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The (mostly bad) films of Kevin Smith


King Pitcos

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Jason Lee totally steals the show in Mallrats - it's a great performance and he seems like the perfect vessel for Smith's often unwieldy scripting. You probably have to have a lot of affection for dumb 80s teen movies (which I do) to get much out of it, though. 

I liked Clerks II in the same way I enjoyed the WWE's One Night Stand - I like Randall and Dante so much that it was good to have them back, even if there was an underlying sense that it's just a wallow in nostalgia (right down to having the Smashing Pumpkins on the soundtrack) and the world has moved on. The Trevor character was a good addition to the mix and I'm happy to watch Rosario Dawson in anything, even if it stretches credibility that such a specimen would be all over a schmuck like Dante. The Clerks animated series was decent and probably should have been the destiny of those characters. 

Yoga Hosers is his absolute nadir, just offensively indulgent and shoddy in every way. The big joke is that Canadians like hockey say "aboot". If he's making films for a young teen audience now, he'd better make up his mind if he actually likes them or not. 

As others have said, he's great when you're in your teens/early 20s, but ultimately he's a one trick pony whose trick seems less impressive with each new film. Like the WWE, though, he's got an undemanding core audience so he's not going to change any time soon. Snootchie Bootchies!

Edited by Brewster McCloud
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I’d completely forgotten Zack And Miri Make A Porno was one of his. It’s on Netflix and we needed something stupid and easy to watch so stuck it on. As soon as I saw Scott Mosier as producer I twigged. Feels totally different to his other films, probably due to the cast because it just feels like Apatow 2.0. He said after he saw Seth Rogan in 40 Year Old Virgin he wanted to put him in something, used Elizabeth Banks aswell and by the time this was made Knocked Up had come out so it feels more like those movies than anything else he’s done before or since.

It’s decent fun, only the second time I’ve seen it and plenty of funny bits. Basically Apatow with Smith’s dialogue.

Edited by cobra_gordo
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15 hours ago, Wretch said:

He's looking good after dropping that weight after his heart attack last year.

That's true, although you'd think he was the only guy on the planet to have a heart attack and lose weight. He manages to shoehorn his "experience" into much of what he says these days, reminding me of Walowitz in Big Bang Theory when he went to space.

He also doesn't seem capable of buying new clothes that fit him either, maybe because if he wears his old fat clothes it gives him more opportunities to bang on about how he's lost lots of weight.

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He also doesn't seem capable of buying new clothes that fit him either, maybe because if he wears his old fat clothes it gives him more opportunities to bang on about how he's lost lots of weight.

God yeah. Him being a vegan is his new, 'OH I SMOKE WEED' He mentions it constantly. Well done Kevin, you've discovered sugar is bad.

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I idolised the first Clerks as a teen with designs on getting into film-making, like plenty of us probably had. How could it not be an inspiration? "Hey, we're making films on the cheap that are carried solely by our cool dialogue we always have with each other anyway!" It was perfect at that age. I even read his diaries for awhile before getting sick of hearing about him falling asleep in front of episodes of Law & Order with his wife every night. Knowing Jason Mewes actually just bummed around his house with no clothes on in real life, playing online poker all day, was perfect foil, though. 

I'd probably still enjoy Clerks now, but the rest of his stuff has aged horribly. Then the whole Judd Apatow/Freaks & Geeks crew came along and started doing relentlessly better stoner movies. I don't think I'll ever get bored of Superbad, and it's 12 years old!

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1 hour ago, Gay as FOOK said:

I idolised the first Clerks as a teen with designs on getting into film-making, like plenty of us probably had. How could it not be an inspiration? "Hey, we're making films on the cheap that are carried solely by our cool dialogue we always have with each other anyway!" It was perfect at that age.

Yeah, it's perfect fodder for a film student who's still young and self-assured enough to think he and his friends are fascinating and interesting, and if you could just film us hanging out, it would be the funniest thing ever, man. 

I suppose all that lot make podcasts now.

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35 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Yeah, it's perfect fodder for a film student who's still young and self-assured enough to think he and his friends are fascinating and interesting, and if you could just film us hanging out, it would be the funniest thing ever, man. 

I suppose all that lot make podcasts now.

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And Film Studies? Pah! Media, Communication & Culture Studies was where its at.

”You have to really understand The Bible to actually get Dogma”

Edited by WyattSheepMask
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Most of you miserable sods will probably hate it but I went to see Jay and Silent Bob Reboot last night at the Genesis cinema in London with a live Q&A with Kevin Smith.

It's tremendous fun. It's basically a string of cameos and one liners that more often than not hit perfectly. If you're a fan of Jay and Bob Strikes Back I say go for it otherwise stay away.

It's absolutely lovely revisiting all the characters from the View Askewniverse without them ever out staying their welcome. Not to mention the many cameos.

If I had one real criticism putting aside Kev's usual writing issues etc (because I have no problem with them) it's that the music is extremely heavy handed. It's pretty much constant and never lets up. Sometimes to the detriment of it other times it's perfect.

Overall it left me either laughing my arse off or with a big shit eating grin.

The Q&A was tremendous. I was front row for it too. As you'd expect it went on for over an hour. A lot of the stories I'd heard but he did talk about what would have been Stan Lee's role which would have amazing. Reboot has a lovely tribute/interview clip with Stan at the end but his role would have been amazing.

Also basically there's no chance of Dogma sequel as Harvey Weinstein owns Dogma outright which is why it's not available on physical media or streaming anywhere. He's basically hoping that Harvey's legal costs fuck him up so much he's forced to sell it.

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