Scream 3

One of the things that always bothered me about Scream 3 was that a lot of it was centered around the production of Stab 3. In Scream 2, they had only just released the first Stab film. So we're just supposed to accept that another Stab film has come and gone, depicting the events of the previous Scream film? Stab gave Scream 2 the opportunity for some meta commentary on slasher films and the success of the original Scream. Stab 3 and the hijinks in this movie mostly transform Scream 3 into a parody. Also, in light of recent events and allegations, it seems pretty gross to have plot elements pertaining to a young woman being sexually abused by a Hollywood producer being used as the backstory for the latest killer.

Rating: 59%

(Image from scream.wikia.com)

Tusk

A podcast jerk travels to the depths of Manitoba for a story and winds up being turned into a walrus by a lonely old crazyman. This isn't as good as Smith's previous horror entry, Red State, but it's still weird and broken in the same good way. It coulda been about 15% better if Johnny Depp's part was cut down to a couple minutes.

RATING: 58%

Red State

Internet washout Kevin Smith made this movie without any kind of studio backing, which as an artist I can appreciate, but the movie is shapeless and takes four or five turns into totally different movies which leads me to believe there was nobody there to say "Hey, uh, wha?" Is that good? I STILL DON'T KNOW. I feel like I'm too familiar with Smith's other movies to think of this as genius, per se, but maybe it's sort of like Adam Sandler's performance in Punch Drunk Love, one weird and unique artistic expression that the artist himself would never recognize in a million years. So the plot is a Fred Phelps-esque preacher hates gay people in pretty violent ways and lots of people say "homosexual" in really fake southern accents.

RATING: 73%

Cop Out

I'm a big Kevin Smith fan and I'll watch just about any movie with Bruce Willis in it where it looks like he might shoot somebody and/or make me laugh. And while Cop Out has a decent funny Bruce Willis to kick-ass Bruce Willis ratio, it doesn't really deliver as well as it should. Don't get me wrong, this movie isn't nearly as bad as some of the critics would have you believe, it just isn't super awesome either. It's probably the least Kevin Smith-like movie that Kevin Smith has ever made, filmed with fewer static dialogue shots from a script that he did not write himself. I say it's worth checking out, but your mileage may vary.

Rating: 72%

(Image from iwatchstuff.com)

Daredevil Vol. 1: Guardian Devil

For better or worse, the current state of mainstream superhero comics can all be traced back to the first story arc of the current Daredevil series, written by Kevin Smith and drawn by Joe Quesada. Sure, intricate storylines that focused more on character development and endless self analysis existed in comics, even superhero comics, before, but those stories were kept in the more "sophisticated" lines such as Vertigo, or maybe brief mini or maxi series. Smith brought all that to the mainstream books, and while it can often be frustrating to go three or four issues without anything happening (Bruce Jones' Hulk), I guess I'm mostly thankful he opened the realm of possibilities for funnybooks. As for this storyline, it's one of the greats; an unknown villain is preying upon Matt Murdock's religion, and thrusts upon him a baby who is claimed to be either the savior of mankind or the Antichrist. Terrific writing from somebody who clearly has love for the character, although can we all please agree that it's been 10 years of agony for Daredevil and it's about time to give the guy a break for once?

RATING: 90%

Green Arrow: Quiver

For a while fanboy/filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks 2, Jersey Girl) was writing some pretty fucking decent comics--he had a great run on Daredevil (Guardian Devil), and he did a great first half of a Spider-Man story and then didn't finish it for three years. This relaunch of Green Arrow was one of his great works, and I don't even like Green Arrow. Smith resurrects the classic Green Arrow Oliver Queen, (a rich Bruce Wayne type with no powers who just happens to be good at shooting arrows, who had died in the mid 90s), and we watch the mystery of his resurrection unravel, as well as the side plot of some child murderer stalking Star City, which ends up being related surprise surprise. Smith brings in a lot of religion (which is sometimes ridiculous - Satanists? really?), but it's fun to read even if you don't know anything about Green Arrow like me. Smith also writes a decent Batman, but who doesn't, really?


RATING: 78%

Clerks: The Comic Books

Clearly I am just going through all my old comic books in little order. This book is a collection of three one shots starring Dante and Randall from Clerks. It's not particularly good, and I can really hear the bad acting of all the dialog Keven Smith writes. Thumbs down. Also, I thought dialog was spelled dialogue, but clearly I am wrong.

RATING: 29%