Red State

Rented this on my PS3, didn't know what to expect, knew it was not going to be the typical Kevin Smith stuff..

Overall I liked it.. Some parts were really fantastic and somewhat original, some parts were classic homage (in a good way), and yet some parts felt really clunky and amature-ish.. Could tell Smith was a little out of his element with the action/horror theme, but like always its got classic dialog, and some really good acting across the board, from newbies to veterans... Good cast. Michael Parks is amazing. Not exactly extreme edge of my seat tension like some Horror flicks, but definitely had that feel too it..

Maybe a -4 out of 5 just cause I like Kevin..

I like when the guy cold blood shot the 2 teens. It was pretty sick

Kevin smith is a conundrum. I have not hat the chance to watch Red State yet but i am also a fan of his stuff pretty wholesale.

I think the writing, actor directing, and dialogue in his movies are top notch. Always have been. It's far and above his strong suite of course. Not news to anyone im sure. But, i think your descriptor "amaturish" seems to really describe how ive found all his movies to be in the cinematography department. And since thrillers tend to lean on that to pull them through i am interested to see how he has done with this one. His vision in that area seems to be limited and sit-comish.

I think if he found a way to hire someone established to aid him he would really fill a weak point in his work..

Yeah he readily admits he's no cinematographer... He's a writer who happened to get the opportunity to make movies..

He made a crack about that the last time he was on O&A (the day I watched Red State iirc)...

Saying that after Clerks, everyone kept telling him he needed to move the camera's, not have everything always just squared off in the frame talking..

So in Clerks II he tried it, and when Randal and Dante are sitting on the swings outside the Moobie's just talking, he was using a steady cam to do a 360' around them while they talked, and thought to himself "this is fucking stupid"...

lol...

Watched it finally last night. I liked it. But it definitely felt, short film like and B-movieish.

I thought the cinematography was pretty good. It was the length and scope of it that gave me the former impression. That said maybe its a good thing. Not relying on all kinds of CGI and other BS.

I like how he breaks the mold for typical plot lines...the dude you think will survive never does lol...but he kills off random character types...very well done.

I like that he didnt take tension over the top with use of music and camera work but instead made the tension feel real.

I will say he was a bit preachy in it.....ironic.

Noticed this on Netflix last night. Glad I waited instead of paying the $12 or whatever it was last month.

I enjoyed it but I was hoping for more dialog from KS. Killing off all the high school students was expected but a bit disappointing for me.