EMMA THOMPSON MAKES MEN IN BLACK 3 A CUP OF TEA

Nice... I am conflicted with this film. On one hand MIB is a fantastic, near classic, film that sets up a world worthy of revisiting. On the other hand MIIB is a balls awful film that just so completely missed the mark.

A great cast is a good way to draw me in, and Thompson's addition certainly adds to what is a great cast. I say bring it on, it can't possibly be worse than the second one.

"Oh" Face jokes may now commence.

I couldn't agree more. I thought the first one was fun, and still do. Sequels seemed like a fine idea. And the second one was so, so bad. So bad that I still feel like it's a fever dream I had during a bout of the flu.

I'd say Brolin made it a sure thing, but look what he did to Jonah Hex.

Any bets on exactly how uncomfortable and uninvolved Jones will appear in his surely-to-be-less-than 10 minutes of screen time?

I love her so much I'll see Nanny McPhee when it comes out on dvd even though I'm a man's man and wouldn't normally trouble myself with such piffle.

I'll also see this because it's illegal for a New Zealand citizen not to see any film or TV show starring a Conchord.

Yeah, The Divine Ms.Thompson and one half of New Zealands fourth most popular folk parody duo may just get my bum in a seat for this one.

Will Smith used to be great because he was a movie star and LOVED it. Always seemed to be having so much fun. Now it just feels like he's an actor out of habit. I'd be very surprised if he's into it at all this time round.

More Emma Thompson is always a good thing in my book. As Elisabeth may feel about Brolin and Clement I feel about Thompson.

I honestly feel the same about Thompson too. I should have said that, but I thought I was already pushing it with the drooling.

She makes all us nerdy, bookish, literate girls feel like we're in an attractive club. She married Greg Wise after the Branagh debacle -- again, making all us nerds feel ok after that Shakespeare expert dumps us....

Not that it's happened to me. Ahem.

It's because nerdy, bookish, literate girls ARE attractive.

I'm The Rain Dog and I agree with this message.

Ohhhh, spend a day in my motorcycle boots sir!

There's a reason I spent all of college holed up in the library, and it wasn't just because there was a Starbucks in it.

No Rip Torn this time around? Boo.

One day I'm going to edit Love Actually so I can just watch Emma's scenes. Maybe I'll leave Colin Firth's in too. And Liam Neeson's.

I've said too much.


They're looking for someone less likely to get themselve into strife and cause trouble for the production. Gary Busey's agent fielded a call.

Goddamn I hate LOVE ACTUALLY, but Thompson deserved at least an Oscar nomination for that work.

AICN ppoints out that maybe Thompson is playing the 1969-era MIB boss, so maybe Torn gets a paycheck after all. Yay!

She's very funny in person, so hopefully she can turn some of that untapped comedy charm into something special.

I wonder if Smith will give her character a warning that engineering the measles virus to cure cancer might have negative side effects such as piss-poor CGI vampires.

Merely liked the first one, hated the second one, so it's going to take some extraordinary word of mouth to get me to see this.

Nah, I'd dig that. Actually, a version that gets rid of Linney's and Knightley's storylines would be vastly improved.

A version that puts an ending on bnoth Linney and Thompson's stories would be best, I think.

Of all previous Thompson performances, we're talking about Love Actually? She was hilarious in The Tall Guy, and she blew my mind when I realized that was her in a dual role in Dead Again.

True. She's also gotten hotter as she's gotten older, which both perturbs and delights me.

Can't say I like this idea at all. I'm a fan of Thompsons, but can't imagine her as head of the MIB.

Growing up, I went through a phase where I was very interested in alien sightings and encounters. Our elementary school library had some interesting weird old books on the subject. I took the content of these books as gospel. One of the books described an encounter with some family out west who had taken photos of some light in the sky. The next day a team of men in black suits drove up, introduced themselves as FBI agents and invited themselves to lunch. Over the meal, they pressed the family on what they'd seen. While they were eating, one of the family members spotted a series of blue wires running out of the flesh of the MIB's ankle and up his pants, suggesting something sinister was afoot with these people. The MIBs then left but not before forcibly grabbing the film that had shot the UFO and exposing ti to the light. The family called the FBI, and but the bureau claimed no agents had been dispatched

When MIB came out in '97, this was the story that stuck in my mind. MIB were frightening, sinister, and real as far as I was concerned, so I was actually a little annoyed to see the concept used for a silly action comedy.

However, I couldn't totally resent the film. It was funny, the characters were cool and the action was pretty neat. I slowly let go of my attachment to my 'realistic' vision of the MIB and learned to love what I got

So, please believe me when I say that I understand that the MIB movies are not all about realism and their success or failure can't be judged by their relative adherence to known MIB lore

With that said.... The MIB are an American institution. Americans made first contact, and it's the kind of news I don't believe would be eagerly shared with other nations (whether they're our allies or not). With that in mind, the idea of a British MIB chief is ludicrous. It's like putting a German in charge of the CIA. IMHO: the headquarters and leadership of the MIB would no doubt be located in America.

Some have suggested that perhaps Ms Thompson is the head of the 1960s era MIB. This is even harder to fathom. Less than 20 years after having been the nation to make first contact and establish the MIB, who would seriously believe that Britain (already a waning colonial power by that time) would be chosen to lead the agency?

I like Emma Thompson quite a bit (and take her side when it comes to the situation with Kenneth Branagh), but all the same her casting points to a perhaps lighter, sillier tone for the new film that does not sit well with me

I guess America isn't a nation of immigrants after all.

Too bad about the Worms, Frank, and even the alien MIB agent from the cartoon.

No one has said Much Ado About Nothing yet, so I will. She's so wonderful in that -- just really loose, sexy, and tough. The way she makes Kenneth Branagh's chin wobble with her cutdowns -- and not come off like a shrew -- is just brilliant.

"Wit" is really heartbreaking too. She reminds me of every English professor I had, and I imagine everyone feels the same.

She is really, really funny. I had to do a biography of her for Moviefone, and her interviews are just laugh out loud stuff. Colin Firth, Jason Isaacs, and Alan Rickman are the same. It's too bad they don't do more comedy.

???

A) Being British doesn't mean you can't play an American with a British accent, or even a non american who is in charge of an American organization (an organization that cares more about getting the job done then the politics of where you are from)

B) Where does it say MIB is strictly an American organization? I don't think an organization that is trying to police all Alien life and travel on earth can just exist in America, kind of creates a GIANT loop hole in the system if Aliens could just land anywhere else on earth.

Not much to add to the Thompson love, except to say that the movies had their perfect Emma Peel a few years back, but 'twas not to be.

As for her humor, not only is she great in stuff like The Tall Guy, but her TV work on shows like Fry and Laurie is just insanely sexy as well as funny.

Some years back, my wife and I got to be in the stands at the red carpet outside the BAFTA awards. My wife was completely jazzed to shake hands with Ian McKellan... OK, but, damn, Emma Thompson smiled at me.

Well, good point about the fact she could adopt an American accent. Embarrassingly enough, that did not occur to me. I guess you can chalk that up to the fact that usually when you cast a Brit as the head of something these days, you do so because you want their posh accent

As for your second comment.. no, I don't agree. When is the last time you saw a Brit in charge of the CIA?

Well, I assume that Americans would trade intelligence and tech for the ability to operate in other countries, I can even see them letting other nations lend a hand, but I just don't see the US releasing the reigns for MIB leadership to another nation. The UN is in the US, as is the MIB. That's just the way these things tend to work out

Anyway, that's just my own personal take on MIB but I can understand how other people might feel differently

Well the MIB isn't the CIA... in fact it is an ultra secret organization that no one knows about. Who do they even answer to within the US government? I would wager no one. MIB always struck me as a self contained organization that sort of just was... in those circumstances I don't think it matters where you come from... I mean they DO have a bunch of Aliens working for them to, none of them are Americans



Wait isn't the UN often run by non Americans on US soil? Thanks for the real world example that proves my point