Guilty Pleasure

A lot of people know that my favorite movie is "The Princess Bride". It came out my freshman year of college, and I saw it in the now defunct theater in Sun Valley Mall.

Close behind this singular movie are the Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings movies. And then after there are the Jersey Chronicles - the movies of Kevin Smith.

I am a big fan of Kevin. I remember watching "Clerks" on video for the first time in Kentucky while at graduate school. Then I rented "Mallrats", which while it was not as good as "Clerks", was entertaining. Then "Chasing Amy" came out and I caught it in theaters. And at that point I was hooked. So of course, I've seen "Dogma", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", and "Clerks 2".

Kevin Smith and his producer Scott Mosier are continuity geeks. Things in the movies overlap and intertwine, and while I am not any one of the characters in the movies, I can relate to many of them.

Other than the Jersey Chronicles, I've watched Kevin's one-on-one interview with Stan Lee, which was really a fun watch. And then for a real thrill there are "An Evening with Kevin Smith" and "An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder" where Kevin's talks at colleges around the country and Canada were recorded. There will soon be a third one which was filmed on his 37th birthday (yes, 37th), and hopefully will be released soon.

Two other movies which are so-so are "Jersey Girl" which is not as bad as it was made out to be, and "Catch and Release" which has Kevin in a role playing someone more like himself. It's all right, but not knee slapping funny.

And he is working on two new movies: "Zach and Miri Make a Porno" and "Red State". Zach and Miri is, obviously, comedy about an independent porno and stars Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks. "Red State" is a horror movie that I'm not very familiar with yet.

And I learn about all of the new stuff from Smodcast. Smodcast (Smith and Mosier Podcast) is usually Kevin and Scott rapping and joking about their lives and the movies, but once and a while Kevin's wife is there, or Jason Mewes, or some of Kevin's friends who work the two stores of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash. It's been a fun addition to my music for the gym. Or like I did today, walking to Target.