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View Askew NewsBites™

March 30th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Luc Lewandoski, Mike Hansen, Kanthi Rames & Greg

  • We’re currently working on a story covering your upcoming chances to see “A Better Place” up on the big screen, the way it was MEANT to be seen, prior to it’s home video release…But in the meantime, be sure and check out the jam-packed OFFICIAL SITE with pics, interviews, the press packet, news, and lots, lots, more. Vincent and webmaster Jesse Ray Boehm have done a nice job.
  • Canadians take heed: A chance to see Clerks, uncut, for free! It’s being shown on SHOWCASE this Thursday, April 1st, at 11 PM eastern time. Tune on in. You’re SUPPOSED to be there that day.
  • A new favorite site of ours, upcomingmovies.com, has added a Coyote Ugly preview page. For the uninformed, Kevin’s writing on the script for Mike Bey as we speak (possibly finished, who knows?).
  • And finally today, we thank The Den over at Daily Movies, who gave News Askew (and our trilogy of drinking games) a very kind writeup today:
MOVIE DRINKING GAMES: KEVIN SMITH TRILOGY

Drink to Clerks, Mall Rats, and Chasing Amy

All three drinking games for Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy are pretty entertaining. If you’re careful, you might make it to the end of the movie. Might. They’re at www.newsaskew.com and then take the link to drinking games in the side frame.

Megan

Thanks Megan. Here are the drinking games for all three Kevin Smith films taken from Kevin Smith’s official View Askew site. They’re pretty funny.

They then go on to print the rules for the Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy games. By the way, for you newer arrivals to News Askew, these were the suckers that we created at the inception of this page (that grew into the monster that you see now!). It’s nice to see the ‘ol games still getting some recognition. As always DRINK RESPONSIBLY! Thanks.

‘Til next we meet…

Thompson of CBG Reviews DareDevil…

March 29th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by John Hilderbrand

  • Maggie Thompson of the Comics Buyers Guide gave the Daredevil collection of issues 1-3 a good review. This was in issue #1324. It’s great to see an established comics fan enjoying Kevin’s work as much as us twentysomething (and younger) fans are:
“It was big news when the team of writer Kevin Smith and artists Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti announced they’d be working together on Marvel’s Daredevil. Now the first trade paperback of the project, reprinting #1-3, is available. The title seems to be simply Daredevil (Jan 99, ISBN 0-9851-0715-0, $9.95), which is going to spaz out indexers. eventually. And Smith has certainly combined dynamite plot elements with wild possibilities. Unlike many trade paperbacks, this one doesn’t contain a complete story arc. The episodes are “…And a Child Shall Lead Them,” “The Unexamined Life,” and “Dystopia,” from which readers might suspect a religious tale. Readers would be right.

The tapestry Smith weaves is complex and thought-provoking: How should people react, in the face of a Second Coming? Could you judge the difference between God and a lying Devil? And, in terms of the fate of comic-book characters, what are the consequences of some of their past actions for Karen Page and Matt Murdock? Smith’s addressing many aspects of characters in the existing mythos of Daredevil – and it may be that none will escape unscathed. What’s important is how well the story is being told, and the team keeps the reader turning the pages.

The richness of the references even extends to elaborate backgrounds featuring the art of Gustave Dore, whose scenery…works great in the published form. This is clearly a labor of love – expressed in the midst of cynicism. But what will happen next?”

  • Thanks for stopping by the ‘ol site today…We’re happy we finally had some stuff worth reporting. There’s still a few more tidbits we’re chasing down as we speak, so look for more updates tomorrow, most likely. ‘Til then…

Commentary…

March 29th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Brad & Chris

  • Well, we’ve finally got some stories to load up an update today…After a slow few days, we’re sure that a screenful of text is a welcome change! Lots of good stuff here, so read on…We gotta run downstairs to watch the just-released Special Edition of The Evil Dead on DVD! Here ya go:

A Better Place…From SYNAPSE!

March 29th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by DVD Askew

  • Well, we’ve been holding onto this one incognito for a while, but it now looks to be officially announced: Synapse Filmswill be releasing Vincent Pereira’s “A Better Place” on DVD, laserdisc and possibly videocassette. Here’s the full press release:
Synapse Films, in association with View Askew Productions, is proud to announce the upcoming Home Video release of View Askew’s feature film, A BETTER PLACE.

Written, Produced and Directed by Vincent Pereira, A BETTER PLACE is the story of a teenager who moves to a new town after the death of his father and finds out a his new friend is hiding a violent past. A BETTER PLACE stars Eion Bailey (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER TV Series, DAWSON’S CREEK and David Fincher’s THE FIGHT CLUB) and Carmen LeWallen (CHASING AMY, THE MOD SQUAD).

Executive Produced by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier (GOOD WILL HUNTING, MALLRATS, CHASING AMY), this is the first time a View Askew production has been picked up by an independent video company and not a major studio. “I met Kevin Smith in Philadelphia over a year ago and he mentioned the title to me, ” says Synapse Films President, Don May, Jr. “After seeing the film, I just had to have it. Having been associated with science fiction and horror films in the past, it isn’t the sort of thing people would expect from me but it is a great film. I’ve always been a fan of independent filmsand it’s the perfect addition to my current and upcoming slate of ‘indie’ films. I’m glad View Askew has given me the opportunity to do this film the right way.”

Synapse Films has licensed all home video rights for the feature and is currently restoring the film with director Pereira. “I’d been a fan of Don’s work restoring classic horror and cult films on Laserdisc and DVD and when Don expressed interest in the film, it was like a dream come true,” says Pereira. “With Don I know I’ll be able to release A BETTER PLACE the way I want, supervising the digital letterboxed transfer and restoring two scenes cut from the festival-circuit version of the film. The ‘Special Edition’ DVD and LaserDisc release will also have a running commentary, a selection of deleted scenes, and an introduction by Kevin (Smith) and Scott (Mosier).”

A BETTER PLACE is currently scheduled for a Fall 1999 release and Synapse Films is currently seeking an exclusive licensing arrangement for the videocassette release.

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, we’ll do our best to keep you covered on what’s going on with the transfer, expected release dates, and, hopefully, an advanced look at the DVD itself! Stay tuned.

Another “Clerks” Comic???

March 29th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by John Hilderbrand

  • A scooper who attended the Kansas City Planet Comicon this past weekend met local Action Planet artists Phillip Hester and Ande Parks, who revealed that they’ll be working on a ‘Clerks’ one-shot! This is the first we’ve heard any rumblings of an outside source putting together a ‘Clerks’ comic. We’re working on verifying the story, but for now, here’s a scan of their drawing of Jay and Silent Bob, which was on the cover of the Comicon brochure. The book is due for release later this year. We’ll drudge up some more info on this book before that happens.

Dogma A “Leading Contender” For Cannes…

March 29th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Robert Newhart

  • From Yahoo.com today comes a story about the shoe-ins and other likely contenders for competition in this May’s festival…And Dogma was pretty high up in that list…
…..Among the other leading contenders for the Competition are Atom Egoyan’s thriller “Felicia’s Journey,” based on a William Trevor novel; Alan Parker’s adaptation of Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” with Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle; Anthony Minghella’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett; Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” with Ben Affleck; Aleksandr Sokhurov’s “Moloch,” about Hitler and Eva Braun; Patricia Rozema’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park,” featuring Embeth Davidtz; and Jim Jarmusch’s “Ghost Dog” with Isaach de Bankole, Forest Whitaker, Damon Whitaker and Paul Diomede….

Cannes takes place from May 12-23. Deadline for entries is April the 22nd. From what we’ve heard the View Askew gang plan to have as complete a version as possible submitted by that deadline. We’ll keep our eyes open.

Jay Mewes: An Interview Askew

March 28th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Brad & Chris

  • Yet another in the continuing series of excellent interviews by Mike McCarthy, the latest has been posted…A very rare sit-down with none other than Jason Mewes! Learn all about his thoughts on his acting career, collecting action figures, how he met Kevin, and his future. Great stuff that can be read from View Askew’s Interviews Askew page, which contains this new piece as well as a complete archive of past interviews as well.

Commentary…

March 28th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Brad & Chris

  • Well, suddenly just like that, the weekend’s almost wrapped up…We went out and spent some money today, so as Chris puts the 100 pieces of his new computer desk together, and I enjoy sitting in my new comfy office chair, it seemed like a good time for an update. Plus, we’ve got a great night of TV to prepare for…In addition to the Flyers being on FOX as we speak, we’ve got new episodes of The Simpsons and The X-Files, the premiere of Futurama (sure to be a hit), and the second part of the season finale of The Sopranos on HBO (one of, if not THE, best shows on TV at the moment). So, it’s a good thing we can keep this update short and sweet, since it’s again been a quiet couple of days. We’ve got a new poll topic, of course, this week from a suggestion again by Kilgore. And now, the news:

Commentary…

March 26th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Brad & Chris

  • That’s right, fine readers, we decided to do a rare Friday update here to get everything caught up befoe the weekend started kicking into high gear…This includes a catch-up on our Virginia Tech Page, including a pic from the event and quite a few new summaries from the lucky folks that were there. Other than that, no MAJOR news, but a bunch of little things that, as you know, we like to call:

VT Banner

Wow. I just got back from that. I must say, it was one of the defining moments of my life, lemme tell ya. If there’s anyone that inspires me to become a filmmaker, it sure as hell is kevin smith, so me getting to see the man talk about making movies and what he likes and shit, i’m in heaven! I wasn’t sure what to expect when going in because i hadn’t been to one of these things before, but all it really was a big Q & A session. It lasted a good 3 1/2, 4 hours. No new news on any projects that hasn’t already been stated, what i found interesting was when he talked about how he met mewes and what happened to jeff anderson. He brought along his old computer bag and said he’d give it away because he now has a new one, which was pretty cool of him. The kick ass moment of the night of course was the screening of the dogma trailer, man did it just flat out ROCK! I know i may get beat to hell for saying this, but i loved this trailer even more than the star wars trailers! It was just so damn cool! It just had great shots of everyone, funniest of course was the quick shot of jay yelling while blasting away someone with an oozie. I was surprised, I didn’t know there were that many guns in the movie, seems like alot of people had them. affleck and damon looking bad ass as ever with their wings. I caught a quick glimpse of the stygian triplets skating which i thought was cool, and the golgothon was pretty funny looking, which is what kevin said he was looking for, something along the lines of the old godzilla where you knew it was a guy in a rubber suit. overall it was really a kick ass night i think, i just thought I’d share my thoughts with you on the subject, thanks! – cyberfrogv@aol.com

“Next time we do this, why don’t you come up to my place because you guys are too fucking remote!” This quote started off the marvelous evening from KS who came down to Blacksburg yesterday for an appearance. He started off by talking about the trip down, and how he had to go through Pittsburgh to catch a flight to Roanoke, I assume, since he said it took 2 different planes and a 45 minute drive to get to campus. Then he said how we all “live like fuckin’ savages” (big laugh) especially because we didn’t have any hotels that had SpectraVision. After his brief intro, he opened up the floor to questions, but nobody was eager to go up to the 2 microphones they had setup at the front of the auditorium. With a couple seconds of pause and no questions coming his way, he said “Alright, well, thanks for having me. I’ll take my $10,000 and just leave…” We weren’t going to let him get off that easy, so after a slow start to the questions, they began to pick up in pace. A lot of the questions dealt with the comics, but there were the few “regular” questions of how he got together with Mewes, Jason Lee, Chris Rock, etc. His storytelling is excellent, and he always manages to work jokes in everywhere. (Anyone there last night should instantly start laughing when I mention the word “spider”.) He worked great with the audience, and I think for the most part the crowd was pretty polite, except for yelling out questions when people were queued up for the microphones. But he handled everything great, and talked about friendship fallouts, his relationship with JLA, the Superman script, all of which he jokingly made references to “Do you wanna talk about the night my grandmom died too??” (making light of the few ‘failures’ that have happened to him.) He also said that he no longer categorizes Mallrats as a failure, because after examining movie rentals, movie rights for TV, merchandise, etc. he was told that no movie made for under $12 million dollars can lose money. So he has that monkey off his back, and he no longer feels bad about “losing” Miramax $6 million. When asked if it would be re-released, he said “Yeah, we could put in a CGI Jabba…” To calling Mewes “Dennis the Menace with a bong”. I didn’t leave the auditorium until about 11:30, so the talk was a good 3 1/2 – 4 hours long. Afterwards he stuck around and signed autographs, I got my ticket stub and Clerks video signed (appropriately “Mike! Post, dammit post!” when I mentioned to him that I loved the Webboard over at va.c) Gotta say I hate the people that show up with 5+ things for him to sign though….Hey, the dude just flew down here and talked for 4 hours, and now you want him signing your entire collection??? But, he was great about it all, and said that he liked my Pac-Man shirt. KS, it was a pleasure having you come for a visit, and yes, next time we’ll come up to your place or see you on the screen in the fall. laters. – Mike Leiderman

The name amongest names. The man is God. Well maybe not, but damn, he puts on a great show! The guy went from 7:30pm to midnight, answering Q&A. I knew the guy was funny, but not this funny. He had this packed auditorium laughing non-stop! And near the end, he showed the unedited Dogma trailer, and it was unfreakin believable! Jay screaming while shooting an uzi! A monster that is a big pile of crap! Special FX like Affleck walking on water! And Salma Hayek, need we say more? I don’t think so. And after the trailer, he did a little more Q&A and then started signing autographs at midnight. The guy was probably still there around 1am signing stuff. So Kevin, if you’re reading this, THANKS! Thanks for coming out to the middle of nowhere and doing a great show and signing all of our stuff! And for anyone reading this, if Kevin is doing an appearance anywhere close to you, even if it entitles a four hour drive, DO IT! It’s all worth it. – Greg Melou

Kevin walked out onto the stage right on time, and was still going strong 3 hours and 45 minutes later when this unfortunate soul had to leave for a journey back to reality. In the same question-answer style that has been reported from other venues, Kevin fielded one question after another with insightful, hilarious answers. The stories of his many acquaintances were very popular with the mostly-young crowd, and Jason Mewes stories rightfully monopolized the evening. He provided the mixed audience of fans, actors, filmmakers, and others with laughs, insight, and motivation. There was an intriguing and hilarious account of Kevin’s work on the Superman script. But no spoilers here — go see the guy for yourself. And then the Dogma trailer… it was fantastic! It was really great seeing Ben A. and Matt D. back together on the screen again. All in all, a great (long) evening. I’m sorry I couldn’t hang around to get Kevin to autograph my Clearks/CA script book, but maybe next time. Thanks Kevin! – Neal Jamison

Well, I’ll be honest. I don’t think I can add much beyond what’s already been covered, but I’ll try anyway. Kevin came on a minute or two after 7:30 and went strong for four hours. He didn’t tell us anything new, but that wasn’t important. What was important was that he was a great storyteller who could turn just about anything into a uproarious spectacle. I think what did it for me was his deadpan delivery, almost like he didn’t find it funny at all. Everyone around me was busting a gut laughing, even the guy beside me who had never even heard of Kevin. I don’t know what the highlight of the night was for me, probably because all of it was worthwhile. I guess the “Dogma” trailer was the winner for one reason: I completely forgot about the outside world for those two minutes. I was in a state of pure ecstacy while watching it, and hope that as little is changed as possible when it hits the theaters. (Believe me, it won’t be making it into the theaters in its current state.) If the movie’s even halfway as good as the trailer, it’s going to be worth seeing mmultiple times. Anyway, after the trailer was shown and some more questions were answered, he stayed for about an hour to sign autographs. I got my “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy” LD’s signed, complete with some great smart-ass comments. By the time I got my stuff signed (around 12:30 AM), Kevin looked a bit worn out, but hey, can you blame him? I’d be tired after all the traveling and talking, too. (Yes, we do live like savages here, and I’m more than willing to fly to Red Bank next time.) To wrap this sucker up, I’ll say that ANYONE who even remotely likes Kevin should ride, run, walk, fuck, or do whatever to get to his appearances. He’s extremely entertaining and will turn the meager amount of money you spend to get in into an delicious orgy of vulgarity. What could be better than that? – Douglas Roark

What a show. The college I attend is way to cheap to book any as great as Kevin Smith, so my room mate and I drove the six hours it took to get there and hoped we wouldn’t be disappointed. We weren’t. He was great. His stories were some of the funniest shit I have ever heard. If you get a chance to see him, you should, and ask him about his mother cried at the end of Chasing Amy. I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t because they didn’t get together. And ask him why he thinks Al Capone was such a genius!!! All in all, it was a great evening and I would just like to thank Kevin for taking time out of his busy life to do this. he was leaving the next morning for New Jeresey, and then flying to England to record the sound track for Dogma. – Pathos

View Askew NewsBites™

March 26th, 1999 @ 12:00 am | No Comments » | Scooped by Tim Conti, Paul Zindel & J Fields

  • Clerks will air on Cinemax in a rare pay TV showing early in the morning, April 7th, at 5 AM, for those of you still too cheap to buy a sellthrough copy or pay for the rental.
  • ZENtertainment mentions an upcoming special on The Learning Channel featuring Kevin as one of the guests. We talked about this a few days ago, but just a reminder…It’s on tomorrow night:
Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Dogma) and animated BATMAN guru Paul Dini are among those featured in an hourlong documentary on comic books premiering on The LEARNING Channel this Saturday night at 10.
  • A funny little tidbit here…On Conan O’Brien last night they did their “In The Year 2000” bit. One of Andy’s was that Ben Affleck would grab the mike from Dick Clark on new years and say “I’m a dope.”

By the way, thanks to the buggy-as-all-hell new Internet Explorer 5, some e-mail responses may come back to you all messed up. If this happens, let us know and we’ll try and re-respond. Feel free to bitch to Microsoft, there’s really not much we can do about this one. Later.