The Passion of the Clerks
There are some films that, for varying reasons, I am so hyped to see that the film has to end up being pretty bad for me to dislike. I suppose this is due to a combination of Geek Faith ("How could a movie about how Anakin becomes Darth Vader be bad?") and my more-than-willing suspension of disbelief for certain scenarios. (If you're going to watch a 3-hour movie about, say, a giant ape, there are certain critical faculties that simply become unnecessary.)
For a few months after I saw Episode I, for example, I had a hard time bad-mouthing it. It took me a long time to come to terms with how bad it actually was, because I had spent a disproportionate number of years after seeing Return of the Jedi imagining how cool the prequels might be. So there was no way I was prepared to deal with the emotional, spiritual, or intellectual consequences of Jar Jar Binks. At least at first. For a number of weeks, I kept a countdown calendar to Episode I on my office door, so you can imagine how reluctant I was to immediately disavow it. (I'm over that now, though. I fucking hate that movie.)
Anyone plugged into the Geek Zeitgeist will be familiar with the kinds of films that make it to my mental list of anticipatory classics, so I won't bother listing them here. But Clerks II is a clear favorite before it even reaches the gate (in fact, I was writing about how much I would like it back in May). I still haven't seen it yet (that will probably happen this weekend), but the critics' screenings are well underway, and reaction to the film seems generally positive.
That is, unless you're Joel Siegel. This story is all over the net now, but it's worth repeating. Apparently, at a recent screening, Siegel was so incensed at a discussion in the film regarding the proper way to fellate a donkey (in case you were forgetting this was a Kevin Smith film) that Siegel rose from his seat (remember that this is a screening for critics) and shouted, "Time to go! First movie I've walked out of in thirty fucking years!"
Naturally, once Kevin Smith got wind of this, he had a very choice response to Siegel's actions.
In terms of early publicity, you couldn't ask for a better rallying point than a critic like Siegel not only disliking the film, but disliking it enough to act unprofessionally in front of his peers (certainly not the worst of Siegel's crimes as a critic). Living in our cynical age, part of me can't help but wonder whether this is some elaborate punk to generate buzz. But I honestly don't think Kevin Smith would be that manipulative to his fanbase. I mean, this is a guy who makes movies featuring conversations about the proper way to fellate a donkey, so he's really not in a position to risk losing those fans, you know?
Kevin Smith (whose name, by the way, must be invoked in full, like JonLee, with all the adulation and attendant worship such an intonation implies) has always come across as the kind of guy who would be willing to hang out for a while and discuss the best Batman artists or, uh, the proper way to fellate a donkey (an image I'm sure he is careful to maintain), but that doesn't diminish, for me, the sensation that I'm getting away with something, meeting in some kind of underpublicized equivalent of a cinematic speakeasy, when I watch his films.
I'll say it again. I can't fucking wait to see this movie.
For a few months after I saw Episode I, for example, I had a hard time bad-mouthing it. It took me a long time to come to terms with how bad it actually was, because I had spent a disproportionate number of years after seeing Return of the Jedi imagining how cool the prequels might be. So there was no way I was prepared to deal with the emotional, spiritual, or intellectual consequences of Jar Jar Binks. At least at first. For a number of weeks, I kept a countdown calendar to Episode I on my office door, so you can imagine how reluctant I was to immediately disavow it. (I'm over that now, though. I fucking hate that movie.)
Anyone plugged into the Geek Zeitgeist will be familiar with the kinds of films that make it to my mental list of anticipatory classics, so I won't bother listing them here. But Clerks II is a clear favorite before it even reaches the gate (in fact, I was writing about how much I would like it back in May). I still haven't seen it yet (that will probably happen this weekend), but the critics' screenings are well underway, and reaction to the film seems generally positive.
That is, unless you're Joel Siegel. This story is all over the net now, but it's worth repeating. Apparently, at a recent screening, Siegel was so incensed at a discussion in the film regarding the proper way to fellate a donkey (in case you were forgetting this was a Kevin Smith film) that Siegel rose from his seat (remember that this is a screening for critics) and shouted, "Time to go! First movie I've walked out of in thirty fucking years!"
Naturally, once Kevin Smith got wind of this, he had a very choice response to Siegel's actions.
In terms of early publicity, you couldn't ask for a better rallying point than a critic like Siegel not only disliking the film, but disliking it enough to act unprofessionally in front of his peers (certainly not the worst of Siegel's crimes as a critic). Living in our cynical age, part of me can't help but wonder whether this is some elaborate punk to generate buzz. But I honestly don't think Kevin Smith would be that manipulative to his fanbase. I mean, this is a guy who makes movies featuring conversations about the proper way to fellate a donkey, so he's really not in a position to risk losing those fans, you know?
Kevin Smith (whose name, by the way, must be invoked in full, like JonLee, with all the adulation and attendant worship such an intonation implies) has always come across as the kind of guy who would be willing to hang out for a while and discuss the best Batman artists or, uh, the proper way to fellate a donkey (an image I'm sure he is careful to maintain), but that doesn't diminish, for me, the sensation that I'm getting away with something, meeting in some kind of underpublicized equivalent of a cinematic speakeasy, when I watch his films.
I'll say it again. I can't fucking wait to see this movie.
posted by Chazzbot at 9:02 AM
3 Comments:
Oh. My. I am truly honored to have my name mentioned in the same sentence (and with the same adulative intonation) as Kevin Smith. What have I done to deserve this?
Well, it's possibly my ravaging good looks. Or my gigantic IQ. Or the fact that I can bench press a JCB. Take your pick.
Uh, what's a JCB? Some kind of exotic Canadian mini-car? Some new kind of Canadian weight measurement? Or something you made up to sound even more impressive?
JCB is actually the name of a company that makes "construction, agricultural, and materials handling equipment". However, one of the products made by this company has also become known as a JCB (kind of in the way a photocopier is called a Xerox machine)--the more common name for this product is, in my part of the world, a backhoe ("backhoe loader" is the preferred technical term). There's actually quite a neat song--"JCB"--by a band called Nizlopi about a boy and his father riding in one of these machines.
The More You Know (TM)
JonLee
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