The Director Would Like to Thank…

GOD – He Who makes it all possible
JEN – She who picks up His slack with patience, love and lust
SCOTT – Without whom, I’m nothing
JAY – Without whom, there’s no movie
BOB – For Saying “Take’em out of Jersey”
HARVEY – For Saying “Kevin and Scott are making a movie where?!?”
MOM AND DAD – The best parents a guy ever had
GAIL AND BYRON – A close second
HARLEY – For her never-ending fascination with poo-poo
GORDON – For the same
JAMIE – For shooting the best looking flick we’ve ever made
JIM – For scoring the best looking flick we’ve ever made
SLOSS – who coined the phrase “It’s Dogma without the religion.”
RASKIND – who coined the phrase “I’d fire Sloss for saying that.”
AFFLECK – Once more into the breach, dear friend
MATTY – who didn’t charge nearly as much as the breach guy
LEE – who did double-duty
BRIAN AND JEFF – who did it yet again
PHILBERT – for sound editing advice
VORDO – for sound editing advice
TIM – who kept it all running smoothly
LAURA – who kept it all running smoothly and under budget
GOOSEBERG – for C.G.I., there’s no better man out there
SUE – for you, there are better men out there
THE CAST – who elevated a bunch of dirty words with their talents
THE CREW – who elevated everything else, with a smile
BRYAN – who laughed at “Give me the map Scott!”
WALT – who laughs at Bryan’s expense
GINA – for coming back
MONICA – who makes Scott come – to work, you pigs. To work.
MING – He’s the deejay, I’m the rapper
BRAD AND CHRIS – they’re the wheels of steel
JIM MCLAUCHLIN – the wizard of Wizard
AINT IT COOL MIKE – the Cool of Ain’t It Cool
CHAPMAN – who’s merchandising my kid right into private school
CAROL – who’s keeping it all accounted for
MATT WAGNER – for the logo we’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of
OEMING – for the artwork we’ll milk to death
THE FOLKS WHO POST AT WWW.VIEWASKEW.COM – for the never-ending kind words
THE FOLKS WHO POST AT AINT-IT-COOL-NEWS.COM – for the never-ending abuse
HAWK & PIERSON – for starting this whole mess
and
MALCOLM – the best sport outside of hockey

Q. To what extent do movies made prior to Sept. 11, 2001, still remain relevant in our lives? We still look at movies made prior to Dec. 7, 1941, such as “M” and “Citizen Kane,” and recognize them as the great films that they are, but I watched “Clerks,” one of my favorite films, earlier this evening, just to try to divert my mind from the current goings-on, and the petty complaints of a couple of my brethren (I’m from Monmouth County, N.J.) seemed not funny anymore, but rather irrelevant in light of how our existence has changed since 8:58 a.m. that Tuesday. I know that we will eventually be able to again appreciate the accomplishments produced by the better angels of our nature, but I wonder if we’ll ever be able to again appreciate the small, silly personal and political issues that seemed so large and overwhelming in the ’90s. I wonder what you think will become of the wonderful, if seemingly petty, movies of that decade.

– Thom Tolan, Norwalk, Conn.

A. I am having less trouble these days with the small and the silly than with the grandiose and the heartless. There are some movies from the 1990s that seem almost prescient now. A few that come to mind are “Magnolia,” “Bringing out the Dead,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Schindler’s List,” “Malcolm X.” But those films fought against irony, and to one degree or another paid the price.

I have just returned from the Toronto Film Festival, where two directors said things that continue to resonate. Norman Jewison told me, “The Hollywood studio movies of the last two years have been the worst in history. And you would not believe the crap that doesn’t get made. I look at a screenplay and ask them if they’re serious. And they are.” And Paul Cox said, “A movie should not make you a more disgusting human being.”