Kevin Smith/View Askew appreciation thread

Ok, i know there are a lot of people out there who think kevin smith is overrated, but i'm starting this thread pretty much for fans and anyone who has some info. on the new Jay and Silent Bob movie. personally, i think that next to tarentino, smith is the best dialouge writer in the business. his movies have a way of portraying the middle of the road, no money, working class, twenty-somethings of the world (me) very accurately, without pulling any punches. and like i said, even if you can't appreciate the frat-boy humor, you could at least agree that his movies have incredible interplay between interesting characters and showcase his understanding of human emotions and stuff like that. so, anyone who has info. on the new movie, or just feels like bsing about clerks/mallrats/chasing amy/dogma, feel free to post. :-)

I think David Mamet writes better dialogue, personally.

I like the Kevin Smith films I've seen (I haven't seen Dogma) a lot (as evidenced by the fact that my own screenplay is a pale rip-off of Kevin Smith). From the two trailers so far for Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, the flick looks to be very entertaining for View Askew fans with lots of "inside" jokes and references to previous works, etc. I don't know that it will play well among people who aren't already Smith fans, but even with Smith fans alone, it should do fine at the box office (and I'm sure it will do great on DVD when the wacky commentary and extras are added. Smith DVDs are must-owns).

I'm more interested to see what Smith is able to do with the Fletch series and beyond. The View Askew stuff is fun, but I really want to see Kevin grow and expand into new areas and ideas. I think Fletch Won is probably the perfect adaptation for Kevin to tackle as his first Non-Askew film. And I think Jason Lee would make a great younger Fletch. So while I am very excited to see Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, I'm more excited to see what Kevin can do outside the View Askewniverse with properties like Fletch and so on.

Dang guys, with all these new threads, I'm gonna need to create a forum for Directors alone.

i'm also looking forward to smith's new non-askew projects, but i'm also a huge fan of the little new jersey universe he has created. i guess you're right about the film being made for the current fans, but who knows how well it will do? movies this summer have sucked so far, and i think audiences will be looking forward to something a little different than the same old crap. i figure the new movie will probably win over some new folks, too. oh, by the way, it's awesome you write screenplays i've wanted to try that now for awhile (partially inspired by low-budget movies). what's it like? how did you start?

Sucked? Wha? The Mummy Returns, Shrek, A.I., Tomb Raider, and Evolution? Not amazing, but dang good in my opinion. I think this year has been amazing so far, and thanks to the LOTR movie, as well as Planet of the Apes and JP III, it's going to be one of the more exciting years in recent memory.

what does that have to do with kevin smith? i hate debating whether movies are good or not. it's all subjective, and it gets tedious. if anyone has any info. on the new jay and silent bob movie, let me know! also, what kevin smith movie out of the previously released four was your favorite?

Of course it's subjective. My post had nothing to do with Kevin Smith, I was simply taking issue with your comment about the movies this summer.

The best Kevin Smith has to be Chasing Amy. It has all the elements of a great movie. It has the witty dialouge between characters, it is very funny, beautifully directed, and it tackles the serious issue of a couples sexual relationship.

It's not like I get paid to write screenplays. I just wrote one because I thought it would be fun (and the plan is to shoot it next month). It's really not that big of a deal.

How I did it was that I got an idea and just made some notes about it. After thinking about the idea for awhile and fleshing it out in my head, I bought some note cards and basically wrote an outline. I put each individual scene on its own card. By the time I had a handful of cards, I felt I had a coherent storyline and enough scenes for a movie.

Then I sat in front of the computer and fleshed out each card (which just has a basic description of what was going to happen in the scene) with dialogue and what-have-you. While I was writing, I found places where an extra scene was needed, so I stuck one in, but overall, the script is what was on the cards.

The script I wrote is a really bad one about a guy who likes a woman and sets out to meet her with assisted by his wise-cracking best friend who is not unlike Jason Lee (I had just watched Mallrats when I sat down to write). If you feel like torturing yourself, you are more than welcome to go read the script at http://www.paigetopia.com (Keep in mind that there are a couple of scenes missing right now. I've been rewriting, and I took some things out, but I haven't put all the new stuff in yet). As I understand it, this particular script is a very effective cure for insomnia.

To quote Ed Wood (at least in the Tim Burton movie of the same name), "My next one will be better."

As for which of Kevin Smith's movies is my favorite, I have to go with the original. I still like Clerks the best. I think it's the funniest, and (sadly) I can relate to Dante a good bit. And Randal has some of the best lines in movie history (or at least some of the funniest). The others are very good, too, but Clerks is still my favorite.

hey, nice advice. thanks, bro. seriously, i have nothing but respect for people who try something new just for the hell of it, because that's how most established directors got their start. personally, i'm thinking of writing a movie like that myself, but i will definitely have to get some creative juices flowing before i sit down and actually have a coherent screenplay to show for it.

ok, i'm just posting now to bring this topic up.

up again. why not?

ok, i'm gonna bring this post up one more time. i can't bare to let it die

Dude, 4 posts in a row? Next time try to condense it. Anyway, I have only a vauge idea of what all this TalkBack/View Askew stuff is. Mind filling me in?

View Askew is a production company that was started by Kevin Smith, a really talented writer/director. he's written and directed a lot of cool movies, like Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma. his movies are best known for their witty and funny back and forth. if you haven't seen his movies, i recommend them, and if you have, i hope you liked them.

Oh, I know who he is, and about his movies (a bit), just didn't know what the heck View Askew was. I keep on hearing about "TalkBack" too -- what's that mean, in this context?

Just a question, has anyone been to Kevin Smith's store? I've always wanted to go there.

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hmm... i'm not sure if i've ever heard of anything called TalkBack, but maybe you can find something about it here -

http://www.viewaskew.com

if it has anything to do with kevin smith, you probably could. sorry for not having more info, commish

anyway, i would love to go to his store! but i haven't had a chance to yet. you can shop online, and let me tell you they have some hella cool stuff. it's called jay and silent bob's secret stash.

http://www.viewaskew.com/jsbstash/index.html

i will definitely go if i get a chance to visit new jersey anytime soon.

"Talk Back" is an Ain't It Cool News thing. On every story on AICN, there's a Talk Back section where people can post their comments on the story. The Talk Backers usually go to great lengths to trash the focus of the particular story. And Kevin Smith stories get a lot of Talk Backers going on and on about how Smith is overrated, etc. (usually using many words I cannot repeat on a family site like this one).

Ahh, I see. I figured it was something like that, but I had the impression that the TalkBack being referred to was on Smith's own site, or something of the sort. AICN needs to find a better way to organize their comments or something -- it's a mess.