Yes, it’s totally narcissistic. Yes yes, it is Bill and Ted and Wayne’s World. Yes, it’s a movie about movie characters made by people who play movie characters in their own movies. Yes it’s a chance for a bunch of Hollywood buddies to get together and make a movie about Hollywood buddies.
But it’s in a long line of films which did that, and it evoked memories of Blazing Saddles, Animal House and a bunch of stuff I really enjoyed.
And so I enjoyed it. And it made me laugh.
We’ve finished watching our Kevin Smith DVD’s, this evening was Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Dogma is clearly an intelligent movie, the material is interesting and I really enjoyed the last 20 to 30 minutes.
But the start of this two hour movie was really slow, and it took me a long time to arrive at my enjoyment of the end. I’m not sure if it was the mood I was in (post dental cost distress) or the fact that I was feeling physically weird. Whatever it was, I found the start slow and the story a little more contrived than it needed to be.
However, I found the end compelling and cute. I should think some folk might find it overly twee, but that’s not how it struck me. Anyway, Dogma is a story of faith and religion and the differences between the two. It’s a story of fear and hope and joy and sadness and how belief is the sauce that makes the world float.
Really.
The least enjoyable of the Kevin Smith films I’ve watched so far, but still better than an awful lot of shit I own.
So if you transmit data through the air, such that anyone can read it without any physical security, it’s not a question of if the encryption used it broken, but when.
From ITWorld,
Security researchers say they’ve developed a way to partially crack the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption standard used to protect data on many wireless networks.
The attack, described as the first practical attack on WPA, will be discussed at the PacSec conference in Tokyo next week. There, researcher Erik Tews will show how he was able to crack WPA encryption, in order to read data being sent from a router to a laptop computer. The attack could also be used to send bogus information to a client connected to the router.
Clearly you have to assess what you use your wireless for and how likely it is for someone to be listening in, but it’s growing more and more clear that any broadcast technology is going to be broken eventually.
Update 7th November 2008.
It’s not as bad as it first sounded, but it’s still an issue. Read more here.
Wow, wired. Feeling physically very odd, like hyper-tense. Usually I feel like this when my blood sugar is too high, but at the moment it’s 4.6 which is perfectly fine, although it got down to that 90 minutes after I ate lunch which is also odd.
Certainly don’t feel very comfortable.
Dentist was … as expected. Lower molar (tooth #7) is too damaged and needs to come out, there are small cavities in at least 4 teeth, two on the same side as the molar. Dentist recommends taking the tooth out and filling the two teeth on that side and then seeing how I feel. Total price for all that and today’s consultation is £260. Go back in two weeks for the tooth work. Joy.
It’s never as bad as you fear it to be, total consultation was about 20 minutes, no pain, and he seemed ok. He’s obviously professionally ‘unhappy’ at my 5 year absence but he didn’t nag me too much. Grete managed to build the courage to arrange an examination as well. I guess we’ll just have to suck the cost up – some things you just have to pay for.
I don’t think dental insurance would have helped, if we’d been covered for five years it would have cost around £18 a month so around £1000, as long as the total treatment for us both stays below that, we come out ahead.
Generally I’m pretty lucky with my teeth, I don’t take the best care of them and I’ve only got small cavities. It’s the impacting wisdom teeth which are causing the most damage.
Just wish I knew why I felt so spaced out.
if i don’t go to bed
then i won’t go to sleep
and if i don’t go to sleep
i don’t have to wake up
and if i don’t have to wake up
the morning will never arrive
and if the morning never arrives
i won’t have to go to the dentists
Kevin Smith delivers a hilarious homage to the John Hughes / John Landis late 70’s and early 80’s era of film making and adds his own generous touch of quality.
An intelligent and emotional love story which delivers an incisive and revealing look at relationships, gender choice and our sexual history without pandering to the usual stereotypes or insulting the viewer.
Well well Mr Smith. Chasing Amy isn’t as entirely comic as Kevin’s previous movies, but it’s far, far deeper and emotional. It has comic moments and plenty of laughs, but it delivers a sophisticated and intelligent look at relationships, gender and sexual choices.
Jay and Silent Bob are in evidence but far less prevalent, as the more mature material dictates, and while the backdrop is essentially ‘two guys who are life long friends and who’s friendship is strained when one of them gets involved in a love relationship that is complex’, and so almost the same as Clerks, the details of the relationship and the depth of the material is much greater.
Chasing Amy is intelligent, funny, incisive and emotional.
Kevin Smith made me watch another love story (in which a girl kissed a girl), and I liked it.
I’m sad. I’m sad that it took me this long to see Mallrats. I’m sad that I didn’t realise before what I was missing. I’m sad it didn’t do too well in the cinema. I’m sad I wasn’t there to support it.
Mallrats is an honest to goodness homage to John Landis and John Hughes and the movies of a generation. It pays tribute and builds upon movies many people my age grew up with, including Kevin Smith. It’s quirky, it’s truly funny, it’s heartwarming and it’s well worth watching.
Some of the acting is a little stiff, I’m not sure all the actors were as onboard as they could have been especially in some of the early scenes with Claire Forlani, however that smooths out and what we get is a classic comedy of teen angst.
The movie tells the story of two newly dumped guys who finally realise what they’re missing and work to gain back the girls they discover they love. Jay and Silent Bob ensure everything goes to plan, no matter how crazy the plan, and chaos ensues. But, funny chaos.
It’s not sophisticated, it’s not deep, but it evokes a memory of movies that I lived with and loved deeply, and it made me laugh and laugh. I loved it, I’ll love it again, and I’m glad I own it.
One of the weird things about writing down all the movies you ever saw (work in progress) is that when you go to add movies you watched recently, you find out the other movies from that year.
Did you know, Chasing Amy was out in the same year as Flubber (1997)? I remember watching Flubber, but I have no recollection of hearing anything about Chasing Amy at the time. It was the same year as Fifth Element and Con Air and Liar Liar.
Mallrats came out in the same year as Twelve Monkies, Judge Dredd and Mortal Kombat (1995).
Not really enlightening, just something that amused me as I was adding new entries.