Has its moments but doesn't quite come together.

Mark Hamill's Comic Book:  The Movie, is a pretty good one.  Of course, Kevin Smith's Mall Rats and Chasing Amy involve comic books and shops and conventions.  Plus, Kick Ass.

Yes. Christian Slater's character worked in one.

I bought a copy of it, watched it once, and wasn't impressed, so it hasn't left the shelf in close to 15 years.

I can't quite agree with that.  I enjoy his early films, though in varying detail.  Clerks has interesting character scenes and some funny scenes; but, was rather over-praised.  It's still an engaging film, though.  Mall Rats is more of a romp and is mostly stupid hijinks, though with some clever moments.  Chasing Amy really tries for something deeper, though it struggles with the relationship between Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams.  It has personal issues, for me, as I saw it in a theater while going through some relationship issues that mirrored Affleck and Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams.  not exactly the same, but close enough to make me uncomfortable in the theater, when I saw it with a friend and roommate.

Dogma is a lot of fun, with something deeper to say about belief and philosophy, vs the dogma created by the organization of the church.  Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a stupid stoner comedy, which is fun.  Jersey Girl is an interesting essay on parenting and making mistakes, growing up and accepting the responsibility for the life you brought into the world.  Clerks 2 doesn't totally work, but, does have some nice scenes about realizing what you really want in life and accepting adulthood.

The Clerks animated series was brilliant fun, though you had to get the home video set to see the 6 episodes, as the network only offered 2.  Jeff Anderson was really good at voicing the cartoon character.


After that, I haven't watched.  I think he is a good writer, with his generation's penchant for profanity and a good director of character interaction.  He is not much of a visual stylist, though.  I do think he got a bit full of himself and pulled back from doing deeper movies; but, then again, he has a family to support and is not the first to act in service to maintaining a lifestyle, rather than creating art.  Hollywood tends to do that to creative types.

I think he has offered more than many of his contemporaries from the 90s; but, his films do seem to have a more select audience.  Like I say, I prefer the earlier stuff, to different degrees.

Oh, and since it probably arouses curiosity, when Chasing Amy first came to theaters, I shared an apartment with a friend.  He is gay, I am not.  He was in love with me, much to my surprise.  He had this fantasy that I was secretly gay and didn't realize it.  I shattered that fantasy when I hooked up with a woman from work.  I returned home after to find him in tears, having called his mother, coming out to her, and needing to talk to her.  I cleared out of the way so they could be alone.  Later, I came home and he was calmer.  We decided to go see a film to take our minds off of events and were both Kevin Smith fans.  So, we went to see Chasing Amy.  As the plot unfolded, I sunk lower and lower in my seat, as it was hitting way too close to home.  My roommate took anxiety and depression medication and was medicated enough that he didn't really recall the film.  I swore that I would punch Kevin Smith if I ever met him, jokingly.  It was a few years before I could watch the film again and I can never disassociate it from the events surrounding that first viewing.


 

While, I don't abhor any of his movies, and actually own Jay & Silent Bob, they've just never impressed me outside of Mallrats. Something is just really great about that movie, and seems so un-Kevin Smith, as compared to his other movies at the time. Chasing Amy being the only at that time I've not seen. The rest were either meh or forgettable.

As far as his writing, I've tried it too, and never really cared for it. Grant Green Arrow was, at the time, mostly because it was constantly late and I lost interest along with the first few issues not wowing me. Heck I even bought the next issue of Spiderman/Black Cat with a 4 year gap. Naw, I won't lie I bought it for the Terry/Rachel Dodson art. :-)

The terrible Ralph Bakshi film Cool World was shot in the old golden SFV Golden Apple store...

I must admit that I am also a fan of Cool World.

Samuel L. Jackson's character in Unbreakable (a movie I'm not a fan of) owns a comic shop, and several major scenes take place there.