A narcissistic film remeniscent of The Blues Brothers, Wayne’s World and Bill & Ted that manages to be funny, interesting and worth watching if you’ve enjoyed Smith’s previous stuff.
Category Archives: DVD
Dogma
A slow start and a much more serious underlying message set this Kevin Smith movie apart of the his previous fair, but it delivers in the end.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
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.
Dogma
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.
Mallrats
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.
Chasing Amy
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.
Chasing Amy
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.
Mallrats
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.
The Incredibles
Well, what a thoroughly entertaining and all round excellent film. Amazing animation, funny characters, interesting story. I half intended to see this in the year it was released (2004) but as usual things got in the way, and since then it’s just never been the right moment or time.
I found myself laughing, crying and cheering in equal amounts, considering the characters on the screen are totally animated it’s impressive how much emotion they manage to generate.
There’s clearly not much to be said about the deep plot or the meeningful dialog, but this is an animated hero comedy for grown ups and it delivers. Go rent it. Watch it.
Clerks
Clerks arrived and we started our Kevin Smitheron by watching it this evening. It plays a little more like an extended sketch show than a movie, with varying parts of the day as individual sketches linked through some overall theme.
It’s certainly entertaining, and amusing, but it wasn’t belly laughing funny. There are clear moments where the actor’s either forget their lines, or stumble over their lines or just plainly adlib which give the movie a real ‘college project’ feel, but then considering the cost and the background it’s not surprising. There are real moments of pure quality cinema as well, with two-character sparring dialog that reminds me of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in a lot of ways (both 1994).
In general, I enjoyed it. I’m not sure it’s going to be a cult classic in this house, and we enjoyed Clerks II more (and that despite having never seen the first one), but maybe if we watch it a few more times we’ll get more into the swing and enjoy what’s going on around the image.