Xixax Film Forum

Director Kevin Smith Plans 'Clerks' Sequel

LOS ANGELES - Kevin Smith is making another convenience store run.

The writer-director of "Dogma," "Chasing Amy" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" told the Associated Press on Friday that he has begun work on a sequel to "Clerks," his homemade indie classic from 1994.

That $27,000 movie, shot at night in a store where Smith worked, chronicled the adventures of Dante and Randal, two guys who talk about life, death, sex and movies while working at neighboring stores.

The sequel picks up 10 years later.

"It's about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it's time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex," Smith said during an interview at his Hollywood office. "It's: What happened to these dudes?"

A new 10th anniversary DVD of "Clerks" debuts Sept. 7, and Smith said working on that three-disc set inspired him to write about what became of those characters.

The sequel — titled "The Passion of the Clerks" — is set to begin shooting in January. Miramax Films, which turned the original into a cult-hit after buying it at the Sundance Film Festival (news - web sites), plans to distribute the follow-up.

"It's funny, it's very raw, insanely foul-mouthed. In many ways it's the antithesis of 'Jersey Girl,'" Smith said, referring to his recent PG-13 comedy with Ben Affleck (news) as the widowed father of a little girl.

Smith is also writing the screenplay for a movie version of "The Green Hornet," but no longer thinks he will direct it. The "Clerks" movie has moved to the top of his to-do list.

He said he called Jeff Anderson, who played the combative video-store worker Randal, and Brian O'Halloran, who was the besieged-by-strangeness convenience store employee Dante, to run the idea by them first.

"Jeff was actually very protective of 'Clerks,'" Smith said. "Jeff was like, 'Are you sure you want to do this? That movie means a lot to people and do you want to go back?' I thought about it honestly, and it would seem chicken to not give it a shot just because I'm afraid of (messing) with the first film."

So far, he said he has gotten only positive responses from the people who have read the script, so he decided to move forward with it. Both O'Halloran and Anderson are signed on, and Jason Mewes, will return as stoner Jay, the "hetero life-mate" of Smith's stoic Silent Bob.

"I'm sure there will be naysayers who say, 'Oh my God, it's an opportunistic grab at a buck,' but it's not. We're doing it for nothing," Smith said. "We're going to do it insanely inexpensively. The budget will be somewhere between 250 grand and $5 million."

The original was shot pre-dawn, and most of the actors worked for free and then went straight to their day-jobs with little or no sleep.

"This time around we'll afford ourselves the luxury of nice 12-hour days," Smith said. "And people can get paid."

Quote from: Kevin Smith, by way of Myxomatosis"Jeff was like, 'Are you sure you want to do this? That movie means a lot to people and do you want to go back?' I thought about it honestly, and it would seem chicken to not give it a shot just because I'm afraid of (messing) with the first film."

I heard he tweaked the end of the Sundance cut of Clerks so that Dante shoots first.

Part of me finds this very sad. He said he was done with the whole viewaskewniverse and all it takes is one failed attempt at a "regular" movie to send him back into his pop culture cave.

But part of me is still sorta excited. Maybe that is the best place for him.

All of me thinks that The Passion of the Clerks is just about the worst title ever.

Horrible title.. Just terrible..

Well not to defend them, but just so you know, Smith is just trying to bank off a famous movie... despite his "it's not an opportunistic grab at a buck" BS.

I used to be a huge Kevin Smith fan.  But career move after move he makes (including film after film); I just start losing more and more respect.

He'll probably change the title the very minute he gets word that the public doesn't like it. nix called it sad, I'll call this one pathetic.

I should've patented redirect proof posting (http://www.xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1028&start=45)

Kevin Smith movies remind me of Nirvana... A staple of the 90's, highly overrated, but a definite mile-marker in a teenage boy's discovery of pop culture.  

I just wish he would've stopped making movies after Chasing Amy (which you could call his In Utero).

i guess by that rationale, i'm glad that kurt cobain is dead.

Quote from: themodernage02i guess by that rationale, i'm glad that kurt cobain is dead.

Exactly.

I for one am not glad he is dead. I believe he was an awefully talented man who had some real problems with lonliness and depression. On a personal level I relate to him quite a bit and I loved his music.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brmovie.com%2FImages%2FCharacters%2FRoy_Batty%2FBR_Batty_Dove.jpg&hash=8f0a684d3a6e70fada96878fb7567c6cd7a2708b)

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long..."

Anyway, whatever Nix said up there is exactly how I feel about this project.

I'm not sure I even want to see this.  I think he should leave Clerks alone and barring that, get rid of that title.  But I'll probably end up seeing it in much the same manner that I slow down to catch a glimpse of a horrific car crash on the highway.     :?

I'm sure I not even want to see this.

He should stop pretending he's an acclaimed intelligent filmmaker, first and foremost.

I can see Kevin Smith sitting around a table discussing future projects with producers.

KS: Well, shit. This whole Jersey girl thing didn't go at all as planned..

PDS: Yeah. Hmm. What if you made a Clerks sequel?

KS: I promised I wouldn't make anymore of.. Ah fuck it. I've gotta help support Jason Mewes' drug habit somehow. The poor bastard is sleeping on my couch.

"Clerks" Clocking in for More
Source: E! Online

Snoochie boochies, guess who's coming back?

Clerks, the no-budget 1994 paean to slackerdom that launched Kevin Smith from no-name fanboy to Hollywood player, is getting the sequel treatment.

Smith's View Askew Productions has confirmed that the writer-director is cranking out a script for The Passion of the Clerks, picking up a decade later and again focusing on the non-adventures of trash-talking Quick Stop convenience store employees Dante and Randal, now forced to deal with life as thirtysomethings.

In a press release, Smith says he was inspired to put pen to paper after assembling a new anniversary DVD set titled Clerks X.

"After working on the Clerks 10th anniversary DVD for the better part of the last year, I fell in love with the characters all over again," Smith says. "The whole process reminded me why I got into the film biz in the first place: to make talky, low-budget comedies. So I wrote this script about the older and not-so wiser Dante and Randal, as they try to deal with a decade of further disillusionment, even less sex, and eroding pop culture."

Original stars Brian O'Halloran (Dante) and Jeff Anderson (Randal) are set to reprise their roles for the sequel. Also putting in appearances will be Jason Mewes, who plays the loitering motor-mouth stoner Jay, and Smith, as sidekick Silent Bob.

The Passion of the Clerks is scheduled to start filming in January and be released by Miramax Films.

As film-geek lore has it, Smith made the original Clerks for the paltry sum of $27,000 ($230,000 counting post-production), shooting it in the middle of the night at the New Jersey convenience store where he used to work.

The film was a surprise smash at Sundance, where it was snapped up by Miramax. Despite being slapped with an NC-17 rating for its graphic language (the film had no sex or violence), it became an instant cult hit, generating more than $3 million in domestic box office. Its success established Smith as a smart-alecky purveyor of pop culture references and a hero of sorts to wannabe filmmakers.

But the big question is whether Clerks fans view the The Passion as a noochie-no-no. Smith--who went on to make Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and, what was supposed to be the swan song for the whole "New Jersey Chronicles," Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back--certainly hopes not.

"While we can't pull off the $27,575 budget of the first, we're gonna make it damned cheap," he says. "When all's said and done, God willing, this won't be a Two Jakes, Texasville, or Jaws: The Revenge kinda follow up."

Smith says he was hesitant at first to resurrect the franchise, but after running the screenplay by Anderson and O'Halloran and getting positive feedback, he forged ahead.

"I'm sure there will be naysayers who say, 'Oh my God, it's an opportunistic grab at a buck,' but it's not. We're doing it for nothing," Smith told the Associated Press last week. "We're going to do it insanely inexpensively. The budget will be somewhere between 250 grand and $5 million."

Of course, Smith might have reason to return to his roots after his last big-screen effort, Jersey Girl, barely made back its money after being overshadowed by the breakup of stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

This isn't the first time Smith has revisited Clerks. Four years ago, he oversaw a cartoon version of the show, featuring the voices of the original stars, for ABC. But the network canceled the 'toon after just two episodes. The entire series was eventually, and successfully, released on DVD to appease Smith's rabid fans.

Aside from penning new jokes for the Clerks sequel, Smith has been tapped to write a feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet and a new Fletch movie called Fletch Won, due out sometime in 2005.

The three-disc Clerks X DVD set is scheduled for release Sept. 7, while The Passion of the Clerks will likely hit theaters sometime in fall 2005.

Quote from: MacGuffinafter running the screenplay by Anderson and O'Halloran and getting positive feedback, he forged ahead.

yeah, washed up actors tend to do that when presented with guarranteed work.

Quote from: cronopioHe should stop pretending he's an acclaimed intelligent filmmaker, first and foremost.

Give me evidence he ever was pretending to be any of these things.

Everything I read from Smith is self-depricating. He busts on his talent and films constantly. The only thing he ever praises are the actors.

Chiming in on the whole Clerks 2 thing. I'm a Kevin Smith fan. Not as big a one as I used to be, but I enjoy the films he's made so far. Nothing he does in the future will make me dislike them. I'm sad he's not expanding and is getting gunshy about pushing the envelope on directing new material, but I'll still see what he puts out.

Smith makes fun movies. They're not critical darlings (short of Clerks and Chasing Amy). And they're not quirky Anderson-esque movies that utilize older comedy actors that seem to be all the rage now-a-days. But they provide context in the movie community. They're not films aspiring to be the intellectual, extestential movie of the year. They're just what they are and a lot of people love them.

The title has got to go though.

QuoteSmith makes fun movies. They're not critical darlings (short of Clerks and Chasing Amy). And they're not quirky Anderson-esque movies that utilize older comedy actors that seem to be all the rage now-a-days.

what about george carlin?

Quote from: RaikusSmith is self-depricating. He busts on his talent and films constantly.

He's rich now, and I'm  sure he'll be richer in a few years, so who cares about what he says? That's his 'selling spot', his supposed honesty about all the filmmaking business.

His humor's horrible too,  at least for me.  I don't want to be reminded  of the activity of the penis of an homophobic white-trash boy every five seconds, which is the living span of a regular Smith joke.

Jay and Silent Bob should die in a bloody shootout in the convenience store, so that there's no chance of them ever coming back.

Tarantino?  Check.  Smith?  Check.  Alright, people, place your bets on the director with at least SOME potential and talent who's the next to sell out and lose your interest.

My gut tells me Smith's about to cross that finish line.

Quote from: ono.Tarantino?  Check.  Smith?  Check.  Alright, people, place your bets on the director with at least SOME potential and talent who's the next to sell out and lose your interest.

I have this gut feeling that Vincent Gallo is going to direct Spider-Man 3...

Quote from: Film Student

Quote from: ono.Tarantino?  Check.  Smith?  Check.  Alright, people, place your bets on the director with at least SOME potential and talent who's the next to sell out and lose your interest.

I have this gut feeling that Vincent Gallo is going to direct Spider-Man 3...

I'm far more concerned about some lamo doing X-Men 3.

Man, it's so easy to take cheap shots at popular directors.

That's part of what makes it so fun.

So, I got this from The Movie Blog who got it from Animated-News who got it second-hand from Smith, or something:

At his View Askew website, Kevin Smith reveals that in addition to the live-action Clerks sequel, an animated Clerks movie is still happening. The director goes on to say that the storyline for the animated film revolves around the characters Dante and Randal shooting a movie about working at the Quick Stop.

Can I get a resounding "UGH"

Now he's really scraping the bottom of the barrel.  He's totally run out of any sort of creative spark (which I can't quite say for Tarantino yet, though his films are becoming quite vapid).  Isn't all of this reflexive shit just gonna make the universe implode eventually?  Or at least Kevin Smith's head?

Quote from: ranemaka13So, I got this from The Movie Blog who got it from Animated-News who got it second-hand from Smith, or something:

At his View Askew website, Kevin Smith reveals that in addition to the live-action Clerks sequel, an animated Clerks movie is still happening. The director goes on to say that the storyline for the animated film revolves around the characters Dante and Randal shooting a movie about working at the Quick Stop.

Can I get a resounding "UGH"

That project has been around for a while:
http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?p=104953#104953

Quote from: MacGuffin

Quote from: ranemaka13So, I got this from The Movie Blog who got it from Animated-News who got it second-hand from Smith, or something:

At his View Askew website, Kevin Smith reveals that in addition to the live-action Clerks sequel, an animated Clerks movie is still happening. The director goes on to say that the storyline for the animated film revolves around the characters Dante and Randal shooting a movie about working at the Quick Stop.

Can I get a resounding "UGH"

That project has been around for a while:
http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?p=104953#104953

Right.
Just thought it deserved a mention here. :|

(is this my first Mac-redirect?)

hahahaah

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fviewaskew.com%2Fnews%2Fclerks2%2Fclerks2.jpg&hash=b67c23ca2b473b1d3fef5a844662391269ee430a)

that seems fan-made.  but i guess its not.  they're using promotional stills from 10 years ago?  or they've imitated their haircuts really well.  either way, he's trying to steal some of sith's thunder by releasing that today!

totaly fan made. without a doubt.

j=kevin smith is a bull dyke

Teaser Trailer here. (http://www.clerks2.com/movies/passion2.mov)

Release Date: March 1, 2006

Cast: Brian O'Halloran (Dante), Jeff Anderson (Randal), Jason Mewes (Jay), Kevin Smith (Silent Bob)

Director: Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl)

Screenwriter: Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl)

Based Upon: This is the sequel to "Clerks," the 1994 low-budget hit that launched Kevin Smith's career. It is not a sequel to "The Passion of The Christ."

Premise: Here's what Kevin Smith said to AP: "It's about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it's time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex. It's: What happened to these dudes?"

hor-diddilly-ifric.

Quote from: MacGuffinPremise: Here's what Kevin Smith said to AP: "It's about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s.

So basically, it's an autobiography.

ONO TIE YOUR GODDAMN SHOES ALREADY!

Cameras Roll on Clerks 2
Kevin Smith and crew check in via video.

This weekend, while you're considering which movie to see or what DVD to buy, Kevin Smith will be thinking about his next shot on Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks. ("What lens should I use? Where's my mark? Is it time for lunch?") That's right, Kevin has started filming his follow-up to Clerks, the movie that built the house Askew. His self-described "impending train wreck," has Dante, Randal, and Jay & Silent Bob at the Quickstop, 10 years later. (Did they ever leave?)

Because you know how second installments tend to go, Kevin asks of you not to call Clerks 2 a sequel. "It's a follow-up," he says. "We don't want to call it a sequel. Jaws 2 was a sequel, and look what happened there. All we're doing is following-up, checking in on our characters 10 years later. It's about all that stuff I used to do in the '90s, before everybody got ambitious."

You might ask: Why the title The Passion of the Clerks? Does it have something to do with Kevin's stamp of hypocrisy on the Christian Coalition? Something to do with their failure to "get" Dogma? Perhaps. But Kevin puts it this way. "It's The Passion… of the Clerks. I like Jesus. So should you. He died for your sins. What better way to honor the savoir - to make a movie that takes its title from a movie that truly honors him - then by calling our movie, very affectionately, and reverently, The Passion of the Clerks?"

Says Kevin in his video diary Back to the Well, "I'm going to hell. I know it. But I knew that back on Dogma. It's not news to me. I'm just going to enjoy the ride on the way there."
 
So join him, won't you? Following the trail blazed by Peter Jackson (King Kong) and Bryan Singer (Superman Returns), Kevin jumps on the video diary bandwagon. Today at Clerks2.com (http://www.clerks2.com), the gang adds two new entries, a parody trailer for the original Clerks and Party-Cam with Bryan Johnson. "Follow us on our journey, as we make the biggest mistake of our lives."

If, on the other hand, all goes well - and Harvey Weinstein will make sure of that, right? - Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks will be in theaters late next summer.

Quote from: MacGuffinTeaser Trailer here. (http://www.clerks2.com/movies/passion2.mov)

That just reminded me how good Clerks is and how awful this idea is.

production stills (the last one is a spoiler, you've been warned)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewaskew.com%2Fkevin%2Feating.jpg&hash=344fde7ba130272a312a0f0b645727e1780d600e)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewaskew.com%2Fkevin%2Fjeff.jpg&hash=f6c48c6124bc13eb8b19e000114e916037a392ba)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewaskew.com%2Fkevin%2Fwanda.jpg&hash=5b2091d902c3fcc620d206b5f79da1ead63378e9)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewaskew.com%2Fkevin%2Fethan.jpg&hash=f07c9b542d3b1f5ff05d42f4e16ec490ae1662e7)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewaskew.com%2Fkevin%2Fc2bob.jpg&hash=5cc923e8ee40de267a5c2ea3a81e7b8da5a147ef)

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER




(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewaskew.com%2Fkevin%2Fjenny.jpg&hash=eee1df70cc10fda098703761ce37d468ff5eafec)

This looks more like Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2 than Clerks 2.

Either way, it's A Pile of Crap part 2.

If the "passion" title was ever funny/relevant/clever, it definitely isn't anymore.

Quote from: Jeremy BlackmanIf the "passion" title Kevin Smith was ever funny/relevant/clever, it definitely isn't anymore.

fixed.

I have a friend who likes Kevin Smith and wants to buy a Ford Focus.  :doh:

Clerks and Chasing Amy were all right, I felt.

One time I tried watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back when I wasn't with a large group of friends already laughing and/or stoned, and I found out that it isn't really that funny.

Uh oh.  Battlestations!

Prepare for "Kevin Smith Justifications", "Chasing Amy was ok", and the notorious "Did you hear what he said about Magnolia?"

It's not about justifications.  Although we all bash him, MOST can agree that he's made at least two good movies.  It's just clear that he's not making good ones anymore, hasn't been for a while now, and THIS movie doesn't look like it's going to change that streak.

Clerks - funny idea, good acting for first timers, but very student filmish
Mallrats - Pointless ideas with some funny scenarios, emphasis on pointless. everything good is Jason Lee (damn I have not been keeping up with My Name is Earl)
Chasing Amy - ahh, a dramatic medium for dick/fart jokes, makes more 'mature' use of his humor, with compelling acting and characters.
Dogma - i think the religious story is interesting, but christ oh christ, it's kind of a big mess. who's he to be pious?
Jay and Silent Bob - Just bad, but it doesn't want to be good, so there's your out.

Quote from: matt35mmIt's not about justifications.  Although we all bash him, MOST can agree that he's made at least two good movies...

Do you really feel that, though?  I'm not directly addressing you, but what's so much better in his two good movies.  And I'm assuming that we're talking about "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy."  Is it because they have less of Jay and Silent Bob?  Is that the deciding factor?

To me all of his movies are no different.  They have the same "thing" that rubs me the wrong way.  The most aggravating part is that I can't put my finger on the "thing."  

It's something about... ok, there are guys out there that really revel in their unpopularity.  They almost wear it as a badge.  And they're arrogant about it.  Let's take the classification of "nerds", because Kevin Smith really likes to use one of their subcategories: "comic book fanatics."  Ok, comic book fanatics have certain ingredients: goatees, backwards baseball caps, junk food, hockey jerseys, Converses, anime, collecting, paranoia, type A personality, Family Guy, D&D, year-round t-shirts,  kung-fu movies, Japan, community college, Star Wars, internet...

You stir these ingredients together, bake at 98 degrees, and cool around 22 years, you now have a character in a Kevin Smith movie.  Normally this "character" would be an outcast in American society, but in a Kevin Smith movie he is a composite.  His personality is romantisized, his arrogance is matter-of-fact, his sense of humor is glorified, his sex appeal is uncategorized.  In the real world, these would never exist in his shell, but not true in a Kevin Smith movie.  Smith's characters are myths: there is evidence that they do exist, but their is no evidence they have accomplished these tasks worthy of tall tales.  

The sense of humor is the worst part.  It seems fake, uninspired, crude, and more importantly... 180 degrees from mine.  

Some critics argue against Smith's writing skills, but that really comes with the territory.  It's much deeper than that... more inert.  This is the best he can do.  These characters are a reflection, but a cracked one.  

Am I coming through?  Am I chipping away at the "thing?"  I don't expect those that find Smith's movies remotely entertaing to understand what I'm talking about, but I do hope those that aren't fans get a glimpse of my grief.  

Consequently, I have unfortunately turned this into what I joked about earlier.

Quote from: GamblourClerks - funny idea, good acting for first timers, but very student filmish

I don't know, I felt like I was reading a screenplay. The dialogue is artificially rapid-fire and feels completely dead. It's probably funny on paper, though.

Quote from: Pwaybloe

Quote from: matt35mmIt's not about justifications.  Although we all bash him, MOST can agree that he's made at least two good movies...

Do you really feel that, though?  I'm not directly addressing you, but what's so much better in his two good movies.  And I'm assuming that we're talking about "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy."  Is it because they have less of Jay and Silent Bob?  Is that the deciding factor?

To me all of his movies are no different.  They have the same "thing" that rubs me the wrong way.  The most aggravating part is that I can't put my finger on the "thing."  

It's something about... ok, there are guys out there that really revel in their unpopularity.  They almost wear it as a badge.  And they're arrogant about it.  Let's take the classification of "nerds", because Kevin Smith really likes to use one of their subcategories: "comic book fanatics."  Ok, comic book fanatics have certain ingredients: goatees, backwards baseball caps, junk food, hockey jerseys, Converses, anime, collecting, paranoia, type A personality, Family Guy, D&D, year-round t-shirts,  kung-fu movies, Japan, community college, Star Wars, internet...

You stir these ingredients together, bake at 98 degrees, and cool around 22 years, you now have a character in a Kevin Smith movie.  Normally this "character" would be an outcast in American society, but in a Kevin Smith movie he is a composite.  His personality is romantisized, his arrogance is matter-of-fact, his sense of humor is glorified, his sex appeal is uncategorized.  In the real world, these would never exist in his shell, but not true in a Kevin Smith movie.  Smith's characters are myths: there is evidence that they do exist, but their is no evidence they have accomplished these tasks worthy of tall tales.  

The sense of humor is the worst part.  It seems fake, uninspired, crude, and more importantly... 180 degrees from mine.  

Some critics argue against Smith's writing skills, but that really comes with the territory.  It's much deeper than that... more inert.  This is the best he can do.  These characters are a reflection, but a cracked one.  

Am I coming through?  Am I chipping away at the "thing?"  I don't expect those that find Smith's movies remotely entertaing to understand what I'm talking about, but I do hope those that aren't fans get a glimpse of my grief.  

Consequently, I have unfortunately turned this into what I joked about earlier.

I know what the "thing" is that you're talking about.  I can enjoy it on a certain level; it doesn't piss me off as much as it does you.  But there are certain things that do piss me off similarly, and so I sympathize.

Less Jay and Silent Bob is not the deciding factor in what makes Clerks and Chasing Amy good to me.  It's just simply that they entertained me... I enjoyed them.  That said, no, they can't hold up to any severe criticism, but they succeed as pieces of entertainment (to me, not to you).  Smith's other films do not.  Although I also liked Dogma (even though I agree that it's a mess.  But one that entertained me enough).

That said, I have to admit that I don't really find him to be that funny.  Even though those movies entertained me, I guess I never really laughed out loud, now that I think about it.

It was said best in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back "Jay and Silent Bob work in small doses, if at all."

Kevin Smith films rarely leave me thinking anything.  Dogma was a joke.  It was an endeavor for a man who based his movie on the Cliffnotes of the Cliffnotes of the Bible.  I know it's a comedy, and I don't expect someone to research something to death so that we're almost overwhelmed by the amount of information being presented to us.  I know it was intended to lay down some jokes, but it just came across as a mess to me.  

Kevin Smith's movies always felt like the movies that friends in Junior High make with their dad's camera.  Just a bunch of dirty jokes, inside jokes, the same people playing the same roles, but with different names.  I liked Clerks because it had a student film feel, and wondered how he'd progress as a filmmaker.  I also find myself laughing at a few of the ideas throughout it (The Personal Politics of Construction Workers, The pregame Gatorade discussion, and the general idea of the movie).  Chasing Amy did show growth (then again, pretty much anything's growth from Mallrats).  I really liked what a dirty, somewhat taboo subject it was, and it addressed it in a very brash fashion.

I tried to like Mallrats, only to find out it was aiming for his lowest, worst jokes (that is until Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).  Dogma was OK, but nothing to really remember and recommend to friends.  Then Jay and Silent Bob which was Kevin Smith masturbating through a camera.

Dare I address Jersey Girl? No.  Because I didn't see it, and I don't really plan on it.  I might see Clerks 2, if a bunch of friends go and it's early in the day so I don't have to pay as much, but Kevin Smith's career was a quick tailspin downward as we found out that he showed some potential with Clerks and decided to go away from the writing and focus more on second rate Z-grade comedy jokes.

I'm sure he made Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back as a premonition to safeguard himself from being blasted online.  "If I make the movie about making a shitty movie and getting harassed online, it'll show the ultimate struggle I've been through trying to please my audience."

I acknowledge that he's doing what he wants instead of what is totally expected of him (Most Kevin Smith fans I know cite Jersey Girl as horrible) but I can also see him doing things that he knows are failsafe like Clerks 2.

He makes Clerks, fucks up with Mallrats, he makes Chasing Amy, fucks up with Dogma, he fucks up with Jay and Silent Bob, he waaay fucks up with Jersey Girl.  He would have to hope that titling this The Passion of the Clerks may confuse some ticket buyers and trick them into giving him more money.

I'm embarassed that i used to be a Kevin Smith fan.  I was young, immature, and thought Kevin Smith was "smart."  

well, i grew up.  i still think i like clerks, but i haven't seen in it 2-3 years.

don't be embarrassed.  everybody used to like kevin smith.  some people still do.

I never did.

I thought he said he was done with Jay and Silent Bob?  I was hoping he'd do something interesting after JSBSB but he does an average rom-com (which I liked, but wouldn't watch again) and a Clerks sequel?

Maybe the entire thing will have a Kevin Smith Peekaboo.

Quote from: modagedon't be embarrassed.  everybody used to like kevin smith.  some people still do.

Chasing Amy is a fine work, but I'm so glad I never grew up to his films. Tarantino as well.

Also, thanks to JB. His criticism of Clerks is the one I've been trying to articulate forever.

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet

Quote from: modagedon't be embarrassed.  everybody used to like kevin smith.  some people still do.

i used to like kevin smith but i also liked eating play-doe.  both are not good for you.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewaskew.com%2Fkevin%2Fwanda.jpg&hash=5b2091d902c3fcc620d206b5f79da1ead63378e9)

Is that Earthquake?

The last Smith film I saw was Clerks, earlier this year.  The only other film of his I'd want to rewatch is Chasing Amy.

Now that I think about it, it might not be such a bad idea to make this movie if Smith has something new to say about the characters, about a decade later.  They're obviously still working crappy jobs, and Dante, if not Randall, will probably be more bitter about his life at this point.  If its more of the same, what's the point?

I saw some of An Evening with Kevin Smith in one of my classes and he was very funny.  I wish he'd put some of that humor into his films.  In hindsight, I too don't really find his films all that funny, except for JSBSB, which was fun for one viewing.

Quote from: Jeremy BlackmanI have a friend who likes Kevin Smith and wants to buy a Ford Focus.

fixed

Quote from: POZER!

Quote from: Jeremy BlackmanI have a friend who likes Kevin Smith and wants to buy a Ford Focus.

fixed

Come on... just because he's a pussy doesn't mean he's FIXED.  Show a little sensitivity, bro.

Look on the bright side, Wanda Sykes in this!

Quote from: shnorffLook on the bright side, Wanda Sykes in this!

Passion of the Clerks is no Curb.

David Lynch, guest director?

http://www.clerks2.com/movies/DL.mov

dumb

Quote from: matt35mm on December 01, 2005, 02:25:42 PM
dumb

Tarantino & Rodriguez Peep Clerks 2
Kevin Smith gets filmmakers' opinions.

It appears Clerks 2, for the most part, is in the can – at least the first version of it. That being the case, director Kevin Smith felt it was time to get an outsider's opinion. So, about a week ago, he showed his "follow-up" to his friends Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City).

Says Smith, "My whole philosophy is like, we'll keep them in their seats and give them laughs before we put the movie on them. It's trust the movie."

"You have a built-in poignancy to this one that you didn't have in the first one," says Tarantino. "Just the first image of [Dante] coming out of the car to open up the Quick Stop, and you realize he's still there. You chuckle in awe."
 
What you have to do now is head on over to Clerks2.com. Their new video diary, entitled The Good, the Bad and the Man, catches Smith, Tarantino and Rodriquez right after the screening, offering their opinions. Rodriquez also explains to Smith his process of tightening a film.

Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks is expected to hit theaters later this year.

That video is basically worthless. You've got two guys not really giving any concrete criticisms, just trying to be nice. I mean, maybe it was great, but when Rodriguez says it was great, it doesn't sound genuine. And Tarantino acted like he just Clerks yesterday. I know it was edited for spoilers, but Tarantino seemed to be stuck on the introduction of the film, and only gave one idea for improvement (the dumb title card gag).

http://www.clerks2blog.com/teaser/large.html

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thurrock.gov.uk%2Fenvironment%2Fimages%2Fthumbsdown.jpg&hash=1e3f4c47ca3957d9737d4819480eef074b997888)

Quote from: Kevin Smith on 2/12/04
-This isn't gonna be a cameo-heavy affair, a'la "Strike Back." The only returning characters are Dante and Randal, and Jay and Silent Bob.

- This isn't gonna be a star-studded affair. The biggest names in the cast are gonna be Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, and Jason Mewes.

now count the stars/cameos JUST in the trailer. 

http://www.clerks2blog.com/teaser/large.html

I have a confession.  :oops:  I don't hate Kevin Smith (despite Magnolia-gate) and have no real gripes with any of his films except for Jersey Girl; they are what they are. 

But even I think this is going to be bad. 

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mtv.com%2Fshared%2Fpromoimages%2Fmovies%2Fs%2Fsmith_kevin%2Fsundance_06%2F180x180.jpg&hash=58c11d41c95cbd0eec6747737b48f01371d6f685)
Kevin Smith Vows 'Clerks 2' Language, Content Ups The Ante Of The Original 'A Hundredfold'
No nudity, no graphic violence and 'no way it gets an R' the director says of the sequel to his indie classic.
Source: MTV News

PARK CITY, UTAH — Loyalists swear by the movement he spearheaded with the help of his foot soldiers; others wonder why he still has a job. His common-man persona and disarming grin might be masking a brilliant mind, or he might be as simplistic as his detractors insist. Now, he has returned for a second term that's shaping up as even more controversial than the first.

No, Kevin Smith isn't the president — although the polarizing figures have more in common than one might think. As the famously indie writer/director made the rounds at the Sundance Film Festival to support "Small Town Gay Bar," a documentary he executive produced, Smith admitted with some trepidation that his next mission could go disastrously wrong if he's rushing into a battle that can't be won.

Still, in the form of the upcoming sequel to his breakthrough 1994 comedy he claimed to have substantial weapons of crass production at his disposal.

" 'Clerks 2' came out phenomenally, and I couldn't be happier with it," the bearded, not-so-silent Bob said. "We were really hoping to come to Sundance with it this year, which would have been great because it's the 25th anniversary of Sundance, and it would have been the only sequel to a Sundance film to ever play at Sundance. Then Harvey Weinstein — the chairman of The Weinstein Company, who we produced the movie with — said, 'No, we want to go to Cannes instead.' "

"The movie itself is kind of a look at what happens when the angry young man enters his thirties. The movie is primarily set in a fast-food joint, but it has so little to do with working in a fast-food joint."

"Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, who played Dante and Randall in 'Clerks,' are back and Jason Mewes and I play Jay and Silent Bob," Smith continued. "Ben Affleck showed up for a day. Jason Lee came in for a day. Wanda Sykes came in for a day. There's a guy named Earthquake, this really funny comedian, and Kevin Wiseman, who plays Marshall on 'Alias,' he came in."

"There's this kid in the movie, Trevor Fehrman, who's really funny," Smith said. "I think he's gonna pop in a really big way off this film. Rosario Dawson's in the movie; she's one of the main characters. My wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, is in the movie," he laughed. "So for a movie that's about two dudes, it's got a really well-rounded cast."

Although some vocal fans and film purists have expressed their displeasure with the revisiting of, arguably, a classic, Smith insists that by moving Dante and Randal to the fast-food industry, he simultaneously moved his own game to the next level.

"It's my favorite of all the movies I've ever done," Smith said of the sequel. "It used to be that 'Chasing Amy' was my favorite, but this has supplanted 'Chasing Amy.' 'Clerks' was what it felt like to be in my twenties, but 'Clerks 2' is what it feels like to be in my thirties. A portrait of that. It's about how people have to struggle to grow out of a role that they've filled for the better part of their adult life. It's really poignant, but it's insanely funny."

As with previous flicks, such as "Clerks," "Dogma" and "Amy," the New Jersey auteur intends to balance the aforementioned seriousness with his bread-and-butter: "di-- and fart jokes."

"We're not even going to rate it — we're going to go out unrated," Smith declared defiantly. "If we put it in front of the ratings board they'd be like, 'You're insane. We have to create a new rating for that.' "
 
Even more noteworthy, however, is that the boundary-busting film is devoid of the nudity or graphic violence that typically pushes the NC-17 envelope. Instead, when these clerks say "I assure you, we're open" this summer, the phrase will likely be peppered with even more four-letter words than the original.

"I've never been a nudity dude," Smith insisted. "We did nudity once, in 'Mallrats,' and it was just such an uncomfortable thing to shoot. Anybody can get somebody to take their clothes off. 'Clerks' was a movie that the MPAA gave an NC-17 for language and content alone. This movie ups the ante by a hundred-fold, and there's just no way it gets an R."

As for everybody's favorite drug-selling, adventure-seeking, bootchie-snoochin' duo, Smith says that they've grown up — so much so, in fact, that they've gone from grade-school humor to something closer to junior high.

"Jay and Silent Bob in 'Clerks 2' have about as much, if not less, screen time than they had in 'Clerks," Smith revealed, "but it's a different Jay and Silent Bob, a slightly more mature Jay and Silent Bob."

"Slightly," he laughed, after a moment. "Ever so slightly."

Quote from: modage on January 29, 2006, 10:28:39 AM
"I've never been a nudity dude," Smith insisted. "We did nudity once, in 'Mallrats,' and it was just such an uncomfortable thing to shoot. Anybody can get somebody to take their clothes off.

That's easier than typing curse words into your computer?

'Clerks II': Growth and gross-outs

Director Kevin Smith's sequel to his groundbreaking Clerks is a coming-of-age story for guys in their 30s who never grew up.

The first film, which came out in 1994, was a homemade, grainy, black-and-white chronicle of one slacker's daylong shift of misery at a tiny convenience store that became a cultural touchstone for Generation X and inspired a wave of do-it-yourself filmmakers.

Clerks II, set for release this fall, picks up more than a decade later with the two cashier-jockeys from the 1994 original: sweet-but-stagnated Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and his insult-spewing friend Randal (Jeff Anderson).

A calamity at their shops sends them looking for new horizons - but they ultimately settle at Mooby's, a fictional Disney-McDonald's-style fast-food empire.

Not exactly a promotion.

"I've got nothing to say about fast food," director Smith says during an exclusive USA TODAY visit to the yellow and purple restaurant he's using as a set. "But I've got everything to say about getting past that period of life where you've been one person for 10 or 15 years and suddenly you have to change."

Free from his dead-end job (and lodged in a new one), Dante begins to break free of his rut, planning to move away with his clingy fiance, played by Smith's wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, who used to work for USA TODAY. Dante is ready to leave the horrors of minimum-wage New Jersey behind, but Randal - always the more hostile of the two - starts to become overwhelmed by his own rancor.

"I wanted to see what happened to the characters when they lost their center point," Smith says, sitting on the creaky merry-go-round outside the restaurant building they've co-opted for the shoot. "It opened up a world for Dante. He met somebody, fell in love and got engaged, then he met somebody else (the restaurant manager, played by Rosario Dawson). He reacted well to the outside world, while Randal just got more closed up and scared and angrier.

"The whole flick comes down to whether or not the two of them can reach a compromise of some sort," Smith adds. "It really comes down to the choice a friend makes for another friend."

The writer/director, speaking as a giant fiberglass cartoon cow stares from the restaurant roof, calls it a series of love stories.

But Clerks II is so audaciously raunchy - one scene is sure to challenge the squeamishness of even the most ardent gross-out comedy fan - that Smith says the film may ultimately make its debut unrated, even if that restricts its availability at some theaters. (Clerks initially was rated NC-17 for its frank talk, but on appeal, it got an R.)

Smith's screen alter ego, the trench-coated drug dealer Silent Bob, and his oversexed "hetero life mate" Jay (Jason Mewes) also return for the sequel, still hanging around, but no longer using - a reflection of Mewes' sobriety after fighting drug addiction, and a sign that even Smith's most cartoonish characters grow and change.

"This is talking about the movie in far loftier terms than most people ever will," says Smith, whose script relies heavily on sex and gross-out jokes.

"In terms of the edginess of the humor, I don't think we've ever gone this far before," the director says. "People who are really critical of us and dismiss us for making (dirty-joke) pictures: They're right, they're not wrong. But at the same time, that's not all we do."

Did anybody see best week ever? 

one of the guys on the show made a short film and took it to sundance and showed it to people. he showed it to kevin smith and kevin smith said something like this, "now if you showed me this three years ago i would have said this sucked.  but then i made jersey girl, so i'm in no position to criticize."  kinda funny. i love how while he was making the movie he talked about how proud he was and now he's completely taking it all back.  kinda like with mallrats.

i think deep down he's still proud of it. he's just kind of making fun of himself to a fan base that hated him for that flick.

http://www.clerks2.com/trailer/index.html

looks like basic instinct 2 is set to have tough competition in the next years razzies.

I don't even see how Kevin Smith fans can possibly think this looks good.

Quote from: Garam on April 03, 2006, 03:12:38 PM
I don't even see how Kevin Smith fans can possibly think this looks good.

it's about them.

all two of them.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clerks2.com%2Ftrailer%2Fimages%2Fcollage.jpg&hash=6876c0147a74498464a7718aedeadf6919ee9591)(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fentimg.msn.com%2Fi%2F150%2FNews%2FJune05%2FColdplay_ChrisMartin_150x2001.JPG&hash=8767618a93acc43e28d4ae7cb34c044a9f71a8f4)

that guy's face got so weird

that's all i can think about when i see this

does anybody else know what the hell i'm talking about?  his face is so goddamned weird now and i can't put my finger on it

Quote from: sickfins on April 04, 2006, 10:46:06 AM
that guy's face got so weird

that's all i can think about when i see this

does anybody else know what the hell i'm talking about?  his face is so goddamned weird now and i can't put my finger on it

Are you talking about the one who looks like Mickey Rourke or that Jay looks 50 years old now?

Jay looks like a woman.

Jay looks like Ann Coulter.

Quote from: cronopio on April 04, 2006, 12:40:43 AM
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clerks2.com%2Ftrailer%2Fimages%2Fcollage.jpg&hash=6876c0147a74498464a7718aedeadf6919ee9591)

the guy on the very left...his face, i just...i can't---someone explain it to me

Quote from: sickfins on April 04, 2006, 10:12:03 PM

Quote from: cronopio on April 04, 2006, 12:40:43 AM
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clerks2.com%2Ftrailer%2Fimages%2Fcollage.jpg&hash=6876c0147a74498464a7718aedeadf6919ee9591)

the guy on the very left...his face, i just...i can't---someone explain it to me

um...he's aged ten years?

it's that messed up goate he has. but the second face is the one that worries me the most. is he about to barf? are they all getting oral sex?
very obnoxious mugshots. they induce to vomit.
shame on you, rosario dawson.  :yabbse-angry:

i'm pretty sure that part of the goatee from his chin to his lip is shifted to the left.   Plus, everything from the eyes above looks like a Goodfellas-era Ray Liotta. 

i think this is new: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLvhJ0m5ask

i mean, i know i posted one a page ago, and it has a link to this one now, and isnt given a new name, so maybe i'm crazy, but.... i think this is new.

Clerks II New Release Date
Counter culture to return in July.

It's official... The Weinstein Company announced today that they'll release Kevin Smith's Clerks II on July 21st. The new release date moves the "follow up" (as Kevin prefers to call it) almost a full month forward from it's initial August 18th date.

Today, via Myspace, Kevin writes it's "a ballsy move that says "F*** you: we're a five million dollar flick and we're coming out in the f****** middle of the summer, bitches!" So, why the move? "Getting into Cannes changed everything."

Bestiality Film: 8 Minute Cannes Ovation

Spoilers Warning! 

Maybe you remember "Clerks," the hilarious indie film that put director Kevin Smith on the map more than a decade ago. Since then, he's brought us some good ones ("Chasing Amy"), some that are controversial ("Dogma") and some that are only for the faithful ("Jersey Girl," "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back").

Last night Smith returned to form in a post-midnight premiere of "Clerks 2," the long awaited sequel that reunites the still unknown stars of the first film and adds the delightful Rosario Dawson to the mix. The result was a huge eight minute standing ovation in the Claude DeBussy Theater in the Palais at 2 a.m. Saturday.

And this was despite the fact that the film -- hilarious, moving and shocking -- is simultaneously a meditation on friendship, aging and bestiality. Yes, you read that correctly. Much is made of a well-dressed donkey that is forced into interspecies commingling with its owner as part of an after-hours going away party in a fast food restaurant called Mooby's. The movie has an R rating, and the donkey may be featured in a For Your Consideration ad in Variety next winter.

Besides the donkey, "Clerks 2" also features extended cameos by Jason Lee and Wanda Sykes, a walk-on from Ben Affleck, and of course Smith himself as his long-running character Silent Bob with partner Jason Mewes as Jay. The clerks of the title are still played by longtime-Smith-pals Jeff Anderson (Randall) and Brian O'Halloran (Dante); Smith's real-life wife, Jennifer, is featured as Dante's clueless fiancée Emma.


This is good news for The Weinstein Company, which will have a huge summer hit. Smith is one of their franchise players, coming from the original—real—Miramax.

The premise of "Clerks 2" is pretty simple. The Quick Stop where Randall and Dante have been clerks since we last saw them in 1994 burns down, and the pair—now in their 30s—move over to Mooby's where Dante has had a one-night stand on the prep table with the manager (Dawson). Before finding out that she's pregnant, Dante makes plans to move away with Emma. Silent Bob and Jay move their dope peddling from the Quick Stop to Mooby's as well, and Randall plans the Donkey Show for Dante. It's that simple, and no, it's no "Da Vinci Code," that's for sure.

But fans of Smith—who are legion—as well as teens in general and the college crowd, are going to adore "Clerks 2," which was originally titled "The Passion of the Clerks." In the middle of all this nuttiness and "Animal House" inspired moments (the poor donkey is certainly the cinematic descendant of the dead horse in the dean's office), Smith has crafted a nifty little tale of friends who love each other—as they say over and over, not in the gay way—but realize their extended adolescence must finally come to an end.

What's really amazing about "Clerks 2" is that it works at all. The first "Clerks" was a cult hit, and unlike with say John Sayles's "The Return of the Secaucus Seven," the actors never went on to anything other than recurring in Smith's world. To find them not only picking up where they left off, but also making the whole thing work again, is quite an achievement. A lot of it has to do with Dawson, who is so natural, appealing, and evolved as Becky that she pulls the whole enterprise together.

Special mention, by the way, has to go to Jason Mewes. Unlike his cohorts, he's managed to get some other roles in the recent past in some great unseen B or C movies that are either already on DVD or simply can't be sold. In "Bottom's Up," his biggest one, he co-stars with our friend Paris Hilton, whose own "House of Wax" and "Pledge This" would have benefited from having a donkey as well.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197269,00.html#1

***

Smith On Cannes

Last night, we debuted "Clerks II" at the Cannes Film Festival.

WireImage.com's pics of the cast/crew arrival at the Palais, as well as pics from pre-and-post show.

With all the vitriol surrounding some of the press screenings of flicks there this year, I was pretty terrified "Clerks II", also, might be greeted by a chorus of French Boos (and I ain't talking about champagne).

However, after last night, I say "VIVA LA FRANCE!"

When the flick ended and the credits started rolling, a standing ovation began that lasted a full eight minutes. It was surreal and wonderful, and it just kept going and going. I looked to Harvey (Weinstein, our boss), that old Cannes war-horse, to see if the cast and I should start heading out of the theater: as it was two in the morning and the applause wasn't showing any signs of stopping. But from two aisles back, he responded with a waving "No" finger at me, mouthing the words "Don't move." So we all stayed put.

By the time the credits ended, I figured the audience was done applauding as well.

But they weren't.

They just kept on clapping. And thankfully, not only did Zack and Joey get the whole thing on tape to prove it all happened (watch for it in a new "Train Wreck" video blog, up this weekend), but Roger Friedman over at Fox411 was there was well, documenting what I have to say was one of the twenty most amazing moments of my life.

Read Roger's Piece, "Clerks II Delights Cannes", right here. But be warned: it also contains a very positive review of the flick that gives away some major plot points. SPOILERS ABOUND!

(Added 5/28: Britain's Empire Magazine runs a sort-of review of "Clerks II"...)

The applause finally stopped after eight minutes. Harvey was over the moon about it. "In my thirty years of coming here, I've never seen a standing ovation last that long at a midnight show in Cannes," he said. "Ever."

En route to the theater, I prayed that the notoriously fickle Cannes' audience wouldn't boo the flick. During the screening, I prayed that the film would keep playing as gang-busters as it had been playing up 'til that point, and that the audience stayed with us, rather than succumb to mid-flick naps. After the screening, I started praying that I never forget that insanely special moment that I shared with Jeff, Brian, Rosario, Mos and Jen - when time seemed to stand still, and at the world's most famous film festival, we all stared wide-eyed (and wider-smiled) at a room-full of cats staring back at us (with equally wide smiles and palms cooked red from non-stop applause) who really, really "got" what we were trying to communicate with "Clerks II".

Life comes down to a few major moments. Last night was definitely one of them.

"Clerks II" - July 21, in theaters everywhere.

http://www.viewaskew.com/theboard/viewtopic.php?p=1574229

***

:shock:

if you're up at 2am watching a kevin smith movie, bestiality is probably what you're into anyway.

"only for the faithful" is an awesome euphemism for "shit." i'm stealing it.

Quote from: Hedwig on June 03, 2006, 11:00:35 AM
"only for the faithful" is an awesome euphemism for "shit." i'm stealing it.

sorry.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xixax.com%2Fheader_words%2Fonlyfaithful.jpg&hash=d083e8179f253e655b7ab753c24ed0bac78d39de)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aintitcool.com%2Fimages2006%2Fsmdandrposter.jpg&hash=64af8471dfb59603378cdd90ec0c55eb961e9e36)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aintitcool.com%2Fimages2006%2Fsmjandbposter.jpg&hash=f294f04928c655ae190b20da7607808f1dee1900)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aintitcool.com%2Fimages2006%2Fsmbeckposter.jpg&hash=fd367fde8b2f4f71d741ffab5ce62fd15bcec426)

either rosario plays a dominatrix with a dislocated shoulder, or that's not her actual body.

Kevin Smith Needs Your Help

Kevin Smith's films have not exactly been burning through the box office of late, although until Jersey Girl most of them could be (and were) viewed as modest successes by Smith and his fans. This means he needs either a good box office return or a great critical reception in the manner of Chasing Amy  -- preferably both -- for his upcoming Clerks 2. To help with this goal, Smith has been inducting his fans into a personal marketing team, creating a contest to get the word out on his latest theatrical release. The deal is this: fans are to post Clerks 2 banners (which link back to the film's website) in every possible internet forum available to them: MySpace, websites, forums, message boards, etc. The fan who gets his banner in the most unique and/or impressive location will receive a guaranteed on-camera appearance in the very next View Askew film. Nine runners up will also get some manner of swag.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clerks2.com%2Fmyspace%2Fjuly21myspace.jpg&hash=b85c2f3e6c710f4e33900c2dcb28c1f0643be7d8) (http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=1857.0)

Back to mining the store
Kevin Smith has come full circle, picking up where 'Clerks' left off 12 years ago. Will it brand him a boy wonder also-ran or a comeback king?
By Mark Olsen, Special to The Times

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fmedia%2Fphoto%2F2006-07%2F24384080.jpg&hash=06fa55780f17b8660741f33aea99c75d011beda8)

THE opening credits of "Clerks II" feature a travelogue montage of suburbia, as a song by Talking Heads gently croons, "Years ago I was an angry young man." The same might be said of writer and director Kevin Smith. Since bursting onto the scene 12 years ago with the first "Clerks" — a rowdy, melancholy-laced comedy about dead-end jobs financed largely on credit cards — and over the course of six more features, Smith has become a curiously divisive figure, somehow symbolizing tremendous success and total failure.

His notoriously dedicated fan base, feverishly reciting quotes and rabidly buying up his merchandise, sees him as a regular guy made good. Critics, by and large, have come to see him as self-satisfied and lazy. Coming off the critical and commercial implosion of his previous film, "Jersey Girl," which was a conscious attempt at making a more conventional mainstream movie, Smith finds himself back where he started. Though it may be easy to dismiss the dour reception of "Jersey Girl" as simply a part of the backlash against the tabloid romance of its stars, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, there is certainly more to it than that, as the film exposed cracks in the foundation of Smith's work.

As if to encapsulate the rather uncertain position Smith now occupies in the Hollywood landscape, HBO's insider comedy "Entourage" recently dropped Smith's name (alongside Michael Bay, no less) as shorthand for sloppy, soulless filmmaking. By reviving the characters from his first feature in "Clerks II," Smith now takes stock of his emotional life in his mid-30s in the same way "Clerks" surveyed his 20s. A freewheeling farce on lack of direction, stillborn ambitions and a life of mindless drudgery has given way to a rueful examination of unfulfilled promises, dashed dreams and the resigned acceptance of one's lot in life.

Though he often projects a demeanor of laid-back affability, there is also a free-floating air of anxiety and discontentment that hovers near Smith as well. He has an astounding recollection of his own bad reviews — hello, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — and exhibits an uncanny knack for diffusing criticism by preemptively turning it into a joke. Over the course of two encounters in the span of a few days, he wore similar-looking athletic jerseys with slogans emblazoned across the back — one read "Hack" and the other "Sell Out."

The first "Clerks" came about during that time just before the Internet (yes, such a time existed), the era of grunge and "Slacker," when many of those upon whom the Gen-X label was being imposed found themselves grappling with a heightened awareness of the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't choices that ambition brings, the inescapable compromises of trying to achieve success on one's own terms. That ambivalence remains very much at the core of Smith's films, as the overarching structures of his work are derived from an essential tension between the rowdy, fan-pleasing trash talk and a searching, yearning need for a deeper emotional resonance. The results are often something like an existential shrug.

"At the end of the day I can only do what I can do," he says. "You read a lot of reviews where people say, 'You should stretch. He should learn to stretch as a filmmaker.' After a dozen years now, don't they get it?

"This is what I do, this is the storyteller I am. Do I let myself off the hook by saying, 'I'm just not that talented?' Probably. But also I think it's important to know your limitations. I've kind of embraced mine. And I've had seven films' worth of practice to figure that out."

As "Clerks II" begins, the convenience store where Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) continued to work has burned to the ground. Both in their mid-30s, they soon find themselves working at one of the few jobs worse than the one they had, at a fast-food restaurant named Mooby's. Dante is planning to move to Florida soon with his fiancée (played by Smith's real-life wife, Jennifer Schwalbach), where her parents will give them a house and a carwash to run and they will live a respectable, regular life. But his escalating infatuation with the manager at Mooby's (the film's secret weapon, Rosario Dawson) makes him rethink his plans. (The film also features, as have all his films except "Jersey Girl," Smith himself as the character of Silent Bob, along with his sidekick, Jay, played by Jason Mewes.)

On a personal level, in the years since his debut feature, Smith, who turns 36 in August, has gotten married, become a father, entered his 30s and moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles. It's not difficult to look at his filmography as chapters in an ongoing autobiography. After the rather crushing fate met by "Jersey Girl," Smith had to really take stock of himself, and he found revisiting the characters of Randal and Dante to be just the way to do it.

"Each flick I've done is kind of a snapshot of where I was in my life when I wrote it; 'Clerks II' really speaks to where I am in life at the moment. You don't have to be an analyst to look at the movie and go, 'The Quick Stop means a little more than the Quick Stop, and Florida represents something more than just going to Florida.' That's kind of where I am. There's definitely something bittersweet about arriving at 'Clerks II.' "

Critic Amy Taubin first heard of "Clerks" after its first screening at New York's Independent Feature Film Market, attended by barely a dozen people. She called Smith directly for a tape, and her subsequent articles on the film in the Village Voice were instrumental in bringing it to the attention of festivals and distributors.

Speaking recently about "Clerks II," Taubin suggested, "Dante's desire to get out of the Quick Stop mirrors Kevin's desire not to be making these raunchy comedies, but how not to do that is not clear to him, just as the next step is not clear to Dante."

More than just a filmmaker

ASIDE from his role as writer-director of feature films, Smith has also created a number of sideline endeavors for himself. He makes appearances on the college lecture circuit, has done a series of spots for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," has written comic books, done various guest spots, co-owns comic book and memorabilia stores in New Jersey and Los Angeles and, perhaps most important, has an extremely active and direct role online in a circle of Internet sites. The websites allow him to interact with a broad swath of fans, sell merchandise and, as with the case of "Clerks II," heavily promote his upcoming releases.

Smith recently co-published the first in a series of graphic novel prequels to Richard Kelly's feature film "Southland Tales," a futuristic fable of the apocalypse starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and The Rock. At a recent signing event, Smith showed just how deep his commitment to and connection with his fans goes. He patiently listened as fans told him about themselves, he posed for pictures, he talked to people's friends on their cellphones, and never hurried a single one. If things are moving toward a niche-oriented, long-tail model of cultural consumption, Smith already has self-created and corralled his piece of the niche.

"Kevin is incredibly savvy when it comes to marketing," Kelly says. "Part of preserving your auteur status, preserving your vision and continuing to make films the way you want to is developing an identity, a fan base and an audience that will always be there for you. I think Kevin has done that, and he's able to make exactly the films he wants to make."

Of course, this can lead to the dispiriting sense of a filmmaker "playing to the base," in the lexicon of contemporary politics, most obviously in Smith's in-joke heavy "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." For those who "want more" from Smith, feel that he is given to coasting and could easily develop into a more well-rounded and conventionally mature filmmaker and storyteller, his sidebar endeavors on the Web and as an all-round entertainer-entrepreneur could be seen as distractions standing in the way of him developing his true gifts.

"I don't buy that," interjected author John Pierson, a longtime fixture in the independent film community who was involved in the early careers of such diverse filmmakers as Smith, Richard Linklater, Spike Lee and Michael Moore. "He's made seven features in 12 years. Which, if you look at everybody else's track record, their production frequency, he's ahead of David O. Russell or Quentin Tarantino or plenty of other people."

Full of scatological humor, riffs on pop culture and inside jokes, "Clerks II" can be seen on the surface as the bawdy comedy Smith was trying to get away from when he made "Jersey Girl." He insists, however, that if examined more closely, it is just the kind of film many critics wanted from him, one that aims to synthesize the dueling sides of his personality, what he calls "the profane and the profound." Toward the end of the film, Randal makes a confession to Dante of his own fears and insecurities that is as heartbreaking as it is unexpected.

"I think the way it catches you off guard is that this actually is very moving," suggests Taubin. "It is a very big part of Kevin's talent. There's a thing about humor — it can be extremely defensive, it's a way of keeping your cool. And I think he uses humor in this way, and sometimes the veil, the comedy, falls away and you see there's something going on underneath.

"When he doesn't do that, that's when he gets maudlin like in 'Jersey Girl.' He so desperately wanted to do something that wasn't what he thinks of as broad comedy that it's like he forgot how to write. I think in Kevin himself, he realized that what most of his films depend on is a kind of desperately held-onto adolescent humor, that refusal to grow up and be mature. That's what's best about him."

He is, in a strange way, grateful for the failure of "Jersey Girl," even thanking it in the end credits to "Clerks II," as it puts him in the same position he was in after "Mallrats," a period that led to two of his best-regarded films, "Chasing Amy" and "Dogma." To say that Smith seems trapped by his own successes might not be entirely accurate, but it doesn't seem far off, either.

"There's something to be said for failing," he noted dryly. "It's not the failure you feel, it's the failure that people project when something disappoints. You're back to ground zero, where there's no expectations, and that's where I like to be. People like to set the bar high. I like to put the bar on the ground and barely step over it. I like to keep the expectations really low.

"After something like 'Mallrats' or 'Jersey Girl,' the expectations are in the toilet. People are like, 'He's over, he's done.' So it's easier to be, like, 'Ta-da, I'm not.' It's a much more comfortable place to work from. When you have an escalating career, and every time you have to outdo yourself, I couldn't handle that kind of pressure. But having to outdo 'Jersey Girl'? Not very difficult."

'Good Morning America' film critic Joel Siegel walked out of a Monday night press screening of 'Clerks II' just 40 minutes into the movie, telling others as he left:

    "Time to go! First movie I've walked out of in 30 fucking years!"

Siegel later told Page Six:

    "It was so foul and mean and repulsive. I finally realized I could not say anything positive ... I wasn't ready for this kind of smut ... I hope he doesn't make any more movies."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Smith responds on myspace. The results are not funny.

Quote from: squints on July 19, 2006, 10:29:12 AM
Kevin Smith responds on myspace. The results are not funny.

Said myspace response.  This has the makings for another Gallo/Ebert, except, you know, not as good.  And it's funny that he quotes PTA in this but that's a different thread.



A Dick in a Mustache is Still Just a Dick

So last night, at a press screening of "Clerks II" in New York City, "Good Morning America" movie critic Joel Siegel decided he'd had enough of my shenanigans, and walked out of the flick at the forty minute mark. You'd imagine this would bother me, and yet, I'm as delighted by this news as I was with the eight minute standing ovation "Clerks II" received in Cannes.

I mean, it's Joel Siegel, for Christ's sake. As Paul Thomas Anderson once said of the man, getting a bad review from Siegel is like a badge of honor. This is the guy who stole his mustachioed critic shtick from Gene Shalit years ago, and still refuses to give it back. This is a guy who seemingly prides himself on being "punny" - that is, he likes to add his own nyuk-nyuk wordplay into the reviews he writes/gives.

For "Pirates 2", he made us all titter with "Yo, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Fun".

For Pixar's lastest, he made us squeal with delight when he wrote "Wheelie Good Time for 'Cars'".

Can you believe he somehow not only made us laugh, but also think, when he challenged our perception with "X-Men' Fails to X-cite"?

I mean, Fozzy fucking Bear laughs at this guy (AT, mind you, not WITH).

So while I feel like my life will be a little bleaker now that I'll never know what pun Joel would've dug deeply into his comedic well to produce for "Clerks II" ("'Clerks II?' More like 'Jerks, Too'!"), I've gotta admit that I'm relieved somebody was finally offended by the flick - enough to head for the exit less than an hour in. I was beginning to think I was losing my touch.

I can't fault Mr. Siegel for feeling "revolted" (his producer's description of Joel's reaction) by our flick; in truth, there is a donkey show in it, and I recognize that brand of whimsy might not be for everybody. Film appreciation is very subjective, and maybe Joel just isn't into ass-to-mouth conversations.

However, I CAN fault him for the manner in which he left the screening.

Apparently, rather than quietly exit, both Joel and his Cum-Catcher (my slang for the fancy kind of mustache he sports) made a big stink about walking out, calling as much attention to himself as possible, and being generally pretty disruptive.

Check this shit out: roughly forty minutes into the flick, when Randal orders up the third act donkey show, Siegel bellowed to his fellow critics "Time to go!'' and "This is the first movie I've walked out of in 30 fucking years!''

Now, I don't need Joel Siegel to suck my dick the way he apparently sucks M. Night's, gushing over his flick before he's even seen it; but shit, man - how about a little common fucking courtesy?
Never mind the fact that when you're paid to watch movies for a living and the only tasks required of you are to a) sit through said movies and b) write your thoughts about them before your deadline, walking out before a movie's over is pretty unprofessional. Never mind the fact that the scene he was offended by (the ordering of the donkey show), with its (misleading) crude references is only the set-up to a third act pay-off that is a true bait-and-switch from where Joel's imagination went (and if you've already seen the flick, you KNOW what I'm talking about). Never mind that this dude is so straight-laced in his tastes and hyperbolic in his praise that when The Onion took a poke at Joel, I was almost unsure whether it was a joke or not...

You never... NEVER disrupt a movie, simply because you don't like it.

Cardinal rule of movie-going: shut your fucking mouth while the movie's playing. They even ask you to do so in the pre-show run-up to every flick ("Cell phones and pagers off, no talking during the show"). This guy went beyond talking, even; he was making a spectacle of himself as he left. I've now spoken to three folks in attendance last night, and all have said that Siegel WANTED everyone to know how disgusted he was, and that he was leaving. If you want to share your displeasure with everyone, that's fine, dude; just do it AFTER the movie, not during. Some folks were enjoying themselves. I don't come down to your job and slap the taste out of your mouth for coming up with a line like "'Shark Tale' Is a Halibut Good Time"; so don't fuck with my stuff WHILE IT'S STILL SCREENING.

Shit, Joel, I know you like being on camera and all, but was it so difficult to not be the center of attention for 40 minutes that you just had to sparkle, Neely, sparkle-it up for your peers instead of showing them a little goddamn courtesy by leaving the theater the way most people do, either during or after the picture: quietly? What are you, a twelve year old boy, cutting loose with your pals at a Friday night screening of "Scary Movie 4" while your parents are in a theater down the hall watching "The Devil Wears Prada"? Leave the diva-like behavior and drama-queen antics to the movie stars, not the movie reviewer, ya' rude-ass prick.

It makes me laugh to think that, had Joel stayed 'til the end (like any good critic would for any movie they're paid to watch), he would've seen that we weren't going where he seemed to think we were going. But apparently, Joel took a cue from his own "Poseiden" review, in which he wrote "Audiences today wouldn't stand for an hour of exposition before the flood hit. In fact, they wouldn't stand; they'd walk out." Well, Magnum (y'know - because of the mustache), I guess you're a member of that same audience that can't stand exposition.

Look, I don't hate the guy. Shit, I'm glad he survived his fairly recent bout with cancer. But his behavior in that screening was unconscionable and professionally unethical, not to mention childishly disruptive. And while I might get laughed at for saying this... well, I just expected more from Joel Siegel.

*sigh*

dude he's so corny.  he's like an airplane food comedian.

It isn't so brave to take potshots at Joel Siegel.  Its like kicking a quadraplegic.

Quote from: Ravi on July 19, 2006, 11:50:36 AM
Its like kicking a quadraplegic.

stop it you're turning me on.

from Kevin Smith's myspace page...

Me vs. Joel Siegel! Live! On the radio! Listen here!

So while on the Opie and Anthony Show this morning, the guys called Joel "Mr. Mustache" Siegel himself, who got on the phone to discuss his disruptive "Clerks II" walk-out from Monday night's press screening. What follows is pretty fucking entertaining radio and a fascinating insight into the hubris that comes with being the "punny" movie critic on "Good Morning America".

http://www.viewaskew.com/kevin/joelsiegel.mp3

Quote from: modage on July 19, 2006, 10:32:28 PM
Me vs. Joel Siegel! Live! On the radio! Listen here!

i heard that radio clip but i wish i hadn't. i don't see how anything could possibly beat that this year. that's by far the lamest, most pathetic, embarassing thing i've heard in a long time, including ratner's quotes and recent bush speeches. it was almost sickening. smith whines, he doesn't "confront" him, he just bitches like a defensive little pansy, LONG after siegel apologizes. of course, siegel comes off as lame too, but he's the easily offended prude critic so it's expected. smith is the 'edgy offensive comedian' (not really, but he'd like to think so) so it comes off as especially hypocritical when he rails against wimpy little siegel for the way he left the theatre, then stoops to a truly astonishing level of lameness when he actually criticizes siegel's childish use of the "f-word."

it's so obvious smith is trying to make an exciting battle out of this when there's just nothing there. this is not gallo and ebert. this is just two worthless unfunny jerks. obviously i'm already familiar with smith's lameness, his posting on rottentomatoes, gossiping about pta, making lame movies and being generally corny and stupid. but with this clip, he somehow managed to become even lamer. i didn't think it was possible.

No publicity is bad publicity, especially when you're trying to gross more than $30 million on your movie.

Quote from: hackspaced on July 20, 2006, 08:56:19 AM
No publicity is bad publicity, especially when you're trying to gross more than $30 million on your movie.

yeah yeah, and no kevin smith goes unpunished.

oh
my
god

fucking god.

Quote from: cronopio on July 20, 2006, 11:06:54 PM
oh
my
god

fucking god.

Go on...

Tobias Funke says: Douche-taillll!

Quote from: Ultrahip on July 21, 2006, 12:30:16 AM
Tobias Funke says: Douche-taillll!chill!

Quote from: modage on July 19, 2006, 10:32:28 PM
Me vs. Joel Siegel! Live! On the radio! Listen here!

No one has mentioned the funniest part of the whole thing (which is the only reason to listen to this)... It takes Joel Siegel nine minutes to even realize he's talking to Kevin Smith.

i am now absolutely sure that the worst kind of people in this galaxy are bad losers.

Quote from: Ravi on July 21, 2006, 11:34:28 AM

Quote from: Ultrahip on July 21, 2006, 12:30:16 AM
Tobias Funke says: Douche-taillll!chill!

Wait, really? I've been going around saying "tail" to everyone...

(minor spoiler)
Fuck! I enjoyed this movie. I laughed my ass off during a lot of scenes too.

I guess my sensibilities were touched. I can't remember the last movie that perfectly nailed the pleasure it is to berate the super religious. I hate to say I saw identification in Randall's character, but hell, I felt like a proud man when I was able to get a strict Catholic to get stoned on the job and a Jehova Witness to embrace drugs and drinking. Doing so took months and years of berating and teasing and mocking of every thing they felt was decent and moral, but the corruption was worth it. They now stand as indecent as everyone else does.

All you guys know me as serious, but none of my friends do.

Great film. If Kevin Smith made more View Askewniverse films I'm all for it, but if he were to suddenly just stop, Clerks II is a satisfying conclusion for the View Askewniverse.

The next person who types the phrase "View Askewniverse" onto this board gets punched in the eye.  Just fair warning.  We have to draw the line somewhere.

jesus, i really hated this movie. i cant imagine too many people on this board will like it either considering most everyone here isn't too keen on kevin smith these days. think about everything you hate in a kevin smith movie--it's all in there. even down to the overused "im not even suppposed to be here today" line, a shitty alanis morissette song, and a really sappy ending that everyone and their brother are claiming is poinant and touching. i cant imagine this getting a standing ovation at all, let alone one that lasts 8 minutes. kevin smith should really stop making movies. and if he does continue to make movies, he should stop putting his shitty actress of a wife in them. i dont mean to hate so much, but the movie was just really frustrating to watch. oh, and that so-called extreme donkey sex scene is a pretty big let down. kevin smith is all talk.

Quote from: clerkguy23 on July 22, 2006, 01:50:55 AM
jesus, i really hated this movie. i cant imagine too many people on this board will like it either considering most everyone here isn't too keen on kevin smith these days. think about everything you hate in a kevin smith movie--it's all in there. even down to the overused "im not even suppposed to be here today" line, a shitty alanis morissette song, and a really sappy ending that everyone and their brother are claiming is poinant and touching. i cant imagine this getting a standing ovation at all, let alone one that lasts 8 minutes. kevin smith should really stop making movies. and if he does continue to make movies, he should stop putting his shitty actress of a wife in them. i dont mean to hate so much, but the movie was just really frustrating to watch. oh, and that so-called extreme donkey sex scene is a pretty big let down. kevin smith is all talk.

agreed!  thank you...

Quote from: imawombat on July 22, 2006, 02:03:49 AM

Quote from: clerkguy23 on July 22, 2006, 01:50:55 AM
jesus, i really hated this movie. i cant imagine too many people on this board will like it either considering most everyone here isn't too keen on kevin smith these days. think about everything you hate in a kevin smith movie--it's all in there. even down to the overused "im not even suppposed to be here today" line, a shitty alanis morissette song, and a really sappy ending that everyone and their brother are claiming is poinant and touching. i cant imagine this getting a standing ovation at all, let alone one that lasts 8 minutes. kevin smith should really stop making movies. and if he does continue to make movies, he should stop putting his shitty actress of a wife in them. i dont mean to hate so much, but the movie was just really frustrating to watch. oh, and that so-called extreme donkey sex scene is a pretty big let down. kevin smith is all talk.

agreed!  thank you...

Yes, sensible talk for a movie that has no ambition....but where did you get your name from, Clerkguy23?

Quote from: polkablues on July 22, 2006, 01:13:16 AM
The next person who types the phrase "View Askewniverse" onto this board gets punched in the eye.  Just fair warning.  We have to draw the line somewhere.

View Askewniverse :whip:

View Askewnitard

This movie was somewhere between mediocre and mildly entertaining.  Kevin Smith really does seem like a good guy most of the time... they showed all that stuff he did for Leno before the movie and it was really enjoyable... I just wish he would just do something else.

The drama tried too hard and the comedy was pretty predictable.

QuoteYes, sensible talk for a movie that has no ambition....but where did you get your name from, Clerkguy23?

yes, there was a time when i was a fanboy. but no longer.

Quote from: clerkguy23 on July 22, 2006, 08:55:19 PM

QuoteYes, sensible talk for a movie that has no ambition....but where did you get your name from, Clerkguy23?

yes, there was a time when i was a fanboy. but no longer.

so in only 24 posts you decided to no longer be a fanboy? must be some kind of record.

clerkguy 23 was a fanboy. clerkguy 24 is all growns up.

Quote from: McfLy on July 22, 2006, 08:07:33 AM

Quote from: polkablues on July 22, 2006, 01:13:16 AM
The next person who types the phrase "View Askewniverse" onto this board gets punched in the eye.  Just fair warning.  We have to draw the line somewhere.

View Askewniverse :whip:

Let me kiss that black eye better for you.   :kiss:

I should've seen this instead of Lady In The Water.




Maybe that was a bit irrational.  I should've stayed home.

Quote from: Walrus on July 23, 2006, 02:34:17 AM
I should've seen this instead of Lady In The Water.




Maybe that was a bit irrational.  I should've stayed home.

You should have seen Monster House

kevin smith is a douche bag.
hilarious when it knew what it was (a really stupid movie) but riddled with grotesque senimentality and attempts at emotion too sincere--frighteningly so--to be in-jokes.  i got what i was expecting but i didn't need the heart-to-hearts or kevin smith's musings about modern love/relationships.  i like rosario dawson.

i should've seen Lady in the Water instead of this.

Again, Monster House! The majority won't believe the few about this movie until it hits video. Too bad.

welcome to my world.
rent kill zone.

Kevin Smith is Pissed Off Again

After making virtual lunchmeat out of Joel Siegel and his crybaby ways, Clerks 2 director Kevin Smith now has a new target firmly in his sights. Namely, the L.A. Weekly's Nikki Finke. Ms. Finke takes extreme umbrage with the fact that WeinsteinCo. sponsored a Clerks 2 promotion that resulted in 10,000 Smith fans getting their names attached to the flick's end credits. As is his normal M.O., Mr. Smith fired back on his own blog (see below) -- and the guy's seriously unhappy about Ms. Finke's comments.

What both sides fail to mention is that this is hardly a new trend. Peter Jackson used a similar approach a few years back, and you can see thousands of fans' names listed on the Fellowship of the Ring extended edition DVD. Right?

Nikki Finke calls it "a huge dis to anyone who's ever earned a legitimate credit on a film." Kevin Smith calls it a non-issue that nobody in the biz has complained about before now. Obviously it's just a difference of opinion, but Smith does nail Finke on one erroneous statement: She refers to Clerks 2 as a "failure," but the flick will certainly be well within the realm of profitability before the DVD hits the shelves.



Hollywood Guilds Ain't Gonna Be Thrilled
This may set a new low in the scandal of credits gone wild in the movie biz. The Weinstein Company is boasting about creating a unique partnership between Clerks 2 and MySpace whereby the first 10,000 people who linked a designated page to their friends list would be permanently added to the ending credits of the film. This could very well be the most insulting thing I've ever heard, a huge diss, to anyone who's ever legitimately earned a credit on a film. It's the sort of shenanigan that, if the guilds in this town had spines, they should stop immediately.

Back to TWC, a recent PR release exults: "Willing to take risks, the Weinsteins have consistently been the film industry's early adopters in their use of specialized marketing and distribution strategies, individually tailoring each film's release to suit its particular strengths. Most recently, The Weinstein Company, embraced rich media/online video with a ground breaking presence on YouTube for the respective launches of Lucky Number Slevin, and hotly anticipated Clerks II." Yeah, we saw what that promotion did for those movies' bottom-line: Slevin made a pathetic $22 million, and Clerks 2 is well on its way to more failure. The Weinstein Company also has significantly invested in SmallWorld, billed as "the world's most exclusive online social network that brings together highly influential people from all over the globe." Meanwhile, Harv will be interviewed by Charlie Ross at this year's MIXX 2.6 confab and expo held Sept. 25-26.

Posted by Nikki Finke on Tuesday, July 25th, 2006 at 10:24AM



Finke Makes a Stink
Wednesday 26 July 2006 @ 5:57 pm
There's a woman named Nikki Finke who writes for the L.A. Weekly, and she seems to have taken issue with the MySpace Credits Contest we did for "Clerks II". "This could very well be the most insulting thing I've ever heard," she writes. "A huge diss, to anyone who's ever legitimately earned a credit on a film."

Yes - she's serious.

Aside from the fact that the Lady Finke's finger seems to be pretty far from the pulse (this blog entry's a bit behind the times, considering the contest launched June 30th - nearly a month ago - and was covered by more alert media back then), she's presupposing an industry outrage and ire that simply doesn't exist. No guild has said a word about the credits contest. Know why?

Because there's nothing to be upset about.

What Finke would realize, if she bothered to do her homework (which would require not even a full viewing of the flick, but merely a pop-in during the end credits), is that the MySpace names don't appear in the credits proper of "Clerks II". The film's credits end (with all the proper logos and copyright legalese), the screen goes to black, and then after five to ten seconds, a new crawl (although "crawl" is hardly the term I'd use to describe the speed with which the names zip up the screen) begins.

Why is this an issue for Nikki Finke when nary a guild member nor other film artisan seems to care? It's so sad. Weinstein Co. finds a fun way to spice up the marketing a bit, and this woman tries to kill-joy the whole endeavor.

In addition, of an earlier promotion the Weinstein Co. did at YouTube for "Lucky Number Slevin", she also writes "Yeah, we saw what that promotion did for those movies' bottom-line: Slevin made a pathetic $22 million, and Clerks 2 is well on its way to more failure."

For someone who covers the film biz, I found that statement rather oblivious. Our flick's budget was five million bucks. We did twice that in the opening weekend. The film's foreign sales more than covered its negative cost. Our marketing budget was pretty modest - especially for a summer release. Even if after the box office split the Weinstein Co. will make with the theaters, our thetrical run winds up simply being a wash (meaning all costs are covered), that means everything we made on DVD is pure profit. If "Clerks II" DVD is anything like the DVD on "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", we're looking at forty million bucks, easily. Forty million bucks in profit. Where's the "failure"?

Aside from "Little Miss Sunshine" (which opens this week), "Clerks II" may be the lowest budgeted wide release of the summer. We were modest across the boards, in shooting and opening the flick. We did this because we had a model in the "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" release. That film turned out to be very profitable, so we simply plugged in lower numbers when doing the "Clerks II" budget, to ensure high profitability for the Weinstein Co. Spending 75% less to make the current flick, spending far less to market the current flick and opening to roughly the same numbers ($11mil for "Strike Back", $10mil for "Clerks II")? In what world is that a "failure"? It may not be sexy huge like the "Pirates" numbers, but when it comes to the business half of the show business equation, being in the plus column is all that matters (on the show side of the equation? Making the film you want to make).

And since when are the credits sacrosanct anyway? If Finke feels the post-credits addition of ten thousand names is some kind of "huge diss, to anyone who's ever legitimately earned a credit on a film", what must she think of my end credits "Thank You" shout-out to God, or to "Jersey Girl" for "taking it so hard in the ass and never once complaining". When a dog is listed in the credits, is this somehow an affront to the performers in a film with speaking roles? I dedicated "Jersey Girl" to my recently deceased Father (a dubious honor, I know) who had nothing whatsoever to do with the making of the picture; should the filmmaking community be livid that such an undeserving cad as my dead Old Man wound up with his name in the credits?

Bottom line? Ms. (or Mrs.) Finke can try to tempest-in-a-douchebag the contest all she wants; it doesn't change the fact that it was a fun thing to do that all involved seem to enjoy. And if nobody (but Finke) is upset about it, where's the harm?

Shit - had I known she was gonna react like that, I'd have thrown her name in the credits too, as follows...

Crackpot With Too Much Free Time - Nikki Finke

i wish kevin smith would just shut the fuck up.

He has a couple of options: either stop reading every single thing anyone writes about him anywhere, or become a better filmmaker.  As it is, he's just setting himself up for frustration, as well as challenging M. Night Shymalan for the title of "Filmmaker Who Cares Way Too Much About What People Think Of Him."

I bet he's even reading this right now!!!   :shock:

Hi, Kev!   :waving:

man, all these publicity battles between Kevin Smith and the critics have made me wanna see the movie!

 :nono: DON'T DO IT!  :nono:

There were some jokes/scenes (only featuring Randal and Jay) that I laughed my ass off during. Other than that, this movie was so fucking terrible. Riddled with cliches and overdramatic acting revolving around a plot that was really soap opera-like.

Quote from: Gamblour le flambeur on July 31, 2006, 11:43:30 PM
Other than that, this movie was so fucking terrible. Riddled with cliches and overdramatic acting revolving around a plot that was really soap opera-like.

In two sentences you've summed up, perfectly, every Kevin Smith film I've seen.

I liked it. Which surprised me, because I thought that this would be a dumb, pointless attempt at making another hit.  :yabbse-thumbup:

Quote from: Brazoliange on August 01, 2006, 09:13:37 PM
I liked it. Which surprised me

i don't think anyone here finds that surprising.

Quote from: Pubrick on August 02, 2006, 01:17:41 AM

Quote from: Brazoliange on August 01, 2006, 09:13:37 PM
I liked it. Which surprised me

i don't think anyone here finds that surprising.

...and look who pops in to worthlessly flame. fuck off and troll some other thread. just because you don't like the movie doesn't mean you should make fun of the person that did for giving his opinion. Just fucking move on with your big grudge or whatever on me, seriously.

Quote from: Brazoliange on August 02, 2006, 07:08:14 AM
...and look who pops in to worthlessly flame. fuck off and troll some other thread. just because you don't like the movie doesn't mean you should make fun of the person that did for giving his opinion. Just fucking move on with your big grudge or whatever on me, seriously.

wow. i'm impressed.. by the depths of your stupidity. let me clear something up that you may have missed in your braindead stupor: your opinion is worthless. out of the whatever number posts you have, you have not made one worthy contribution to this site. i can't believe you're still around. that thread you made about being a fucking loser, that's the single most embarrassing thing i have ever seen posted on the internet.

this is just another in a long trail of shit you have left on this board. dude, you've never had any credibility whatsoever. you thought oliver twist was a goddamn hollywood ORIGINAL. you loved boondock saints. you've invalidated yourself for several lifetimes with some of the most worthless posts in the history of the site, such as this abortion (http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=310.msg197043#msg197043), or when pete wrote so eloquently to educate your pea brain about race relations

Quote from: pete on May 28, 2005, 01:44:38 PM
your parents/ school/ church/ internet forums have failed to reach you early on in life that generalization and categorization and stereotyping all stem from ignorance and laziness and human's stubborn unwillingness to recognize ALL human beings as conscious capable human beings, beautiful creations of God or descendents of the monkeys from 2001.

and your reply consisted of the stupidest, stupid, i mean, really really mind boggling idiotic nonsense..

Quote from: Brazoliange on May 28, 2005, 04:18:28 PM
you're a fucking idiot if you think that people in Africa have different habits and tastes than people in America than people in Japan than people in Russia.

concluding with

Quote from: Brazoliange on May 28, 2005, 04:18:28 PM
your post sickens me and makes me want to leave Xixax.

we should have been so lucky.

man, shit gets dark on xixax...

How do I make my life better?

Step 1) don't see clerks 2

Quote from: clerkguy23 on July 27, 2006, 08:00:37 PM
i wish kevin smith Brazoliange would just shut the fuck up.

Quote from: Pubrick on August 02, 2006, 10:00:46 AM

Quote from: Brazoliange on August 02, 2006, 07:08:14 AM
...and look who pops in to worthlessly flame. fuck off and troll some other thread. just because you don't like the movie doesn't mean you should make fun of the person that did for giving his opinion. Just fucking move on with your big grudge or whatever on me, seriously.

wow. i'm impressed.. by the depths of your stupidity. let me clear something up that you may have missed in your braindead stupor: your opinion is worthless. out of the whatever number posts you have, you have not made one worthy contribution to this site. i can't believe you're still around. that thread you made about being a fucking loser, that's the single most embarrassing thing i have ever seen posted on the internet.

right, sharing FF7 Advent Children was totally worthless. And regardless of what you think, I'm sure a few people enjoyed Cinematik.

Quote from: Pubrick on August 02, 2006, 10:00:46 AMthis is just another in a long trail of shit you have left on this board. dude, you've never had any credibility whatsoever. you thought oliver twist was a goddamn hollywood ORIGINAL.

I didn't, and as I denied it people just continued to go along with it. I really don't care that much to continue to argue it because there's no way to prove my point whatsoever.

Quote from: Pubrick on August 02, 2006, 10:00:46 AMyou loved boondock saints.

umm... no I don't/didn't... I think I said something along the lines of it being amusing and an okay action movie.

too bad some people on an internet forum don't like me.  :yabbse-sad:

regardless, move on and let's discuss the movie instead of throwing insults back and forth. for once saying you thought xixax was an intelligent community and not just some chat room to be replied with back and forth, almost all I ever see you do is troll people for saying stupid shit. fucking hypocrit.

Quote from: Brazoliange on August 03, 2006, 05:08:08 AM
regardless, move on and let's discuss the movie instead of throwing insults back and forth.

Quote from: Brazoliange on August 03, 2006, 05:08:08 AM
fucking hypocrit.

it's amazing how you never stop owning yourself.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.section.at%2Fimg%2Fsmiley%2Fpopcorn.gif&hash=8ed8902c50b5da5abf35b951a4ce5973347fc573)

Quote from: samsong on August 02, 2006, 07:16:46 PM

Quote from: clerkguy23 on July 27, 2006, 08:00:37 PM
i wish kevin smith Brazoliange would just shut the fuck up.

Quote from: Ultrahip on July 21, 2006, 12:30:16 AM
Douche-taillll!

This may very well have concluded me ever listening to advice from friends on movies.  I was yet to hear a bad review of this movie (I didn't read this thread).  All the responses were "good" to "amazing, hilarious, etc." so I figured I'd at least enjoy myself going with friends. 

Maybe spoilers will follow, but it doesn't fucking matter...

The jokes were so fucking stale. How was this movie good in any way? I guess the best thing about this movie was it made me want to watch Clerks instead.  How is this movie not Clerks: The Spy Who Shagged Me? 

The best comparison that comes to mind is for anyone who's played Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, and in the end of 2, you find out it was a training program designed to make you go through dilemmas that Solid Snake encountered so they could make a clone, not only by DNA, but also with the same experience.  To generate soldier heroes or whatever.  The point is, at the end of the game, you realize you just played Metal Gear Solid again with different details about it.  (When in fact, Metal Gear Solid was much better than the sequel, anyway). 

I felt very cheated seeing Clerks II and finding that it was Kevin Smith's "Lady In The Water" where he was making a movie about what his life is like and how he'll never make anything that great because his magnum opus was a long time ago and he's just been taking dumps ever since.  I would go as far as to say Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was a good movie in comparison to Clerks II.

I was also told that Clerks II had more philosophy in it (which I was immediately skeptical about) and that it was much more mature, as if Kevin Smith making Clerks II was to shown his maturity and improvement from his first film.  If this is the case, then we find that Kevin Smith is a very sick one trick pony, and we all know what happens to sick horses.

Huh.

I didn't like it or hate it.  I didn't really feel much for it.  It's an easy, breezy, harmless movie... but I guess that's pretty harsh criticism for a movie that would rather be edgy and acerbic.  I will never trust the French again, though.

Former Glory: A Short Review on Clerks 2
By Siliasruby

Every two years or so we get a new Kevin Smith movie and I take it in stride. I usually purchase all of Smith's movies on the cheap and every once in a while I'm pleasantly surprised by what I see. Well, actually, I take that back. I loved everything up to and including 'Dogma'. 'Strike back' was incredibly indulgent and devoid of any huge revalance and 'Jersey Girl', a review of that mediecore manifesto can be seen in its unrespectful thread.

Despite the vengeful hate that Kevin sometimes gets from the crowd around here you can't deny that he really has some amount of talent. For example, just look at the monologue in 'Chasing Amy' where Ben unloads his devotion on his unrequited lesbian love interest.

'Clerks 2' was a cash-in, we all knew it and being a cash-in we all expect a certain amount of familarity (well with most films people want familarity...something thats the same but different and industry cats depend on that...makes the moolah but I'm getting off topic) but don't want it to be too similar to the original and that is what happened to 'Clerk 2'.

The yearning of wanting former glory and success bleeds through the dialogue here and you can see it quite clearly and while the conversations are more inventive and creative in moments, the story is the same. So much the same that Dante even has two women to choose over. Although this time its much more obvious which one he has to choice. Man, bleh...Anyway, I did like the donkey show scene and it was great to see Jason Mewes again.

I never saw Kevin Smith as a great filmmaker, but he's quite good with dialogue, and he's funny. I'm 25 now, and I still love his dialogue and dick and fart jokes. Can't help it. So, I enjoyed Clerks II for what it is, it made me laugh and entertained me. Plus, it had a musical number choreographed to the Jackson Five, and a guy throwing up due to stories of hobbit intercourse. What's not to like?

Quote from: ElPandaRoyal on January 31, 2009, 09:28:22 AM
I never saw Kevin Smith as a great filmmaker, but he's quite good with dialogue, and he's funny. I'm 25 now, and I still love his dialogue and dick and fart jokes. Can't help it. So, I enjoyed Clerks II for what it is, it made me laugh and entertained me. Plus, it had a musical number choreographed to the Jackson Five, and a guy throwing up due to stories of hobbit intercourse. What's not to like?

Yea, I pretty much agree (as far as Clerks II is concerned). I didn't think Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was too funny, but Clerks II made me laugh because the humor was a lot tougher and meaner. The attacks on the Lord of the Rings were awesome and the way they treated Elias with constant teasing and harassment is right up my alley. I have friends who have a more high brow taste with comedy and hate movies like this, but a sense of humor means exactly what it says. Clerks II aligns with mine.

I think a lot of people have resentment issues with Kevin Smith because they originally believed he was the great new hope for indie cinema with Clerks. Those people may have been too young to know better but that promise was never carried out and Kevin Smith peaked with his third film (Chasing Amy) and has gone on to make films that basically spit on whatever promise he had. I never was a true fan of his so I watch a movie like Clerks II and just enjoy it for what it is.

I have a soft spot for Kevin's early shit, but everything after Chasing Amy (yes, even Dogma) is just terrible.

His writing in the later films isn't clever the way it is in his earlier films. It's just raunchy and immature. It's like, in the early films, he was in his mid-late 20's and was writing like he was in his mid-late 20's, but then he entered his 30's and was still trying to write like he was in his mid-late 20's, but overshot the mark and started writing like he was a teenager.

Wow, you hit the nail on the head stefen.

Quote from: Stefen on January 31, 2009, 01:32:30 PM
I have a soft spot for Kevin's early shit, but everything after Chasing Amy (yes, even Dogma) is just terrible.
His writing in the later films isn't clever the way it is in his earlier films. It's just raunchy and immature. I

Especially 'Dogma'.  Smith let himself get lazy just like Tarantino.  You get a bunch of fame and a bunch of money and you go, "Why push myself as a writer when I can churn out the same formula and keep making money?"

I don't think it was that at all. I just think Smith was trying to do what he felt he did best, but that shit passed him by because he was at a point in his career when he was supposed to grow, but instead, his flicks just got more immature.

If he tried to make a movie instead of a raunchy comedy, he might be respectable right now. He's got the writing chops, he just doesn't have the mentality.

I could see that.  I would probably apply my Steve Carrell analysis to Smith in that case.  The other thing to remember is that his audience has matured a lot too.  Clerks was great when I was younger than the characters being portrayed, but now that I'm ten years older it's hard to relate to that level of youthful narcissicm, not that it takes away from the comedy in any way.

so are you saying that Steve Carrell is immature?

kevin smith just got blind-sided by a certain judd apatow, who beat him at his game and made better movies.  that happens to filmmakers - especially ones that are "branded".

Quote from: RegularKarate on February 02, 2009, 02:06:27 PM
so are you saying that Steve Carrell is immature?

Ha!  No, just that he's hit his peak and doesn't really know how to evolve.  I agree with the Apatow comment too: he's making comedy for people older than 23.

Quote from: pete on February 02, 2009, 03:01:07 PM
kevin smith just got blind-sided by a certain judd apatow, who beat him at his game and made better movies.  that happens to filmmakers - especially ones that are "branded".

From his AV Club interview from Oct 29, 2008:

QuoteLet me tell you something: If the whole world mistook [Zack and Miri Make a Porno] for a Judd Apatow movie, I'd be a happy fucking camper. As long as it did that Judd Apatow business, fine, they can call it a Judd Apatow movie all they want. [Laughs.] No, not at all. I like Judd, and I like the movies that Judd has done quite a bit. When I saw 40-Year-Old Virgin, I was like, "Wow, somebody made a movie that I would have made." Since we did Clerks, I've seen many comedies, but nobody was doing that thing that we did where you mix raunch and sweetness and sentimentality. And Judd did it, and he was insanely commercially successful with it. For years, I thought that if you want to make a movie that mixes raunch and sentimentality, you have a $30 million box-office ceiling, because people aren't interested. You know: "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter." They want a raunchy comedy or they want a romantic comedy, or they want something serious or something comedic. The blend never seemed to go beyond our highest mark of $30 million. Then 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up and Superbad shattered that completely, and suddenly it turned the type of movie that I love making into something commercially viable. Suddenly I felt like, "My job just got much easier in terms of trying to sell this." So thank God there's a Judd Apatow.