Filled with references to Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, Clerks, Batman movies and much more, the trailer for Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie is here. It’s the hard R-rated (if it was rated) animated return of everyone’s favorite New Jersey slackers, which will tour the country Red State-style along with Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. They provided voices and produced the flick, which is directed by Steve Stark. Starting in April, the film will be playing at concert venues across North America complete with a live podcast.
So how does the movie look? Crude, for sure, but aimed squarely at the people it’s meant to please: Kevin Smith fans. We’re talking potty humor, pop culture references and even more potty humor. See the trailer below. Read More »
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Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie is coming to a city near you. Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes are hitting the road with their latest film, an animated comedy directed by Steve Stark. The movie follows the title characters in the guise of their superhero counterparts, Bluntman & Chronic, as they fight the forces of evil. The tour starts April 20 in Atlanta and then hits about two dozen locations over the following weeks. Attendees will get to see the film and then listen to Smith and Mewes record a raunchy, off-the-cuff live podcast. Later, those podcasts will be available to download on the Smodcast Network.
All the dates and info are below. Read More »
Briefly: Kevin Smith has just announced that he and Jason Mewes will be touring their new movie, Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie, this Spring. Much like he did with his thriller Red State, Smith will take the film to theaters followed by a lively Q&A’s with plenty of surprises. A trailer and official dates will be out in February but, after the jump, check out the full poster.
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Thursday night, Kevin Smith invaded multiplexes with a simulcast of Kevin Smith: Live from Behind. The event featured the Clerks filmmaker and his hetero life mate Jason Mewes doing their podcast, Jay and Silent Bob Get Old, followed by an extended question and answer session. As usual, the Q&A featured Smith revealing all sorts of information on his upcoming projects.
He dropped a few more nuggets about Hit Somebody, such as its proposed budget and updated release schedule, and even formally announced a new movie called Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie, which will blend live action and R-rated animation. All the details are after the jump. Read More »
Just because Kevin Smith is retiring from filmmaking doesn’t mean his creations have to. The superhero team of Bluntman and Chronic, which first appeared in Chasing Amy and played a significant role in Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, will soon be animated and put online with Jason Mewes himself set to produce. A Bluntman and Chronic movie? Who’d pay to see that? More after the jump. Read More »
I’ve heard many stories about the behind the scenes problems which pushed the release of Fanboys back again and agin, but having just left a screening of the finished version, a director’s cut by Kyle Newman, I can assure you that the problems have been greatly exaggerated. You have a very marketable cast, and a film which seems like an extremely easy sell to the target demographic. I think the problem is that The Weinsteins were hoping for an American Pie type film with mainstream appeal, but they instead have a movie aimed at a very targeted niche. But lets not forget, George Lucas has been able to make tons of money off this targeted group of fans.
After high school, Eric (Sam Huntington) ditched his Star Wars fanboy friends for a job as a car salesman, and now finds himself ready to take over his father’s franchise of car dealerships. When he learns that one of his former best friends Linus (Chris Marquette) has been diagnosed with Cancer and only has months to live, he convinces his former friends (Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel) to go on a road trip to break into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, so that Linus could watch Star Wars: Episode I before he dies.
The film is your typical teen road trip film, laced with so many Star Wars references you’ll probably want to see it twice to take them all in. There are conversations about how Boba Fett is like Michael Bay, style but no substance, and arguments about if Luke really had a thing for his sister. The series of adventures include a stop in Riverside Iowa (the future birthplace of Captain Kirk) to fuck with Trekkies. Kristen Bell plays Zoe, a girl with feisty Princess Leia-like attitude who works at a comic book store, and is well versed in everything from Star Wars to video games. Basically, she’s a fanboys wet dream.
Seth Rogen has triple duty, playing a trekkie (who seems perfectly modeled after Gabriel Köerner from Trekkies), a Star Wars tattooed pimp, and a Star Trek alien who they run into while in Las Vegas. At one point in the film, one version of Seth Rogen fights another version of Seth Rogen on the big screen. Epic! Ethan Suplee plays Ain’t It Cool News’ Harry Knowles, and there is a bevy of other cameos which include Billy Dee Williams, Danny Trejo, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Craig Robinson, Lou Taylor Pucci, Carrie Fisher, Danny McBride, and William Shatner playing himself. Ray Park (Darth Maul) even has a cameo as a THX security guard.
The film is not perfect, nor is it even on par with the best the teen comedy genre has to offer. Some of the problems include a kid dying of cancer who shows very little (if any) signs of sickness, a poorly developed romantic subplot, and a scene in a gay biker bar which should have been completely exorcised from the completed film. Oh, and Dan Fogler is painfully annoying. If only they had cast Jonah Hill or Tyler Labine instead. But the target audience of Star Wars fanboys and comic book geeks will surely eat it up. In it’s best moments it is a love letter to fandom and friendship.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10
The Weinstein Co has released new photos from Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno. More after the jump.
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I have a theory that Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno is actually just a chronology of Smith’s career so far as a filmmaker. The film starts off much like Clerks, with Seth Rogen trying to wake up for his dreadful job. Minutes later he is walking through the local mall with his roommate and best friend Miri, played by Elizabeth Banks, in a scene that is reminiscent of Mallrats. The high school reunion sequence that follows feels oh so Chasing Amy. And when Zack and Miri must band together with a group of misfits to make a porno, I’m reminded of both Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. And the last 30 minutes of Zack and Miri is more like a conventional romantic comedy, like Jersey Girl.
I got a chance to screen this film a few months ago, before the MPAA appeal hearing had taken place. When I told Smith my theory on the film, he replied “Congrats, sir – you’re the first person to say, what to me, is so blatantly obvious. It’s not a movie about porn, really: it’s a movie about how we made Clerks.” And I think that says everything you really need to know about Zack and Miri.
One of the reoccurring stories found in the teen films from the 80′s and 90′s is that of the dork or geek who is hopelessly in love with his best friend. She is a cute looking girl, probably out of his league, who has an asshole jock boyfriend and is completely ignorant to the fact that her sole-mate might actually be her best friend. Usually those 80′s teen films end with the realization. You know, the one that usually never happens in real life.
I would like to think that Zack and Miri takes place a decade after that unresolved story. Zack works in a coffee shop, and is currently living with his best friend Miri, whose good looks got her only as far as a job in the local mall. They are struggling to pay the rent. With their electricity turned off, they get an idea from a chance meeting at their High School reunion to raise money by creating a porno. The theory is that at least everyone in their high school class would pay to see it. This leads to without-a-doubt, the funniest Star Wars reference from Smith yet. I’m not sure how they accomplished so much under the guise of parody, but regardless, the entire sequence is hilarious. I wonder what George Lucas must think.
The first 30 minutes of the film is the funniest half-hour Smith has ever written/directed. As a studio executive would say, there are more laughs per a minute in the first third, than probably any of Smith’s previous films. Thank god Smith won the MPAA appeal, as the 14 frame, half a second shot is the equivalent of the hair-gel moment from “There’s Something About Mary”.
The Office’s Craig Robinson completely steals every scene he appears in. And Jason Mewes is more than just a pleasant surprise, delivering one of the biggest laughs of the entire film. Traci Lords and Katie Morgan will make you wonder why more porn actresses haven’t crossed over to the Hollywood mainstream. Cinematographer David Klein takes the visuals to the next level. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy who shot Clerks?
If there is any downside, it is that the film transitions from laugh out loud comedy to romantic dramedy in the last act, which might be too abrupt for some. But I think that by that point in the story you have come to care about the story of Zack and Miri enough to go through the transitional tone.
Bottom line is that Zack and Miri is the funniest film of 2008, and quite possibly the most fucked up romantic comedy ever to hit the big screen.
/Film Rating: 8 out of 10
