My 5 cent psychtheraputicologicalanalysis: Pushy mothers who not only want but actually try to re-live their lives again through their children are never satisified.
Slow bloggin round here lately (and slow social life while home for the holidays) so I'm gonna post a movie review. I just got back from seeing The Aviator. The movie was 3 hrs, but thinking back on it, I can't see how Scorsese crammed all of it into that short of time. Which isn't to say it was a rushed job, either; it's quite difficult to get me to watch Leo jitter at the camera for what seemed like a whole minute, and not only not be bored by it, but be really drawn in. And if I may, this is one of those movies which gets some extra spice from being viewed on the big screen, and it can't be quite the same if you wait to view it on video.
Go Mrs. Smith! If I made a movie with a scene as crashingly awful as the one towards the end, where the girlfriend gets punished for her sexuality, I hope my mom would not have a kind word to say about it.
Clerks hasn't aged well, but if you saw it when it came out in theaters, it really was pretty astonishing. The dialogue was so spot-on, and so foreign to other movies at the time, that it was kind of a liberation. Specifically, the "37 dicks" scene, and the discussion of the contractors on the Death Star (and both those scenes are still funny), were the kinds of real life that one just hadn't seen.
Anyway, this wasn't quite the point of the post--mothers have put down things better than Clerks.
I imagine Brin may have been doing a bit of exageration. Still, my mother continues to ignore my accomplishments and hectors me to wear my hair longer. I don't even get a buzz cut, just the normal corporate 2-inch cut. She wants to see the curls.
Comedy Central just showed the movie the Hebrew Hammer which is a blacksploitation spoof with a Jewish twist. It's very funny, much funnier than I thought it would be. The hero ends up saving Hanukkah from Santa Clause's evil son, but his mother is more impressed with the Kesselman's son, the investment banker, he paid for their entire retirement in Boca.
"What about me Ma, I saved Hanukkah, what about that? What about your own son."
"It's not even a high holiday. It's only Hanukkah. If you'd saved Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah -- that'd be something to brag about."
In Kevin Smith movies, everyone talks like their a fucking stage actor. It drives me insane. And sorry, but Jay and Silent Bob are not funny. Their "solo" movie was the biggest piece of shit I've ever seen in the theater, other than Dogma, which was beyond shit, but then, maybe I'm biased because I saw it with a bunch of "open-minded" evangelical Christians who took it seriously as a religious commentary. Still, I've never been very sympathetic with the "I don't like the religion that I was raised with, so I'm going to make shit up out of whole cloth and act like that's better than what 2000 years of tradition came up with" approach. Pick a religion or be a damn atheist! I'm talking to you, Kevin Smith!
by the by, protestantism isn't exactly drawing upon 2000 years of tradition, is it? Protestant religions are all fairly young, the oldest, the Anglican (which has evolved into Episcopalean) is, what, 400 years old? And, anyway, the Catholic Church of today is much different than it was 100 years ago; everything changed after Vatican II, to name just a single large reform the Church has underwent last century.
And of course, you could argue that Christianity was merely a reform of the Jewish tradition, which was a reform of a larger Indo-European tradition. Reform is that nature of religion, which is is advocated in KS's movies advocate (he's not really making stuff up whole cloth, is he?), so I disagree with your attack on KS at this level.
The one weird thing about Dogma was it's conjunction of different myths. I know KS knows who Loki is, so why the hell did he make him the Angel of Death? I don't get it.
The whole thing with the demons, and the 13th apostle, and the gate you can walk through and get your sins forgiven, and basically every important aspect of the plot -- is made up out of whole cloth for all intents and purposes.
And I daresay that Lutheranism is a little different from Dogma in terms of trying to work out some of the deadlocks of a tradition using the tools the tradition gives you. In fact, I'd say that The Book of Mormon shows a higher degree of intellectual integrity than does Dogma -- which clearly does want to be taken seriously as a critique of religion.
As for why I've seen his whole body of work -- I had a roommate who loved Kevin Smith movies, and in a small town, you take the social options that present themselves.
I see your point Adam; when writing that comment last night, I for some reason didn't think of that part, and I suspect it has to do with why I can enjoy KS's movies. When thinking about actual religion and dogma, I automatically discounted count the stuff which I saw as pure fantasy. Dogma was preachy here and there (don't mourn your religion...) but mostly I saw it as irreverant humor. I don't take movies seriously unless they ask to be taken seriously, which Dogma certainly didn't. However, I can understand someone's dislike of that sort of humor.
My 5 cent psychtheraputicologicalanalysis: Pushy mothers who not only want but actually try to re-live their lives again through their children are never satisified.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01- 2-05 10:17 PM
That is hilarious. My mother is never like this, I should add...
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 01- 2-05 10:19 PM
Slow bloggin round here lately (and slow social life while home for the holidays) so I'm gonna post a movie review. I just got back from seeing The Aviator. The movie was 3 hrs, but thinking back on it, I can't see how Scorsese crammed all of it into that short of time. Which isn't to say it was a rushed job, either; it's quite difficult to get me to watch Leo jitter at the camera for what seemed like a whole minute, and not only not be bored by it, but be really drawn in. And if I may, this is one of those movies which gets some extra spice from being viewed on the big screen, and it can't be quite the same if you wait to view it on video.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01- 2-05 10:28 PM
Yea, I thought the same thing when I saw 60 Minutes too.
Then they did the story on the Indian movie star and I pretty much forgot everything. I was like Homer Simpson watching a Duffs commercial.
Posted by paul | Link to this comment | 01- 2-05 10:33 PM
Go Mrs. Smith! If I made a movie with a scene as crashingly awful as the one towards the end, where the girlfriend gets punished for her sexuality, I hope my mom would not have a kind word to say about it.
Posted by rilkefan | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 12:21 AM
Kudos to Kevin Smith's mom. "Clerks" is godfuckingly awful.
Posted by cmas | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 9:20 AM
Clerks hasn't aged well, but if you saw it when it came out in theaters, it really was pretty astonishing. The dialogue was so spot-on, and so foreign to other movies at the time, that it was kind of a liberation. Specifically, the "37 dicks" scene, and the discussion of the contractors on the Death Star (and both those scenes are still funny), were the kinds of real life that one just hadn't seen.
Anyway, this wasn't quite the point of the post--mothers have put down things better than Clerks.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 10:56 AM
I imagine Brin may have been doing a bit of exageration. Still, my mother continues to ignore my accomplishments and hectors me to wear my hair longer. I don't even get a buzz cut, just the normal corporate 2-inch cut. She wants to see the curls.
Some people really are never satisfied.
Posted by Tripp | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 1:18 PM
My mom asks me every day to go back to college! Almost every day! I wish she asked me every week!
Sergey, you're great!
Posted by Eric | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 2:04 PM
You must only be worth $1b.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 2:08 PM
Comedy Central just showed the movie the Hebrew Hammer which is a blacksploitation spoof with a Jewish twist. It's very funny, much funnier than I thought it would be. The hero ends up saving Hanukkah from Santa Clause's evil son, but his mother is more impressed with the Kesselman's son, the investment banker, he paid for their entire retirement in Boca.
"What about me Ma, I saved Hanukkah, what about that? What about your own son."
"It's not even a high holiday. It's only Hanukkah. If you'd saved Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah -- that'd be something to brag about."
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 6:11 PM
In Kevin Smith movies, everyone talks like their a fucking stage actor. It drives me insane. And sorry, but Jay and Silent Bob are not funny. Their "solo" movie was the biggest piece of shit I've ever seen in the theater, other than Dogma, which was beyond shit, but then, maybe I'm biased because I saw it with a bunch of "open-minded" evangelical Christians who took it seriously as a religious commentary. Still, I've never been very sympathetic with the "I don't like the religion that I was raised with, so I'm going to make shit up out of whole cloth and act like that's better than what 2000 years of tradition came up with" approach. Pick a religion or be a damn atheist! I'm talking to you, Kevin Smith!
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 9:08 PM
You just never know where a blog post is going to go. The topic is what's wrong with mothers, people!
Ok, the only other KS movie I've seen is Chasing Amy, to which I was pretty indifferent. You don't like the guy, howcome you've seen his whole oeurve?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 9:13 PM
by the by, protestantism isn't exactly drawing upon 2000 years of tradition, is it? Protestant religions are all fairly young, the oldest, the Anglican (which has evolved into Episcopalean) is, what, 400 years old? And, anyway, the Catholic Church of today is much different than it was 100 years ago; everything changed after Vatican II, to name just a single large reform the Church has underwent last century.
And of course, you could argue that Christianity was merely a reform of the Jewish tradition, which was a reform of a larger Indo-European tradition. Reform is that nature of religion, which is is advocated in KS's movies advocate (he's not really making stuff up whole cloth, is he?), so I disagree with your attack on KS at this level.
The one weird thing about Dogma was it's conjunction of different myths. I know KS knows who Loki is, so why the hell did he make him the Angel of Death? I don't get it.
What was that about mothers?
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 9:54 PM
Correction: Lutherenism would be the oldest Protestant religion.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01- 3-05 9:56 PM
Regardless, Dogma blew and I left halfway through.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 01- 4-05 8:01 AM
God, I loved dogma. It cracked me up.
Posted by cw | Link to this comment | 01- 4-05 8:23 AM
The whole thing with the demons, and the 13th apostle, and the gate you can walk through and get your sins forgiven, and basically every important aspect of the plot -- is made up out of whole cloth for all intents and purposes.
And I daresay that Lutheranism is a little different from Dogma in terms of trying to work out some of the deadlocks of a tradition using the tools the tradition gives you. In fact, I'd say that The Book of Mormon shows a higher degree of intellectual integrity than does Dogma -- which clearly does want to be taken seriously as a critique of religion.
As for why I've seen his whole body of work -- I had a roommate who loved Kevin Smith movies, and in a small town, you take the social options that present themselves.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 01- 4-05 9:54 AM
I see your point Adam; when writing that comment last night, I for some reason didn't think of that part, and I suspect it has to do with why I can enjoy KS's movies. When thinking about actual religion and dogma, I automatically discounted count the stuff which I saw as pure fantasy. Dogma was preachy here and there (don't mourn your religion...) but mostly I saw it as irreverant humor. I don't take movies seriously unless they ask to be taken seriously, which Dogma certainly didn't. However, I can understand someone's dislike of that sort of humor.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01- 4-05 11:42 AM