Men in Black (1997) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction
Added 2025-04-19 16:30:01 +0000 UTCHi everyone! I'm so excited to share this reaction because this is a movie I've always wanted to watch, but never made the time for it and now I'm so glad I did! I'm looking forward to your comments! Please enjoy! 🥰 (And let me know if I should continue!) [Direct link here.]
✦ KL
Comments
By the way, in case you weren't aware, Men in Black have been around in the UFO lore for decades before this movie came out. When I first got on the Internet in '95, it was mostly personal web pages and government sites and I was surfing around, looking for interesting things and UFO info was one of the main things and stories of the mysterious men in black that would appear at supposed sightings and leave no traces of anything. There were old pictures and accountings from all over the world about these mysterious, possibly government, possibly extra-terrestrial beings that would "handle" the scenes of supposed, possible extra-terrestrial goings-on. They featured them in "The X-Files" and other shows. They were, before this movie, viewed as kinda creepy or intimidating, as the ultimate shadowy government group. But. they would wear those same black suits and sunglasses, like in the movie. I liked that this movie made them a separate government agency like the FBI, CIA, DOJ and they're MIB and made them kinda fun and not scary. If you think about it, Agent Coulson would be probably considered a man in black. At least, that's how The Superior saw him. Always at mysterious sites, in a suit with sunglasses and covering up evidence from the general public.
Thadman
2025-04-27 04:32:55 +0000 UTClittle note on the CGI, you're not wrong, its not that CGI was better, its that the CGI artists were better respected, by that i mean a LOT of work was done on set to make sure the CGI artists had as little work as possible (lots of mixed practical CGI, lots of planning for shots to make it easier) and the other part is they used to have much longer to do the work they needed to do, now they are often overworked and given shorter and shorter deadlines. i follow someone who is currently working on doctor who, who often talks about this stuff and why CGI is looking worse these days, apparently so many projects just have the mentality of "fix it in post" and don't plan well for the CGI, on top of considerably shorter deadlines resulting in much more "good enough" moments when doing their work. edit: i actually just realized a great way of explaining it, think about how many executives think AI art looks great despite all of us knowing how terrible it looks, they see a "good enough" piece and say ship it. anywho, great reaction, i had NO idea it was our Wilson Fisk as the bug, thats such a cool thing to see on the re-watch, you're right he did do such a great job, so much so that i forgot he was in it haha. fun movie, fun reaction as always, thanks for the chance to rewatch one of my old favourites! stay awesome!
Tesh
2025-04-21 15:22:34 +0000 UTCThat one is definitely on the watchlist!
kaiielle
2025-04-21 02:09:14 +0000 UTCI don’t know if you’ve seen it but if not I’d strongly recommend watching The Fugitive it has both Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford
Joshua Gideon
2025-04-21 00:52:01 +0000 UTCDefinitely appreciate these kinds of movies! Thanks for watching along.
kaiielle
2025-04-20 05:04:04 +0000 UTCOh, also, this was scripted by Ed Solomon, one of the co-creators of Bill & Ted.
Tyler Foster
2025-04-20 04:36:53 +0000 UTCI really enjoy this movie, haven’t watched it in several years. Thank you for the excuse to rewatch through your eyes. You didn’t really mention it as you skimmed through the sequel list, but I assume you understand this was not intended to actually have a follow up. It was a bigger hit than the studio expected and they threw money to make a sequel and bring the band back together. I own MiB 1 and 2 on dvd, bought them as a 2 pack back then. Saw MiB 3 as a video rental, but only the one time. If you work your way through the franchise, I will happily watch along. I enjoy them for what are. If you’re expecting Academy award winning dramas, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re in the mood for a buddy cop sci-fi movie, you could do worse than any of these.
Bryan Dempsey
2025-04-20 03:58:46 +0000 UTCAlthough the credits say "Marvel comic," that's fudging it a little bit. The comic was published by a company called Aircel, which was then in turn bought by Malibu Comics, which then was finally bought by Marvel. So it's a "Marvel comic" in the same way, say, the 1995 rom-com French Kiss (independently produced, then bought by 20th Century Fox) is a "Disney movie." That said, I did think it was funny that they put in two references, one intentional and one probably unintentional: when Jay makes fun of the soldier in the recruitment screening, he calls him "Captain America," and then later during the Frank the Pug scene, Frank refers to the Arquillian prince as the "guardian of the Galaxy." Men in Black is a Columbia/Sony title and one of the most popular ones, and Sony is the best in the industry when it comes to restoring and remastering their movies (in part because they have a stake in the Blu-ray patent), so you probably got a beautifully remastered 4K UHD rental stream. Another reason MIB might look especially good is because before Barry Sonnenfeld became a film director, he was a cinematographer. He shot some of the Coen Brothers' earliest movies, as well as When Harry Met Sally. He graduated to directing in 1991 with The Addams Family and 1993's Addams Family Values, which are both great, as well as 1995's great Get Shorty (another film, like Jackie Brown, which is based on the work of Elmore Leonard), and the original Men in Black trilogy. The five other movies he made outside of those films are not nearly as memorable, but when he's on, he's great. I already mentioned what I thought of MIB II and MIB³, but I'll be one of the few who gives a moderate thumbs up to Men in Black: International. I saw it in theaters and enjoyed it, although I would also say I haven't watched it since. After the successful mid-production rescue of MIB³, MIB: International turned into a battle between the director, F. Gary Gray, and the series' longtime producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. Although there's no full explanation of what Gray was doing that Parkes and MacDonald thought wasn't befitting the Men in Black franchise, the film ended up with two competing cuts in test screenings: Gray's director's cut, and an alternate edit that Parkes and MacDonald approved of. In the end, the producers won, and then the movie was only a moderate success, putting an end to the franchise so far. As someone who always supports the filmmaker's vision, I would love to see what Gray's version was like, as I suspect it may have played it less safe than the producers' cut.
Tyler Foster
2025-04-20 03:10:17 +0000 UTCThanks for watching! Yes, I agree. I wish practical was the default still.
kaiielle
2025-04-19 20:11:36 +0000 UTCSuch a '90s movie, what a fun ride! I agree with your ending thoughts. The special effect really hold up. The did a lot of stuff practical, and then enhanced with CGI where practical was unfeasable. I wish that was still the default modus operandi today! Some of the gags and goofs I thought were in this movie, are in the 2nd one apparently. So I may have underestimated that one in my memory!
Onno Smits
2025-04-19 19:50:26 +0000 UTCHAHA you'll enjoy my reaction to seeing that.
kaiielle
2025-04-19 18:58:11 +0000 UTCWell, those comments were about MIB3 haha. Still. Good movie!
Tyler Foster
2025-04-19 18:12:55 +0000 UTCI'm about to sit down and watch this. I'm looking forward to revisiting this one! I'm curious if you'll notice during the opening credits that this is technically a Marvel movie... You just can't avoid them, can you! 😂
Onno Smits
2025-04-19 18:09:33 +0000 UTCThis movie is so much better and funnier than it deserved to be, especially for the reasons Tyler Foster already mentioned. Saw this with my best friend in theaters the night before he shipped off to the Navy; and, we had a fucking spectacular time. Good shit.
Steve Mercier
2025-04-19 17:45:34 +0000 UTC100% agree with everything Tyler said.
Onno Smits
2025-04-19 17:32:46 +0000 UTCThe second one is...well, let's say not as good. But I think the third one is actually better than this one. It's kind of a miracle, in that it was one of those big budget blockbusters that started shooting without a finished script and could've been another step down, but they were shooting it at the end of the year. When the production broke for Christmas break, Will Smith and the writers holed up and fixed all the script's problems, and even if others probably would put it beneath the original, I think most people will agree it's an unexpectedly worthwhile entry.
Tyler Foster
2025-04-19 16:57:48 +0000 UTC
