Search results matching tag 'Kevin Smith'

Remembering pop culture king John Hughes

255762 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:04:00 GMT

Sad news last night that director John Hughes has died. He started out as a copywriter at Leo Burnett in Chicago and went on to define a generation of geeky teens with a great slice of pop culture and angst.

That generation then went on to be known as Generation X and for them he wrote the script and provided the soundtrack with movies like 'Ferris Bueller's Day off', 'Pretty in Pink' and 'The Breakfast Club', making young stars out of the likes of Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy; Anthony Michael Hall and Emilio Estevez.

Weirdly, I was watching the start of Kevin Smith's 'Dogma' last night; the bit in the film where Jay and Silent Bob go in search of the Chicago suburb (Shermer Illinois) where Hughes set his movie.

They were there under the perfect logic that the women were hot and there was no one selling drugs. Funnily enough there was nothing there. Hughes made it all up. Some of the kids in his movies might have been mean (where are you James Spader?), but nothing too serious ever happened and there always seemed to be the Smiths or New Order playing in the background.

The music was as important as what you were watching. Whether it was the final scene in 'The Breakfast Club' where Judd Nelson puts his fist to the sky to the sound of Simple Minds and 'Don't You (Forget About Me) or in 'Pretty in Pink' as Duckie mimed 'Try a Little Tenderness' in an effort to win Ringwald's character Andie Walsh.

It was as the Los Angeles Times puts it "a very specific slice of Americana" that many understood whether you happened to be an American teen or not because the culture was trans Atlantic.

Roger Ebert once called Hughes "the philosopher of adolescence" and his influence has spread far. It wasn't only the likes of Smith that Hughes influenced after his time in Hollywood had passed (but not before he had made 'Home Alone' that became one of the top-grossing live-action comedies of all time - spawning three sequels) it was an even newer generation like Judd Apatow and Co of 'Superbad' and 'Knocked-up' fame who last year said: "Basically, my stuff is just John Hughes films with four-letter words."

For me my favourite remains 'The Breakfast Club'; it must have been all those detentions. The question what was your favourite Hughes movie sparked many a late night discussion and I know I wasn't alone in that.

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How do you market a porno film?

255762 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:16:00 GMT

Not a real porno film, but Kevin Smith's new raunchy romcom the title of which, 'Zack and Miri Make a Porno', which is causing a marketing nightmare for the Weinstein Company with newspapers, cable and TV channels refusing to run ads.

'Zack and Miri Make a Porno', which tells the sweet story of how some broke friends get together and try to make a buck or two out of making a porn movie, has been having a tough time of it. It has been rated R (under 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian) having first been given a NC-17 rating (no one under 17), which is pretty much movie death but was over turned on appeal by Kevin Smith.

The Motion Picture Association of America then banned the US poster featuring stars Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen. It had the pair standing side-by-side with their opposing heads pasted over their crotches.

Hardly offensive and the Canadians let it run. So go Canada. This all led Smith to despair on his My Boring-Ass Life blog:

"Our frustration in getting an MPAA approval on the American poster led to last-resort ideas about showcasing dopey, simple images instead of risque pics of our leads - which, in turn, led to what’s now the official American poster for the flick…"

The film's posters have faced protests in Boston where their placement on bus shelters and city buses was called "totally inappropriate". The posters were banned in Philadelphia before they could even appear. With the city's deputy mayor saying: "Zack and Miri can make a porno, but not on my bus shelter."

The Wall Street Journal says that after receiving viewer complaints about an ad that aired during a LA Dodgers' baseball game in September, News Corp.'s FSN Prime Ticket cable channel refused to run more ads. Fox television network has also refused to run the 30-second spots as have more than 15 newspapers and a number of other TV and cable channels and those that have taken the cash have opted to abbreviate the title to 'Zack and Miri.

It is not the first time Smith's films have caused a stink. 'Dogma' his all star (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino) cast film took a pop at the Catholic church that caused a mini storm in America and hit the movie with Christians demonstrating against it. It annoyed the Catholic League (due to a reference about the Virgin Mary having post-Jesus sex with Joseph) and Smith received over ten thousand pieces of protest/hate mail and three death threats.

After the controversy surrounding Dogma, Smith said he wanted to make a movie that couldn't be attacked for its content, well he did that three times (none of which have been a touch on his best film 'Chasing Amy') with mixed results (remember the post-Gigli Bennifer movie 'Jersey Girl' – ouch).

Smith, who loves a smutty *** joke or ten, had to know when he started his new film that the title would cause a stink bomb size smell. After not great performances at the box office with 'Jersey Girl' or 'Clerks II' he is hoping the hullabaloo helps.

"If anything, the controversy might help us pick up a wider audience, simply by virtue of the fact that people have been talking about it so much"

What is so interesting is that despite the economic downturn so many people are refusing to take the advertising.

The film looks very funny and I don't expect that when its UK release rolls around that there will be any furore in the UK, but I could be wrong.

What do you think?

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"We don't want it to be advertising; we want it to be real"

255762 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:17:00 GMT

That's what Hewlett-Packard says and why its teamed up with MTV again for a new reality show that's a bit like 'The Real World' (so pretty real - you know'ish), well its in a loft in Brooklyn where it has gathered 16 creative types to produce digital art and where the likes of 'Chasing Amy' director Kevin Smith will be dropping in - maybe he will be talking about his new film?

Beginning next week, the show is called the 'Engine Room' and its sponsored by HP who will as part of its efforts to be real is providing the creatives types in the show with PCs, workstations, monitors and other products.

The show is designed to run online as much as anything else as episodes of the 'Engine Room' are only five to seven minutes long, running daily, over seven weeks with a $400,000 prize up for grabs and the chance to program the giant MTV screen in Times Square for a night.

It's about the third project in a row that HP has sponsored including dating show 'Meet or Delete'. In all these shows HP gets its products in there being used by college kids and the young people it wants to target.

David Roman, vice president for worldwide marketing communications, told the New York Times: "We don't want it to be advertising; we want it to be real. We're learning as we go not to do so much talking about what we do but rather let people do things with the product. That’s where the wow factor comes from."

It isn't exactly small fry HP is spending millions on the project, which the PC's agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco are also involved with. Roman estimated that HP would spend tens of millions of dollars on the show, which began with efforts months ago to recruit contestants online. In the end they got almost 2,000 people from 122 countries submitted more than 20,000 original artworks.

During the show the contestants are going to be visited by guests like the musician Moby; the Ting Tings and 'Clerks' director Kevin Smith who has been busy recently doing his thing, which seems like a good point do drop in the trailer for his new film ' Zack and Miri Make a Porno'.

It's sort of a user generated content film…okay will that's not quite true but it tells the story of Elizabeth Banks (The 40 Year Old Virgin) and Seth Rogen (Knocked Up and Superbad) who being a bit hard up for cash make their own porno. It's looking very good.

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GQeschew

255762 — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:56:18 GMT

What is with GQ? I know it's doing OK numbers wise, but who does it think its readers are? I only ask after thumbing the latest issue, which has 13 pages dedicated to super pouty actress Jessica Alba.

The 26-year-old is the girl of the moment, last few moments, and maybe a couple more to come, but do you really need 11 pages of pictures of her? I have to say I'm wondering.

The coverline drools "We waited all year for this ". No, they are not kidding, with 11 pages of pictures of the fabulous pouty Alba who has been in a series of unforgettable movies, the 'Fantastic 4' films being the latest popcorn flicks.

The message from most of these films, as the photo shoot reveals, is that (like a lot of attractive women) she looks great with not much on. It’s a no-brainer.

The pictures are accompanied by a terrible, blithering, short, two-page celebrity interview. The writer comes over like a teenager. I'm imaging the original copy was really terrible. It must have been. It isn't a problem. I mean it’s an interview with a 26-year-old actress. They talk about dating and her movies and, well, what else is there to say. It's why she is 90% about the pictures and 10% about the words.

The pictures, btw, include a three-page gatefold cover. Overkill? It seems that way and I haven't even mentioned some of the lines that are printed on the pictures themselves. I spilt my coffee over this one: "Jessica is sexually devastating. A force that can not be denied". No, seriously that is what it says. It is not a quote, someone actually decided to write that. Sexually devastating? What does that even mean? Is this meant to reflect the writer's state of mind after the interview? Who knows.

I write all of this because I always thought that GQ was meant to be a little more upmarket in comparison to Maxim, FHM and Loaded, when clearly it's not.

It's the same every month. Last time it was
Rosario Dawson on the bonnet of a car - like some down market boy racer magazine. I'm not knocking Dawson. She's great - loved her in 'Clerks II'.

In its most recent ABC, the Conde Nast glossy reported flat sales (in a rocky market to be fair) with circulation up 0.6% period on period to 127,505 copies. Its year-on-year figure increased 1%.

In such a flesh-obsessed market, it would be nice to get something a little more grown up. Maybe that is asking for too much.

Clerks credit

255762 — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 10:43:30 GMT

Have you ever wanted to see you see your name in lights? If even very small ones? Kevin Smith might be able to help you out via Myspace.
Kevin Smith is offering you the chance to be in his new movie 'Clerks II', the sequel to his 1994 indie hit.

OK, be in it might be stretching it, but you can be in the credits, and really sitting in the theatre until you've seen thousands of names flow past is what it’s all about.

Smith, who has also made 'Chasing Amy' and 'Dogma’, has become, like a lot of people slightly obsessed with MySpace.

The first 10,000 (count them) MySpace members will get the chance to have their names immortalised onscreen if they add ‘Mooby's Presents: Clerks II’ webpage to their Friends list. The promotion is being done by interactive web agency Deep Focus.

According to Smith: "I've been a total MySpace junkie since March of this year, and have given up countless hours to the ten-at-a-time art of friend-approving. For MySpace to let 'Clerks II' into their Top 8, so to speak, is not only a major coup for the movie -- it's like being able to say that I know (MySpace co-founder and automatic 'friend') Tom (Anderson) personally. Even though, y'know, I don't.”

It's a cheap and nice bit of guerrilla marketing. Harvey Weinstein might be giving Smith the money to make 'Clerks II', but he isn't exactly planning to splash out on the marketing budget.

The original 'Clerks', a story of Randall, Dante Jay and Silent Bob and the Quick Stop convenience store, was a cult hit, which has grown in statue over the years with its 10th anniversary 'Clerks X' DVD release.

The new film delivers more of the same with most of the original cast back for the second outing of dick and fart jokes and mid-life crises.

'Clerks II' is out later this summer and really someone else can have my spot as while I have signed up to Myspace I find that rather like Charlie Brooker in the Guardian that despite being pretty damn geeky at times the whole social networking thing is really not something I personally want to get very involved in. I just don't care, you know, other than taking a professional business and journalistic interest.

Not even our office twenty somethings have signed up. It's for teenagers...and of course bands and movie promoters looking to spread the word.