- AICN (who we hear are in a bit of trouble over that Oscar gag) ran a story from a scooper who also sent us some info onthe screening of the first 2 Clerks TCS episodes late last week. Check it out if ya dare, but we warn ya there ARE some spoilers in there! It may be better to wait and enjoy the shows on your own. We are toying with the idea of adding more detailed descriptions we’ve got to our Clerks TCS page as well, but aren’t sure we wanna risk ruining any surprises yet. At any rate, sit tight, the shows will be worth the wait, we know it!
- Another chance to play that Dogma drinking game…This time in Portland, Oregon at the Bagdad Theater Brewpub from Friday 2/18 to Thurssay 2/24 at 8:00 PM. 3 bucks gets ya in. Bring your beer money.
- Dogma has conquered yet another country…Thailand!!! The flick’s now hit theaters over there, and ads are running in local papers. Here’s a taste of a review from a paper called THE NATION. Seems they were a bit lukewarm on the flick. It’s just interesting to hear what they saw anyway, even though they didn’t seem to like the flick:
Overall, it is an ultimately sanctimonious fable about a ragtag assortment of humans and celestial beings who strive to prevent a pair of fallen angels from reentering paradise via a loophole in Church dogma. Should the renegade seraphim succeed, humankind is toast. Cut out the film’s obscenity, violence and purposeful, parochial button-pushing, and what’s left is a Catholic schoolboy’s adolescent, though wholly sincere, rebellion against the rigidity of religious doctrine.
But Smith, who previously directed CLERKS, is by no means in a league with the stylish, savagely unorthodox filmmaker Luis Bunuel. He’s a true believer who came of age during the ascendancy of Beavis and Butthead.
For a while, the film is screamingly funny, but the further it goes, the more muddled the narrative becomes. Originally three hours long, the story may well have been more coherent before Smith made an hour’s worth of cuts. But despite the frantic pacing and antic performances, it begins to stall in the middle of the second act when the silliness is supplanted by preachiness, the tone becomes needlessly dark, and characters who do not seem so inclined become gratuitously violent.
Though lumbering and overwrought, Smith’s DOGMA sometimes succeeds thanks to his unpredictable imagination. But perhaps the main problem is that it is grounded in his mantra as professed by the Muse in the film: “It doesn’t matter what you have faith in – just that you have faith.” Ooohh. Something tells me he’s not about to win any new converts.
- Finally today, an article from the Arizona Republic talks about Ben Affleck and ultimately Kev & View Askew’s exposure on the web (though they didn’t talk about us, dagnabbit!!!). Check it out HERE.
See ya next time…