- Some pretty cool Dogma news today…Fans have chosen it FOURTH in their list of the most highly anticipated flicks for the remainder of 1999! A very, very cool sign considering they beat out competition like “End Of Days”, “Fight Club”, Man on the Moon, and other high profile stuff. The top choice, you ask? “The Green Mile”. Courtesy of Infobeat.
- We’re STILL unsure if this sucker’s coming out…But Amazon.Com is indeed taking pre-orders for the Dogma book, at a really fair price of $16.07, in fact. Folks are even writing reviews for the SCRIPT (assuming the book will be similar)and attaching it to the sale page. You may at least wanna surf over and read them, or possibly try and get your hands ona copy of the book as well.
- That same AMC Hampton (Virgina) theater that showed “Clerks” last weekend has “Amy” on tap, this Friday and Saturday atmidnight. We heard the shows were cool. Stop out and catch Amy, support some good midnight movies! The world needs moretheaters doing cool stuff like that.
- Finally today, some new Dogma icons for Files Askew, based on the trailer and courtesy of Joe Hatton.
You are at the archive for the News category &rarr
Commentary
- Ah, the weekend. And a beautiful one at that here in Central PA. Winter’s on the way in a few months (easily the worst time of the year to live around here) but it’s nice to see some Sunny, summer-like weather in September for a few more days. Of course, we’re sitting inside now to work on this update, but hey, duty calls, right?
There’s a few rumors running around that we want to talk about today, not that we’ve gotten any confirmation on anything (we’ve been waiting for that) but enough of you have been writing in and asking so we thought we’d bring it up. The counter WILL come back, for those of you wondering, and we’re keeping track of hits, so the number WILL be accurate when the thing finally does work again.
Welp, not much more to say…Thought there would be, but, heck with it…Let’s get going:
A Jay & Bob Cameo In Scream 3?
- By now, many of you have heard the rumors from Reel & AICN about a possible appearance of Jay & Silent Bob in “Scream 3”. We’d heard about it too, and a source tells us that the deal’s been signed at that it will happen. We have yet to get any verification on this from any of the key players or the studio, though, so consider it a rumor as far as we’re concerned. Of course, now that the cat’s out of the bag on it, though, perhaps things will change. We kinda feel that things like this really should be kept under wraps. With the net these days, though, there’s just not much room left for surprise in films anymore, someone ALWAYS lets stuff slip out. It would have been an amazing surprise to see the duo appear in the flick (Which, by the way, we hope is better than that dismal “Scream 2”), but now it’ll just be more like, “Okay, there’s the Jay & Silent Bob cameo”. Remember how funny it was seeing Robert Patrick pop up in “Wayne’s World” as the T-1000? Not expecting it was part of the fun. Hopefully the producers won’t balk and pull the cameo now that the cat’s outta the bag. Ah well.
Is this the big appearance of Jay & Bob Kevin talked about in his post earlier? We’re not sure. Maybe. He said to expect something in January, and Scream’s due around Christmas. Close though. Another source tells us that friends of his who publish video games have been approached with the possibility of creating a videogame (or CD-ROM of sorts) featuring Jay & Silent Bob. We hear this one’s not true, sorry to say. Perhaps folks are waiting to see how Dogma fares until they go further with Jay & Bob projects.
Whatever the case, we think the guys are hilarious, and it’s great to see that they’ve become such known figures that they’re doing the cameo thing. Good news all around.
View Askew NewsBites™
- The praise for “Mumford” continues, including a glowing review in Entertainment Weekly, and this clip from the Sacramento Bee where Lee is again paid compliments:
“In this film, Doc Mumford sits around and listens…[to]…the town’s skateboarding millionaire-whiz kid (Jason Lee) who just needs someone to talk to because just about everyone in Mumford works for his incredibly sucessful modem company and, he feels, aren’t honest with him.”Lee plays his part the way a young Jimmy Stewart might have, and even his character’s name, Skip Skipperton, sounds like someone Stewart might have played in, say, a smalltown screwball comedy by Preston Sturges or Howard Hawks.”
- Is the Dogma novelization still coming out? Kevin hasn’t been saying anything about working on it, but Borders booksseems to think it’s on the way.. It was supposed to arrive a few weeks ago, but it has probably been pushed back to match the release of the movie. It will sell for $22.95. The interesting thing is that it’s not listed in Science Fiction or Media, but in Literature. Classy! We still dunno if this is just a computer error, or if the book’s on the way, butif we hear anything this will be the place to find out about it.
- The AMC theater in Hampton, VA is showing “Clerks” tonight at midnight. Go see it…AGAIN!
- iF Magazine put a small Dogma writeup online about the run-in they had with Smith, Mosier, & Mewes in Toronto. Youcan read the blurb HERE.
- Dogma Soundtrack update: According to Alanis, in a KROQ interview, they just finished mixing the version to be used of “Still” two nights ago at 4 AM. They should have completed the master yesterday. No word was given on on what else was instore for the soundtrack at this point, though.
View Askew NewsBites™
- Since people can’t tell from the poster graphics, we took a closer look at our Dogma One Sheets to verify it. There will indeed be a soundtrack on Maverick Records. Now, I don’t recall any original songs in Dogma when I watched it in Toronto (aside from the excellent new Alanis track that blares over the closing credits), so I’m not sure what the plan is as as far as celebrity-filled CD. I’d at least count on a hybrid disc of sorts, perhaps with some dialogue, some of Howard Shore‘s music, the Alanis track (and perhaps a few others like the Mooby song and the rumored Beastie Boys cut), but this is all pure speculation. With a release coming soon, expect an announcement on this stuff, probably from Kevin, soon.
- A scooper’s started a new View Askew chat area HERE, where you can get online WITHOUT knowing how to use IRC (just by having a java-capable web browser, most are these days). Stop by and see who’s around if ya like.
- Alanis hit Jay Leno last night, where they gave a mention to Dogma and the cast briefly. Gotta love some good nationally televised publicity! Yeah!
That about does it, really. We’ll be back for sure over the weekend with more, so don’t run too far from that computer! ‘Til then, adios.
Commentary
- Howdy all…We had a lot of catching up to do (and still do with our counter and other online scripts, hopefully there will be time to get to that stuff this weekend), but it’s been a slow week newswise. Which actually helps a little bit. We received some Dogma one sheets courtesy of Lions Gate yesterday, and they’re sweeeet, so thanks again to the fine folks over there at the studio for remembering us. We appreciate it!
Some folks (particularly AOL) are having problems with the site switch again…This isn’t in our control, it’s just something that’s handled by your internet provider’s domain servers. So if anyone’s having problems getting the new material, just have them write their provider and tell them to reboot their DNS machines. That’ll fix it all up.
Alright, another short one today, but let’s go:
Jay & Silent Bob Meet Mage…
(Click The Picture To Watch The Movie)
- KungFu Dork made this quick little flick that gave us a chuckle…It features appearances by the infamous Jay & Silent Bob action figures, as well as a very special appearance by Mage. Check it out by clicking the thumb above (We’re adding the flick to Files Askew as well).
Lee Praised In Mumford Review…
- Well, it looks like Lee‘s at it again! Though television ads for his new flick, “Mumford”, again seem to minimize his presence, he’s stealing the flick with another great performance just like he did to Schwimmer with “Kissing A Fool”! Certainly some spoilers here, but the reviewer seemed to really dig Lee and the film as a whole. Don’t let the odd-looking marketing campaign keep ya away from this one, it looks like a worthy flick to check out while it’s in theaters:
‘MUMFORD’: THE DOCTOR IS IN DEMAND AND IN TROUBLE
By Stephen Holden – NY TIMES
By Stephen Holden – NY TIMES
Lawrence Kasdan’s likable semi-screwball comedy “Mumford” has two big pluses onits side. In tackling psychotherapy, a subject Hollywood has traditionally treated witha quaking solemnity, it sustains a tone that is refreshingly commonsensical andirreverent.
The movie’s enigmatic hero (LorenDean), who renamed himself Mumfordafter the town to which he has movedto start a new life as a therapist, isalmost as astonished as his clients areby how quickly he is able to changetheir lives for the better.
But as he admits halfway into themovie, he is a charlatan with notherapeutic training. The credentials onhis office wall are as bogus as hisname.
In creating a heroic therapist who turnsout to be a fraud but still ends up agood guy, “Mumford” is paradoxicallysubversive. While the movie appears tobe enthusiastically pro-therapy(Mumford’s intuitive, offbeat approach to people’s problems works wonders), it is alsoanti-therapist in its implication that in the age of “Oprah” any sensitive person who is a goodlistener could conceivably establish a successful practice without the benefits of training orcertification.
The film’s other big plus is Mumford’s endearing star client, Skip Skipperton (Jason Lee). Abushy-haired billionaire man-child whose company produces 23 percent of the world’smodems, Skip is the very model of a computer nerd who is richer than God.
A perpetual adolescent, Skip likes to whiz around the town on a skateboard. Theheadquarters of his company, Panda Modem (named after his favorite animal), has its ownelaborately contoured skateboarding area.
If “Mumford” were a ’40s movie, you could imagine Skip being played by the gangly youngJames Stewart with every other phrase out of his mouth a quaveringly sincere “gosh” or “awshucks.” (Mumford would have to be played by Cary Grant.)
But Skip isn’t quite that naive. He’s canny enough to recognize that women have pursuedhim for his money but pure enough at heart not to be tempted. He is also desperately lonely:so lonely, in fact, that he has set about devising a technological solution to his romantictravails. His top-secret work in progress is a line of robotic sex surrogates that are virtuallyindistinguishable from flesh-and-blood humans.
As it happens, all the townspeople seeking Mumford’s counsel are sexually and romanticallyblocked. The movie opens in a delightfully off-kilter way with a black-and-white 1950s-stylefilm-noir spoof that turns out to be the pulp-fiction fantasy of one of Mumford’s clients,Henry Follett (Pruitt Taylor Vince).
Follett is in despair that real life can never match his Barbara Stanwyck meets Frederick’s ofHollywood vision of down-and-dirty pleasure. Whenever the movie threatens to become tooserious, it dips back into Follett’s overheated fantasies for the sheer fun of it.
Follett, like everyone in the film, is a caricature. So is Althea Brockett (Mary McDonnell),the repressed, wound-too-tight wife of a loathsome investment banker and cigar aficionado(Ted Danson) who becomes Mumford’s client. Other local neurotics who end up on hiscouch include Nessa Watkins (Zooey Deschanel), a tortured, sarcastic, self-hating teen-agerwho lives in a dream world of fashion magazines, and Sofie Crisp (Hope Davis), adepressed young woman suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome.
As Sofie’s spirits revive on long walks that her therapist insists she take with him, theirmutual (and secret) romantic feelings for each other begin to bubble up.
With a sensibility rooted in psychotherapy and a major character who resembles a warmerand furrier Bill Gates, “Mumford” is right in step with the mood of the moment. So is itsall-American theme of self-invention in the computer age.
When Mumford and Skip swap life stories, the autobiography Mumford relates hasseemingly nothing to do with the bland, clean-cut young therapist who listens so attentivelyto other’s people’s problems. In his previous life, we learn, he was a ruthless investigatorfor the Internal Revenue Service and a cocaine addict who crashed and burned.
Mumford would be secure in his new life if he weren’t so good at his new trade. Histroubles begin when two local rivals, prodded by an irate, megalomaniacal lawyer (MartinShort), whom Mumford turned down as a client, begin an investigation into his past.
“Mumford” is at heart a Frank Capra-style social fable for the ’90s in which therapy (ratherthan civic duty or social conscience) is the catalyst that rouses people from their isolation andbrings them together, often in conveniently well-matched couples.
The movie also adds a running joke that pays off handsomely in having Mumford, who hasseceded from his former life, attracted to the television series “Unsolved Mysteries.” There’sa touch of science fiction in this “Zelig”-like character who is so unmarked by the depravityand desperation of his previous existence that he seems almost as freshly made as one of therobots in Skip’s secret laboratory.
There are moments when “Mumford” gets carried away with its vision of the therapist aseveryman, social healer and savior spreading sweetness and light. But there’s always that flyin the ointment. Mumford’s successful self-reinvention (not unlike that of certain crookedpoliticians who conveniently find Jesus) is suspect.
Get Yer Dogma Swag Here…
- Ming also announces lots of Dogma coolness that you can now order through Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash! These seem to be very low-priced, affordable items, too…The perfect way to show your enthusiasm for a cool new flick:
Now available at the Stash:
1) Dogma Bumper Stickers – if you’re an owner of the ‘Clerks’ bumper stickers, you’ll know all about these. White ‘Dogma’ logo on a black background. Measures 11 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches and laminated to protect it from the weather. Fits perfectly on any bumper. $3.00 each. ORDER HERE!
2) Mooby Corp. Magnet Set #1 – These high quality magnets feature the fun-loving cartoon characters from the Mooby Corporation: Mooby the Golden Calf, Surly Duck, Enoch, and Pat-Pat the Monkey King. Sticks to most metal surfaces. $7.95 each set. ORDER HERE!
Commentary
- Well here we are, back officially on the new server (the switch that unveiled us to the world finally was thrown today), so hopeuflly the majority of you are now reading about a week’s worth of updates, along with the news that we’re now an official part of the View Askew Productions team. Thanks very much to all of you for sending in your notes of congratulations and support, we certainly do appreciate it. We’re happy to have our voices back and to FINALLY be able to share all the happenings in the world of Askew on a daily basis with you fine people once again. It’s also nice to be on a comfortable, stable, fast server that we know we’ll never be kicked from. We should be able to offer you more multimedia than ever before, with no threat of a slowdown or that horrible error-filled screen when the server gets busy.
Dogma’s just slightly over a month and a half away from its big U.S. release, there’s a ton of comics on the horizon, the Clerks animated series is going strong for a launch early next year…It’s just a fantastic time to be a Kevin Smith fan. As November 12th draws closer, we’re sure this site’s just gonna get busier and busier. Tell your friends about us, we can take the extra traffic now!
We’d like to give special thanks to Ming for helping us facilitate the move to View Askew’s boxes…We couldn’t have done it without the guy. He’s the reason we’re back today and not sometime next week.
That being said, hardly anything to discuss today, surprisingly enough, since we HAVE kept up with the past week of news. We are aware that there were some e-mail problems this morning during the switch, so feel free to resend any messages that did bounce back to ya. We’ll have the counters and other bells and whistles in full operating order (as well as a new poll topic) soon, so pardon our dust as we resettle, for the LAST time!