Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Men in Black 3, The Square Pegs

For date night on Saturday we took in Men in Black 3, starring the ever-charismatic Will Smith, paired this time with Josh Brolin (as a young Tommy Lee Jones.) I went into this movie with zero expectations, not having remembered much about the second installment in the series, but liking the first one fine. It's been a while. It was really a fun popcorn movie. The plot was a lot more interesting than I would have expected, and Josh Brolin did a totally believable Jones impersonation. (I've been a Tommy Lee Jones fan since the 1980s when he starred in a movie no one but me remembers, Nate and Hayes. That's the movie I watched every Wednesday night while the people I babysat for went to country swing dance classes.) The bulk of the plot is set in 1969, close to the moon landing, and there's time travel involved. Plus CGI monsters. For the most part, I felt this might have received a PG rating instead of a PG-13 (if it weren't for the opening scene which had gratuitous cleavage and an overreaction by the villain.) 4 stars out of 5.

I don't know if my book for this week should count for this 50/50 thing, but it's a book and I did read it. A friend of mine has an unpublished manuscript and I've now read and critiqued the whole thing. It was better than a LOT of the published books I've read. The plot centers on a father of three who has been widowed for a year and is in therapy. The gloom only lasts for a few pages and then hilarity alternates with a roller coaster ride of emotion as he navigates the rough waters of returning to the dating world and dealing with loss of many kinds. The main character's sense of humor gives this manuscript fine wit. I really hope/expect to see The Square Pegs (working title) by Ryan Rapier in print soon.

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