Monthly Archives: February 2005

Movie Journal: Clerks

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NOTE: I watched the “First Cut” version of the movie that came with the Clerks X special edition set. Not much was added of interest: a line here a brief snippet there but nothing that substantially changed my appreciation of the movie.

That being said there was nothing added that detracted from the movie either. I love this flick. I saw it with some buddies of mine as we were all jockeying a popcorn/ticket booth at our local movie theater and I think we all saw ourselves in the characters Kevin Smith put on screen. From Randall’s loathing to Dante’s pragmatic acceptance these were all emotions we had gone through.

–Chris

(Buy Clerks X DVD at Amazon)

Movie Journal: Mallrats

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I remember not being very excited about this before it came out. Working in a movie theater at the time we had access to Variety and there was a story in at one point about Kevin Smith working on a movie about kids hanging out at a mall and I thought, “Well that’s not going to work.” Boy was I wrong.

Smith has sometimes referred to Mallrats as the red-headed stepchild of his oveur but I think it holds an important place in the Askewniverse. Without it the connections between Clerks and Chasing Amy wouldn’t be as strong. It’s an essential part of Smith’s telling of the story of everyday existence.

Yes, it’s a little more comic-booky but that’s alright. Everyone needs to lighten up every now and again and this is Smith doing just that. He’s making an old-fashioned mid-eighties comedy in 1995. Enjoy it for what it is and don’t get bogged down in comparisons to his other flicks.

–Chris

Movie Journal: Clerks: The Animated Series

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The Kevin Smith Film Festival begins, just as it did last year, with Clerks: The Animated Series. I’m greatly anticipating the oft-rumored animated movie (seperate from the soon to be filmed Clerks 2) and wish they would also create more episodes of this series, even if they are released straight-to-DVD.

Movie Marketing Madness: Summer Movie Preview

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My latest column at Film Threat is a preview of some of the movies coming out this summer.

These are movies I’m seeking out: Sequels to movies I liked, adaptations of books or – recently – comics I enjoyed or films with an actor or actress I already enjoy. This week I thought I would look at some of those that, for better or worse, are on my list of movies to see.

Inside the Making and Marketing of Movie Trailers

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This L.A. Times story goes into a great amount of detail on the process trailers go through before they wind up in front of an audience. A definite must read.

View From the Rental Counter 2/20/05

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Mainstream
I Heart Huckabees
DVD: Single Disc, 2-Disk Special Edition
MPAA: R (language and sexual scene)
Budget/Gross: $20M/$12.8M
Market: Enjoy the world of Charlie Kaufmann and Spike Jonze? Then this one is for you. This movie billed itself as an “existential comedy” which probably scared most people away from it. That and the inability of reviewers and previewers to neatly summarize the plot. I haven’t seen it so I can’t either but this one is definitely on my too-see list since I enjoy the work of the two gentlemen above as well as Huckabees director David O. Russells’ Flirting With Disaster.

Get Shorty
DVD: Special Edition
Heat
DVD: Special Edition
Market: Two significant reissues this week. Get Shorty is getting the special edition treatment just in time for the release of its sequel, Be Cool. On the other hand, Heat isn’t tied to anything in particular (I actually expected this to be released on the heals of the DVD of director Michael Mann’s latest, Collateral). Fans, however, have been clamoring for a special edition (or at least a non-flipper DVD) of this modern classic. Now they’ve got one.

Off The Beaten Path
Leave Her To Heaven
DVD: Fox Studio Classics Edition
Market: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it but I remember this Gene Tierney/Cornel Wilde psychological classic as being very good. Fox continues to impress me with their Studio Classics line – inexpensive but packed with extras.

Television and Box Sets
South Park: Season Five
DVD: Boxset
Market: The same folks who bought season one through four.

King of Queens: Season Three
DVD: Boxset
Market: Again, I’m surprised this didn’t come out just before the opening of Hitch, starring Kevin James opposite Will Smith.

Shield: Season Three
DVD: Box Set
Commish: Season Two
DVD: Box Set
Market: Those who have enjoyed either or both of the two sides of Michael Chiklis as police officer. This is cross-promotion.

More Education on Constantine

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Movie Poop Shoot – From Print to Screen

Matt Savelloni at MoviePoopShoot also gives a pretty good recap of the John Constantine character and some of the potential pitfalls of the movie version.

Reader Royal Burnell also pointed me to a website with some good material.

–Chris

Getting Schooled on Constantine

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I got this comment which provides a quick primer on the John Constantine character as he appears in the actual Hellblazer graphic novel/comic. Since I am a complete ludite on the subject I thought I would repost it for everyone to see.

–Chris

John Constantine in the comics is a British con man who knows a thing ortwo about what goes on in the world of the Occult. His only claim to fame withthe Occult world that he not only conned the Devil into missing an appointmentwith a friend of his, but pulling the biggest con of them all. Selling his soulto all three kings of Hell to get rid of his lung cancer.

When he died (of sacrifical blood loss), his soul caused a civil war inHell. To bring order, the Devil forfited all John’s contracts & ressurectedhim with a clean conscience & clean lungs.John doesn’t care where his soulgoes. He has seen both Heaven & Hell and considers them both too extreme.

So he makes what he can of his life. He’s been a punk rocker, a socialanarchist & even a carnyThe only thing left to say about the book is thatit’s very plot & character driven. Some of the stuff that happened in thestories have a good possibility of happening or can be easily looked up &/orreferenced.

The film is a direct opposite.

A New Start

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As part of the general reboot of this site I’ve decided to really and truly start from scratch. I have archived all the posts up to this date on a different page. What I want to do is truly turn this weblog into an extension of the Movie Marketing Madness column I write for FilmThreat. Longer peices and more up-to-date information.

I’ll be building the formatting of this page over the next couple of weeks as time allows. Links will be more robust and will be arranged in a cleaner way. Formatting will be more consistent.

I’ve tried to do this in a way so as not to mess up anyones’ visiting here and yet also allow for a clean start. I have a vision for this site that it has not lived up to as of yet. Let’s see if we can get it there.

–Chris

Constantine – Marketing Recap

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You can read my full recap of the marketing campaign for Constantine at Film Threat.

His latest movie finds Reeves playing some sort of spiritual being caught up in the eternal struggle between Heaven and Hell. It’s an adaptation of the successful Alan Moore graphic novel Hellblazer. The word adaptation should be used loosely since in the source material the character is British. I’m not familiar with the comic, but he seems to be some sort of supernatural detective, not the monster-fighting Neo wannabe Reeves is playing in the movie.