It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.

You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?

We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us.

Welcome back to The Next Picture Show, a movie of the week podcast devoted to a classic film in the way it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.

I'm Keith Phipps, here again with Scott Tobias, Genevieve Kosky, and Tasha Robinson.

Last week we discussed the 1997 hit Men in Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents for a mysterious organization

created to keep alien visitors to Earth in line and under wraps.

This week we'll be talking about Men in Black International, which reunites Chris Hemsworth

and Tessa Thompson, two of the stars of Thor Ragnarok.

Directed by F. Gary Gray, the film tries to rekindle Thompson and Hemsworth's fun chemistry

from Thor, Ragnarok, but doesn't quite get there. In fact, it doesn't quite get anywhere. They remain charming, but the film finds him flailing in the middle of a lifeless story about intergalactic intrigue. It's an attempt to take the men-and-black concept out of deep freeze, but arrives still half-frozen. But it's a case study of how blockbusters have changed over the years and how some

franchises carry on long after they've lost their spark, it makes for a pretty interesting

contrast.

We'll get to that in a bit, but first a short break, and then let's find out if everyone

shares my feelings about men in black international.

We asked. Men in Black International. We are a rumor.

Recognizable only as deja vu and dismissed just as quickly.

Time to prove yourself, Agent M.

We may have a problem in London.

Welcome to M.I.B.

Moving on, losing.

You will be with Agent H.

...