But I'm not. At least not right now. I have to admit that I'm terrified of Clerks II. Really worried about it. Not in the way I'd be terrified of, say, Little Man, which is a physical, how long will this movie last, why are these kidnappers forcing me to watch a Wayans CGI'd onto a little person's body and making poop and boob jokes kind of way.
I'm nervous for Kevin Smith. I'm worried that Kevin Smith is slowly but surely chipping away at Kevin Smith until there'll be no Kevin Smith left.
I loved Clerks, liked Chasing Amy a lot, and laughed a fair amount at Dogma. I even made it through Mallrats more or less unscathed. But I didn't have the heart to see Jersey Girl, and while I'm sure everybody had a hell of a time making Jay and Silent Bob's Revenge, it really wasn't too, um, good.
So it's been awhile for Kevin Smith, and that's why I'm nervous about Clerks II. He seems like a very cool guy in general -- funny, loyal, smart, down to earth. I love that he puts out comics, blogs, interacts with his fans online, and that he did a guest appearance as a convenience store clerk on Veronica Mars. I love everything about him but the past two or three movies.
So I don't know, this Clerks II business is a real tightrope act. I hope like hell that its great. Or at least good. Good would be fine.
But I worry.
Anyway, all that is prelude to a really good online chat with Smith on washingtonpost.com this week, in which he talks about why he made Clerks II, why Snakes on a Plane played into the film's opening date, why he's glad to not be making Jersey Girl again, and which boy band member he's frequently mistaken for. And a lot of other stuff.
Seriously, he seems like a great guy. Fingers crossed.
7.14.2006
Wish I Was Clever Enough to Think of a Title That Isn't "Silent Bob Speaks"
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2 comments:
I guess I've never completely gotten the Kevin Smith fanatacism. I thought Clerks was cool and different, partly because it seemed like part of its conceit was that these two knuckleheaded guys were talking in a weird, obviously scripted way that didn't at all sound like how people actually talk.
But then I saw more of Kevin Smith's movies and realized that's just how dude writes dialogue, apparently. Everyone's always soliloquizing and trying not to trip over their awkwardly wordy lines, a la Dawson's Creek.
But Clerks still made me laugh. Mallrats did, too, and -- to a lesser extent -- Chasing Amy, but in hindsight what I liked about those two movies was Jason Lee.
If you put all of Kevin Smith's movies in a chronological line, sometime around the 1:20 mark of Chasing Amy, the whole endeavor just fell off a cliff. If you ask me. Which, of course, nobody did.
dave, if you liked kevin smith in person (or um... online in person) you should see him play himself in a few episodes of degrassi the next generation.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0557354/
my take on kevin is this...
people do talk like that. if you sit around coffeeshops, comic shops and anywhere you wont get your ass kicked for having a 24 sided die in your hand long enough you'll hear it... in general either you relate to that language cause youre one of them, have an affinity for them cause those people remind you of sitting until 3AM every night sophomore year of college smoking cloves, drinking espresso and writing bad sci fi comics, or deep down there's a bit of that awkward overly loquacious geek inside that you keep hidden away. or you dont relate to it cause you dont like, dont know or arent at all like those people. i also notice the people i see criticize him the hardest are the people i think sound just like one of his characters.
i'm not saying he doesnt heighten the language. he does... but i always harken his 'heightened' language to a dirty trashy equivalent of mamet. his people dont speak like 'real' people either. but i still love the rhythms.
and just like kevin smith... mamet's written some utter crap.
i dont always like him. but i do find myself always wanting to defend him. dunno why.
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