What are you watching?

[NateDog]

I remember liking Dogma (though I don't recall anything about it) but remember liking Mallrats and Clerks (especially Clerks) more. Having worked retail, Clerks really speaks to me. Also, the dialogue was outstanding. Especially the Start Wars stuff.

"The Big Kahuna" and "Glengarry Glen Ross" are two films I adore immensely. They're basically set in one room and the characters just talk. I'd liken Clerks to those films but replace business men with high school underachievers and it still works. I think calling it a "stoner classic" does it a disservice. There's some very 90s stuff in there that hasn't aged well but the majority still stands up really well. Considering the budget, the lengths he went to in order to get it made and the unfortunate stench of Kevin Smith being high on his own supply for decades, it's still a great piece of work.

I watched Glengarry Glen Ross last month, felt it was more suited to the theatre but some incredible performances in it nonetheless. I'll give Clerks a go.

It was adapted from a stage play. So was The Big Kahuna. And they both star Kevin Spacey.

I love all the performances in GGR. He's only in it for one scene but Alec Baldwin's scene (not in the stage play) is my favourite scene. "Second prize is a set of steak knives. " Pure administrative cruelty. Also, Shelley Levine is the inspiration for Gil in The Simpsons.

Sorry that's what I meant. While I liked GGR, at certain points I could feel that this was something that to me felt more at home in the theatre. The performances are so good that they carry it through but it just still kept giving me that sense that it felt that the movie format felt a little too big for it.

Dogma:  Ambitious.  Smith uses his knowledge of his own religion as he would mining deep lore for a comic book adaptation.  He mixes his signature humor with deep theological questions.  Alan Rickman is an absolute delight here - along with Galaxy Quest, it makes me lament that he didn't do more comedies before his passing.  I know this one's controversial, and for obvious reasons.  But I really feel it came from somewhere in his heart, rather than trying to stir up controversy for the sake of stirring up controversy.  Probably my second-favorite of his films after Clerks.

Thanks for the in-depth thoughts, I really didn't expect everyone would feel so strongly about Kevin Smith's work! I agree on Alan Rickman, he was probably the one character I liked here. He was a treasure and I would have loved to see more of him here and in other similar roles, a shame so much of his time must have been taken up by Harry Potter in the 2000s. 

I saw some of the controversies about this (my copy actually also came with a small booklet of letters sent to Smith about his "heresy), but again as someone that grew up in Catholic Ireland that in my time has changed from having a very significant link between church and state to having very, very vocal opposition to the impact of that religion on our society, it just didn't land for me. It didn't feel as intelligent as it seemed it wanted to be, and seeing commentary on the corruption of the church over the years has been commonplace, and in most cases in a much more derogatory and direct manner (although again, given what things are like in NA perhaps this was the best he could attempt to do without having Dogma scuppered entirely). But I will give Clerks a go and report back. Maybe Chasing Amy too.

In unrelated news, I watched The Martian yesterday. I have no idea why it has taken me so long to watch this given I wanted to catch it in theatres on release and then had been close to buying it time and again over the years, it's exactly my type of jam. But I really enjoyed it. Was impressed at how engaging it was presented given it's a story about someone being so isolated and alone.