“…having broken free of the desire to do something different than his small little potty mouthed Jersey films, he instead embraced his place in the environs of the film scene and created the single best piece of film he’s turned out since Chasing Amy. Make no mistake, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is every bit Kevin Smith as you’d expect. There are all manner of sex and scat jokes – even the occasional gross out bit. Pop culture references drop out of the mouths of his cast almost as often as expletives. And there are appearances by a number of old favorites, including the ever present Jason Mewes. And yet, by freeing himself of trying to be something that he is not, he has actually managed to elevate the material to make what on the surface appears to be one of the most juvenile attempts at humor this year into something deep, heartfelt and positively adorable.”

Check out the entire non-spoiler review over at Ain’t It Cool News.

Ron’s also got fresh stock of those coveted Zombies jerseys, stickers, and more. Stop into Stash West, the coolest comic book and swag store inside the coolest DVD and media store in all the land. If you’re local make it your only stop for all your media needs.

Not in the area? Hit up the Secret Stash website for all the latest goodies. In addition to the stuff we mentioned above, they’re also taking pre-orders for SIGNNED “Threevening” DVDs, signed “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” theatrical posters, and more. We want this stuff bad, so we’re sure that you do as well. Look for some fantastic sales there AND inside Laser Blazer as well. Remember, Christmas is just around the corner. Happy shopping.

Popgrind caught wind of the news and erroneously reported that MGM wanted to drop the movie and all association with it, sort of a one-way yanking. Very one sided and just not true. Plus, they said we’re BLOGGING it here. Bloggers? Us? Nah! How dare they. We’re an official news site, darn it!

Clearing this up, The Business Sheet runs a piece titled “Did Harvey Weinstein Order A Hit On MGM’s Logo?”, citing our quote along with a humorous photo of Harvey on the phone (calling in the “hit”, we guess). Funny. They have since updated their story with a clarification though, which we’ll run here:

UPDATE: According to an MGM spokesman, who just called us, the studio’s distribution deal with the Weinstein Company will expire at the end of 2008. So, as part of the process of winding down the deal, MGM took all remaining Weinstein Company titles for the year off of their release schedule, including Zack and Miri, and returned the films to Harvey’s headquarters. This move is consistent with MGM’s effort to re-establish itself as a full-fledged studio that produces and distributes its own films.

Other sites are simply picking up news of the split today. Variety (via Mania) runs the piece once again citing “Zack And Miri” along with another flick we’re looking forward to, “The Road”. If nothing else, this gives us even MORE press and continues to fulfill the prophecy that every View Askew release comes with some sort of controversial news story sometime before it hits theaters.

Hopefully this sets everything straight and explains the departure of the two companies. We of course speak for all when we wish MGM well, and of course look forward to The Weinstein Co’s great success when “Zack And Miri” storm the box office next month.

On the “Watchmen” front, Kevin reveals that the entire Dr. Manhattan book was translated perfectly and fully intact (panel for panel!), and that the film features “one big change and two small changes”. Also, more kudos for Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach, in a role that we think will steal the show.

On the “Zack And Miri” front, it’s familiar territory for our regular readers, with a few words on the NC-17, Rogen’s casting, and the nudity. This one’s worth a read, so click and enjoy, and then shed a tear when you realize it’s still a month ’til “Zack and Miri”, and over half a year until “Watchmen”!

Did ya miss it? Trailer Addict caught a capture of it and posted it for the web world to see. Enjoy. We think it’s a fantastic ad and should drum up some nice business for opening weekend and beyond. Opening weekend is key important, but good word of mouth is what makes View Askew box office records. Let’s do it.

In case ya missed the GREEN band trailer, IGN has both up on their site as well.

Of particular interest, Kevin does mention that the long in planning “Ranger Danger” may no longer be made, with the new Sci-Fi comedy sort of a replacement. This makes sense to us, as we’ve heard Kevin say many times in the past he’ll take a completed script and borrow ideas from it for other projects. We’re guessing this new idea is a totally different film, but that he may have borrowed some of those “Ranger Danger” sequences or nuances to help shape this one.

With “Red State” very close to finding all the funding needed, we’re still hopeful to see THAT as the total 180 degree follow-up to “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” — Then, it’d be way cool to see Seth Rogen and other big names return to star in this unnamed sci-fi comedy. Of course, News Askew will be there, every step of the way, as the project develops.

Q: This is probably your most emotional film. I mean it’s close to Chasing Amy, because that had some emotional moments, but this one was like this had like naked, open emotion in it. Was that the hardest part of it for you, or the porno part the hardest part?

A: The porno part was definitely the hardest. The naked emotion stuff, I feel like we had in Chasing Amy, I feel like even in the last movie Clerks 2 they’re sitting between Dante and Randal in the jail scene, which is just emotionally devastating. You watch one dude who’s always confident, always a wise ass, like laid bare. That to me is like devastating, because that’s a dude completely unguarded.

So doing a version, not a version of that, but doing a girl-boy type emotion that lay bare, that was easy. Shooting fake sex––that was definitely something I wasn’t ready for…

Of course, you’ll want to surf over and read every word at Spout Blog. We’ve gotta say, we’ve never seen a posted interview taken so literally that it blogs it down all the way to a charlie horse.