Kevin Smith's New Film...Red State

[Crash]

Did a search on this and couldn't find anything...

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/sundance-review-kevin-smiths-red-state-reinvention-return-form-24165


Of the hundreds of "Red State" tweets I read tonight, one from Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, stood out. He said that (http://twitter.com/cameron_tiff/status/29395623333601280) "Red State" "mashes up torture porn and 'Saving Private Ryan' to bait both church & state," and I can get behind that description. The first half of "Red State" feels like Kevin Smith's take on "Hostel," while the second half plays like a Waco-under-siege movie that recalls the flashbacks in "Arlington Road."


Sounds like a departure for Smith, who I like, and it seems to be getting some heat. Definately want to check it out.

Anybody heard anything else about this?

[Willmore]

I"'ll try to make it to the roadhouse screening in Seattle.

[epo]

Smith seems to be getting heat for a couple of reasons:

1. He invited movie buyers into a screening for the purposes of a buyers screening at Sundance, then gimmicked them out and shit on them.

2. He hasn't made a good movie for quite awhile.

His level of implosion is actually quite sad. I like some of Smith's work, but he's killing his own career and he's ruined his own name in the business.

[Crispy_Mobile]

Smith seems to be getting heat for a couple of reasons: 1. He invited movie buyers into a screening for the purposes of a buyers screening at Sundance, then gimmicked them out and shit on them. 2. He hasn't made a good movie for quite awhile. His level of implosion is actually quite sad. I like some of Smith's work, but he's killing his own career and he's ruined his own name in the business.

uh ok maybe you forgot a little movie called Cop Out?

[Snacks]

Smith seems to be getting heat for a couple of reasons:

1. He invited movie buyers into a screening for the purposes of a buyers screening at Sundance, then gimmicked them out and shit on them.

2. He hasn't made a good movie for quite awhile.

His level of implosion is actually quite sad. I like some of Smith's work, but he's killing his own career and he's ruined his own name in the business.

I agree with this. That was a publicity stunt and he pissed off a lot of executives doing that. Hes not a money maker director that has the power to be pissing anyone off.

and Cop Out was terrible!

[sailor]

Smith seems to be getting heat for a couple of reasons:

1. He invited movie buyers into a screening for the purposes of a buyers screening at Sundance, then gimmicked them out and shit on them.

2. He hasn't made a good movie for quite awhile.

His level of implosion is actually quite sad. I like some of Smith's work, but he's killing his own career and he's ruined his own name in the business.

Can you explain 1? I don't follow.

[Crispy_Mobile]

Are you sure you saw the right Cop Out? Im talking about the one with Die Hard, Black 30rock, and Stifler. That was easily Smiths best movie since Clerks 2: Donkey Fuckers.

[Snacks]

I know the one. The only funny scene in the entire movie was...


<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pNLHzNtO58M" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>

[epo]

Can you explain 1? I don't follow.

An article about Kevin Smith's distribution stunt at Sundance (http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/sundance-watching-kevin-smith-implode/)

[foodcourtdruide]

I know the one. The only funny scene in the entire movie was...


<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pNLHzNtO58M" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>

No way. The scene where Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis bust into the house and Tracy Morgan acts like Robocop has me dying laughing.

[sailor]

Wow, that was a boring article. He offended some people I don't care about. Yawn.

Thanks for the link.

[HBox]

It's always been my opinion that once a creative person becomes obsessed with their critics it's all but certain they have lost whatever creative spark they once had.

It's not always true but in this case it absolutely is.

[Melk]

Smith doesn't realize that, no matter where he steps, he is not giving the companies he does business with enough profit to carry the weight he brings to the table

[fezident]

People still care about Kevin Smith? Really??

I was a massive fan of the universe he created, but... I just kinda outgrew it. He diluted the brand. Went to the well a few times too many. Whatever. I dunno. It just kinda surprises me when somebody thinks of him as anything but a "has-been".

To me, he's about as valid as "grunge" or whatever.

[Bob Impact]

I don't think he gives a shit about making movies anymore. He seems to only really care about the Podcasts now, he's even said that after Red State and the hockey movie he's making he's done as a director. Works for me, Clerks 2 was funny but I haven't been too interested in his movies in a long time. I'm a fan of the podcasts though, Hollywood Babble On is the funniest radio/podcast show I've heard in a long time.

[Melk]

I don't think he gives a shit about making movies anymore. He seems to only really care about the Podcasts now, he's even said that after Red State and the hockey movie he's making he's done as a director. Works for me, Clerks 2 was funny but I haven't been too interested in his movies in a long time. I'm a fan of the podcasts though, Hollywood Babble On is the funniest radio/podcast show I've heard in a long time.
The thing that irritates me about Kevin Smith is that he has this incredible gift for anecdotes, but he has never really written a transcendent movie. I get that he prefers to write dirty movies within the John Hughes formula and I am going to withhold judgment on "Red State" till I see it, but he certainly has a lot of crap to say about other peoples' work without the quality product to back up any argument he has.

He perpetuated his weight gain and the consequences of his failed attempts to fly Southwest Airlines and Virgin. He could've addressed his complaints within the airlines' corporate structures without a big media backlash, but he chose to scream at his fans about his troubles.

From the release of Mallrats, where he was quoted in Entertainment Weekly as having quipped something to the effect of "when I read the negative reviews from the critics who loved Clerks I think I about blowing my brains out," to the going on Howard Stern to alert his fans that ABC was planning to bury "Clerks: The Animated Series" before the first airing of the first episode, Kevin Smith has been a legendary boob at handling his problems in public. He is as bad at resolving conflict as Fez Whatley.

The funny thing is that I love the guy's podcasts, but I think he is a fool. His suggesting that his friend Malcolm could make enough money to put a down payment on a house for making Jay and Silent Bob-themed gay pornography is idiotic. This publicity stunt, however, may do wonders for his career.

[underdog]

Wow, that was a boring article. He offended some people I don't care about. Yawn.

Thanks for the link.

Yeah, I kind of feel the same. It's like someone went off on agents. Who gives a fuck?

[Melk]

Yeah, I kind of feel the same. It's like someone went off on agents. Who gives a fuck?
Yeah, that reporter's indignation is just embarrassing.

[epo]

Yeah, that reporter's indignation is just embarrassing.

The whole episode is embarrassing and Smith is in the dead center of it.

I wish he'd just concentrate on making a good movie for the first time in awhile.

[foodcourtdruide]

The whole episode is embarrassing and Smith is in the dead center of it.

I wish he'd just concentrate on making a good movie for the first time in awhile.

The last film he made that I really liked was Dogma. Still, Clerks is really a timeless classic., so I can't be too mad at him.

[Justice4all]

People still care about Kevin Smith? Really??

I was a massive fan of the universe he created, but... I just kinda outgrew it. He diluted the brand. Went to the well a few times too many. Whatever. I dunno. It just kinda surprises me when somebody thinks of him as anything but a "has-been".

To me, he's about as valid as "grunge" or whatever.

I don't think Dogma will ever really die. That was a brilliant film by him.

I also liked watching "An evening with Kevin Smith". those were enjoyable.

[JohnGacysCrawlSpace]

Cop Out was just awful. It made Zach and Miri look like Citizen Cain.

[fezident]

I always thought Dogma was unwatchably bad.
It really revealed how amateurish Smith was as a film maker. ( wooden acting, stilted delivery, cheap design, sluggish camera work....)

[Rawkus]

i dont' know why kevin blasting bruce willis as being a douche is big news now. He said this in the last evening with kevin smith kind of thing that was on epix a few months ago. It's called too fat for forty

[fezident]

Now we're acting Bruce Willis is still somebody??

Surrogates? Red? Planet Terror? Expendables? 16 Blocks?? Slevin??

Holy shit. Who even thought that Cop Out was gonna make a nickel? They couldn't even make the TRAILER for that movie look the least bit humorous. Seriously. If I saw that dvd on the floor... I wouldn't pick it up. Bruce Willis and Kevin Smith were supposed to be a recipe for success?? What the fuck.

[Melk]

The things that really make me laugh about the current Smith story are:

1) The number of times people on this message board, on Twitter, on Ron & Fez, on Huffington Post have mentioned that Smith is going to direct one more movie after Red State, a hockey movie. I mean, seriously, it is written in every article. Why write an additional comment, call in with the same comment? We know.

2) Kevin Smith has always been adversarial toward the studios who produced his films and corporations, in general. It doesn't matter if it was Grammercy who "botched the advertising of Mallrats" or it was Disney who "buried Dogma when the Catholic league began protesting" or it was ABC who "canceled Clerks even before the first episode aired" or it was Southwest Airlines "kicking me off of the plane even though I usually buy two seats but this time I forgot to" or it was Virgin being dicks "for not letting me board the plane even though we were there before the departure time and my wife's medicine is in my check-in baggage."

Kevin should take some level of responsibility in his role in his public "failures."

[cougarjake13]

he shoulda stuck to football

[Melk]

From here (http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured/posts/sundance-review-kevin-smiths-red-state-fails-onscreen-and-off-at-its-world-premiere):

"The exposition in the film is completely perfunctory, a few quick scenes, and then it's "violence, rant, rant, rant, violence, rant, rant.""

Wow. This guy as all but saying that "Red State" is a ripoff of "Gap."

[deliciousV]

Did anybody but me actually see Red State? I finally got around to watching it today and am a little surprised it wasn't discussed more here. I found it to be a good story, well told, and well acted. I enjoyed the hell out of it, best thing Kevin Smith has done in a long time.

[Bob Impact]

I agree, I loved it, thought it was extremely well done start to finish

[CountryBob]

I liked it a lot - John Goodman was a great chartacter