Red State is a movie filmed straight from the first draft of the shooting script.

Right from the opening shot of a small town, the cuts of scenery are so quick the audience doesn’t even know what they’re supposed to be looking at. Eventually the camera settles on a mother driving her son to school. On the way they pass a group protesting the funeral of a recently murdered homosexual student. Director Kevin Smith finally lingers on a shot of one of the protest signs featuring the phrase “Anal Penetration” in big, bold letters. We see the sign a few times more before the boy gets to school.

When he does, he explains to his teacher (who doesn’t even seem to mind his tardiness) why he’s late, and she launches into some unbelievably clumsy exposition about the group’s leader, Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), a nut of a fundamentalist who’s universally despised around these parts and runs his own private Wacoville just outside of town. It’s also brought up at the murdered boy went to that very high school! Two things should immediately pop out: 1) If the kid went to that school, and was murdered two weeks ago, how on earth is it possible that none of his classmates knew him? And 2) If everyone already knows Abin Cooper, then why spend so much time explaining who he is, what he does, where he does it, why he does it…? The answer, of course, is to fill in the audience, but it’s done in such an amateurish way that you can’t believe it came from writer/director Kevin Smith, who’s not only made eight feature films, not only been writing professionally for nearly 20 years, but who’s also a man who prides himself on the quality of his writing.

And this is in the first three minutes.

Continue Reading →

Most of us around The Flickcast offices are big fans of NBC (and later, ABC’s) Scrubs. We recently got the opportunity to chat with stars Donald Faison and Dave Franco about the upcoming season on December 1st, but before that, a brand new video is up, in which Faison shows us around the brand new set for season 9.

The show is taking a bit of a “New Class” turn. The main cast of characters is switching roles to teachers at a medical school, while the main focus is on a new batch of young doctors. Joining the cast this season are Kerry Bishe, Michael Mosley, and Dave Franco.

Check out Faison’s behind the scenes video after the jump. Be sure to catch the Scrubs 1-hour season premiere event on December 1st at 9PM EST on ABC.

Continue Reading →

It’s hard to believe the journey that Scrubs, the once sophomore sitcom on NBC, has gone through. After hanging on for it’s life at NBC and then making the epic leap over to ABC the show is now in it’s 9th season and getting a complete overhaul, including losing 3 stars and adding 4 new ones.

Going into a 9th season meant that Zach Braff, Neil Flynn and Judy Reyes would all be leaving the show, with Braff guest starring in the first few episodes to help ease the transition. With those losses, come a few new additions to the cast. Kerry Bishe will be taking on the role of Lucy, the newest main character, with Michael Mosley taking on the role of Drew, the older, cooler med student. James Franco’s younger brother Dave will also be joining the cast as the cocky Cole.

The show will even be getting a change in location. The new setting won’t be Sacred Heart hospital anymore, but the college campus, where the returning cast joins as professors to the up-and-coming med students. Think of this as the show getting a Saved By The Bell: The New Class makeover.

After the jump, check out an exclusive new scene from the season 9 premiere, which happens on December 1st. In it, Turk and J.D. show that though things may look different around them, their love is still as everlasting.

Continue Reading →