- Those of you in the Detroit area are sure to be headed to Kevin’s big show on Friday night, March 26th. Wanna get your tickets before anyone else, and secure some of the best seats in the house? Check out this exclusive presale which runs through tomorrow. You’ll need to know password “silentbob” to get into the site, then, order away. Tickets on the sale range from $59 to $75, and this presale gets you the choice seats in the house. Kevin plays to crowds large and small quite well, though we speak from experience — Being up close is pretty darn cool. If you’re hitting the show, don’t miss this presale, and secure yourself tickets before the rest of the world knows about it.
But hurry, this presale is set to shut down sometime around noon tomorrow (Friday). Buy now!
“A Couple of…Cops???” Reviews Hit The Web!
- Inevitably, when a film test screens, reviews are going to leak out, and Kevin’s latest directorial effort, “A Couple of Cops”, is no exception. Before we get anywhere, let’s talk about that title — While it’s been basically confirmed that Warner Bros. had to abandon “A Couple of Dicks” as a title, due to no advertising running on network TV prior to 9 PM, the “A Couple of Cops” title is not at all finalized. In fact, if anyone who hits a screening sees any other title suggestions on their review cards, let us know — We’d love to hear what the studio thinks, in fact we’d even put an unofficial poll up here to ask your thoughts on other titles. We’re hoping there’s some other choices.
Title aside, here’s the great news — The film seems to be testing through the roof. Normally, internet reviewers are pretty ruthless when they get a look at a film in the test process. For this one, the exciting tone we’re seeing is telling us that Kevin hit this one outta the park — “A Couple Of…” well, whatever…Should be cracking audiences up this February. Let’s take a look, first, at some clippage from the main review, which is likely getting a lot of looks at the popular Aint it Cool News website (as always, watch for the minor plot spoilers when you read this stuff) :“…the movie ROCKED. The scenes with Stifler in the back of the car with Bruce and Tracy are fucking golden. I am going to keep this spoiler free but will mention a couple things which will prove to be memorable. We have Tracy dressed in a cellphone outfit while he is undercover which leads to the stock buddy-cop scene with Tracy and Bruce being shat on by their superior in his office for ruining an ongoing investigation. As they hand over their badge and gun the scene went from being a retread of EVERY Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop movie to completely kick-ass due to the outlandishness of Tracy STILL IN HIS CELL-PHONE OUTFIT during the whole scene. Oh, and he ends up on youtube stealing a kids bike in yes, you guessed, the cell-phone outfit.”
“…Kevin Smith has shown he can direct OPM (Other People’s Material) and still infuse his own wit. And he has nailed the tone and feel of the old-school cop movies we all grew up on.”
That last part is probably a blurb that we find accurate enough to fit any movie poster, newspaper ad, or DVD cover art to come. Much love there. Here’s a peek at something from our own News Askew inboxes of another fan who really dug the show:
“Was lucky enough to attend the test screening on the W.B. lot. Kev has really shown his directing chops, and this should prove without a doubt, that this fucker can direct action. Scenes that were in the movie that I know will be cut were filmed fantastically. I wish he had of gone through with The Green Hornet. But I think with the response of this film, “Hit Somebody” will come through in spades, and “Red State” will go off without a hitch now that funding is available.”
Finally, a reviewer over at Empire Movies simply reports, “It ROCKED”.
We sell ya yet? We know we’ll be there in line this February. It sure sounds like Kevin’s taken a funny script and kicked it up quite a few notches using his own keen comedic sensibilities and timing. We can’t wait.
View Askew Newsbites
- In a brand new interview, Kevin tells Techland why he’ll “Never Make a Superhero Movie”. Choice clippage ahead:
“…We just did A Couple of Dicks here in the city all summer long, and there are more action sequences in it than anything I’ve ever done before. And those action sequences were like pulling f___ing teeth with me. You spend two days shooting storyboards and nobody is talking. That’s just not why I got into it.The big ambition for me right now is a hockey movie. That will be a real test of visual storytelling skills. I mean, on A Couple of Dicks I think me and my DP Dave Klein definitely notched it up. I don’t think anybody’s going to believe I directed the movie, because it looks slick and good. I want to take what we learned there and bring it into the hockey flick, and that will have a lot of action. When you go to a live hockey game, it’s f___ing crazy. It’s the best sport you’ve ever seen — it’s the best thing you’ve ever seen. It goes beyond sports at some point and becomes this beautiful, poetic ballet, where dudes in costumes are skating, but it’s not the Ice Capades, and they’re hitting each other, and there’s an aim and a goal … I want to try and represent what it’s like to be there, watching the game, and so far that hasn’t really come across on film. We’re going to try it.
I think I’m ready for it. I’ve been doing this, I started in ’93, so like 16 years. You just get better at s___ the longer you do it, even if you start off being inept at it. You look at Clerks, that is inept filmmaking. That’s a guy that watched three Hal Hartley movies and four Jim Jarmusch movies and said I think I’m ready. I learned on the job.”
Don’t miss the entire Q&A at Techland. - Fun clippage of the day — Watch Kevin turn the tables on interviewer Elizabeth Snead at the “New Moon” premiere, when she drops some questions on he and daughter Harley. Story and clippage courtesty Zap2It.
- Count us among the sad and stunned when Jason Lee’s sitcom, “My Name is Earl”, didn’t get a renewal this year (inferior comedies have followed). The GOOD news is that, hot off the fantastic role he played in the show, Lee is now slated to return to television for TNT — A new hourlong called “Delta Blues”, where Lee will lead as Dwight Hendricks, a Memphis police officer who lives with his mother and moonlights as an Elvis impersonator. We’re there. Yahoo’s article also confirms that he recently wrapped a small role for “A Couple of Dicks” which we’re sure will be a scene stealer.
- Zack and Miri get a quick name check in a parody advertisement that appears in audio format during the NPR show “On the Media”. Click in and listen.
- Planet Out has a brief look at the just-released Bluray box set, keying in on “Chasing Amy”.
- Brian O’Halloran stars with Corey Feldman & Bronson Pinchot Star in the new comedy “Hooking Up” , due on DVD December 8th. Check out an R-Rated trailer courtesy of YouTube and learn more about the comedy at MTI Home Video.
Bluray Box Set – IN STORES TODAY!
- Bluray is here to stay, evidenced by View Askew’s full embrace of the format, with today’s 3-disc set, taking 3 View Askew classics and putting them in one neat package. You’ll get “Clerks”, “Chasing Amy”, and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, packed to the gills with never-before offered extras, including the festival-only “What a Lovely Tea Party” documentary (hidden on the “Clerks” disc despite its J&SBSB pedigree), and the crown jewel, a brand new “Chasing Amy” doc from Zak and Joey of Chop Shop Entertainment. We always feel these documentaries are worth the purchase price alone. This one could be the best yet.
Our own review’s running a little late this time, due to a shipping mix-up with Buena Vista and our screener, but we’ll be sure to have our own look at this set ASAP. Taking all the new content at once, this may very well be the most new, never-before-available content in a View Askew disc release. In the meantime, surf over to DVD Talk, a fantastic site who have done an amazing job at summing up the collection in just a couple of pages. Here’s what they said about a few of the biggest extras:To that, one new feature of note has been added. In one of the most uproariously candid introductions in DVD history, Smith calls the Clerks Blu-ray a “vulgar cash grab,” but notes that they’ve “gotta keep wringing pennies out of this little black and white movie.” So, for what he calls the “15th Anniversary Give Us Your Money DVD,” he says he begged Miramax to let him add something new of value, in order to “take the sting out of having to buy Clerks for the 19th time.” (Although, he notes, “do you know how many times I’ve bought T2?”) What he added was “Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (3:18 intro, 1:27:17 feature), an intimate, fly-on-the-wall documentary directed by Smith’s wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, and his friend and fellow filmmaker Malcolm Ingram. It captures Kevin and the gang joking around on-set, supplemented by on-the-fly interviews with cast and crew (Affleck and Rock’s interviews are the highlights). It’s a tad overlong, and certainly feels homemade (Affleck’s interview is noticeably out of focus), but is a nice added treat for fans, even if it is, indeed, on the wrong disc.
Chasing Amy was originally released on laserdisc and DVD by Criterion, and unfortunately, that disc’s first-rate, uproarious commentary track is property of that label (as are the intros to the deleted scenes and a few other scattered extras) and therefore doesn’t make the leap. However, Buena Vista has done the right by the movie and worked up some excellent new bonus material. First of all, Smith and Mosier provide a new, “SModcast”-style Audio Commentary; they dub it a “technical commentary track,” and while it has some interesting technical information, it is also, in the style of their podcast, a pretty free-form ramble (my favorite detour was their way off-topic discussion of the pedophilia episode of Diff’rent Strokes). It’s a funny track, though not quite the scream that the Affleck-infused Criterion commentary was.
The treat of the disc, however, is “Tracing Amy: The Chasing Amy Doc” (1:21:15). Produced and directed by Zak Knutson and Joey Figueroa (who directed the similarly spiffy making-of docs for Clerks II and Zack and Miri, in addition to Smith’s most recent Evening With DVD), it is a well-constructed and compelling look at the making of the film, from their mindset coming out of the failure of Mallrats to the creation of the script (influenced by Mosier’s crush on Go Fish star Guin Turner, and Smith’s real-life relationship with Joey Lauren Adams) to the casting and budget woes, as well as Smith’s intensive rehearsals and Mosier’s stressful attempts to keep the film under budget. Most of the key players are interviewed–Smith, Mosier, Adams, Affleck, Lee (on the My Name is Earl set, in full Earl garb), Jason Mewes, cinematographer David Klein, associate producer Bob Hawk, Miramax acquisitions manager Mark Tusk, film critic (and Smith booster) Amy Taubin, and more–and wonderful vintage behind-the-scenes footage supplement the genuinely warm memories of the experience (check out Affleck’s sincere and heartfelt closing interview).
We’ll be spinning up the discs this week — In the meantime, if you’ve got a Bluray player or are planning on nabbing one for the holidays, the Stash is now taking orders for SIGNED SETS, the only place you can find them that way. It’s the perfect gift item for you or the View Askew fan in your life. Kevin also suggested grabbing a Dogma Bluray for just $7.99 to help complete the set via Twitter today. For current or future Bluray owners, this purchase is a no-brainer.
Milwaukee Presale Has Started: See Kevin LIVE!
- On Friday, March 12th, Kevin takes over Milwaukee at 8:00 PM — We’ve got your exclusive shot at getting the best seats in the house, before anyone else, with this exclusive presale link which, along with password “silentbob”, gets you to the goods. The Pabst looks like a pretty big theater, so this ensures you’ll be in the prime spots for what we’re betting is going to be a SOLD OUT SHOW. Buy now, and clear your calendar.
Prices range from $39 to $59 , making the show more affordable than most sporting events and concerts. And at 3+ hours, you’re sure to get your money’s worth. Kevin has been hitting home runs all year at theaters around the world, so don’t miss this show.
An Early Week TwitterThon…
- Kevin’s running hot with the Twitter to kick off the week (close to 50 tweets yesterday, and well over that number today already), so let’s take another look at some of the more interesting tweets from the last 48 hours. In instances where major news drops, we’re still going to split those tweets into their own headlines. Lots of love continuing for the New Jersey Devils — It’s great to see that he’s continued to keep hockey on the brain, which should put him in the perfect state of mind as he continues writing “Hit Somebody” this winter. Let’s take a look at some of the more newsworthy tweets:
- Via @courtenaymmkay “whatcha doing today?” Signing mountains of merchandise for http://www.jayandsilentbob.com – Christmas rush is coming…
- Via @movieinsiders “Check out this Amazon deal: Dogma(Bluray) $7.99 http://bit.ly/28a7fM ” That’s a pretty sweet deal and a packed disc.
- Via @dvdmike “Dave: getting in the ASC” HUGE congrats to Baby Dave Klein (my eyes), invited 2 join the American Society of Cinematographers.
- Via @timmcknightUK “does Jason Mewes have twitter?” Yes, but be warned: it’s a lot of “Mmm..coffee” and “Love the Puggle” Tweets. @JayMewes
Hit up the official twitter page for detailed tweet sessions on some recent couples times with the wife, and his thoughts on attending the recent “Twilight: New Moon” premiere with his daughter. WireImage has the photos.
View Askew: The IPHONE App Is COMING!
- Big news if you’re like us, among the millions around the world with the wonderful iPhone — Kevin hinted that a top secret iPhone application, based on either View Askew or Kevin Smith (or both) is in development. This will be an official application that he feeds content to, so it’ll be an absolute must-have for all fans with the device. No info on a release date or pricing just yet, but here’s the tweet:
Via @agentsonar “Dude, get an iPhone app. Link it to ur tweets, smod-links, store etc.” Got one coming. Putting finishing touches on it now.We’ll keep you posted on this very exciting development — No ideas on pricing at this point, though we’re assuming it might even come with a free pricetag, depending on what it does. And if there’s some exclusive content in the app, we imagine it’ll be REALLY cheap to purchase. iPhone lovers, don’t forget, News Askew shows up in its own iPhone-friendly version when you pull us up on your Mobile Safari, for simple reading of the news.
Apple’s application approval process is known to take a couple months at minimum, so don’t expect this for at least a few months. Stay tuned. We’re sure the product will be a slick package, and make it easier than ever to keep up with the latest from Kevin when you’re on the go.
View Askew NewsBites
- “Widening Gyre” fans, this is a rare chance — For the absolute bargain price of $19.99, you can get a set of issues #1 – #3 with custom artwork from artist Walt Flanagan. That’s not a typo, folks, $19.99. You pick the character, Walt draws it. This offer is limited to just 250 orders. Truly a must-have for any colllector of these books. We can’t get over the price. Surf over to The Stash and place your order, while they last.
- Kevin’s headed to Edmonton for an Oilers game on November 23rd — Wanna join him? The Oilers have a Twitter promotion running that allows you a shot at sitting in a suite with the man for the big game.
They’ve also got a nice hockey-centric Q&A available as well, here’s a couple highlights:Q: You remarked in your Twitter account that you finally wanted to visit Edmonton and see an Oilers game live. Was there anything in particular that made you decide you wanted to finally see the Oilers?
A: 2009 marks the 25th Anniversary of the first Cup win. I felt like I wanted to quietly observe it in my own personal way, so I looked at the schedule and realized the Yotes game would put Gretzky and Kevin Lowe in the same building at the same time, and that would be good enough for me (naturally, this was before all the weirdness with the League, Gretzky, and the Coyotes). So I booked a Q&A in Edmonton for around that time and put it into my schedule. Sure, Gretzky won’t be there (neither will Lowe, who’s scouting prospects on the road), but that wasn’t the make-or-break part of the equation anyway; more about visiting Mecca, so to speak.
Q: Have you ever been to Edmonton before?
A: I’ve done two or three Q&A’s at the Winspear in Edmonton – all before my Oilers conversion. The gig at the Meyer Horowitz the night before that Yotes game is gonna be religious because I’ve got a LONG story I tell about seeing the light, as it were.
Q: All of your movies have had hockey featured in it at one point or another but your next project – Hit Somebody – will be an entire movie based on the sport. What made you decide to finally make a movie on hockey?
A: It’s just time. And man, is it gonna be the bomb (God-willing, not A bomb). I’m gonna wear my Oilers tees everyday of the shoot.
- Here’s a few more tidbits from a new article courtesy ShakeFire — They conducted an interview, but rather than running the Q&A straight, they’ve turned it into a nice little article with a bunch of quotes peppered in. Highlights ahead:
As for Smith’s recently announced ‘Hit Somebody’, a movie based on a song written by none other than ‘Tuesdays With Morrie” author Mitch Albom, he says that it’s not really as off of a pairing as it sounds, “Mitch used to be a sports writer before he was an author. He loves hockey and he wrote this amazing song for Warren (Zevon) and it’s the movie I’ve always wanted to make. I sought out to contact him, because obviously Warren Zevon died, and get his permission to do this.”Though Smith hasn’t begun writing the script yet (something he will do in December once he is finished with ‘Dicks’), he is determined to make this his next movie. “I don’t have a (studio) home now so I will have to find some financing but I WILL make it one way or another. This isn’t a (Happy Gilmore) or anything like that. This is my Forrest Gump, where it will just follow this goon through his life. I mean, there will be a lot of comedy in it, but it’s not going to be like anything I’ve done before.”
Until Smith can dive head first into ‘Hit Somebody’, he will keep himself busy with his tours, editing, books, hockey (he is an avid Devils fan) and comics. Enjoy the calmness you call busy now Kevin because if your growth continues, come this time next year, you may just be the bona fide superstar you should have become years ago.
Overall a nice article, and a recommended read this week.
- Mewes news! ScrippsNews.com has a nice piece on Jason today, talking about his new career and drug-free lifestyle. Mewes is also mentioned in this article on celebrity tweeters adopting ad practices randomly in their tweets . Finally, a hint of an upcoming role for Jason, a new film called “Billy Joel’s Car” where he’ll play the lead of a Joel tribute band. Innnteresting!
Kevin to Q&A @ MacWorld…
- Rejoice, Apple lovers! That’s the computers and stuff, not the fruit. Kevin’s coming back to MacWorld in early 2010 for another appearance at this major event. BusinessWire broke the story though geek.com summed it up nicely:
An actor/writer/producer/author Kevin Smith will host a Q&A session at Macworld 2010, IDG World Expo, the owner of Macworld 2010, announced Tuesday. Because Smith creates his work using the latest Mac hardware and software, he will discuss how the technology enhances storytelling and helps aspiring independent filmmakers succeed in the entertainment industry. Smith’s session is scheduled for Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 2:00pm PT. IDG World Expo said that the conversation is:“…sure to be lively, wry and irreverent, will give Macworld attendees a special opportunity to engage with Smith as he answers audience questions—nothing is off limits!”
Smith followed-up with the following amusing tweet:
“Can’t wait to talk to this crowd, as we share a common passion. I identify straight, but I’m gay for Mac.”
The big event happens in San Fran from February 9th through the 13thAttendees, mark your calendars – Kevin’s session is scheduled for Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 2:00 pm PT. Kevin killed the last time he attended, there’s no doubt he’ll bring his “A” game as always for a memorable hour. Don’t miss it.
Catching Up With Twitter…
- It’s not easy keeping up with the highly active Twitter account of Mr. Smith, but every once in a while, we like to rummage through for ya and dig out some of the most newsworthy tweets of the past few days. Recent tweets saw Kevin defending the reason for SModcast #97, the new “Chasing Amy” commentary, to be a Bluray exclusive, comments on his recent trip to Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductions, and comments on recent super-secret test screenings of “A Couple of Dicks”. Take a peek:
Via @edgarwright “Nice! Test screening?” Last night. Really strong, promising first test. Some confusions to clear, but people really dug.Via @kingjong “Loved flick. Perfect companion film to Beverly Hills Cop & 48 Hours. You need to do Fletch.” You were there, huh? Went well!
Via @blueneurosis “Do you consider the testings a necessary evil or do you like doing them?” Useful listening to the aud; meh to the cards.
Via @GrahamBecksted “Did you meet Gretzky” Avoided doing so. I know plenty of humans; he’d need to be a god. If I don’t meet him, he is one.
Via @estrellaverde “have you gotten round to writing HIT SOMEBODY?” That’ll be December, if I’m not too tied up closing up DICKS. Can’t wait.
That’s right, “Hit Somebody” starts becoming a scripted reality next month, folks. We sure can’t wait for more news to start trickling in on that one.
Follow @ThatKevinSmith on Twitter for the latest right to your device of choice.