Major thanks to King Ming for the fix-up — After we wrestled with the issues for a day, he took another day or so to dig in and finally came up with the solution. The good news out of all of this is that we’re going to be moving to a new server in the coming weeks — So, expect a much faster response time as you browse around, comment, and the like. Hopefully the move can be totally transparent to you, but there may be a few bumps in the road — ‘Til then, we’ve got a new trailer, and a few more things. Please stick with us as we get all the site’s functionality back online this weekend, and we thank you for your patience. Again, big ups to Ming for the fix.

Kevin Smith’s Banned-in-the-US ‘Porno’ Poster: Exclusive first look!

You know what’s so special about this, the first poster for Kevin Smith’s new flick, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (due out October 31st)? It’s not that the one-sheet drops just before the movie’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival (which it does), or that Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks look so surprised, or that the chocolate-mint color scheme is making me a little hungry for Friendly’s. No, it’s that you’ll only see this poster in Canada.

Even after winning an appeal to overturn Porno’s NC-17 rating, Smith says the MPAA won’t give their blessing to the image shown here—which is eyes-only for our neighbors to the north. “When you’ve got the word ‘porno’ in the title, naturally, the marketing materials are gonna be scrutinized more closely by the MPAA,” says the director. “I understand they’ve got a job to do, but c’mon…this image isn’t that dirty; they’re both fully clad.”

We can just add this to the long list of things we have Canada to thank for, like William Shatner, Michael J. Fox, and the fittingly monikered Peter North. “I’ve always loved Canada and Canadians for giving us hockey,” says Smith. “Now, I love ’em just a little bit more. For allowing tufts of hair.”

We don’t really get it, either, though hey, it’s a minor loss and maybe just a nice final jab from the MPAA, who kindly left the film intact after an appeal, so we say THANKS to them for that. Of course we could all play the game of finding more offensive posters, but hey, we’re sure they’ll come up with a suitable US replacement. You can bet these will sell online for a decent amount now, so scoop ’em up — Perhaps the Stash can even find a way to sell some signed ones, as well? Sign us up.

We’ve got a few more shots from the Zack & Miri panel and behind the scenes at the San Diego con, as well as the final batch from the great Stash West “Spaced” signing that we found as a bonus, sitting in the wrong inbox! But of course we’ll just say we MEANT to do that.

As always, click the minis and you’ll get the biggies. And my are they ever glorious. Enjoy, and special thanks to our photographers for their generous contributions.

“We always have a standby line for ticketed special events such as this one. The policy is you have to be present at the theater one hour before showtime (though people sometimes start lining up earlier) to have your name added to the standby list. The list is first-come, first-served, no guarantees. JBFC members are always given priority on the list over non-members.”

So there you have it. How bad do you want in?

In other screening news, Kevin confirms that the Hollywood premiere will be at Grauman’s on October 20th.

More ink on the Woodstock announcement yesterday comes from USA Today as well as Variety. Still no official time or venue for the “Zack and Miri” screening at that festival, but Keivn does also confirm the flick WILL be there, and we’ve heard it’ll close the festival. So, sometime on October 5th. More details as we get them, along with another full post summarizing all the screenings will be in the next update. Now we just need to find a venue in Pennsylvania to host one of these screenings, dang it!

…”You’re not allowed to bring in clips — but you can cite precedent,” Smith started to explain during a not-long-ago MTV stop.

As far as the sex stuff goes, one of the bones of contention involved a scene that the Motion Picture Association of America, the ratings board in question, said had much too much “thrusting” and was “gratuitous.” And so our Freedom Fighter stepped up his game, and took to referring to Taking Lives, a movie starring Ethan Hawke (during his Uma days) and the aforementioned Jolie (during her Billy Bob phase).

“There’s a sex scene where they f—on a dresser,” Smith recalled, like the erudite student of film that he is. One that is “insanely titillating” and, um, “looks real.”