Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Monday, February 17, 2025

4k-UHD/Movie Collection Review: Men in Black Trilogy

 


This is a 4k release of the Men in Black trilogy of films (1997's Men in Black, 2002's Men in Black II, and 2012's Men in Black 3) directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. This is the franchise that, along with movies like Independence Day, vaulted Will Smith into the status of summer blockbuster movie star. The original trilogy spanned a period of about 15 years, from the 1997 release of the original movie, the 2002 release of Part II, and the 2012 release of Part III. As most are aware, the premise of all the movies is that aliens are living free among humans on Earth, and a shadowy, secret organization called Men in Black keeps track of all the aliens, keeping the peaceful ones safe and in line, policing the non-peaceful ones, and making sure humans are blissfully unaware of their existence. It starred, primarily, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Agents J and K, respectively, who in all the movies have to stop some kind of plot that will destroy Earth or cause some kind of intergalactic war.

Each movie had a strong supporting cast, including Linda Florentino, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rip Torn, Tony Shalhoub, Laura Flynn Boyle, Johnny Knoxville, Rosario Dawson, Patrick Warburton, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve, Mike Colter, Nicole Scherzinger, and more. The films (especially Parts II and III) included celebrity cameos (mostly playing aliens), such as Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Yao Ming, and Tim Burton. All of the movies blended a lot of humor, action, and even a bit of drama, and managed to tell unique stories without being carbon copies of each other, which would be very easy to do in a franchise such as this. Smith and Jones, and later Smith and Josh Brolin (who played a young Agent K in Part III) had great chemistry with each other. And, it seemed genuine from the behind-the-scenes material. If their relationships did not work, it would have never become a franchise that moved beyond the original movie. Smith, as a brash younger agent, played extremely well off of Jone's deadpan, curmudgeonly delivery. And in Part III Brolin did a wonderful job playing a version of Agent K that was different from how Jones played him but was able to include elements of what Jones did with the older version.

The 4K set is a six-disc set. The movies look and sound fantastic in the upgraded format. Obviously, Part III looks the best, but even the original is an excellent upgrade over the original DVD release. Each movie has two discs, one UHD disc with just the movie and one regular blu-ray with the movie and extras. Each movie has at least one general behind-the-scenes feature and then several specific featurettes such as, for example, scene breakdowns, how they came up with and made the alien creatures, the special effects, etc. There are also gag reels, trailers, and music videos. Each movie also has a commentary track. A lot of material for those who like going through the extras. The only negative to the set is that the discs are stacked on top of each other in their case (each movie has its own case within the outer box). It is a minor point, but it would have been better packaged so that each disc sat on either side of the case in its own housing. That said, I definitely recommend picking up this set.

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