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March 28, 2024, 08:51:05 AM

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Was Kevin Smith Always Shit, Or Was He Not?

Started by DukeDeMondo, March 23, 2019, 12:23:33 AM

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ASFTSN

Does he still wear those shorts that are so baggy they basically end a mere micron away from where normal length jeans would stop anyway?

madhair60


Timothy

Loved:
Clerks
Chasing Amy

Liked:
Dogma
Clerks II
Mallrats

Disliked/bored with:
Tusk

Haven't seen his other films. His live shows are great though. Natural storyteller.

AsparagusTrevor

Quote from: ASFTSN on March 25, 2019, 07:59:46 AM
Does he still wear those shorts that are so baggy they basically end a mere micron away from where normal length jeans would stop anyway?

He still wears the same clothes from when he was twice the weight he is now. Here's a recent picture



magval

Quote from: Mister Six on March 24, 2019, 08:27:23 PM
Also, presumably, because he had a team of other funny people writing, so it wasn't totally incumbent upon him to do the scripts. I do wish it had continued; the arcade machine one showed it had potential for real greatness, and I think it could have been as warmly regarded as classic South Park if it had gone on.

I think the series was run and mostly written by Dave Mandel, who would have been fresh off of Seinfeld and is now running Veep. He had good pedigree like. Doesn't feel like it's Smith's, feels like it's his, which is why it's still easy to watch for me.

a duncandisorderly


Zack and Miri is the worst film Judd Appatow never made. Well actually, the parts where it apes Judd Appatow are better than when it's standard Kevin Smith weed-and-wanking jokes. Other than that I've seen Dogma, Mallrats and Chasing Amy, all as a teenager. I enjoyed Mallrats the most but I'm never going to watch it again. I find the guy really unpleasant in interviews and clips of live shows I've seen on YouTube. Probably too late for me to watch Clerks now, but I can imagine it seeming really profound as the only black-and-white film in a teenage sci-fi dork's collection. Especially pre-internet.

Sin Agog

It is perplexing to me how people keep on referring to him on things like An Audience With... as being a master-raconteur, the king of talking good, when he just sounds like so many American nerd-types, except with the 'like' to other words which aren't 'like' ratio lowered by about thirty percent. Plus he said that trite thing about no one's opinions on movies being of any worth until they've made a movie themselves.  And he's a bible-basher.

Ham Bap

I really like Kevin Smith's stuff but I think the last film I enjoyed was Clerks II.
I probably need to revisit Zack and Miri. Red State was alright too. Only watched it the once years ago and remember it being enjoyable apart from the ending.

I listen to some of his podcast stuff too and just recently found that Comic Book Men show on Amazon Prime. Some of his Evenings Of are fine.

I love his older films Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks 2 is fine. Was never fussed about Dogma.
Those first 3 will always be available in my dvd pile though. It might just be the nostalgia factor, I dunno, but I'd happily throw one on late at night in the background. It's sorta like being sat there with old friends. Probably is just the nostalgia factor.
I'd never watch them with a critics eye cos I know they have their faults.

Sin Agog

It is much harder making a good hang-out film than it looks.  Even Linklater couldn't quite pull it off a third time with that partying baseballers movie.  It's probably something exclusively for the 40-and-under directors.

momatt

Not seen many of the recent ones but I still love all the films in the Jay & Silent Bob universe.
Maybe it's just nostalgia, not sure what I'd think if I watched them for the first time now.
I think Clerks would still stand up, it's such a good script.

Kevin Smith seems like a nice chap.  I'd love to have seen his Superman script filmed.
In fact, has he had any involvement in any recent superhero films?  Seems a pity to waste all that nerdy comic-knowledge in his head.

Never knew he only became a stoner after making all his famous stoner-films!
I suppose that's why he was fairly productive back then.

Talulah, really!

Quote from: momatt on March 27, 2019, 10:52:50 AM
Not seen many of the recent ones but I still love all the films in the Jay & Silent Bob universe.
Maybe it's just nostalgia, not sure what I'd think if I watched them for the first time now.
I think Clerks would still stand up, it's such a good script.

Kevin Smith seems like a nice chap.  I'd love to have seen his Superman script filmed.
In fact, has he had any involvement in any recent superhero films?  Seems a pity to waste all that nerdy comic-knowledge in his head.

He has directed episodes of Supergirl and The Flash, though it seems just as a director for hire, the ones I've seen don't stick out in any particular way good or bad. Which from me is a slight compliment as I think he is a primarily a dialogue writer who lacks much of a visual eye for film and think most of his stuff is kind of like filmed stand up routines. Sorry.

Did he ever stray from his pop-culture talky comfort zone, as Tarantino largely did with Kill Bill (Part 1 anyway. The superman speech in 2 could be inserted into literally any Kevin Smith film.)

fatguyranting

'Me and my Shadow' the diary entry he wrote about Jason Mewes heroin addiction was profound, moving and charming and makes me forgive his shittier films.

momatt

Quote from: Talulah, really! on March 27, 2019, 11:04:04 AM
He has directed episodes of Supergirl and The Flash, though it seems just as a director for hire, the ones I've seen don't stick out in any particular way good or bad.

That's something at least.  Probably made him happy.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Talulah, really! on March 27, 2019, 11:04:04 AM
Which from me is a slight compliment as I think he is a primarily a dialogue writer who lacks much of a visual eye for film and think most of his stuff is kind of like filmed stand up routines. Sorry.

Why apologise?  Kevin Smith himself would be, and has been, the first to cop to this.

Quote from: momatt on March 27, 2019, 02:03:02 PM
That's something at least.  Probably made him happy.

Making a 48 year old writer/director sound like a kid who's had a fun day, during his school outing to the local park.

SteveDave

Despite my name here, I've not listened to any of his or his mates podcasts for about 3 years now. TESD was becoming slightly right wing (Bryan and Q's moaning about SJWs and the like) and Smodcast was just dull. "I've found another tape I made when I was young! Listen to me say things with a lot of hiss on it! I'll repeat everything!"

Whatever happened to "Moose Jaws"? 

momatt

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 27, 2019, 04:22:50 PM
Making a 48 year old writer/director sound like a kid who's had a fun day, during his school outing to the local park.

Ha ha, that's a beautiful image.
Kevin Smith, wearing his normal toddler clothes, grinning from ear-to-ear.  Helium balloon in one hand, dripping 99 ice cream in the other.

St_Eddie

Quote from: momatt on March 27, 2019, 05:29:36 PM
Ha ha, that's a beautiful image.
Kevin Smith, wearing his normal toddler clothes, grinning from ear-to-ear.  Helium balloon in one hand, dripping 99 ice cream in the other.

"How did your day directing The Flash go, honey?"

"Oh, Mom, it was the best!  I got to tell The Flash what to do and where to run and then there were explosions and I told The Flash to beat up the bad guy and so he did!  But the badguy wasn't really hurt.  Or bad.  He was nice to me when we ate lunch.  We're friends now.  It was so much fun!  At the end of the day I even got to hug The Flash!  Yayyyy!"

"Aw, I'm glad to hear it, Kev.  Did you remember to point the camera at what was happening, like Mommy told you to?"

"Uh-huh.  Also, there was man with a fluffy thing on a stick and he captured sounds in the stick, so I told him to point the stick at The Flash when he was making sounds and so he did!  It was the bestest day ever!"

"Well, someone's gonna sleep well tonight."

I haven't read thread yet but...

Of course he was!

Spiteface

Quote from: SteveDave on March 27, 2019, 05:26:20 PM
Despite my name here, I've not listened to any of his or his mates podcasts for about 3 years now. TESD was becoming slightly right wing (Bryan and Q's moaning about SJWs and the like) and Smodcast was just dull. "I've found another tape I made when I was young! Listen to me say things with a lot of hiss on it! I'll repeat everything!"
Yeah, I was never a fan of the "Emo Kev" saga. Scan BC outstayed its welcome too, if I'm honest.
I went off TESD for reasons you describe, too, that and overly-long episodes with too much Git 'Em in them (or any Git 'Em at all). He was becoming a detriment to the show, as far as I was concerned.

As far as "SModCo" podcasts are concerned, I still listen to SModcast, Hollywood Babble-On and Fatman Beyond (nee Fatman on Batman). Was into the revamped Blow Hard (Malcolm Ingram's podcast, used to feature Kev until a falling out over promoting love shows at SModcastle, was resurrected with Jason Mewes) until that faded off again.
I never did give FEaB a try, Mosier was always the funnier one on SModcast, so I should have been intrigued to see what he'd be like without Smith.
"THIS IS FUCKIN' CANADA!"
[/url]

Mister Six

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 27, 2019, 04:22:50 PM
Why apologise?  Kevin Smith himself would be, and has been, the first to cop to this.

That's a bit of a development for him, then. I remember he banned a bloke from seeing his films after a largely positive review of Dogma pointed out that he's not really much of an actual director when it comes to the visual side of things.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Mister Six on March 27, 2019, 11:55:43 PM
That's a bit of a development for him, then. I remember he banned a bloke from seeing his films after a largely positive review of Dogma pointed out that he's not really much of an actual director when it comes to the visual side of things.

To be fair, that could still be the case.  I'm reminded of something Kevin Smith said during one of his Q&As, where a fan made reference to his weight and Smith retorted with something along the lines of "you see, I can call myself fat and it's fine but when you say it, it's an insult".

greenman

Quote from: thecuriousorange on March 27, 2019, 11:33:05 AM
Did he ever stray from his pop-culture talky comfort zone, as Tarantino largely did with Kill Bill (Part 1 anyway. The superman speech in 2 could be inserted into literally any Kevin Smith film.)

In retrospect I'd say Tarantino always showed more than that, again I did think Dogma showed Smith trying to do a bit more with some success before retreating back.

I think you could argue as well that this style of film is quite dependant on the quality of the actors involved, Tarantino can obviously still draw talent willing to put the effort in were as Smith not so much.

SteveDave

Quote from: Spiteface on March 27, 2019, 08:38:40 PM
Yeah, I was never a fan of the "Emo Kev" saga. Scan BC outstayed its welcome too, if I'm honest.
I went off TESD for reasons you describe, too, that and overly-long episodes with too much Git 'Em in them (or any Git 'Em at all). He was becoming a detriment to the show, as far as I was concerned.

As far as "SModCo" podcasts are concerned, I still listen to SModcast, Hollywood Babble-On and Fatman Beyond (nee Fatman on Batman). Was into the revamped Blow Hard (Malcolm Ingram's podcast, used to feature Kev until a falling out over promoting love shows at SModcastle, was resurrected with Jason Mewes) until that faded off again.
I never did give FEaB a try, Mosier was always the funnier one on SModcast, so I should have been intrigued to see what he'd be like without Smith.
"THIS IS FUCKIN' CANADA!"
[/url]

FEaB was OK. Very low energy in places. If you love hearing Mosier clear his throat, you'll love it!

Hollywood Babble-On was another I stopped listening to when it became the same thing week after week. Which isn't really a complaint but the audience sounded like the worst people in the world. I went to the live one they did in 2014 and got told right before it by my then-on-a-break-girlfriend, that we wouldn't be getting back together. It put a dampener on the whole evening. The day after I found out she'd been fucking an old bearded man for months which is the reason we wouldn't be getting back together. Still I got some songs out of the whole sorry affair so...every cloud.

I saw a live TESD in Brooklyn in 2016 and my now wife was bored out of her mind and couldn't understand why everyone was howling with laughter at Git Em. You can hear me on that podcast. I bought Quinn a whisky and asked for a Git Em patch in exchange. We left early (extremely drunk) and asked the taxi driver to take us to the best fried chicken on the way back to Bed-Stuy and, needing to piss, I handed my wife a $100 bill to pay the taxi man. In whatever chicken place we were in, I asked for my change and she said "It was a $20 wasn't it?". This resulted in our first (and to date, only) argument that saw me go to bed and her eating a whole bucket of chicken on the stoop outside where we were staying at 2am. The next morning we made up and created our son. PUT THIS ON A PODCAST. GOODBYE.

madhair60

Quote from: Mister Six on March 27, 2019, 11:55:43 PM
That's a bit of a development for him, then. I remember he banned a bloke from seeing his films after a largely positive review of Dogma pointed out that he's not really much of an actual director when it comes to the visual side of things.

I've never heard of this and Google isn't throwing anything up. I'm sure I'd have read it somewhere.

St_Eddie

Quote from: madhair60 on March 28, 2019, 10:51:07 AM
I've never heard of this and Google isn't throwing anything up. I'm sure I'd have read it somewhere.

I don't remember that specific story.  What I do remember is critics absolutely (and rightfully) savaging Cop Out and Kevin Smith throwing a hissy fit and saying that he would no longer provide private screenings of his films for the critics because if their going to be so negative in their reviews, then they can pay for a ticket like everyone else.  Not his finest hour, it must be said.

momatt

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 27, 2019, 06:03:02 PM
"How did your day directing The Flash go, honey?"

This probably isn't too far from the truth.
I'd be the same though.  :D