Dogma (1999)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:    Kevin Smith
Cast:       Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino

An abortion clinic worker (Linda Fiorentino) with a special heritage is called upon to save existence of humanity from being negated by two renegade angels, Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck), trying to exploit a loop-hole and reenter heaven. The voice of God (Alan Rickman) communicates to her that two prophets (Jay and Silent Bob) will help her and along the way they meet Rufus (Chris Rock), the thirteenth apostle. If you think the ensemble cast is not big enough, you got George Carlin playing a cardinal, Salma Hayek as muse and Alanis Morissette as God no less. 

I recently saw 'Noah' and it also involved some angels called 'Watchers' about which I had no idea despite having gone to Sunday School for a long time. Going to Sunday school might have had a strong influence on me becoming an atheist and face it, who the fuck would really want to spend half your Sunday on such a thing. Instead of the do-good stuff from New Testament, had they taught about the moody genocidal God from the Old Testament and the rebellions he/she faced from angels like Lucifer, it would have been more interesting. I guess it is not PG-13 stuff. Loki, Angel of Death, is the one who did the genocidal stuff for the God and when he was engineering a plague on God's orders, another angel Bartleby talked him out of it by making him feel guilty. They were banished for eternity from heaven to Wisconsin for their insubordination. When a cardinal (George Carlin) declares an arch from his church to be one which can cast away your sins upon crossing, the fallen angels see it as a way to reenter heaven. But since it would make God fallible, by making his curse redundant causing the whole existence to be negated,they have to be stopped and the film revolves around this.  

Kevin Smith really was on ball during the early part of his career and Dogma was his first really major film at least based on the Cast list even though it is strictly independent in spirit. It was his fourth film with Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy coming before it. One could say he went off boil after Dogma but Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks 2 were watchable nevertheless. His most recent film 'Tusk' was him coming back to form and he had admitted that he was thinking about packing it in altogether after making some thoroughly forgettable films. Looks like he is gonna be prolific again with two films in production (Yoga Hosers and Clerk 3) and another two announced. Hopefully the quality won't suffer for it.

Overall Dogma is a great watch but at over two hours it is lightly longer than it should be. I had seen it a long time back with it being the first one I saw from Kevin Smith and on re watch its quality does not drop. In fact it was more enjoyable second time round with plenty of jokes that you might have missed on first watch. It drew protests from the predictable quarters even before its release and Kevin Smith got two death threats for it. Even Kevin Smith joined the protests against the film and got himself interviewed doing it. The overall message of the film is that it is good as long as people see things as ideas rather than making a belief structure around it. Before filming, Kevin Smith warned Jason Mewes to be on his behavior because of the involvement of actors like Alan Rickman and Jason went on to memorize the entire script, according to his own words, so as not to annoy the 'Rickman dude'. 

Rating: 4/5

                                                                  

Tusk (2014)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:   Kevin Smith
Cast:      Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osmont

When a podcaster Wallace Bryton (Justin Long) goes missing in the backwoods of Manitoba while interviewing a mysterious seafarer named Howard Howe (Michael Parks), his best friend and fellow podcaster Teddy (Haely Joel Osmont) and girlfriend Allison (Genesis Rodriguez) team with an ex-cop (Johnny Depp) to look for him.

I saw the film carrying an annoying bout of cold and am not sue whether it was because of that, I thought John Hurt was playing Howard Hoe, instead of Michael Parks, and Steve Coogan was playing the Quebec cop Guy Lapointe, instead of Johnny Depp. The film didn't help much in that regard by having Guy Lapointe playing Guy Lapointe in the closing credits and I assumed it was some famous French actor. The film began as an adaptation of a story said on Kevin Smith's podcast-'Smodcast'. It was based on an ad by a guy on Gumtree (British Craiglist-lite) who offered living conditions free of charge on the condition that the lodger will dress as a 'Walrus'. Smith then tweeted people to tweet #WalrusYes if they want the film to be made or else #WalrusNo. That is the background story to it. It is the first in Kevin Smith's planned trilogy of horror films set in Canada. Tusk is Smith channeling his inner Cronenberg and Coen Brothers and the result is a very enjoyable comedy-horror film. There was one point when I was thinking that the dialog have a very Coen feel to it, there was this Big Lebowski reference thrown in. The role played by Johnny Depp was initially offered to Tarantino, who turned it down citing that he has not interest in acting anymore, and am glad he did that because this is the best we have seen Depp in a long time, even though I didn't realize it was him until afterwards. It is also interesting to read the history of The Beatles' song 'I am the Walrus.

This was Smith's first feature film since 'Red State' and unlike that one, which he chose to do independent distribution with Q&A, Tusk got a limited release. It is much better than Red State and is Kevin Smith's best effort since 'Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back'. There are plenty of references to stories discussed in Smodcast for regular listeners, which I am not. It was good to see Haley Joel Osmont (Sixth Sense, A.I) back and the film is a great watch but as always, not recommended for everyone. 

Rating: 4/5 

Mallrats (1995)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:    Kevin Smith
Cast:       Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Shannen Doherty, Jason Mewes

Two friends are dumped by their respective girlfriends on the same day.  Both of them are man-childs with more time dedicated to comic books and Sega than their girlfriends. One of them think his girlfriend dumped him because he farted when she was going down on him. Miffed by the actions of their girlfriends they decide to hit their local mall.

Kevin Smith managed to get studio funding for this film after the success of his debut independent film 'Clerks'. Film received much derision upon its release due to unfair comparisons with Clerks. Since then it has achieved a cult following. For me it is great watch especially the first one hour. The scene with comic books legend Stan Lee playing himself and the last TV show scenes were bit drawn out. I am not a comic books fan/ follower but still the jokes are very enjoyable. The opening credits are laden with strips from pornographic spoofs of famous comic books. Kevin Smith's characteristic references to Star Wars, Jaws etc are strewn all over and Jay and Silent Bob have an extended cameo. The protagonists engages in intellectual discussions like whether Lois Lane will be able to carry Superman's kids and have their fortunes told by a topless Russian fortune teller who has an extra bodily part. The sarcastic references to American consumerism and danger that kids face in mall escalators are hilarious.

I saw the 95 minutes version of the film and have not yet got my hands on the extended 125 minutes version which was released on the 10th anniversary of the film. Since I felt this one was already a bit dragging, not watching the extended version might be a good idea.

Rating: 4/5

Clerks. (1994)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:    Kevin Smith
Cast:      Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith
A day in the lives of two convenience store clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.

Was watching it for the second time and it was as good as the first time though some of the bad acting are apparent. The film launched Kevin Smith's career and was made at a meager budget of 28k. It grossed 3 million after it was acquired by Miramax. The shop was the one where Kevin Smith was working during the time and the lost scene animation was added later on after the film became a surprise hit. All in all Kevin Smith's best film.

Rating: 5/5

Red State (2011)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:    Kevin Smith
Cast:      Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman
Set in middle America, a group of teenagers receive an invitation for sex, though they soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.

Film is a fictional account loosely based on the fundamentalist group Westboro Baptist church who are a bunch of loons. To take a closer look at their lunacy, you can watch Louis Theroux's 'Most hated family in America'.

The story of red state is very thin. There are some good performances from Michael Parks and John Goodman and the film is well shot. There is a voice cameo from Kevin Smith which is the last spoken dialog of the film.

Rating: 2.5/5

Kevin Smith: Sold Out - A Threevening with Kevin Smith (2009)

Stars: Kevin Smith
Its basically a Q&A stage show in Kevin Smith's hometown in Jersey on his 37th birthday. Great to watch and hear his stories.

Rating: 4/5

Hit Somebody (2012)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:   Kevin Smith
Cast:      Alan Rickman, John Goodman, Michael Angarano
The story of a hockey player with a talent for fighting. Based on the song of the same name by Warren Zevon, which was written by Mitch Albom.

Red State (2011)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:    Kevin Smith
Cast:      Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman
You won't associate Kevin Smith with the horror genre. Well, his new film Red State is a horror thriller set for release on 19th October in US. Quentin Tarantino has seen the film twice and given high praise for it.The plot is given as: Set in middle America, a group of teens receive and online invitation for sex, though they soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.