Kevin Smith is just about the luckiest guy on the planet and I’m pretty sure he’s aware of it. His filmmaker buddies have always seemed more than willing to share their upcoming works well in advance of their release dates. He saw “MI:III” early as well as “The Dark Knight,” and here in mid-September of ‘08 he’s already seen two must-sees for ‘09! That would be “Watchmen” AND “Star Trek.”

When I met up with Kevin in Toronto this week to chat about “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” (a mature flick that’s actually most reminiscent of “Chasing Amy” despite what you may assume) I just had to pick his brain about “Star Trek” and he told me quite a bit.

“It’s really strong,” said Smith. “[J.J. Abrams] was rejiggering the opening few scenes. It’s one of those things where you first heard about it and were like no they’re not going to redo ‘Star Trek’! And then you see the movie and you think, wow he did pull it off! He turned it into a viable renewed franchise.”

Who stood out among this new cast, I asked him. “Chris Pine is fantastic,” he gushed. “It is a star-making performance. From his first scene forward, this dude is not doing an impression of Shatner. He is doing young Kirk. He doesn’t have the slow delivery mannerisms of Shatner but it’s totally James T. Kirk, the bravado, the self-assuredness. It’s such a great performance. You can’t take your eyes off the guy. Anytime he’s not on the screen you’re waiting for him to get back. And the chick [Zoe Saldana] who plays Uhura is really great. They made Uhura really interesting.”

TrekMovie previously reported that JJ Abrams has completed a first rough cut of his Star Trek movie and now it appears that he is showing it off. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back director Kevin Smith was a guest on KROQ’s Kevin and Bean show this morning and the subject of the new Star Trek movie came up with Smith giving a positive review of the movie, but in a roundabout way.

Kevin talks about what he can’t talk about
Although it was never said explicitly, it appears Kevin Smith was given an early viewing of Star Trek, but he was very much trying to deny that he had, or at least not come out and say anything that would break the ‘cone of silence’ around JJ Abrams ultra-secret project. Early in the show when Kevin joined in, one of the hosts said “somebody’s seen the new Star Trek movie, I understand?” At which point Smith sardonically dismissed the question. Then much later in the show, after recounting his thoughts on his early screening of the Watchmen movie, Smith was asked if he has seen anything else. Here is the exchange:

More videos after the cut 😀

I just uploaded 27 Photos from the movie Bottle Shock. Two are Official Movie Stills while the other 25 are snaps from the movie. Enjoy!

Gallery Link :
– Bottle Shock (2008) Movie Stills