- Slate runs an excellent piece on the rise of the R-rated “Red Band” trailers and uses the recent “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” redband MPAA trailer that graced the web a few weeks ago as their opening example:
As you’d expect, the trailer for Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno explains the movie’s premise: Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) become adult-movie stars when they can’t pay the rent. What you might not anticipate is the trailer’s extreme lewdness: Justin Long name-checking a gay porn film called Glen and Garry Suck Ross’ Meaty Cock or Rogen’s declaring that he’d be happy to watch “a tape of Rosie O’Donnell getting fucking stupid.” Vivid descriptions of male genitalia and Rosie O’Donnell in flagrante delicto—these are the glories of the red-band trailer.
It’s quite a good article, very well-written with tons of great examples from today and the past. Worth your valuable clicking time. - Actor/comedian Dane Cook brings up Kevin when naming his top 5 flicks to Rotten Tomatoes. From his selection of “The Dark Knight”:
“…It’s one of the greatest crime dramas out there. And when Kevin Smith lovingly compared it to Godfather II, it was before I had seen the movie and I thought, “Okay, this is jumping the shark. Kevin Smith, if I see him, I want to punch in the mouth. Because he has taken the hype machine and he’s cranked it up to 11 via Spinal Tap.” And I was unhappy with [his] statement.Now that I’ve sat through the movie, I want to French kiss Kevin Smith. He f–king nailed it. And this movie, The Dark Knight, it deserves the money its making. It’s epic, it’s classic, Heath Ledger would be amazing whether it was a posthumous performance, whatever. He’s awesome in it. I. Love. This. Movie. “
- Canadians may want to keep an eye on the Documentary Channel, which has been airing Malcolm Ingram’s View Askew production “Small Town, Gay Bar” over the weekend. Check your local listings.
- For those of you who watched the Backyard FX episode filmed in Leonardo outside Quick Stop which we mentioned last week, you can now watch the Part Two conclusion which just came online. Good stuff, and totally free.
Archive for September, 2008
New Pics From A “Porno”!
- A bunch of new quality stills from “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” have surfaced, courtesy of The Weinstein Co. It looks like a lot of these are production stills, meaning they’re not actually shots from the film, rather, these were taken for the purpose of being stills to help with the promotion of the film.
You can also see the stills with some commentary over at /Film and JoBlo. Click above for a closer high-resolution look at all these pretty pictures, which feature some of the best looks at the cast members we’ve seen so far. Every pic we see makes the wait ’til October 31st seem even tougher.
Cinema Verdict: A 9/10 For “Zack And Miri”!
- Cinema Verdict checks in with a very detailed review of “Zack And Miri Make a Porno”, and the flick sure passes all their tests with some flying colors. As per usual with a long form review, we warn you that there may be spoilers for some, though as far as reviews go this one seems to leave most of the specific gags out, which is a good thing. Here’s a few choice snippets from the final verdict (the rest all borders on low spoiler stuff so we’re keeeping away from reposting it):
Suck it, old school Kevin Smith fans: Zack and Miri is his best film to date.Charmingly sweet, Zack and Miri Make a Porno balances a heartwarming love story with full-on Kevin Smith-style dick and fart jokes. Honestly, it’s the best of both worlds, and audiences and critics alike are going to eat it up with a big, fat spoon.
Not that you’re not already convinced, but with every good review it’s looking like this one’s the breakout hit of the Fall.
View Askew NewsBites
- More Affleck on the way! Comingsoon.net reports that View Askew Icon Ben Affleck is not only about to direct his second feature film, but take on writing and starring duties as well. The film is called “The Town” and takes place in Charleston, Mass. Affleck would play a career thief who becomes smitten by the manager of a bank. The Movie Blog has some talkback and commentary as well.
- A long international wait for “Porno”? A Capetown, South Africa newspaper re-runs a “Zack And Miri” article that we’ve seen before (so nothing new, but still a few very minor spoilers). However, the news here is the release date for that part of the world: May 8, 2009! Yikes. That’s a while to wait. Fans in South Africa, take note. We’re not sure what other international dates are planned right now, but we will of course keep you informed as they are announced. For now, those of us in North America can’t wait til October 31st.
- “Clerks” star Marilyn Ghigliotti’s been quite active with appearances lately, so if you wanna catch her in person, hear a new interview, or check out her recent film, listen up: Marilyn stars in “Dead and Gone”, which will be screening this Saturday at MikomiCon at California State University, Northridge.
Next, on Tuesday morning, September 23rd, she’ll be interviewed from 9-11 AM EST on the Strange Dave Show.
Finally, don’t forget her in-person appearance at the Burbank Hollywood Collectors Show, on October 4th and 5th. She’s great with the fans and she loves meeting you folks, so be sure and stop by and say hello.
More Press For A “Porno”…
- While things have slowed down slightly from the barrage we saw winding down last week, the press continues to give “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” a great deal of coverage online and in print, especially considering the film is still a month and a half away from theatrical release. In fact, we can’t recall a larger amount of press hitting so far in advance for a past flick, though Kevin and the crew have been VERY low key up to this point. So, we suppose it’s turning into a sort of opening of the floodgates now that audiences have started catching premieres and screenings. Let’s take a peek at a few more stories and another review floating around the web today. The first article, from Salon.com, is particularly GOOD but we warn you, Kevin goes into detail on a few key moments in the film which were reasons that the film was first stuck with the NC-17. So consider them spoilers to a couple outrageous bits. It’s a very good article though with Kevin speaking at great length about the ratings process for the movie. Here we go:
Salon.com – “Mr. Smith makes a “Porno”” (Contains Spoilers)“…[They kicked back trailers] for tiny things, too. We had to argue [for] this one shot in the trailer: Craig Robinson’s sitting on the bed when he’s doing the “titty audition” scene — it sounds embarrassing to say that, but that’s what it is. And behind him there’s a poster on the wall for a small theatrical production called “Girl Parts for Boys.” It’s a drawing of two kids in diapers, just holding out their diapers and looking down. You don’t see anything. But they flagged that. They said, You can’t show that in a green-band [approved-for-all-audiences] trailer.
And we were like, What are you talking about? It’s not even dirty. It’s not even a subliminal dirty reference. We were like, How stringent does it get? “
The Onion AV Club – “The MPAA Hates Kevin Smith”
“…The MPAA, the film ratings organization that keeps us safe from dangerous movie guns pointed directly at our innocent eyes, recently banned the following poster for Kevin Smith’s upcoming movie, Zack & Miri Make A Porno. Their reason? Suggestively placed backs of heads.”
“…This was the funniest movie of the year in my opinion. Before the summer I was really looking forward to “Step Brothers,” “Pineapple Express” and “Tropic Thunder,” as the hype I heard surrounding each of the films was nothing but positive, and each lived up to their hype. I knew “ZAMMAP” was coming out in late October but had heard practically nothing on it until only recently, with positive reviews coming out about it. So I was pumped going in, expecting a great Kevin Smith film, and that’s exactly what I got.”
Associated Press – “Elizabeth Banks flits from first lady to `Porno'” (Contains Spoilers)
“…”I thought, how ironic. A porn princess and the first lady in one year,” Smith said. “It’s also just fun to mark the irony in the fact that two weeks prior to getting down and dirty in our movie, she’s probably not being down and dirty in the other movie.””
Radio Askew Returns Tonight…
- Will Wilkins, the man responsible for quite a few of the Kevin-on-the-radio audio streams you listen to here from time to time, is returning from a 7 month hiatus with his program Radio Askew TONIGHT! To celebrate, he’ll have a live interview with Chop Shop Entertainment’s Zak Knutson, who filmed Kevin’s upcoming “Threevening” DVD. Will also suggests he’ll try and pry some info on the upcoming “Money Shots” web shorts that he shot for “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. The show happens online tonight at 6:30 PM PST / 9:30 PM EST.
To listen, you just need an MP3 player that is capable of playing live streams (Winamp, iTunes, etc.) and click the link: http://radiohc.gotdns.com:8000/listen.plsDon’t forget to also drop in to take part in the simul-chat where you can suggest your own questions for Zak. Will’s a good guy a puts on a professional show — If you’ll be around a PC this evening we highly suggest tuning on in.
View Askew NewsBites
- We’ve been keeping an eye on the Count Basie website, and it looks like tickets to Kevin’s upcomning Q&A have just about totally sold out (they may be gone by the time you’re reading this). If you have been holding off on getting your seats, now is the time to log in or call the Count Basie to secure your seats. This WILL sell out, just like last time. Kevin takes the stage at 7 PM on Friday, November 7th, hot on the heels of the release of “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”.
- And speaking of the Basie, here’s a couple stills from LAST year’s Basie bash for Kevin’s 37th birthday — These fresh shots come to us as we prepare to screen “Threevening”, out on DVD on October 21st. More details on that release soon, as we’re hoping for a possible Stash event/signing or at least your chance to grab a signed copy directly from us. Stay tuned.
- As its Fall release approaches, DC comics are ramping up the promotions for Kevin’s return to comics with “Batman: Cacophony”. Take a peek at the ad and editorial that appeared in the back of some new DC comics this week. Some folks found it amusing that they showed a picture of the first two scripts. The scan also reveals a few of the other villains Kevin has appearing in the 3-part series, so read if you’re curious, but be careful if you want to save them for surprises. As always, we’re sure Kevin has something very special planned for us in November. Can’t wait.
- Comedian Joshua Sankey’s latest newsletter confirms that his scene in “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” was one of the casualties of the editing process when Kevin was cutting scenes for time. Hopefully, we’ll see his work on the eventual DVD (the gang always saves ALL this stuff).
- FirstShowing picks up on the current status of “Red State”. While the article contains no new information, it’s a nice summary of the events we’ve reported over the past few months regarding the project. As of today, as far as we know, additional funding is still needed to get the project off the ground. The last quote was around $5 million, quite low as far as budgets go these days.
- Seems a group of atheists in Cincinatti have chosen Buddy Christ as their meetup logo. Interesting.
Official Zack and Miri US Poster Is Here!
- Kevin’s released the official USA one-sheet theatrical poster for “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” and it’s a very pleasant surprise. We think posters like this almost force passers-by to stop and read them, so it’s an immediate attention-grabber. Plus, it’s funny and actually TRUE, not just a marketing gimmick.
This one’s sure gonna look great on the wall hanging amongst its fellow View Askew posters from films past. Kudos to the gang on a job well done, and yet another unique and compelling promotional item from the flick.
Kevin Appearing @ University of South Carolina
- Kevin Smith does his famous Q&A thing at the University of South Carolina next Wednesday, September 17, 2008. The event’s been in the books for a while, but the BIG news is that they have just made the event PUBLIC, meaning a limited supply of tickets (500, to be exact), are now available for purchase by ANYONE.
Tickets for university students, faculty and staff are a mere $5 with a valid USC ID and available at the Russell House Information Desk. Tickets for the public are $15 per person plus service charges and are available at the Carolina Coliseum, all Capitol Tickets outlets, online at www.capitoltickets.com or via phone at 803-251-2222. Yes, you read that right. FIVE or FIFTEEN BUCKS. That’s IT!!!!
Basically USC students can ONLY get them at the student union and the general public can ONLY get them at the locations mentioned above. As the number released is VERY limited, you should buy your tix immediately, as we know they will sell out. There’s no way they’ll last at that price or amount. Have a blast at the show, the first time we can remember Kevin visiting the state in a while, if ever.
“Threevening” DVD Released In The US
- The street date for the highly-anticipated third live Q&A DVD with Kevin Smith, titled “Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith”, has been announced. You’ll be able to own and enjoy the disc a full 10 days before “Zack and Miri” hits theaters. The DVD, which arrives as a TWO DISC SPECIAL EDITION, will come with a suggested retail price of $19.97. Official running time is listed at 222 minutes (that’s 3 hours, 42 minutes!!!!)
While some web outlets will start taking pre-orders now, as always, we suggest waiting for The Stash to get copies made available for order. Typically, Kevin will sign your DVD FOR FREE in person or for mail orders, highly increasing the value of the DVD and making it another valued item in your View Askew collection.
We were there for the show, where Kevin celebrated his 37th birthday in Red Bank, New Jersey. The disc will be packed with all new material, stories we had never heard before (many which have not been told since), and HUGE laughs. There’s a Die Hard 4 story you just must see/hear, quite possibly the best tale Kevin has ever told over the years. We’ll keep you posted on how to order your own copy of this set from The Stash. Just really pleased to finally see that official release date!
As always special thanks to VideoETA for getting that release date sent right over to us.
