Posted by Transpotr at spider-wa063.proxy.aol.com on January 17, 2000 at 21:52:57:
This entire P.T. Anderson/Kevin Smith "pissing war" has gone over the edge. It would appear that too many of Smith's fans are taking his opinion as the word of God. It is not so. I admire Smith's work very much, but I also think that Anderson is one of the best filmmakers that has appeared in the past few years. I'm not about to lose respect for Anderson's films just because Smith didn't like Magnolia.
You guys are even thinking of ways that Anderson "stole" from Smith's work. Going as far as saying that the "raining frogs" scene is taken from Smith's run on a comic is unbelievable, and altogether unintelligent. The scene was based on a passage that Anderson read years ago about an actual instance where it rained frogs. Anderson's repeated references to Exodus 8:2 are apparent throughout the film; in Exodus, it states that frogs(among other things) rained down from the sky. C'mon guys, you're pushing it too far. You're looking for ways to impress Smith by saying you agree with him, when half of you haven't even seen the film, and the other half don't understand it. You're not even beginning to help support Smith's statements. You're coming off as a largely unintelligent mass of fans that think that there is nothing outside of Kevin Smith.
And Smith, you're not helping. You're coming off just as immature as some of your fans. Egging them on. It's one thing to state your opinion, it's a whole other world when you cross the line between critic and ass. I would think you could find better ways to voice your opinion than continually trashing a movie just because you didn't like it. Spend your time doing something more productive. I'm sure you have more pressing matters than to sit around and talk trash about P.T. Anderson.
I just don't comprehend why people have come to the point where they can only accept one person's work. You're closing yourself off to a world of oppurtunities that is placed right in front of your eyes. In other words, there are other things out there besides Kevin Smith.