Red State comes to Calgary

On Wednesday August 17th Kevin Smith brought his new "horror" movie to Calgary on his cross Canada tour. I brought a VIP ticket so that I could sit in the first 8 rows of the theater as well as getting a copy of the DVD when it is released.

I showed up at the theater an hour and forty five minutes before the doors opened so that I could get in line and hopefully get a good spot. I was right near the front of the line of the Will Call group. My friend Matt showed up shortly after that and stood in the line for people with tickets and was also near the front. We figured with two different lines we would have a good shot to get good seats.

When they finally let us in it took a bit longer for the Will Call people to get tickets and in so Matt managed to get in and get us 2nd row from the stage.

Before the movie began Kevin came out and did a little intro for the movie and talked to the crowd for a bit.

The movie itself is classed as a horror movie, but after seeing it I would say it is more a thriller than a horror. It had some gory pieces to it, it had lots of action, and a great story line. The acting, writing and directing was all great. I was never bored, lost or confused. I was just simply kept at the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next as you could not predict how it was going to go at any point in the movie. Normally when you here that, it means the movie is rough and makes no sense but this movie flowed perfectly and followed a great story, it just kept you guessing.

I own every movie Kevin Smith has made (except Jersey Girl) and love his comedies, but I have to say this ranked up there as one of his best movies. It is not a "Kevin Smith movie" as you would think of them but he does a great job with this new genre and shows that he is a great director and writer.

The crowd cheered and reacted loudly (quite possibly because Kevin was in the back of the theater) and it added even more to the movie viewing experience.

Once the movie was over Kevin came up and did a Q&A. He didn't get to many questions because when he answered he did so in story form and it was amazing. Kevin is a great speaker and kept the audience intrigued with stories about this movie, his family, his life and his new movie that he is currently working on.

It was a bit pricey if you look at it as going to see a movie, but so worth it considering you got a movie as well as a Q&A with Kevin. The whole night was amazing. I would recommend seeing Red State as soon as you can, it is a great work of art and shows that Kevin can do much more than just penis and fart jokes.

Do fan's have the right to boo?

I am a fan of the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Stampeders and have been thinking about all the games I have been to and how when the home team is playing poorly how the fan's begin to boo either the team or the player that is playing badly. With that in mind it raised the question do you think home town fans have the right to boo their team or a player when they are playing bad? I know if I do a bad job I get talked to or yelled at by my boss and I am sure the players do as well, but can the fans be considered bosses as it is our money from ticket and merchandise sales that pay their salaries.

Habs fans have a history of booing players that are playing badly and although they get paid millions to play the game, they are just people and I can't imagine it make you feel very good when 30,000+ people start to boo you. So when a player gets mad at being booed what can they do? Not much really, because if they do react it ends up all over the press and fans react even more to what they have done. So players are in a tough spot, yes it is their job to play the best they can but as a fan you don't know everything that is going on and maybe they are having a bad day, an injury or something personal that is affecting their game. So should they get a free pass?

One of the big reasons I bring this up is Rob Maver of the Stampeders was booed off the field a couple of times during the Stampeders home opener. He missed a couple field goals that should have been made and seemed to be having issues kicking in general. After a while some fans realized the reason he was kicking so poorly was injured, but most didn't realize it until the coach came out and said he re injured himself in warm up and that is why he was struggling. I personally felt very bad for the guy. It showed amazing courage to try and kick even though he was in major amounts of pain and could have done even more damage to himself. So were the fans right to boo him off the field?

It's a tough call and I don't know the answer, I know I have booed players and teams when I am watching a game and get frustrated with their play, I have called for players to be benched, traded or moved around to see if that will help the team, but as a fan I know I don't know everything that is happening with the team or the players so perhaps I should take a step back and look at the bigger picture that they are playing for my entertainment and I should stand behind them no matter what and always cheer my heart out in hopes that it will help them play better and bring home the win.