So, I apparently missed that this Men in Black movie we're getting is a preview of sorts? And it's happening in 1969? I never actually saw the second movie in the series, but I'm kind of fond of the first. It's not an exceptionally strong statement movie about its time, or about New York, though.
It's got nods, of course: the familiar, almost cliche, setpieces at the Guggenheim and the old World's Fair grounds, the pawn shop and diner, and perhaps its best, most creative nod, the newsstand with the most reliable tabloids in the galaxy. I'm curious to see how this movie would handle the setting in 1969 other than by making Gemma Aerton an alien-fighting Joan Holloway. We all know Alec Baldwin looks like the Arrow Shirt Man and can play the imperious boss of a bunch of eccentrics with great aplomb, so he should be fine on that score. And I suppose going back in time allows aliens to be the Red Menace again, avoiding the somewhat tricky illegal immigration politics that made up the first movie's opening setpiece.
I think I'd like to see the movie to really commit to 1969 New York, now that I think about it, to have all the weirdness of the era be explained by strangers among us, to have a Mad Men-meets-The-Man-Who-Fell-To-Earth vibe. It never really made sense that a mysterious federal agency that controls alien immigration and emigration would be located in New York, rather than in Washington, even if the agency had an international mandate. The new movie should either justify that decision or roll right over it.