This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, champion foosball player Kevin Smith joins us for the most sobering, introspective interview the man has given all week. Jokes aside, no topic is out of bounds, so we ask the tough questions about Sundance theatrics, taking Red State out on his own, his animosity toward critics, and retiring from filmmaking (but not from storytelling). If you’re a Smith fan, you’re probably already clicking Play. If you’re one of the people that lost some respect for the man during the past year, his appearance here will do a lot to earn it back. No, we don’t find time to review Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, but we do dig in for 105 minutes on the state of distribution, the future of his own films, and how it ties in to his past. Listen Here: Download This Episode

Little-known indie filmmaker Kevin Smith is headed to Reject Radio this Sunday (10pm EST/7pm PST/ 4am Geneva Time) to talk about his Sundance experience, the horror and non-horror of Red State, and answer the tough questions about his rejection of critics (asked by a movie critic). Is he taking a real gamble by releasing the movie himself? What’s his plan post-retirement? Why does he love Laser Disc so much? What did he learn from Cop Out? What the hell made him so mad at the press? Does he have any beard maintenance tips? Join us, and while you wait on the edge of our seat, check out our episode on the career of Busby Berkeley (which we’re sure all Kevin Smith fans will fall right in love with).

‪Every week, Landon Palmer and Cole Abaius log on to their favorite chat client of 1996 as ClairesKneeFan and THXForAllTheFish1138 in order to discuss some topical topic of interest. This week, the two finally manage to answer last week’s question while reveling in the continuation of Sundance and the totally old revolutionary model of distribution that Kevin Smith wants the world to take note of. But instead of wasting more internet words on Smith, the question is far simpler and far too high concept to attempt without some Sandlot references: Is the movie distribution system really broken?

Bryan King did something that, by my estimation, is unprecedented in the world of movie fandom. He paid $1,000 for tickets to see Kevin Smith show off his latest effort Red State at Sundance for the first time. The opportunity came when the director decided to auction off two of his personal tickets to Sunday night’s world premiere. When all was said and done, King was in for a cool grand, earning him tickets and a ride on Smith’s tour bus post-screening. In a classy move, Smith donated the money to support the Sundance Institute Labs, which provides a learning environment for future filmmakers. When we heard about all of this, we were immediately interested. Why would someone pay $1,000 for two seats to a movie, even a world premiere? And does that change the experience? Does it give one even higher expectations for the movie? I was genuinely curious as to how the entire ordeal worked out for someone who invested so much into seeing a single film. No matter what the outcome, this would be an interesting side of a story that everyone seems to be talking about. So I reached out to Bryan King and asked if he’d be game for a little post-screening Q&A. Much to my delight, he was ready and willing to tell his story. The following is a brief, but interesting interview with the man who paid $1,000 to watch Kevin Smith’s Red State…

In this ambitious but failed departure from the guru of fanboys, Kevin Smith meditates on the current philosophical extremism in fundamentalist Christianity and government. What starts out as a possible teen titty movie about three Midwestern kids trying to get laid quickly turns into an American Gothic tale about an extreme right-wing church lead by Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks in a fearless and ferrous performance) and their biblical battle with portly ATF officer Keane (John Goodman in a hero of the day moment). With recent tragedy in Arizona, the film does take on a timely quality, but never fully develops into the balls-out horror movie Smith promises.

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

Last night at Sundance, Kevin Smith boldly claimed that he would be revolutionizing the distribution model for movies by using a brand new, century-old method. He’s going to be taking his movie to theaters himself. He’s going to be four-walling Red State. What is four-walling? It’s when a filmmaker rents out the theater that a film will be playing in, keeping the ticket sales for the production while the theater keeps the money made on ten dollar medium popcorn tubs. In a way, with its long history, Smith is tapping back into an ancient business model that had difficulty making traction as a moneymaker in order to shun the studios and their monopoly-like grip on what we see at the multiplex.

Is that a provocative headline? I’m not sure. No more provocative than my first assignment from Neil Miller for FSR, “Why Blacks Don’t Deserve the Vote.” Just kidding, that wasn’t my first article, my first article was a review of The Pound Puppies on VHS. But really, that joke may be tasteless. Some people may be upset by it. You may run off and tell your friends not to read this article, or this site. By all means, go ahead and do that. Make sure to link them to the article too. So they can see it first hand. So that one article no one in your social group was going to read is now read by all of them. Do it. The more you send it around, the the more hits it gets and the more hits it gets the more Milk Duds I receive in compensation. There seems to be a bit of controversy over controversy these past weeks. Last week we had Ricky Gervais say some funny and mean things (the best kind of things) and people got upset. This week Judd Apatow stole that idea and said a lot of mean things that were barely funny (being just remakes of Ricky Gervais jokes) about the chubby Brit. We’ve also got some thick headed religious types protesting Red State because of its subject matter (I say only protest it if it sucks, or because Kevin Smith is a douche nozzle) and similar socially conservative people up in [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Despite promising a public auction to sell Red State after its screening at Sundance, Kevin Smith instead announced that he was planning all along to release the film himself by four walling it on a national (or as national as demand would allow) tour starting in March. Smith’s condemnation of the studio system’s releasing monopoly rang true, but the self-distribution model has never been a consistent method for making money off movies. Unless you have a built-in, massively loyal fanbase. In fact, you can check out if he’s coming to your town or request that he do so (like your own human Netflix) at Red State‘s official site. Looking into a crystal ball, Kevin Smith is going to succeed here monetarily. Even if he inflates ticket prices, he’s basically selling a Night With Kevin Smith and Red State – promising that fans will be able to see his film and then ask him dumb questions about what Prince smells like or why there wasn’t a giant mechanical spider in Red State. [First Showing]

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this shit late at night, what do you expect?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this shit late at night, what do you expect?

And it was worth it, too. As you are about to see if you click through the break below, the first trailer for Kevin Smith’s indie horror flick Red State has made it online. It even has a cute little tag about the trailer being stolen from Smodcast.com — because you know, Kevin Smith likes to take unnecessary shots at the world of movie bloggery. We were going to credit him anyway, so there wasn’t much of a reason to do that. In fact, we can’t wait to credit him with the making of this teaser, because it’s a damn fine tease. Prepare yourself for something special — your first glance at the newly poetic, chaotic world of Kevin Smith’s departure from the past and entrance into the new.

We reported earlier in the day that Miramax was partnering with The Weinstein Company to create a slew of sequels from the movies that it already owns. It beats original ideas, that’s for sure. Now, director Kevin Smith has commented on the development with a level head: “If someone was going to exploit the library for sequels, remakes, TV, I’d rather it be the devil I know. Nice to know there’s a home for Clerks III if I ever wanted to make it, but hope it doesn’t become a home for a Clerks-anything if I’m not involved. Either way, I doubt my shit is even something they wanna re-do/remake. [Miramax owns] Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jersey Girl and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. But then it’s further complicated by the Jay & Silent Bob of it all. They don’t own Jay & Silent Bob; I do. They own Strike Back, but they can’t make any flick that’d include Jay & Silent Bob (even a Strike Back sequel) without my permission/license.” He then went on to give the best possible synopsis for a Jersey Girl sequel that could ever exist:

Now that his latest film is in the can and on the Sundance 2011 premieres slate, director Kevin Smith has gone into hyper-promoter mode. Which is alright with the rest of us, as Red State shows nothing but promise as a nice change of pace for Smith, with him taking on a genre he’s never worked in before. And with a concept that feels like a winner. So we don’t care that Smith seems to be everywhere talking about Red State, the fact that he’s going to auction off Red State, or how all of the coverage online about Red State has been lazily executed by the movie blogosphere. It’s okay, we still want to see Red State. Today’s Red State update comes not for free, but as a reward to fans who donated to charity. It is a brand new poster… featuring a virgin. Check it out after the jump.

The first official images from Kevin Smith‘s upcoming horror flick Red State have hit the web. And if you’re looking for answers as to what the film is all about (in the realm of plot, tone and visual style), you’re not going to find it here. A few character shots is all we could gather from the photos, which were discovered on the Sundance Film Festival website this week. But it’s not all bad. John Goodman is still in the thing, looking startled as ever. He stars alongside a few knowns and several unknowns in Kevin Smith’s return to doing his own thing (after the studio-funded disaster that was Cop Out.) In short, he’s reason enough to be optimistic. Even if he’s just sitting there.

A touch over 17 years ago, Kevin Smith was sitting in an almost-empty theater on the verge of tears because he was staring a massive load of credit card debt in the face with nothing more than a black and white indie film and a handful of friends enjoying the most expensive viewing party ever. It would turn out that the one man he didn’t recognize as obligated by friendship to be there would end up pulling the strings to get Clerks purchased. The rest is history that tries not to suck too many dicks on its way to the parking lot. Almost two decades later, Smith has announced that he plans on launching long-awaited zealot horror film Red State at Sundance 2011 and wants to hop up on stage afterward with a gavel in hand to start the public bidding. Yes, friends. Kevin Smith wants to auction off distribution for Red State to the highest bidder right there and then.

On Friday, Warners sent out a twitter missive into the world thanking fans for sending them support for Veronica Mars – the erstwhile show about the plucky teenage detective solving cases while she solved her own. In return, the studio set up an email address where fans can write in (ostensibly to give numeric proof that the demand for a movie is there). Warners shouldn’t wait for that numeric proof. They’ve gone that route before by looking at ratings for a show that was on a network no one’s heard of and by looking at DVD sales. The numbers aren’t there, but the character is, and when good writing is staring you in the face, that writing should be reason enough to make things happen. Since that’s the least convincing business argument, here are three better reasons for why Warners needs to make a move on Veronica Mars.

Since Halloween is over, people are already decorating for Christmas because Thanksgiving never got around to choosing official colors. To get in that holiday spirit, we’ve got a look at two new movie posters that are painting the town green and red. The first is for Kevin Smith’s long-promised horror film about religious zealots, Red State. The other is for the Seth Rogen-starring adaptation of the classic television show, Green Hornet. Deck the halls. It’s November.

With random hicks gaining international attention for claiming to burn Islamic holy texts and the continued poor-taste-parade of Westboro Baptist picketing the fallen men and women who gave their lives in the military, Kevin Smith’s long-gestating Red State may (frighteningly) be even more relevant now. At any rate, it just got more exciting (if that were possible) because it has the distinct possibility of having Kevin Pollak join the cast. If we were guessing, it’ll be in the role of a smug ass who wears a suit. The political horror film is still plugging along. Let’s hope Pollak snags the role and the cameras can start soon. [Cinema Blend]