MSN Slate – “Summary Judgement”
IGN Filmforce – “The Sound of Silent Bob” (Part One, Part Two Monday)
About.Com – “Jay and Silent Bob in Action”
Kansas City Star – “Kevin Smith balances budgets and themes and gets to keep making his movies”

JIM MAHFOOD COMES TO NYC ON OCTOBER 27, 2001

Ultimate Spider-Man Team Up #9 artist, JIM MAHFOOD, to appear at BEST COMICS & HOBBY CENTER in NYC.

BEST COMICS & HOBBY CENTER announced the first East Coast appearance of Indy veteran and up-and-coming mainstream comic book artist JIM (Ultimate Marvel Team-up #9) MAHFOOD. Having teamed with creators, such as KEVIN (Clerks, Green Arrow) SMITH and BRIAN MICHAEL (Ultimate Spider-man, Powers) BENDIS, as well as turning out his creator owned titles, such as Grrl Scouts, Zombie Kid, and Smoke Dog, Jim has worked on a host of projects that appeal to all walks of life.

Jim’s just finished work on Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #9 with Brian Michael Bendis. Being a long time Spider-man fan, Jim got the chance to work with his childhood hero. “I’m actually having a blast drawing all this [stuff].”

On October 27th, Jim will be appearing at Best Comics & Hobby Center from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm! On hand will be copies of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #9, the new Image Comics Edition of Clerks: The Comic Book, Grrl Scouts and much more. As an added bonus there will be a BRAND NEW mini comic featuring Jim’s creation, Smoke Dog, as well as a handful of other Indy creators work. This 32-page mini comic will be exclusive to the signing session and limited to only a few hundred copies.

E-mail, call or drop by our website in the next few weeks for more information or directions.

“JAY and Silent Bob Strike Back” star Carrie Fisher wasn’t the first choice for the role of an affronted nun – or even the fifth. “We went to Sally Field first,” says director Kevin Smith. “We thought, she’s a genius and she was a huge ‘Chasing Amy’ fan. She didn’t want to do it. Then we tried Wendie Malick, Kathy Najimy, all of the obvious nun candidates. Then I thought of Carrie, who’s really acerbic. And Carrie thought the part was funny – even after six people had turned it down.”

After an aggressive week of promotions varying from late night talk shows to television spots, Kevin Smith’s Jay & Silent Bob topped the box office as expected, but the comedy turned in only $4.4 million. While this will become the best debut for a Smith production, the Miramax release was expected to do a bit more. Jay & Silent Bob received promising exit polls from opening night, scoring an A from males under 21 and A- from females under 21 (CinemaScore). The film played in 2,735 theaters and averaged a good, but not spectacular $1,608 per-screen. For the weekend expect Jay to pull in around $12.0 – 14.5 million depending on its Saturday holdup.

Warner Brothers’ Summer Catch debuted decently, earning $2.8 million for $1,207 per-cinema in 2,335 locations. The Freddy Prince Jr. baseball flick scored a B+ average among moviegoers polled and should gross $8 – 9 million for the weekend.

Not even Ice Cube could escalate Ghosts of Mars to a solid position, as the John Carpenter flick took in $1.3 million at the box office for a poor $625 per-screen in 2,048 sites. Along with its weak opening, the film also received harsh feedback as it scored a C- average among moviegoers polled on Friday night. Ghosts of Mars looks to see about $3.6 – 4.0 million for the weekend.

Woody Allen’s Curse of the Jade Scorpion launched to rather disappointing sales, picking up just $778,000 from 903 theaters, on its way to around $2.3 – 2.8 million in ticket sales. By contrast, Small Time Crooks earned $3.9 million in 865 cinemas. Jade Scorpion picked up a B+ average among polled audiences.

Disney’s Bubble Boy saw dreadful results, as the terribly reviewed comedy grossed $646,000 for a pitiful $402 average in 1,605 locations. Bubble Boy should see $1.8 – 2.2 million in ticket sales. On the surprising side, the comedy did receive a B average grade among polled crowds.

Among holdups, American Pie 2 slipped to second place on its way to roughly $11 – 12 million. If Jay & Silent Bob were to slip up on Saturday night, AP2 could have a shot at #1.

Rush Hour 2 scored $3.4 million and is on its way to about $10 – 11 million at the box office.

I Need Your Help, Folks

If we’re to take the number one spot this weekend, I’m going to have to shamelessly (or shamefully) ask for your help today (or tonight)…

I need you to go pay to see the flick again. Today. Saturday. Not Sunday (although, feel free to go again Sunday, if you’re so inclined); but SATURDAY.

Right now, we were number one for last night. But the margin between us and the number two flick (‘American Pie 2′) was about four hundred grand. I’d like to make that margin much wider, so that we can comfortably slide into first place for the weekend – which would be a View Askew first (and probably last).

So if you saw it last night (or last week), please pay to see it again tonight. And bring a few friends. Or a few thousand friends even. Because it’s really important to win the Saturday, if we’re to win the weekend. And if we win the weekend…

Well, there’s a surprise in store for ya’ll if we win the weekend. A very nice surprise, if you like Jay and Silent Bob.

So help a brother out. Please.

Tell you what – I’ll sweeten the pot: anyone that sends in a Friday night AND Saturday night ticket stub gets a free, signed and personalized ‘Jay and Silent Bob’ mini-poster. Seriously. The ticket stubs have to be from the same theater, with two respective dates on them (Aug 24th and Aug 25th only).

Send the above-described ticket stubs and name to…
Kev’s Utter Lack of Dignity
c/o View Askew
3 Harding Road
Red Bank, NJ
07701

I know this may come off as desperate, but there’s one more thing I’d like to do with Jay and Bob before I put ‘em to bed, and in order to do that, we need to win the weekend. So you’re help would be much appreciated (and rewarded).

But regardless of what happens…

Right now…

We’re number one.

Woo-hoo!

…I’m free at last from the publicity tour. Many thanks to all the outlets (print, ‘net’, TV) who devoted space to our flick this week.

Onto the news…

Here’s a review round-up I received this morning, from papers across the country. Most folks work off the star rating system (*), but for those that don’t, it’s broken down to positive and negative.

For the curious…

Albany Gazette – Mixed to Positive
Arizona Daily Star – Positive
Atlanta Journal and Constitution – Grade B
Austin American Statesman – Positive
Baltimore Sun – *** (three stars)
Buffalo News – *** and a half
Boston Globe – Positive review (many thanks, Jay Carr)
Boston Herald – Mixed to negative
Chicago Sun Times – *** (many thanks, Roger)
Chicago Tribune – * and a half (lose my email address, Caro)
Chicago Newcity – Mixed to positive
Chicago Reader – Mixed to positive
Cincinnati Enquirer – ** and a half
Cinn City Beat – Grade C
Cleveland Sun – $$$$ (they use money signs, not stars)
Cleveland Call and Post – Positive
Dallas Morning News – Grade C
Dayton Daily News – Grade C
Detroit Oakland Press – ***
Detroit News – 3 Rose Review (roses instead of stars)
Detroit Free Press – *** (many thanks, Terry)
Hartford Courant – Positive
LA Daily News – *
LA Times – Mixed to negative
Las Vegas Weekly – Grade A- (we’re money in Vegas)
Miami Herald – ** (Rene – don’t tell me how much you dig the movie in the room and then give me two stars, man; that’s just callow)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Mixed to Positive
Minneapolis Star Tribune – *** and a half
Newark Star Ledger – Positive
New York Daily News – * and a half
New York Newsday – 0 stars (a career first!!!)
New York Post – ** and a half
New York Times – Mixed
St Paul Pioneer Press – **
Philly Inquirer – ** and a half
Pittsburgh Post Gazette – ***
Pittsburgh Tribune – * and a half
Phoenix Tribune – Positive
Phoenix New Times – Negative
Portland Oregonian – Positive
Portland Willamette Week – Positive
Portland Tribune – Positive
Portland Mercury – Positive
Portland Citysearch – **** (I’m moving to Portland, folks)
Richmond Times-Dispatch – ***
Rochester Freetime – Positive
Rolling Stone – Positive
Sacramento Bee – * and a half
San Diego North County Times – Grade C-
San Diego Reader – Negative
San Francisco Chronicle – Positive
San Francisco Examiner – *** and a half (and the reviewer’s name is Jeff Anderson, ironically enough)
Seattle Post Intelligencer – Grade C
Seattle Times – **
St Louis Post Dispatch – ***
St. Petersburg Times – Grade A-
Tampa Tribune – Positive
US Weekly – ***
USA Today – *** (God Bless Mike Clark)
Washington Post – Positive (from Desson Howe, and that’s all that matters)
Washington Times – *

There should be plenty more, but those are the ones I have handy.

Not bad, I say. Not bad at all. Even the reviews that aren’t kind point out that it’s a funny movie for somebody, if not them.

Well, except that one critic who wrote the review Ming linked below. Yipes – what an unhappy cuss.

I’ve gotta say, though – one of my favorite reviews was the 0 star Newsday review. Granted, it’s historic for us (our first!), but that’s not what does it for me. What does do it for me is the fact that it pointed out folks were applauding during the screening. Shit, that’s a classy admission for a critic who hated the movie.

Here at View Askew, even in defeat, we’re able to find a little victory.

So….

What the hell are you doing sitting here reading this? Get your ass to the nearest theater and go see ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’! Again!

And pray to your respective gods for a sweet opening weekend.

Me? I’m looking for ten to fifteen mill.

I think we can do it.

And a closing thought: most of the reviews I read (especially the negative ones) point out that this movie is for folks who liked our other movies. And that sentiment is correct. I made this movie for you guys as much as I did for me – probably more for you, actually. Please enjoy the flick, with my humble thanks. You put us where we are today – and I’m so very grateful for that every moment of my blessed life.

And now that this flick’s out of my hair, let’s spend some quality time together, shall we? It’s been too long.

Ratface: Ok, well also in The Bluntcave you’ll see ‘The ROCKETEER’ jet pack is in there (next to the “Blunt saber”) – that’s the newest thing that’s in there, but some of the machines are older than that. There’s stuff from ‘BATMAN’ and things like that and all those labels, things Jay would say but in the ‘Batman”-style. In other scenes, there’s the diner in front of Vasquez Rocks called the “Arena Diner” from the ‘STAR TREK’ episode where Capt. Kirk fights the lizard monster; there’s things like, “Marshal Willenholly” from ‘LAND OF THE LOST’ and we decided to do “Sleestak” County, Utah on all the badges and police cars. There’s just things in every scene.

Kevin Smith on The Daily Show (08.23.01)
56k , 150k

Sam Rubin Talks About Kevin Getting Jenn on 97.1 FM KLSX (8.23.01)
Part 1 , Part 2

Kevin Smith on The Early Show (8.24.01)
56k , 150k

Countingdown.com – Kevin Smith Interview
Gray Haven Magazine – “Kevin Smith: The GrayHaven Interview”
The Arizona Republic – “Jay and Silent Bob take center stage in Smith’s Jersey farewell”
USA Today – “Kevin Smith Is Seldom Silent”
Russell Lissau (Comic Book Resources) – “KEVIN SMITH ‘STRIKES’ AGAIN”