Recently by The Associated Press

Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post

It's been a decade since Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones appeared on screen as comedic partners, but now alien-control Agent J and Agent K are back in "Men in Black 3."

Fittingly, given the franchise's space-time theories of time and dimension, this outing hinges on time travel.

When the taciturn senior agent K (Jones) vanishes in a profoundly existential way, J goes back to 1969 to thwart the designs of Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) and save his future partner -- and the planet. Josh Brolin's turn as a younger K is a clever, well-played pleasure (and deliciously peculiar since Brolin and Jones were in "No Country for Old Men").

It's been a few years, too, since Smith -- not so long ago a staple of summertime fare -- had a berth in the season of the presumptive tentpole blockbuster. He's been plying his trade in more serious fare as actor-producer ("The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Seven Pounds") as well as producer ("The Secret Life of Bees" and "Lakeview Terrace") with laudable if mixed results.

The Smith-Jones duo's return as the titularly clad operatives, while not exactly essential, comes with the charms of reprised, well-liked characters and a "didn't-see-that-coming" conclusion that makes up for the first hour's sequelitis.

It's easy to forget mid-kvetch that sequels are popular in large part because they reunite us with familiar characters we took to in the first place. Here the familiar is the story. "Men in Black 3" is about J and K: their odd-couple energy, their abiding fondness, J's interest in what makes K tick ever so imperceptibly.

With the exception of Emma Thompson's martini-dry timing, the beginning is pro forma. Maybe that's part of the point: J and K have nested into their banter, their mind-erasing of bystanders who have witnessed aliens, their routine.

A spat of sorts finds the pair on the phone, which makes it possible to crack the door open on their personalities. K wears a perpetual hangdog glower. J has a big portrait of a dog hanging on his wall. K's home is a surprisingly warmer affair, a masculine library. J's is a sleek, minimalist abode with an outsized screen just off camera for video games.

The goofy aliens and mandated (but hardly awesome) 3-D are for easy laughs, yuks and a couple of "awws" (a spiky little thing in a Chinatown restaurant is especially cute). A scene in a bowling alley finds a wise guy mouthing off and gesticulating part Jersey, part a galaxy far, far away.

Written by Etan Cohen ("Tropic Thunder") and starring an actor angling to portray the nation's first black prez, "Men in Black 3" teases ideas of race and racism. "1969 wasn't the best time for your people," says slacker/time-jumping facilitator Jeffrey Price (a pleasingly lax Michael Chernus), right before J leaps off the Chrysler Building into the vortex of the roiling decade. An earlier scene in a Chinese restaurant likewise swings on a performer being in on -- heck, exploiting -- the joke.

J's warned more than once: "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to." Still, he's right to wonder, given what he's learned of the cosmos in his years of service. What questions has he to fear?

Contrary to the evidence, it's hard to believe the filmmakers -- or Clement -- intended to make villain Boris an example of the banality of evil. Though he's got a bizarrely mirthless laugh and his teeth are a jagged mess, he's dull.

In the spirit of happy déjà vu, there's Griffin, an alien that recalls a former Boulder resident alien: one Mork from Ork. Michael Stuhlbarg ("Boardwalk Empire" ''A Serious Man") has Robin Williams' squinty, impish smile. Once he arrives on screen, "Men in Black" finds itself in bemusing, touching and smarter territory.

Brolin is terrific capturing the tight-lipped cowboy poetry of Jones' Agent K as a quasi-cowpoke in a suit. But it's not mere imitation. After all, something did indeed happen to K to make him the grim mentor J knows him as. What that was turns out to be one of the finer kernels offered in an airy popcorn flick.

Two and a half out of four stars

ABOVE: In this film image released by Sony Pictures, Tommy Lee Jones, right, and Will Smith star are shown in a scene from "Men in Black 3." (AP Photo/Columbia Pictures-Sony, Wilson Webb)

In this image provided by Marvel Comics, the cover to "Astonishing X-Men" #51.

MATT MOORE
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- Wedding bells will ring this summer for Marvel Comics' first openly gay hero, super speedster Northstar, and his longtime boyfriend.

The New York-based publisher said Tuesday that Canadian character Jean-Paul Beaubier will marry his beau, Kyle Jinadu, in the pages of "Astonishing X-Men" No. 51. That's due out June 20.

Northstar revealed he was gay in the pages of "Alpha Flight" No. 106 in 1992, one of Marvel Entertainment's first characters to do so.

FILE - This file photo of a film image released by Disney shows Iron Man, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., left, and Captain America, portrayed by Chris Evans, in a scene from "The Avengers." (AP Photo/Disney, File)

"The Avengers" continues to muscle out everything else Hollywood throws at it, easily sinking naval rival "Battleship" and other new releases.

With $55.1 million domestically, Disney's superhero sensation remained No. 1 for a third-straight weekend and took in more than the three big newcomers combined. Universal's "Battleship" opened a distant No. 2 with $25.4 million domestically, well below industry expectations.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com :

1. "The Avengers," $55.1 million.

2. "Battleship," $25.4 million.

3. "The Dictator," $17.4 million.

4. "Dark Shadows," $12.8 million.

5. "What to Expect When You're Expecting," $10.5 million.

6. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," $3.3 million.

7. "The Hunger Games," $3 million.

8. "Think Like a Man," $2.7 million.

9. "The Lucky One," $1.8 million.

10. "The Pirates! Band of Misfits," $1.5 million.

-- Associated Press

FILE - In this July 26, 1990 file photo, artist Maurice Sendak signs his individual prints from "The Mother Goose Collection," in New York. Sendak, author of the popular children's book "Where the Wild Things Are," died, Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Conn. He was 83. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan, file) (Susan Ragan)

By Hillel Italie
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Maurice Sendak didn't think of himself as a children's author, but as an author who told the truth about childhood.
| PHOTO GALLERY

"I like interesting people and kids are really interesting people," he explained to The Associated Press last fall. "And if you didn't paint them in little blue, pink and yellow, it's even more interesting."

Sendak, who died early Tuesday in Danbury, Conn., at age 83, four days after suffering a stroke, revolutionized children's books and how we think about childhood simply by leaving in what so many writers before had excluded. Dick and Jane were no match for his naughty Max. His kids misbehaved and didn't regret it and in their dreams and nightmares fled to the most unimaginable places. Monstrous creatures were devised from his studio, but no more frightening than the grownups in his stories or the cloud of the Holocaust that darkened his every page.

"From their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions - fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, they continually cope with frustrations as best they can," he said upon receiving the Caldecott Medal in 1964 for "Where the Wild Things Are," his signature book. "And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming wild things."

Rarely was a man so uninterested in being loved so adored. Starting with the Caldecott, the great parade marched on and on. He received the Hans Christian Anderson award in 1970 and a Laura Ingalls Wilder medal in 1983. President Bill Clinton awarded Sendak a National Medal of the Arts in 1996 and in 2009 President Obama read "Where the Wild Things Are" for the Easter Egg Roll.

In this film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal)

DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hulk, smash.

That's what Captain America tells the Incredible Hulk to do in "The Avengers," and that's what the Marvel Comics superhero mash-up did at the box office, smashing the domestic revenue record with a $207.4 million debut.

It's by far the biggest opening ever, shooting past the previous record of $169.2 million for the debut of last year's "Harry Potter" finale.

"The Avengers" added $151.5 million overseas over the weekend to bring its total to $441.5 million since it began opening internationally a week earlier.

That raised the film's worldwide haul to $641.8 million in barely a week and a half, more than its Marvel superhero forerunners "Iron Man," ''Iron Man 2," ''Thor" and "Captain America" took in during their entire runs.

If distributor Disney's domestic estimate Sunday holds when the final weekend count is released Monday, "The Avengers" would be the first movie ever to haul in $200 million in a single weekend.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Captain America is getting another solo shot on the big-screen.

Walt Disney Studios announced Thursday that a sequel to last year's superhero hit "Captain America: The First Avenger" will arrive in theaters on April 4, 2014.

The first movie starred Chris Evans as the patriotic fighter for justice dressed in red, white and blue. "Captain America" took in $368 million at the worldwide box office.

Evans reprises his role as Captain America in "The Avengers," an ensemble adventure featuring Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner as a team of Marvel Comics heroes.

"The Avengers" is due out May 4.

ABOVE: Chris Evans is shown in a scene from the film "Captain America: The First Avenger." (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures)

In this image released by Lionsgate, Jennifer Lawrence portrays Katniss Everdeen in a scene from "The Hunger Games," opening on Friday, March 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Lionsgate, Murray Close)

By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - The feast is on: "The Hunger Games" has taken in $68.25 million domestically in its first day, a record for a non-sequel.

The Friday total for Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games" was the fifth-best opening day ever and puts the movie on track for the best debut weekend ever in March. That record is held by "Alice in Wonderland" with $116.1 million.

The big start should translate into an opening weekend of as much as $140 million domestically, according to Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

First-day revenues for "The Hunger Games" were well behind the record $91.1 million for last summer's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." But "The Hunger Games" came within a few million dollars of each of the last three "Twilight" movies, whose opening days ranged from $68.5 million to $72.7 million.

"The Hunger Games" stars Jennifer Lawrence as a teen forced to compete in a televised death match against other youths in a future North American society where a privileged capital city oppresses the people of 12 outlying worker districts. The film is based on the first book in a best-selling trilogy by author Suzanne Collins.

BOX OFFICE: `The Lorax' remains at No. 1 while the interplanetary tale fizzles.

By David Germain
The Associated Press

"Dr. Seuss' the Lorax" has easily beaten Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter" at the weekend box office.

Studio estimates Sunday put Universal Pictures' "The Lorax" at No. 1 for the second-straight weekend as the animated adventure based on the children's book took in $39.1 million. That raised its 10-day domestic total to

$122 million, making "The Lorax" the top-grossing movie released this year.

"John Carter," based on "Tarzan" creator Burroughs' tales of the interplanetary adventurer, opened in second-place with $30.6 million. That's an awful start given the whopping $250 million that Disney reportedly spent to make "John Carter," which also earned generally poor reviews that will hurt its long-term prospects.

The movie's salvation could come overseas, where "John Carter" opened in 55 markets with $70.6 million, giving it a worldwide total of $101.2 million.

The stronger international business helps, but that worldwide total still pales compared with global debuts of $200 million and up for many modern blockbusters.

The Warner Bros. teen comedy "Project X" held up well in its second weekend with $11.6 million to finish at No. 3 and raise its domestic haul to $40.1 million.

Elizabeth Olsen's horror tale "Silent House," released by Open Road Films, opened modestly at No. 4 with $7 million. Olsen plays a young woman terrorized inside her family's spooky summer home.

Eddie Murphy's comedy "A Thousand Words," a leftover shot in 2008 and finally dumped into theaters by distributor Paramount, was a dud at No. 6 with just $6.4 million.

The movie features Murphy as a fast-talking literary agent and neglectful family man who gets a lesson on the important things in life after discovering he has only a thousand words left to utter before he dies.

Top 10 movies

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final domestic figures will be released today.

1. "Dr. Seuss' the Lorax," $39.1 million

2. "John Carter," $30.6 million

3. "Project X," $11.6 million

4. "Silent House," $7.01 million

5. "Act of Valor," $7 million

6. "A Thousand Words," $6.4 million

7. "Safe House," $5 million

8. "The Vow," $4 million

9. "This Means War," $3.8 million

10. "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," $3.7 million


ABOVE: "The Lorax" voiced by Danny Devito (Universal Pictures) and above right, Taylor Kitsch is shown in a scene from "John Carter." (AP Photo/Disney, Frank Connor)

In this film image released by Universal Pictures, animated character Lorax, voiced by Danny Devito, center, stands with stands with the Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans and Humming-Fish in a scene from "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)

LOS ANGELES -- The environmental fable "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" grew mightily during its opening weekend, taking in $70.2 million for the biggest debut of the year by far, according to final studio figures Monday. The 3-D animated comedy from Universal Pictures is based on the beloved children's book and features the voices of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift.

Art from "Horseradish Hen, the comic, volume 1" based on the poem "Dial Up Totem" by Etiak Yelof.

M. SCOTT MORRIS
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal


TUPELO, Miss. (AP) -- There was a moment in time when Tupelo artist William Heard thought he was going to become a super hero.

He was extremely close to getting machine guns attached to his wheelchair.

"So I could fight evildoers," the 37-year-old said.

But it was not to be.

Instead, comic book artist Mary Katherine Spencer decided to take Heard's story in a more honest, though still imaginative, direction.

"We decided to do it as a documentary," Heard said. "I thought it was cool for someone to want to write about me like that."

Spencer moved to Northeast Mississippi in 2006, and she's slowly merged into the region's art scene. For her, comics are a passion and a release. They're also important.

"People need to have their stories told," she said. "People need to hear other people's stories, and people need to have access to them."

Spencer, 42, grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. She was making a life for herself in Arizona when she had a strange conversation with her parents.

"They did this thing," she said. "I called them and they said, 'Guess what we did?' I said, 'You went on a cruise?' They said, 'We moved to Mississippi.'"

When her dad ended up in North Mississippi Medical Center, Spencer did some serious thinking. She sold her place in Arizona, and bought a relatively isolated house near Geeville.

"Technically, it's a Booneville address," she said, "but when my friends ask where I live, I love saying, 'Geeville, Mississippi.'"

Initially, she worked at the Boys & Girls Club of North Mississippi, Inc., and later joined the staff at S.A.F.E., Inc., where she regularly dealt with abused women in crisis situations.

It was deep stuff, and Spencer needed a way to process it. She'd quit drinking and smoking before her children, Cian, 12, and Millie, 4, were born, so those vices couldn't help -- or hurt, as the case may be.

Comics flew to the rescue.

"That's always been my pressure release," she said. "I would draw little comics, just to get it out."

She encouraged others to "get it out" with a project called "Jeans for Justice." She asked people to write their stories of abuse on blue jeans. Some also added artistic flourishes, and Spencer took the results on the road for different displays.

"I'm here to discuss and talk about subjects that people put away and don't talk about normally," she said.

Spencer no longer works with S.A.F.E., but she made strong connections with other artists during the Jeans for Justice project.

"She came to Our Artworks," Heard said. "Some of us worked on the jeans project with her."

Heard discovered his artistic talent after a car accident left him paralyzed. He later started Our Artworks to get other people with disabilities interested in art.

His story captivated Spencer, and Heard almost got a flying wheelchair with machine guns. The pair met at coffee shops, and exchanged emails and Facebook messages to discuss the project.

Spencer came up with the idea of using Heard's own paintings as backdrops for her comics. She's working toward a May deadline to get the book and other work ready for an exhibit in Arizona.

"She has a very active imagination," Heard said. "She comes up with different stuff, tries it and it works."

Spencer also is collaborating with Terae, a 56-year-old Tupelo-based writer who prefers to use her pen name. The story is about two girls who face different types of prejudice.

"I looked at some sketches she did and I asked if she could do some illustrations. She started doing them and it was perfect," Terae said. "If I had done them, they wouldn't have looked right to me."

Spencer regularly explores tough topics with her comics. One of her stories is based on a friend's sexual addiction. She said she turned the lead character into a fish, so it "wouldn't be gross and disgusting. A fish can do these things and it's OK."

A question from her kids led Spencer to consider how bullying has impacted her life, and she used printer's ink to turn those thoughts into pages.

Another long-running project was inspired by her dog, Henry Miller, who was rescued from the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society. She illustrated the story of how she met Henry. Friends liked the resulting comic panel, so she started soliciting pet stories from other people and drawing those.

"Everybody has a pet story," Spencer said. "How they got their cat and how they got their dog -- it gives them something good to think about."

Spencer's art is a busy "pressure release." The comics pile up on the big desk in her living room.

"When you do this kind of work, it's like, 'Whoa, yeah. It's 3 in the morning,'" she said. "If you can do something that makes someone feel better and makes them love it, that's great, right? It's telling stories and putting them out there."

Spencer's creations: http://www.horseradishhen.com and http://www.fingerproofpress.com