Rest in Peace, George

I’m sure that I’m not the only member of my generation who first came to know the comedian George Carlin thanks to 1989’s Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, where he played Bill and Ted’s time-traveling mentor Rufus. But I’m pretty sure that I am one of a very few people in the world who, when they heard about the death of George Carlin, thought about his performance in Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl first and foremost.

If you haven’t seen Jersey Girl—and, let’s face it, very few have, considering the horrible reviews it was given in the wake of Gigli—allow me to illuminate you. Carlin plays the father of Ben Affleck’s Ollie Trinke, and Carlin’s character, Bart, along with the eponymous Jersey Girl herself, are the glue that holds Ollie together after his wife dies in childbirth.

Carlin gets all the great lines and, in my opinion, steals or comes close to stealing nearly every scene he’s in. And for me, the film is worth watching if only to catch Carlin’s performance in a scene near the end, a scene wherein this battle-tested comedian gives an incredibly real and painfully heartbreaking dramatic performance.

I’m not sure if IMDB has the exchange exactly right, but they’ve got the gist of it:

Ollie: Come on, Dad. Don’t you wanna live alone again?
Bart: Not as much as I don’t wanna die alone.

Of course, Carlin also gets his share of hilarious jabs and colorful language in the film, too. But everyone who knows Carlin knows going into the film that he’s funny. I’ll always remember him in Jersey Girl because, for me, it was the film where he proved he could do it all.

Rest in peace, George.

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Zack and Miri Fighting An NC-17

According to News Askew, Zack and Miri Make a Porno may be fighting an NC-17 rating. Their sources include “Zack” himself, Mr. Seth Rogen.

Personally, while I understand that an NC-17 equals marketing death, I’m not all that worried or upset. If Zack and Miri earns an NC-17, that just means far fewer annoying kids in the theater. And, seriously, self-absorbed teenagers talking on their Godforsaken cellphones throughout the entire show have been responsible for ruining about 90% of the movies I’ve seen in the last few years. So, fuck ‘em. Give me an NC-17 rated movie and let the thing find its audience on home video, which is where all Kevin Smith films eventually find their audience anyway.

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Worth Your Consideration 001 - A GF5 Linkdump

“Other sites have linkdumps, so why not Geek Force Five?”

Well, that’s a good question, Laddie. And I don’t have a good answer. So, here you go:

• The teaser for Kevin Smith’s next film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (previously mentioned here), has been pulled off of the Internet by the MPAA. Apparently, Kevin’s production company forgot to follow some “important guidelines” or something. Have I mentioned how much I love the MPAA lately?
• The lack of ‘Mac’ branding on certain posters spotted at the Moscone Center in San Francisco (where Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference will begin on Monday) has made the natives restless. Mac Rumors’s Page 2 is wondering if this signals the arrival of OS X for PCs. I, for one, hope it does. I’m sick of seeing poor John Hodgman so mopey all of the time in those Mac vs PC commercials. If he were running OS X, he’d be much happier, right? Isn’t that the idea?
• Apple retailers in Australia have received packages they’re not supposed to open until after the WWDC keynote. This is exciting only because it means some Australian dude is going to be sued by Apple for opening a box ahead of time and leaking photos of the new iPhone onto the Interweb. And we all love a lawsuit, don’t we?

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Auditions for Zack and Miri’s Porno

As if last night’s amazing season finale of Lost weren’t enough of an end-of-the-week gift for the Geek Force Five (more on that soon), here comes Kevin Smith with the first teaser for his next film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Kevin insists that we call this a “teaser” and not a trailer because there is no actual footage from the film in it, but, regardless of what we call it, I have to say that it seems to set up a definitive feel for the film. That “feel” seems to be somewhere between an old school Kevin Smith flick and a (relatively) new school Seth Rogen/Frat-Pack flick. And I think that’s probably a very good thing for everyone involved.

So, Geek Force, go check out the teaser and then report back here with your analysis. Be wary, though: this is absotively, posolutely not safe for work (or for your mom). After all, just imagine what kind of questions get asked at an audition for a porno, and then ask yourself if you want to be having a conversation over spaghetti and meatballs about manscaping and penis size.

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Zack and Miri’s Trailer Is Coming Very Soon?

The first Internet trailer for Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno was supposed to debut on April 28, my seventh wedding anniversary, but Kev decided it wasn’t necessary to send Stephanie and I a gift this year, and on April 28 there was, sadly, no trailer to be found.

But there is hope! News Askew is reporting that the trailer is coming very soon. According to their report, Kevin and his cohorts have been having some trouble with the audio portion of the trailer, but as soon as they have that figured out, the trailer will be out and ready for our viewing pleasure.

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