On one of my frequent trips to the IMdB today, I took a quick glance at the Opening This Week column, only to find Kevin Smith's Clerks II not listed. Take a look for yourself. I sure don't give as much of a damn about My Super Ex-Girlfriend or that Water movie.
After the widely-reported Smith-Siegel fight today, I think it's hilarious that IMdB's Studio Briefing reports on the day's events, whereas the Earth's Biggest Movie Database screwed up a major theatrical release listing.
On the topic of the above-mentioned fight, here's my take: dislike something all you want, but don't fuck with everyone else experience, or you deserve what you get back.
The one time I've been in a physical fight in a movie theatre was when some guy stood up and said "fuck this, I didn't know it was in Spanish" loud as he could at a screening of The Motorcycle Diaries, obviously thinking he had paid for a ticket to Easy Rider 2: Argentinian Nights. I was sitting a couple rows behind him and cursed under my breath in Spanish as he walked by on his way out.
"What, you want something, wetback?"
I was stunned into absolute silence. A rare thing indeed, which those who know me can attest to gladly.
I stood up after he got back walking, followed him and grabbed him by the shirt just as we got to the door. I pushed the door open with his body and let him trip over himself to the ground. The resistance he offered wasn't much, considering he was a half foot shorter than I was.
I pressed him against the wall outside the theatre and told him, "if you want a fight, you're fucking with the wrong spic".
I was shaking, I was so angry. It was the first time someone explicitly tossed a slur in my face. Let's all take a moment to thank Carlos Mencia for teaching a whole new generation of ignoramuses how to denigrate different cultures with a variety of slurs they had probably not heard in normal conversation. Unlike blacks, latinos don't go around calling each other "beaner", or "wetback", or "spic" on a regular basis.
Thing is, if you looked at me in the light of day, you probably wouldn't immediately pick out my hispanic heritage, since I'm half-white, and of the other half, only a quarter is Cuban (the other 1/4 is Chinese). Compared to this little dude, I'm a beast. Half of the fear in his eyes was probably due to actually being called on his bluff, but the other was my own.
I'd never really been Big Scary "Ethnic" (a term I hate with the fire of Krypton's sun) Dude, and it freaked me out how angry I got. I don't think I'd ever been that angry, or have been since.
I got a mumbled "shit dude, I'm sorry" and he scampered off.
Shalit---er, Siegel didn't call Smith a "mick" or anything, but the level of disrespect shown is worse. That was the third time I'd seen my movie. I can't imagine how pissed off those critics were on their first trip to Mooby's. Kevin's shown more restraint just calling Joel on the carpet for being a hypocrite and lazy reporter than many would.
Jeff ran a piece the other day about the cinema as a temple, and it really, really is. Don't go shouting in my place of worship, asshole, or fear the Lord's wrath. I guess the Lord's wrath got dished out from his online department today, and rightfully so.