I used to be a huge Kevin Smith fan. Anything with his name on it was good enough for me to spend money on. his movies, comics - when they would come out, even his Evening With...DVD's.
But no more.
He's lost me.
He actually lost me years ago when he decided that his comic book work would take a very obvious backseat to his film work. I can partly understand choosing film over comics. The money in film is greater, but don't slap your comic book fans in the face. He was at the time the celebrity face of comics. He went on the Tonight Show for the sole purpose of promoting a Comic Book. His Spider-man/Black Cat 5 issue mini series that ended up taking him 3-4 years (not sure of the actual date) to finish. the final 2 issues never even hit the comic book stores, it was so late that Marvel just decided to put out the completed Trade. I tink last year EIC of Marvel Joe Quesada admitted that we won't ever see the second issue of the 2-part Daredevil: Target book.
He lost me with his movies as well. Most of his earlier stuff - like his claim to fame Clerks - doesn't really hold up for me anymore. I still like Dogma, Mallrats was ok, same with Chasing Amy and Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back. Clerks 2 was joke of the worst kind, and so was Jersey girl.
Right around the time of Jersey Girl, Smith was doing the media rounds for the film and he said that with Jay & Silent Bob that was it for his 'Jersey' characters. He was done with them and he was moving on. I give him credit for that, Jersey Girl was Smith's attempt at growing up. Good for him.
The movie flopped.
His response was to write another Clerks movie. Something that he swore he would never do. I lost respect for him right there as well.
With his new movie, Zack & Miri Make a Porno, I have to wonder how many more chances are we going to give him. This was predicted to be his big hit. The movie follows the now familiar Judd Apatow formula for R rated comedy success. The movie opened with less than 10 million in it's opening weekend.
The movie was known more for the 'provocative' title than anything else, when it came down to watchinhg the movie, it wasn't provocative or really all that edgy even. It was an "R" rated comedy that showed some female and male nudity and some simulated sex. But it was really the story of Seth Rogen's character and Elizabeth Banks' characters falling in love after 20 years of friendship. As with most Smith projects, there were some laughs and some funny situations, but that is about it. It wasn't really a great comedy and I think it has something to do with Smith's dialogue. When first getting into Smith's work the dialogue may seem edgy and smart and even in some cases 'real' sounding. But really in my opinion, it's not at all.
The dialogue can seem clunky as characters try and cram so many words into an argument that it zaps all comedy out of it and just sounds silly.
The movie trys to have heart because that is the way with all the new breed of 'raunch' comedies, but Apatow does it much better. In Zack & Miri the finale of the film just seems unrealistic and far fetched. Characters that have known each other and been best friends for 20 years, have been living with each other for years as well only fall in love after they script themselves to have a sex scene in their porno? Doesn't really make sense to me, doesn't really seem like a funny situation either.
I gave this movie a chance because of Seth Rogen. He can't have a hit all the time I guess. I'm officially done with Kevin Smith though.
Tom.
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Pull List for Oct 15 * Marvel Price Policy
Relatively small week for me -which is good.
Amazing Spider-Man #573 - Finally be able to finish reading New Ways to Die. Also grabbed the Stephen Colbert Variant edition, because it's cool.
Charlatan Ball #4 - Not a bad little book. I have the Hardcover edition of Joe Casey's other book Godland, still haven't read it yet.
Astonishing X-Men #27 - Wasn't too impressed with the first issues of Ellis' run, he usually always brings something different.
Captain Britain & MI 13 #6 - decent title, not sure if I'll stay with it.
Guardians of the Galaxy #6
Mighty Avengers #19 - Book is cancelled for me - still on the hook for one more issue, probably won't even read this one at all.
Ultimate Origins #5 - the mini is done and I can stop caring about the Ultimate Universe. Won't bother with Ultimatum.
Ghostbusters: The Other Side #1 - So glad the ghostbusters are back in comic books - a video game coming soon too!
It was going to be a normal day at the Comic Shop until, the guy working behind the counter told me that Marvel has raised their prices on all of their books. The Canadian price of course. This highly pissed me off. I am primarily a Marvel reader. A solid 90% of my stack is Marvel. My problem is not the fact that Marvel increased their prices - that is going to happen, comics used to cost .10 cents remember. The problem I had was how quickly Marvel changed the Canadian prices. When the Canadian dollar was at par or above the American dollar Marvel dragged their heels on changing the price, making equal or closer to equal the American cover price. But when the Canadian dollar drops like it has in the last couple of weeks, Marvel jumps all over it and raises the prices .50 cents a book across the board in a heartbeat. WTF!
This means nothing to Marvel, because honestly how many people does this effect? In the hundreds on some books...maybe a thousand on the top selling books? I'm dropping a few more Marvel books because of this. Nothing drastic, I can't ever see myself giving them up completely, but this factor in to my pull list. I think Captain Britain will be gone, maybe X-Factor as well, maybe a couple more if I can. But it will definetely stop me from buying any mini-series from Marvel, the prices were already jacked up on those.
In the last couple of weeks, I had added a few DC titles, with Marvel upping their Canadian price DC will have to follow suit within the next couple of weeks I imagine.
Stupid bastard jerks Marvel!
Tom.
Amazing Spider-Man #573 - Finally be able to finish reading New Ways to Die. Also grabbed the Stephen Colbert Variant edition, because it's cool.
Charlatan Ball #4 - Not a bad little book. I have the Hardcover edition of Joe Casey's other book Godland, still haven't read it yet.
Astonishing X-Men #27 - Wasn't too impressed with the first issues of Ellis' run, he usually always brings something different.
Captain Britain & MI 13 #6 - decent title, not sure if I'll stay with it.
Guardians of the Galaxy #6
Mighty Avengers #19 - Book is cancelled for me - still on the hook for one more issue, probably won't even read this one at all.
Ultimate Origins #5 - the mini is done and I can stop caring about the Ultimate Universe. Won't bother with Ultimatum.
Ghostbusters: The Other Side #1 - So glad the ghostbusters are back in comic books - a video game coming soon too!
It was going to be a normal day at the Comic Shop until, the guy working behind the counter told me that Marvel has raised their prices on all of their books. The Canadian price of course. This highly pissed me off. I am primarily a Marvel reader. A solid 90% of my stack is Marvel. My problem is not the fact that Marvel increased their prices - that is going to happen, comics used to cost .10 cents remember. The problem I had was how quickly Marvel changed the Canadian prices. When the Canadian dollar was at par or above the American dollar Marvel dragged their heels on changing the price, making equal or closer to equal the American cover price. But when the Canadian dollar drops like it has in the last couple of weeks, Marvel jumps all over it and raises the prices .50 cents a book across the board in a heartbeat. WTF!
This means nothing to Marvel, because honestly how many people does this effect? In the hundreds on some books...maybe a thousand on the top selling books? I'm dropping a few more Marvel books because of this. Nothing drastic, I can't ever see myself giving them up completely, but this factor in to my pull list. I think Captain Britain will be gone, maybe X-Factor as well, maybe a couple more if I can. But it will definetely stop me from buying any mini-series from Marvel, the prices were already jacked up on those.
In the last couple of weeks, I had added a few DC titles, with Marvel upping their Canadian price DC will have to follow suit within the next couple of weeks I imagine.
Stupid bastard jerks Marvel!
Tom.
Monday, October 6, 2008
PVR & Pull List
Wow, I suck at keeping this thing updated. Initially it was supposed to be something everyday, then it turned into twice an week and now it's whenever the hell I feel like it.
PVR's...
Are the greatest invention of all time. Top five at the very least.
I record everything that I watch now, just so that I can fast forward through the commercials. Way better to be able to get through an hour long program in 40 minutes rather than wasting the hour to watch it live. I can watch the shows on my time - typically a day or so after they initially air. I know that the networks hate it, I can fast forward through their prescious TV ads, but it's been a life saver, especially on days where the TV lineup is packed with stuff that I want to watch. Mondays and Thursdays are the worst. Without the PVR I would have to drop a few shows. Could always download them I suppose, but no.
The only problem is that I think I've been losing my attention span. Normally the only things I don't record to watch at a later date are award shows and sports events. Watching the Emmy's a couple of weeks ago, I was reaching for the fast forward button at practically every commercial break and sometimes just to get past the lame attempts at comedy from the hosts and the drawn out acceptance speeches.
It's affecting my watching of sports as well. The NHL season started up on the weekend and I couldn't sit through 5 minutes of the game - it could be because it was Pittsburgh and Ottawa playing over in Sweden but hockey is my favourite sport, if I can't sit through a game of that I'm screwed.
Pull List for 2 weeks ago, didn't go to the store this week only 2 books on my list. So for 2 weeks ago this is what I picked up.
1985 #5 - pretty decent, story I guess.
Angel Revelations #5 - ending the miniseries that has been...ok.
Fantastic Four #560 - don't love it, but don't hate it either. Sticking around until the end of the Millar/Hitch run.
Nova#17 - still surprised that I like this book.
New Avengers #45 - may be the only Avengers book I'll be getting in a few months as I have cancelled both Mighty and Initiative.
Deadpool #2 - #3 is due out next week, that's 3 issues in 2 months, not that I'm complaining but the scheduling seems weird.
Captain America#42 - I think Brubaker has surpassed Bendis as my favourite comic writer.
Avengers: Initiative #17 - done with it - didn't even read this issue, started out great but felt like it really fell off in quality maybe ten issues ago.
That's it.
Tom.
PVR's...
Are the greatest invention of all time. Top five at the very least.
I record everything that I watch now, just so that I can fast forward through the commercials. Way better to be able to get through an hour long program in 40 minutes rather than wasting the hour to watch it live. I can watch the shows on my time - typically a day or so after they initially air. I know that the networks hate it, I can fast forward through their prescious TV ads, but it's been a life saver, especially on days where the TV lineup is packed with stuff that I want to watch. Mondays and Thursdays are the worst. Without the PVR I would have to drop a few shows. Could always download them I suppose, but no.
The only problem is that I think I've been losing my attention span. Normally the only things I don't record to watch at a later date are award shows and sports events. Watching the Emmy's a couple of weeks ago, I was reaching for the fast forward button at practically every commercial break and sometimes just to get past the lame attempts at comedy from the hosts and the drawn out acceptance speeches.
It's affecting my watching of sports as well. The NHL season started up on the weekend and I couldn't sit through 5 minutes of the game - it could be because it was Pittsburgh and Ottawa playing over in Sweden but hockey is my favourite sport, if I can't sit through a game of that I'm screwed.
Pull List for 2 weeks ago, didn't go to the store this week only 2 books on my list. So for 2 weeks ago this is what I picked up.
1985 #5 - pretty decent, story I guess.
Angel Revelations #5 - ending the miniseries that has been...ok.
Fantastic Four #560 - don't love it, but don't hate it either. Sticking around until the end of the Millar/Hitch run.
Nova#17 - still surprised that I like this book.
New Avengers #45 - may be the only Avengers book I'll be getting in a few months as I have cancelled both Mighty and Initiative.
Deadpool #2 - #3 is due out next week, that's 3 issues in 2 months, not that I'm complaining but the scheduling seems weird.
Captain America#42 - I think Brubaker has surpassed Bendis as my favourite comic writer.
Avengers: Initiative #17 - done with it - didn't even read this issue, started out great but felt like it really fell off in quality maybe ten issues ago.
That's it.
Tom.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Media Consumption
With the new Televisions season here, it becomes a race for me to get everything done/watched.
My PVR rapidly fills up and I have a hard time getting through it all. I knock down a few hours worth of TV and then that night it fills right back up again. The problem compounds when taking into account the other things I want to do as well.
Comics, reading - novels, video games, movies. There isn't enough time for it all.
It gets frustrating and the thought of dropping shows or comics pops into my mind, but there are always more and more to take over the spots of the fallen. So I see my PVR fill up, see the stacks of comics and books pile up, see video games being neglected and all I can do is think that I'll get to them tomorrow or the next day.
Gotta have a life too right? Something outside the nerdly realms of geek culture?
How to balance it all is the question. Not sure if there's a proper answer either. I can't help the fact that I'm attracted to so many different aspects of pop culture and want to try and enjoy the most I can.
Sometimes I think it's too much, but good luck trying to quit. I've already given up. I'm Pop Culture's Bitch!
Tom.
My PVR rapidly fills up and I have a hard time getting through it all. I knock down a few hours worth of TV and then that night it fills right back up again. The problem compounds when taking into account the other things I want to do as well.
Comics, reading - novels, video games, movies. There isn't enough time for it all.
It gets frustrating and the thought of dropping shows or comics pops into my mind, but there are always more and more to take over the spots of the fallen. So I see my PVR fill up, see the stacks of comics and books pile up, see video games being neglected and all I can do is think that I'll get to them tomorrow or the next day.
Gotta have a life too right? Something outside the nerdly realms of geek culture?
How to balance it all is the question. Not sure if there's a proper answer either. I can't help the fact that I'm attracted to so many different aspects of pop culture and want to try and enjoy the most I can.
Sometimes I think it's too much, but good luck trying to quit. I've already given up. I'm Pop Culture's Bitch!
Tom.
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