Now that we're four days into the New Year, I'll bet you thought you were safe from all those "Best of 2006" lists and year-end summaries, that we could put all the introspection back into our collective hall closet for another year. Not so fast, Chachi. Writer/director Kevin Smith had a busy year, what with Clerks II and all, so he's just posted "The Year in Askew, Part 1" over at his Myspace page. I've been a Smith fan ever since the original Clerks posed the question "Thirty-seven?", and I've always been impressed by how in touch he is with his fan-base.

It's a pretty long posting with tons of photos and links to film clips and other cool stuff. Stuff like the release of the first Clerks II trailer and Smith joining Myspace come as no surprise, while embarrassingly (and often hilariously) personal events like the eighth anniversary of the first time Smith and his wife Jen slept together (though, he puts it far less delicately than that) are included, as well as such random images as a Cylon in a thong (trust me, it's a good thing). I learned a thing or two as well. I didn't know that Smith had voiced a character for the animated film Doogal, or that he and long-time collaborator/producer Scott Mosier had recorded a commentary track for Road House (I'm assuming that wasn't a joke). Smith fans should stop on by and also check out Scott Weinberg's recent post on some of Smith's upcoming projects.

Living in Austin makes it challenging to create a year-end Top Ten list. I feel like I ought to have until February to finalize the list, because a lot of acclaimed movies from 2006 won't be released in this town until early next year. Plus, I am still catching up on movies that did get an Austin release before the end of the year -- for example, I didn't get to see The Queen until Wednesday night. I know I've missed some very good movies that might show up on a later list (I am dying to see Sleeping Dogs Lie, for example). And on the flip side, I've seen some excellent movies this year that were technically released in 2005, like The Squid and the Whale, but didn't arrive in Austin until 2006. Throwing film festivals into the mix means that I've seen some wonderful films that won't be released until 2007, or that have no distributor yet and may not see theatrical release at all. It's strange how "2006" can seem like such a fluid term when you're a film critic who lives outside of New York/Los Angeles.

So this Top Ten list is charmingly inconsistent as to release dates. Let's not worry about that. The list is in alphabetical order, although I will mention which movie was my particular favorite ...

The opening scene of Catch and Release is a funeral reception ... on what was supposed to be a wedding day. A tragic accident befell the groom during his bachelor-party weekend. We see the florist accidentally bringing wedding bouquets instead of funeral flowers, a multi-tiered cake stashed in a refrigerator, and a very sad young woman in black instead of white. She escapes to a bathroom and hides in the tub to cry, but suddenly is interrupted by a laughing couple who ducks into the bathroom for a quickie. The combination of touching drama and absurd comedy is excellent and promises a good quirky movie, full of dysfunction, dark humor and the unexpected.

Unfortunately, Catch and Release doesn't fulfill the potential of that well-balanced opening, and ultimately turns into a typical contemporary romantic comedy, with the stress on the romantic. It's still an interesting movie to watch, but the cliches can be a little grating at times, and even as a romantic comedy it never reaches the level of, say, The Truth about Cats and Dogs.

The film is set in Boulder, which provides a charming background that's a pleasant change of pace from LA/New York. After her fiance's funeral, Gray (Jennifer Garner) tries to return to as normal a life as possible. She moves in with her two male buddies, Sam (Kevin Smith) and Dennis (Sam Jaeger). Gray finds out that her fiance was secretly a millionaire, and that every month he sent money to some unknown person. Grady's California friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant) sticks around to help Gray deal with these revelations, and maybe because he likes her, too. Is he becoming another friend, or something more?

It seems like I'm getting news every day now about new speakers and panelists added to Austin Film Festival. The festival includes a conference geared towards screenwriting and filmmaking, which runs from Oct. 19-22, and a lineup of films running through Oct. 26. I've been volunteering for and/or attending the festival since 1996, when it was still called the Austin Heart of Film Festival. At the time, the films seemed like more than an afterthought -- everyone was there for the screenwriting conference, and the feature films were something to do when you got tired of hanging out at the Driskill bar with other writers. Over the years, however, the film festival has become bigger and stronger, and has added documentaries to its schedule. You can catch a studio film before it's released in theaters, or watch low-budget indie films that haven't yet found distribution.

This year's AFF screenings include the opening-night gala showing of The TV Set, with writer-director Jake Kasdan in attendance; Werner Herzog's latest film, Rescue Dawn (no, he's not going to be there); The Night of the White Pants, shot in Texas, with co-stars Nick Stahl and Janine Turner at the screening; The Amateurs, which stars Jeff Bridges as a wanna-be porn director; and Catch and Release (pictured above), a feature starring Jennifer Garner and Juliette Lewis. Cult movie fans will be happy to hear that actor Danny Trejo is scheduled to show up at a screening of Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror.

I did mention Kevin Smith, didn't I? Smith was in town earlier this year for a local Clerks II premiere, but he's returning to Austin not just to enjoy the cooler weather, but to promote Catch and Release, in which he has an acting role. He'll also participate in one of the conference panels, but the specifics have not yet been announced. The festival is presenting awards to several notable screenwriters and directors who will also be at the conference: Shane Black, Sydney Pollack, and David Milch. The AFF Blog has the latest details on scheduled panelists and special guests. I'll be covering the film festival for Cinematical, so if you're not in Austin in a couple of weeks, you can live vicariously through me. And no, I'm not going to spend the whole week at the Driskill bar.

In the wake of Sacha Baron Cohen's alter-ego Borat trying to gain access to the White House, MTV has listed ten other publicity stunts for films -- including Kevin Smith's truly grovel-worthy MySpace friends-for-a-movie-credit exchange. Although probably most disturbing on the list is the 1988 film Mac and Me which was partially financed by Coca-Cola and McDonalds, and features a musical number that finds Mac dancing with Ronald McDonald. Holy hour and a half long commercial, Batman!

However, I'm reminded of several stunts that didn't make the list. Remember when Clue was released in theaters, and they featured three different endings, so people would go see it more than once? What a fiasco, as finding out which theater was showing what ending proved to be too much work. Don't forget about the "unauthorized" documentary about M. Night Shyamalan that aired on the Sci-Fi channel. It turned out to be a fake created to get more viewers in to see The Village. Of course, the most memorable publicity stunt, real or fake (the jury is still out) has been Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah's couch. Although given Tom's downward slide lately, that one appears to have backfired on him as well. Of course, leave it to MTV themselves to have Steve-O going number one on the carpet at the premiere to promote Jackass: Number Two. They just seem to be getting classier, don't they?

What do you think about publicity stunts? Do they make you want to see the movie or avoid it like the plague? Do you have any personal favorites that didn't make the list?

I'm sure many cineastes had the same reaction to this week's box office list: cinema is now officially dead. The day Jackass: Number Two -- isn't it clever how the title is a reference to fecal matter? -- becomes the most popular film in America is the day each of us ought to give up and become plumbers. I'm talking all film critics, as well as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, David Cronenberg, Steven Spielberg, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wong Kar-wai, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Charlie Kaufman, etc. Throw in the towel, guys. It's over. It doesn't matter anymore. I'll meet you at the bar, and I'm buying the first round.

It gets worse: At the same time, the esteemed film critic/screenwriter/film director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, etc.) has published a brand-new film canon in the most recent issue of Film Comment, and the news is not good. Schrader started out writing a book, but realized that film will no longer have a place in the 21st century and gave up after 20 or so pages. He does list his 60 great films for inclusion in the canon but (with the exception of Wong's In the Mood for Love) they're all products of the 20th century.

Yes, film art is gone. All you have to do is perform stupid stunts, point a video camera in that general direction, and you've got a classic.

Clerks 2 didn't seem to stay in theaters very long, but the film has made $24,041,057 domestically. For a production whose cost was in the neighborhood of $5 million, that seems like a respectable return on investment. Financially speaking, this keeps things within the parameters of Writer/Director Kevin Smith's prediction from his blog: "The flick should manage to get to $20 - $25mil theatrically, and eke out a minor theatrical profit, leaving all the DVD loot as total windfall."

Speaking as a fan of Smith's work, I would also say the film was a thematic success, bringing the films of the View Askewniverse to a more satisfying conclusion than had been achieved with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Clerks 2 is a hilariously foul-mouthed return to the character's introduced in Smith's 1994 debut feature Clerks, and -- unlikely as it may seem -- Dante, Randal, Jay , and Silent Bob all grow as human beings.

Smith has a habit of bringing his movies to DVD with more than their share of bells and whistles, and it appears Clerks 2 will continue that tradition when it arrives on November 28. There will be separate fullscreen and widescreen versions, each coming as part of a two-disk set and featuring:

• An audio commentary with the filmmakers and actors
• Deleted scenes and outtakes
• An extended version of 'The Donkey Show' (yes the scene that when discussed onscreen sent Good Morning America's Joel Siegel fleeing the theater in disgust, yet left me laughing till my spleen came out my nose)
• "Back to the Well: Making Clerks II" ninety-minute behind the scenes documentary
• "Train Wrecks" Production video Diary (presumably the same Video Diary material that was posted to the Clerks 2 website)
• "The Dance Sequence" featurette
• The complete MySpace.com fan credits list and trailers.

Odds and ends from Wednesday:

• Production Weekly reports that Meg Ryan may replace Annette Bening as Antonio Banderas' co-star in the previously reported flick Homeland Security. Currently, there's no word on why this change is being made, though I imagine it probably has something to do with scheduling conflicts. George Gallo will direct off his own script, which is said to be a "mystery in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief."
• Finally, there's some good news regarding the planned Pink Panther sequel that we're all just dying to wrap our arms around and love forever and ever. That's right, Beyoncé Knowles will not be reprising her role as Xania in part two. (I'll wait a minute while you high-five those people crowded around the screen. Um, you do gather people around the computer when you read Cinematical, right?) According to Moviehole via Sky News, the pop singer-turned-actress rejected the role because she's too busy planning her next album. Yeah, and I have to take a shower once a week ... but you don't see me complaining.
• It's hard to knock this next story because we're talking about a worthy cause here. As part of a promotion for Ashton Kutcher's upcoming film The Guardian (in which he co-stars alongside Kevin Costner), Kutcher will donate one dollar for the first 50,000 people that ask to be friends with the actor on his MySpace page. All proceeds will go towards post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. MySpace is slowly becoming a studio exec's wet dream, as a number of actors and filmmakers (see: Kevin Smith) are beginning to use the website to market their films. Yeah, so head on over to this dude's MySpace page and help provide someone with a better life. Heck, it can be your Mitzvah for the day. [via JoBlo]

Let's play the question game again. I'll ask you a series of questions. If, at any point, you answer no to one of the questions, you can probably stop reading this post, as it will no longer interest you. I'll doubt you'll do that though, because really, who stops in the middle of a 200 word article? That's like stopping halfway through a piece of toast. You could do it, but ... why? It's not like it's a big commitment. Ready? Good.

1. Do you like Kevin Smith?
2. Do you appreciate amateur films?
3. Do you enjoy alcohol? (not an actual requirement, just a bonus for those of you who do)
4. Do you have 20 spare bucks?
5. Will you be in or around Los Angeles on Wednesday, September 6th?

If you answered "yes" to most of these questions, you might want to make your way to Cinespace sometime around 6pm this upcoming Wednesday and join Kevin Smith and a collection of other fans for the big Movies Askew Film Festival. The 12 films that will screen have been culled from thousands of shorts collected by Smith and company over the last year, and the big winner will be announced after the final flick screens -- sometime around midnight. The prize includes a fancy camera, a fancy TV and sound system, and a position working on the next View Askew film. You can read more about it here, if you happen to be interested.

As a big fan of Kevin Smith and a ridiculous geek for all things horror-related, I'd expect the combination of the two to be a bona-fide fun-fest ... and yet I'm a little skeptical. I've no doubt that Kevin Smith could write a fine horror film ... but direct one? Ah well, the guy's given me a big sweaty fistful of enjoyable movies, so I'm happy to give Silent Bob the benefit of the doubt on this one.

After arriving in Australia to hype Clerks 2 (U.S. DVD date: December 5th), Mr. Smith sat down with a bunch of round-tablers, many of whom were ready with questions like "Hey, what's up with you doing a horror movie?" The fan-favorite flick-maker explained that he's always been a horror geek, and also that his terror tale will NOT be laced with kookiness. After expressing some love for Shaun of the Dead, Smith said he simply wants to make a straightforward horror movie.

Smith cites influences such as Jack Starrett's Race With the Devil and Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man, which tells the serious horror aficionado that Smith most likely won't be churning out just another Friday the 13th retread. His goal is to make something "creepy and unsettling," and not just "gore," which sounds just dandy to me. Smith's last comment (that his particular horror concept hasn't been "done before") is what buoys my interest -- because let's face it: Kevin Smith and Horror Movie don't immediately sound like a perfect match.

But that's why they make the movies, right? Plus I give the guy points for not only promising to do something different after Clerks 2, but also for following through on that promise. Anyway, we've already pimped the hell out of this pre-pre-production project, so we'll give it a rest until some actual news hits the scene.