(Random Musings is an idea totally stolen from, erm, I mean inspired by Kim Newman's excellent website where he publishes his raw film notes before later shaping them into a review. I'm going to do something similar where, after just seeing a film, I am going to write down initial thoughts, ideas and make no pretence at coherence. So no change there then. Expect SPOILERS and my opinion to possibly change when the film has had more time to rattle around my tiny mind.)

Men In Black III - Random Musings
*The Skyfall trailer is at the beginning and it is looking mighty fine
* The 3D does nothing  at all. You can get by happily without the need for the stupid glasses
*Jermaine Clement is brilliant at chewing the scenery as main villain Boris The Animal. Affer some vaguely comedic villain antics in the first two MIB films, the film does a good job at establishing the villain as very scary and evil.
*Some of the violence at the start is pretty hardcore for such a supposed family friendly film. The little ones will probably blub a bit. In fact, the whole of the first fifteen minutes is all pretty dark (at least by the standards of the genre.
*Smith and Jones seem to have slipped back into their characters like a pair of comfy old shoes. 
*3D + Jones' craggy face = WHOA!
*Emma Thomson - in basically an extended cameo - gets a nice gag about speaking Venusian
*Another nice gag in which a little kid mistakes Smith for Obama
*The time travel ideas don't hold to much scrutiny but thankfully the film avoids the boring cliche of a character having to spend half the film trying to convince people he really is from the future.
*Whilst the handling is featherweight, the film does address the fact that a black man in 1969 will have a slightly harder time than in the modern era
*Brolin as younger Jones is uncanny. It's scary how much he gets his mannerisms but still makes the performance his own. 
*There's some nice gags at the expense of Andy Warhol but the film just about avoids 'ooooh, let's have endless 60s references'
*The very end was actually a surprise to me. Whether I am just being completely dumb or for once a Hollywood movie managed to introduce plot points without having to sledgehammer people over the head
*It certainly moves along at a cracking pace
*It's not going to shake the movie world, but it's a solid blockbuster that has no pretensions and just gets on with it.

Whilst everyone else tries to get into films at the annual orgy... I mean Film Festival that is Cannes, I have been at home enjoying being able to watch films without queueing up forever and drinking tea without having to apply a second mortgage to be able to afford it.

To be honest, I sort of miss Cannes as there seem to be some good films there this year (the new Haneke, Reygadas and many others all have has some positive reviews) and - more importantly - some close friends who would be good to catch up with. But I am sure that the festival has managed to struggle on without me like the plucky old thing that it is.

Even though I wasn't there, I did some stuff for the Screen International Cannes Dailies and Cannes Market News. You can read about the Estonian Film Industry HERE and HERE whilst I take a look at the Latvian film industry HERE

And who need Cannes when you have Krakow and 2Annas. I am going to be heading to the Krakow Film Festival - for the 9th or 10th time now - to do a panel called GET WITH THE PROGRAMME in which me and a load of other festival programmers talk about what we do. So, you know, come along. No heckling though. Read about the rest of the fest HERE. I am then heading to Riga where I will be on the jury of the Riga International Film Festival 2Annas which is also ace. So, if you're there, come and say hello and bring bribes! (Notice: This is a joke and I am completely unbribable. Damn me and my ethics).

On writing news, I have written a big piece for The Avengers (which I enjoyed immensley) over at Eesti Ekspress. It's in Estonian and currently behind their paywall but try it HERE - I will post the English translation at some time in the future. 

I also reviewed two films I loved as they came out on DVD, namely HAYWIRE and TUESDAY, AFTER CHRISTMAS.

And I also reviewed a book about the GARBAGE PAIL KIDS - as you do

So, see you in Poland and Latvia. Or somewhere else.