I went to a screening and Q&A with Kevin Smith last weekend, showing Dogma for its 25th anniversary. He recently wrestled the rights away from the Weinstein's, so it will enjoy a theatrical rerelease and presumably streaming and home video reissues.
Smith is an excellent story teller, and if you've ever seen him live, then you know that translates well into his appearances. We saw him coming out of the pandemic, and he was good then as well. This time around, he shared some great stories about Alan Rickman and George Carlin. I've heard him talk about Carlin before, but it was interesting to hear about Rickman, and the friendship that he had with him, without realizing it was a friendship until he passed. Understandably, he felt like his "dopey" movies were not up to big time actors like him. That's kind of Smith's m.o. though. To hear him tell it, he's just happy to be here and make movies with his friends. And that's largely what he's been able to do, mostly on his terms. He found a way to do this through podcasts and tours and such. He's made his own future outside of the traditional Hollywood scene.
And yes, he definitely made some dumb movies, but Dogma still lands pretty well. The dialog is rich in deep cuts of Biblical stuff. Despite protests back in the day, I don't find it particularly negative toward Christianity, or any religion. Smith made the point that the movie captures his beliefs when he was "a kid," but for the most part he doesn't really lean into religion anymore.
His core movies, the Clerks trilogy, Chasing Amy and this one, are pretty great. I never really got Mallrats. Red State was what I would call his "Tarantino" movie, and generally better than people give it credit for. But sure, Tusk and Yoga Hosers are not really very good.
I admire the guy. He's a movie nerd that always knew what he wanted to do, and he's largely done it on his terms. He was doing selfies in the hall on our way out (he had to go into a later screening for Q&A), just kind of hanging out. No entourage, no one else around. He seems relatively grounded, and since going vegan post-heart attack, and later quitting weed, he seems to really enjoy what he does. It's still weird to see him so thin.
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