The Devil in the Details

Let me get two things out of the way here real quick. 1) I'm not horribly familiar with the story of Daredevil. I mean, I know he's blind and the super senses shit, but I never really was into the Daredevil comics. I think my brother had some at one point and was kind of into it, but that's a pretty vague memory.

2) I will watch almost anything with Ben Affleck in it. Seriously. (I'm a fan, what can I say? I mean, I'm not like one of those super obsessed people or anything...but I dig him as an actor. It's something Kevin Smith and I have in common. Not totally, I mean, Smith and Affleck are friends. Ben and I have never met. If someday we do though, I'll bet we totally become BFF. Totally.) Did I ever mention that I really dug Pearl Harbor. Yep. Loved it. Armageddon. Oh yeah. Mallrats? A given. So, I mean, watching Daredevil is sort of a no brainer. I'm honestly surprised it took me this long to see it.

Affleck and Me: Totally BFF

That out of the way, now to quote Captain Tenneal...Get it on!

It starts with Daredevil on the brink of death and his life flashing before his eyes. His father was a boxer, and he was a kid that got picked on. Then, on one fateful day, he learned that his dad was a hired thug. So he ran. He ran like he was auditioning for a Flock of Seagulls video. He ran right into a...warehouse...of toxic waste. In barrels. Lots of barrels. Oddly, I used to walk home from school on occasion...there was no toxic waste anywhere near the place. Especially not on the shortcuts. But, young Matt is in New York, and I guess things are different there.

The chemicals blinded the poor kid and it made his daddy cry. The shared a tender moment and committed themselves to improving themselves. The kid learns he has crazy sensitive senses and dad learns he has some integrity. The integrity gets him killed though.

Matt Murdock could have gone either way at this point. Good or evil. Out for justice, or insane of the bat shit variety. He went and became a lawyer...again, coulda gone either way on this one. He, however, has dedicated himself to protecting the innocent and making sure justice is served. He meets a girl named Elektra, who at first is anything but interested, but very quickly falls in love with him after a fight in the park. (While the fight seemed...odd, I have to say it was kind of fun. Very playful in a way. Like the one in the second Matrix, but with fewer Smiths. He was later as the dude running the morgue)

Stuff happens and Elektra's dad is killed. Elektra, who wasn't exactly paying attention in class, thinks Daredevil did it. Meanwhile, Kingpin is all geeked that Bullseye managed to implicate DD in the murder. Bullseye kills Elektra, then, may or may not have been killed by Daredevil in an epic battle inside a church involving candles, pipe organs, and stained glass. Daredevil then faces off against Kingpin. Naturally, Daredevil wins. But he's not the bad guy.

I'm going to be honest. This was NOT a good movie. The story barely made sense. There were plot holes Hannibal could lead his army through, elephants and all. The acting was so so in parts, and that was at best. I wasn't crazy about Colin Farrell. More that I didn't like the character. Farrell was fine I guess. The flick had a lot of problems.

That said, I dug it. I mean, it was no Fantastic Four, but it was a hell of a lot better than Xmen 3. The fights with Bullseye were sweet. I liked some of the Murdock/Elektra stuff. I thought it was well done. Garner was good in the role. Clarke as Kingpin was a good choice, too, I think. Kevin Smith, Stan Lee and Frank Miller all had great little cameos. I kind of want to see the director's cut now. And I really want to see Elektra.

Let's give Daredevil 7 shards of glass flying through the air that you've managed to dodge now that the ringing has stopped from the pipe organ out of 10, even though as a movie itself probably only deserves 5 of those out of ten.

7 Dollar Popcorn Presents the 7 Dollar Popcorn FILMuary Spectacular: 28 Days of Movie Mayhem Day 27: Clerks 2

Live on tape delay while I go to Chicago for the day it's 7 Dollar Popcorn Presents the 7 Dollar Popcorn FILMuary Spectacular: 28 Days of Movie Mayhem.

I've been a fan of Kevin Smith since Mallrats. I love his movies. I even have both of the Evening With Kevin Smith DVDs. Ok, I haven't been able to bring myself to watch Jersey Girl. I just can't do it. Sorry.

I picked up Clerks II a couple months ago in a buy 2 get 1 free type sale.

It starts in black and white. Dante is opening the metal shutters on the quick stop only to find that someone lit some cgi fire and put him out of a job. Randall, oblivious, walks into the store to be shoved out by a firefighter. The Quick Stop is thus destroyed and they get jobs at the local Mooby burger joint. It's Dante's last day. He's found love and is moving to Florida.

Naturally Jay and Silent Bob have followed Dante and Randall to the new place. They're found god. Meeting God didn't do it. Going to rehab did. Rehab.

Smith has found a way to not just put his wife in yet another movie, but show off her boobs as Dante's fiance, Emma. She wears a "Mrs. Hicks" t-shirt. And Smith's best friend Ben Affleck makes a quick cameo.

Elias is one of the other workers. He's a fan of the Transformers. So, Smith has finally managed to expand from plain old comics and Star Wars geekery. Now he's moved on to 80s cartoons and Lord of the Rings.

Rounding out the Mooby crew is Becky. The manager. She...well, kind of fits in. And Dante apparently does her nails. And they have heart to hearts about love and marriage and whatever. They have fucked in the kitchen at least once.

Jason Lee puts in an appearance as the guy who points out that Dante and Randall have gone nowhere in life. Which gets Randall's panties in a bunch.

Sometimes it's comforting to see that things haven't changed. And, nothing is different. Dante is indecisive. He's dating one girl and in love with another. Meanwhile Randall is useless and crude. Constantly trying to keep everyone at his low level. Jay and Bob are drug dealers. And no one has any real plan or aspiration to improve their lot in life.

There are a lot of thematic similarities as well. Dante and Randall blowing off work to do something. In this case it's go karting instead of a funeral. Dante on the roof. Though instead of hockey it's to learn to dance with Becky. (I could watch Rosario Dawson dance for an hour and a half and be okay). Dante blames the world for his problems and Randall points out the Dante needs to take responsibility for himself.

There is a story here. And it's different than Clerks but it's the same too. It's like that. It comes full circle and ends like it all began.

Despite the donkey shows, Jason Mewes going all crying game in the parking lot, ass to mouth conversations and the like, the movie has a certain sweetness to it. Everything falls into place even though nothing really changes. It's not the same as Dogma or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but it is definitely enjoyable. 7 and a half flies on a burger and a cup of urinal ice out of ten.

7 Dollar Popcorn Presents the 7 Dollar Popcorn FILMuary Spectacular: 28 Days of Movie Mayhem Day 17 Babel

Escaping the frozen tundra of Alaska for the snow covered bowels of Detroit it's half way plus two of 7 Dollar Popcorn Presents the 7 Dollar Popcorn FILMuary Spectacular: 28 Days of Movie Mayhem Day and I still haven't run out of ways to introduce a movie! Though

Today, I turned off VH1's Can't Get a Date and watched Hollywoodland. That was the easier part. Harder was tearing myself away from the commotion out in the hall. Hotel security came to fuck some shit up! Apparently, the room across the hall had people that shouldn't be there or something. From the peep hole, one looked like he was drunker than he should be and the other looked like she was hooking more than she should be. Though, I wonder if Fairbanks actually has hookers...hmm. I mean, standing on a corner in a short skirt would have to suck in -40 temperatures.

Ben Affleck goes from playing Daredevil to playing Superman. But not Superman. George Reeves. And a very charming George Reeves at that. He comes off as VERY likable. Even when he's sleeping with another man's wife.

Meanwhile, Adrian Brody plays a private investigator looking into the death of George Reeves. He is a bit of a shadier character. It's not like he's a thief or a criminal. Not that kind of shady. More of the down on his luck street urchin grown up trying to do the right thing kind of shady.

The movie itself kind of goes back and forth between the past (Reeves) and the present (Simo). The Reeves stuff, while inconclusive, shows how any of the supposed conspiracy theories about his death COULD have happened.

It's an interesting story, and the movie has some great characters. Reeves' mother is great, as is Bob Hoskins as Eddie Mannix. The casting was just spot on. And in the end, the movie is as inconclusive as the reality. It shows the possibilities without trying to present any one as fact.

8 bullets in the chamber of a gun so we can see if they really bounce off your Superman ass out of 10.

NOTE: Sorry, I know it's already Sunday, but I was on an airplane all day. Nothing I could do to get this up any earlier..

I'm Not Even Supposed to be Here Today

So, over on the Clerks 2 website there's a teaser trailer up for the movie due out in AUGUST. It's about 2 minutes long and from what I can see, it looks like the Quick Stop is closing, forcing Dante and Randall to work at a Mooby fast food joint. Jason Lee and Ben Affleck both appear in the trailer and Smith seems to have viewed this as another chance to put his wife in a movie. Rosario Dawson also will be joining them in this movie to which I say...cool.

From Smith:

Some folks have asked why I’m even bothering to put any footage of the flick out there, eight months before it’ll hit theaters. The only reason I can sight is that I’m proud of the flick; I fucking love it, and I can’t wait to share it with the world. Just as “Clerks” was a film about what I felt it was like to be in my twenties, “Clerks II” is a film about how I feel it’s like to be in my thirties, and for the audience which has made that trans-generational journey along with us over the last decade, I think it’s gonna really connect in a big way.

The site is basically a video journal of the progress of the film. What I want to know is why did Tarantino stop by? Someone, please tell me, because I won't watch the clip myslef to find out.

I can already see QT now trying to figure out how to make it look like it's his movie.