Clerks~ A bit slower and smarter than most of his later work, set the groundwork for pretty much everything I've seen of his.
The ongoing jokes weren't always funny but did add personality (particularly that of overworked retail pussy "I'm not even supposed to be here today") and the nerd references that even non-nerds get were a fresh "what if" take on pop culture humor.
I thought the black and white made it more appealing, so in a way I'm glad Smith didn't have the money for color.
Mallrats~ Thanks to the fact youtube doesn't have it, I never actually saw this, which according to Smith himself both on IFC's Dinner for Five and his own Evening Harder and Comic-Con appearances is a good thing.
In each interview he lamented over how little control they had over that movie in comparison to the "no one really cares about this film, so we can make it however we want to" approach taken with Clerks. He also mentioned studio editing of a cum in hair joke that was later done in another, particularly famous film (for those of you who don't know There's Something About Mary)
Chasing Amey (Foley Edit)~ From what I saw of Mr. Foley's (some random youtube account) edit, I liked it but it definitely didn't flow the way he cut it unless you had already seen it, so I can't pass judgement fairly yet.
I do like the idea of gay black guy acting as radical anti-white black guy to sell comic books.
Dogma~ This is actually the only movie I've seen of Kevin Smith's offline, and also the first of his I saw.
I may have enjoyed it more having gone to Catholic school and understanding the plot possibly better than non-Catholics but in general it's just a great rip on any religion that starts putting text before practice.
And of course the controversy that apparently surrounded its release was very much undeserved as, much as I thought this joke was disgusting and actually the film's downpoint, Smith's not lying when he says there's a damn rubber poop monster in it and thus shouldn't be taken so seriously.
Even if it was taken seriously, it's an always witty and raunchy way of relating how much more important it is to follow the spirit of the law than the dated written law.
Jersey Girl~ was also edited in its youtube form and thus I can't give a fair review, but what I did see of it I thought was just a nice, sweet chick flicky film. Certainly nothing worse than almost everything else I've seen in the genre (though I realize that's not saying much).
EDIT~Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back~ was a bit too smug and self referential for me.
It also felt like EVERY other comedy coming out at the turn of the millenium whose main joke was itself and the a-list comic actors it was able to nab.
It was ok, and everyone I know can quote the song Jay sings upon the films opening sequence (including $15 little man etc) but overall it was just too cliche and too full of itself.
That being said, I loved them getting trapped in the Scooby van, because that actually showed some unique Smith humor but everything else could have been handled by any other director.
Clerks 2~ is imo the funniest Kevin Smith movie, while definitely the most offensive.
Donkey scene aside (which was ok but went on for too long and no nothing graphic is really shown thank God), just about everything in this movie had me laughing out loud pretty hard.
I think LotR vs Star Wars is the best nerd dialogue Smith ever wrote (even better than the roofer argument in the original) and Randall steals the show with ignorant musings about the term "porch monkey" and ridiculously offensive but funny online arguments with a (probably much more intelligent and decent) handicapped person.
And though I can't stand his music and voice in real life,kudos to Kev on the King Diamond reference and especially the lively and fun Jackson 5 dance montage it eventually leads to.
While giving a speech, Smith said he thought Clerks 2 was pretty good closure, and I tend to agree cause I'm not sure how he'd top Pillow Pants' debut any time soon.
Spoiler Warning
I finally beat Twilight Princess after 2 years of ownership, and once again while it doesn't quite present too much new in terms of gameplay mechanics save for a "Spider Ball (see Metroid Prime series)" like device that lets Link climb up walls and provides for a pretty cool boss battle, what it gets right is its art direction.
I swear they used every piece of room available on my tiny Gamecube disc to make the locales as huge and epic as they were.
My gripe is that it ends on a pussy boss, and I would have preferred the final locale to be Zant's surrealistically beautiful castle in the twilight realm, and not the same old Hyrule Castle we've seen in every 3D installment.
It's an amazing game to look at but unfortunately, at least on Gamecube, I can't recommend its stale play mechanics. You are playing Ocarina of Time on steroids, nothing more.
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