the younger Agent K.

Watch below:

In Men in Black 3, Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are back… in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K’s life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him — secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind.

The film is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld who was behind the first two movies, and also stars Emma Thompson as Agent Oh, who is head of MIB in the present day but will be seen as a secretary in 1969 (portrayed by Alice Eve), and Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords who will play the villain.

Men in Black 3 will be released May 25, 2012.

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After taking a 4 month break to iron out issues with the script cameras are rolling once again on Men in Black 3. The majority of shooting will focus on the time-travel section of the movie which sees Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones transported back to 1969 where they meet Josh Brolin, who plays a young version of Jones.

Originally I wasn’t convinced about Brolin playing a young Tommy Lee Jones, but these recently snapped images from the set show that it is actually pretty good casting. Someone give the casting director a raise! The images come from The Daily Mail, and you can see more by clicking here.

Men in Black 3 is still on track for a May 2012 release, and is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld who was behind the first two instalments. As well as Smith, Jones and Brolin the film also stars British actress Emma Thompson as Agent Oh, who is head of MIB in the present day but will be seen as a secretary in 1969 (portrayed by Alice Eve). Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords will play the villain.

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Earlier today we heard that the second half of filming on Men in Black 3 would now begin in March, as opposed to later this month like originally planned. There seems to be issues with the script which need to be ironed out, but it’s not all bad news as British actress Alice Eve will be joining the cast when filming eventually resumes.

From Deadline:

Alice Eve will play the younger version of Men in Black Agency head Emma Thompson in the time travel storyline. The British actress plays Olivia, hired as secretary for the Agency in 1969. While it appears she was given the job because of her looks, Olivia is actually whip smart. Sure enough, in the contemporary storyline, Thompson runs the place.

The filming in March will mainly focus on the time-travel section of the movie which sees Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones transported back to 1969 where they meet Josh Brolin, who plays a young version of Jones. Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can and Rush Hour 2) is currently re-writing the script.

Men in Black 3 is still on track for a May 2012 release, and is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld who was behind the first two instalments.

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Last November it was announced that filming on Men in Black 3 would be split into two parts. After shooting in New York for three months (to take advantage of New York State tax incentives) there would be a two months break, and filming would resume in mid-February. However it appears script issues have caused filming to be delayed until March.

From 24 Frames:

After a hiatus of nearly two months, “Men in Black III,” the third installment in the sci-fi/comedy franchise, was to resume production this week in New York. But studio Sony and the film’s producers have pushed back the production date again. Shooting is now delayed to March 28 owing to ongoing script issues, according to a person close to the 3-D production who was not authorized to speak about it publicly.

During the downtime screenwriter Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can and Rush Hour 2) was brought in to rewrite the script, specifically the time-travel section of the movie which sees Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones transported back to 1969 where they meet Josh Brolin, who plays a young version of Jones. The decision to film in the spring was made as it would allow parts of the movie set in the summer to shoot in a more temperate climate.

Men in Black 3 won’t be released until May 2012 so this filming hiatus won’t have much of an impact. In the movie British actress Emma Thompson will play Agent Oh, agent of the MIB in present day and a secretary in the 1960s, and Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords will play the villain, although his motives have not yet been revealed.

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When a movie begins production it is uncommon for the studio to allow a break in filming as it increases budget costs, but that is what Columbia plans to do with Men in Black 3.

Filming will move to New York today where it will remain until Christmas. Production will “then shut down until the middle of February, when it will resume.” The break is mostly due to New York State tax incentives, but is also due to the weather.

From The L.A Times:

The shoot that begins this week will focus on the film’s present-day events, while the production that picks up in mid-February will be centered on the 1969 storyline, the sources said.

The film’s producer confirmed the hiatus but said it was not the result of creative disagreement but rather part of a plan conceived months ago that would allow the production to begin in 2010 but allow parts of the movie, which is set in the summer, to shoot in a more temperate climate.

“We had to start shooting this year to take advantage of New York State tax incentives, but we also needed to be able to shoot certain exteriors in warmer weather,” producer Walter Parkes said. “So back in July we had the idea to keep the start date but build in a hiatus so we could essentially extend the production to late spring.”

They also report that screenwriter Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can and Rush Hour 2) has been brought in to rewrite the script, specifically the time-travel section of the movie which sees Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones transported back to 1969 where they meet Josh Brolin, who plays a young version of Jones.

Men in Black 3 won’t be released until May 2012 so this filming hiatus won’t have much of an impact. In the movie British actress Emma Thompson will play Agent Oh, who is the head of MIB and Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords will play the villain, although his motives have not yet been revealed.

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