Film: We Got Motherfucking CLERKS!
It ended at midnight. It should have ended about an hour earlier, which is why I was getting on a bus to get home, instead of a train, but the trains had stopped running. Waiting for the bus, me and my friend were approached by an odd little man.
"Want a toke?"
He was being charitable with the joint he was smoking outside the Queen Victoria Building, which was nice of him. We said no, but another guy waiting for the bus ended up deciding not to catch it, opting to hang out with his brand new friend. It was appropriate, considering the movie we'd just watched.
Clerks II
It's really sad that this is the first Kevin Smith film I'd seen in a cinema. I first became a fan after Dogma was out on video- I know that's late, but I'm young, I don't think eight-year-old me would have appreciated Clerks when it first came out. For whatever reason I didn't see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back at the movies, and I skipped Jersey Girl like everybody else. Jersey Girl remains the one Smith film I haven't seen; not that I refuse to see it, I'm just rather lazy.
Clerks II is funny. That's what matters most here. The funny is either broad or film-geek specific (including a showstopping Silence of the Lambs reference), so it worked for me. It's not nearly as dry as Clerks was, but this is a vastly different film to Clerks. It's not a bad thing. The films compliment each other, they just sit apart. Thinking back, I think the best comparison I can make (and this is a really weird comparison, so forgive me) is that Clerks II is to Clerks what Before Sunset is to Before Sunrise. Except with a donkey show.
It's like revisiting old friends, this movie. Smith clearly saw it that way, which had a minor downside. To watch this movie you have to accept that Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) are not only still clerks, but they're not working a fast food place. The Quick Stop burned down, you see, so they had to movie elsehwere. So they're in their thirties and flipping burgers. These guys, no doubt, I can see in dead-end jobs, but the two of them doing this sort of work requires a rather large suspension of belief. But then, so do many many other films, so, look past it. These guys are still so much fun to watch- especially Randal- that it's worth it. He's still the adorable ball of hate he was in Clerks, only now he has a workmate to torture (rather than his customers) in the form of Elias, played by Trevor Fehrman.
Elias brings my biggest disappointment in the film, in that it's horrible that he's never been in a View Askewniverse film before, and this might be the last one. He's a fantastic new edition, the polar opposite of Randal- a naive Christian with a very positive world view. His obsession with Lord of the Rings brings some geekery, geekery heightened when Marshall from Alias cameos and discusses the trilogy with him.
The other major additions to the cast come in the form of the two women who hold Dante's heart: Rosario Dawson's Becky and Jennifer Shwalbach Smith's Emma. Character-wise, Rosario fares better; Emma is sweet, but extremely controlling, and Becky is a funny, sarcastic firecracker who looks like Rosario Dawson. Rosario Dawson! I know some people don't dig on her, but I do, here especially.
The new cast members are great, as are the returning Jay and Silent Bob, and Randal is better than ever. The weakest link, it's a shame to say, is Dante. O'Halloran is by no means a movie-destroying presence, but his inexperience as an actor combined with the whiny nature of the character of Dante (although we only ever meet Dante when he's having a bad day) does provide a minor flaw in the film.
So, it's a very good film. It has an almost alarming amount of plot compared to its predecessor, and could be accused of over-sentimentality, but it's still definitely worth watching. It's not nearly as groundbreaking as Clerks, nor will it be as remembered. But it was never going to be. So it's best to just sit back and enjoy the ride. And the adorable dance sequence. And the donkey show.
8/10
And then Kevin Smith spoke for two and a half hours. While wearing Silent Bob's green overcoat and shorts. He's a pretty fantastic storyteller, although I would have enjoyed it more were I not checking my watch for the last half hour. I was going to miss my train! And then I did.
On the news front, he said his next film will be a horror movie. He didn't go into details, unfortunately, but he said he wanted to do something completely different. He's also got one coming up called Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers, which will be a comic book type movie. He also didn't rule out returning to the world of Jay and Silent Bob, with perhaps a Clerks 3 visiting Dante and Randal as forty year olds. Although seeing Jay and Silent Bob as forty year olds would be sort of a downer.
He also said that a lot of plans he makes simply don't come to fruition... so don't hold your breath for any of that above stuff.
He told stories of Jason Mewes, and his struggles with drugs, and his own struggles with Mewes's struggle with drugs, and somehow it was funny at the end. He's all clean now, though, so, happy endings.
The best bit of the session was when a guy from New Jersey took the floor to ask Smith a question.
Jersey Dude: Hey, my old English teacher's claim to fame is that he once dated your sister.
Smith: Your English teacher? What was his name?
JD: He was Mr Jackson*.
Smith: Did you ask him is she did anal?
Yeah. All class. (The * is because I forgot the dude's teacher's name, because how am I to remember that shit? I'm writing this a week later. None of the words are actually verbatim, although Smith's final line is.) And then it turned out that Smith actually dated the teacher's sister. No word on whether she did anal, though.
He went on for hours and I could rack my brains and try to remember other shit, but it's funnier when he said it, so why bother? Seek out the Evening With Kevin Smith DVDs if you want to hear him, though, I've heard good things. Plus he's got a blog somewhere. I can't remember, go google it. Maybe kevinsmith.com. Plus, whack on one of his commentaries. Those are gold, especially when he bags out Ben Affleck.
Last Friday I saw Snakes on a Plane, and today I saw United 93. Both had planes. Both had dangerous situations. And yet... somehow... they were different. I can't quite put my finger on how, though.
"Want a toke?"
He was being charitable with the joint he was smoking outside the Queen Victoria Building, which was nice of him. We said no, but another guy waiting for the bus ended up deciding not to catch it, opting to hang out with his brand new friend. It was appropriate, considering the movie we'd just watched.
Clerks II
It's really sad that this is the first Kevin Smith film I'd seen in a cinema. I first became a fan after Dogma was out on video- I know that's late, but I'm young, I don't think eight-year-old me would have appreciated Clerks when it first came out. For whatever reason I didn't see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back at the movies, and I skipped Jersey Girl like everybody else. Jersey Girl remains the one Smith film I haven't seen; not that I refuse to see it, I'm just rather lazy.
Clerks II is funny. That's what matters most here. The funny is either broad or film-geek specific (including a showstopping Silence of the Lambs reference), so it worked for me. It's not nearly as dry as Clerks was, but this is a vastly different film to Clerks. It's not a bad thing. The films compliment each other, they just sit apart. Thinking back, I think the best comparison I can make (and this is a really weird comparison, so forgive me) is that Clerks II is to Clerks what Before Sunset is to Before Sunrise. Except with a donkey show.
It's like revisiting old friends, this movie. Smith clearly saw it that way, which had a minor downside. To watch this movie you have to accept that Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) are not only still clerks, but they're not working a fast food place. The Quick Stop burned down, you see, so they had to movie elsehwere. So they're in their thirties and flipping burgers. These guys, no doubt, I can see in dead-end jobs, but the two of them doing this sort of work requires a rather large suspension of belief. But then, so do many many other films, so, look past it. These guys are still so much fun to watch- especially Randal- that it's worth it. He's still the adorable ball of hate he was in Clerks, only now he has a workmate to torture (rather than his customers) in the form of Elias, played by Trevor Fehrman.
Elias brings my biggest disappointment in the film, in that it's horrible that he's never been in a View Askewniverse film before, and this might be the last one. He's a fantastic new edition, the polar opposite of Randal- a naive Christian with a very positive world view. His obsession with Lord of the Rings brings some geekery, geekery heightened when Marshall from Alias cameos and discusses the trilogy with him.
The other major additions to the cast come in the form of the two women who hold Dante's heart: Rosario Dawson's Becky and Jennifer Shwalbach Smith's Emma. Character-wise, Rosario fares better; Emma is sweet, but extremely controlling, and Becky is a funny, sarcastic firecracker who looks like Rosario Dawson. Rosario Dawson! I know some people don't dig on her, but I do, here especially.
The new cast members are great, as are the returning Jay and Silent Bob, and Randal is better than ever. The weakest link, it's a shame to say, is Dante. O'Halloran is by no means a movie-destroying presence, but his inexperience as an actor combined with the whiny nature of the character of Dante (although we only ever meet Dante when he's having a bad day) does provide a minor flaw in the film.
So, it's a very good film. It has an almost alarming amount of plot compared to its predecessor, and could be accused of over-sentimentality, but it's still definitely worth watching. It's not nearly as groundbreaking as Clerks, nor will it be as remembered. But it was never going to be. So it's best to just sit back and enjoy the ride. And the adorable dance sequence. And the donkey show.
8/10
And then Kevin Smith spoke for two and a half hours. While wearing Silent Bob's green overcoat and shorts. He's a pretty fantastic storyteller, although I would have enjoyed it more were I not checking my watch for the last half hour. I was going to miss my train! And then I did.
On the news front, he said his next film will be a horror movie. He didn't go into details, unfortunately, but he said he wanted to do something completely different. He's also got one coming up called Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers, which will be a comic book type movie. He also didn't rule out returning to the world of Jay and Silent Bob, with perhaps a Clerks 3 visiting Dante and Randal as forty year olds. Although seeing Jay and Silent Bob as forty year olds would be sort of a downer.
He also said that a lot of plans he makes simply don't come to fruition... so don't hold your breath for any of that above stuff.
He told stories of Jason Mewes, and his struggles with drugs, and his own struggles with Mewes's struggle with drugs, and somehow it was funny at the end. He's all clean now, though, so, happy endings.
The best bit of the session was when a guy from New Jersey took the floor to ask Smith a question.
Jersey Dude: Hey, my old English teacher's claim to fame is that he once dated your sister.
Smith: Your English teacher? What was his name?
JD: He was Mr Jackson*.
Smith: Did you ask him is she did anal?
Yeah. All class. (The * is because I forgot the dude's teacher's name, because how am I to remember that shit? I'm writing this a week later. None of the words are actually verbatim, although Smith's final line is.) And then it turned out that Smith actually dated the teacher's sister. No word on whether she did anal, though.
He went on for hours and I could rack my brains and try to remember other shit, but it's funnier when he said it, so why bother? Seek out the Evening With Kevin Smith DVDs if you want to hear him, though, I've heard good things. Plus he's got a blog somewhere. I can't remember, go google it. Maybe kevinsmith.com. Plus, whack on one of his commentaries. Those are gold, especially when he bags out Ben Affleck.
Last Friday I saw Snakes on a Plane, and today I saw United 93. Both had planes. Both had dangerous situations. And yet... somehow... they were different. I can't quite put my finger on how, though.
posted by Simon A at 10:04 PM
3 Comments:
as I mentioned on my blog, I wish Kevin Smith would stop blowing himself long enough to make a movie that wasn't self-serving tripe.
If Kevin Smith serves up tripe, I can only say I want more .. Clerks II was friggin hilarious, especially Randal's diatribe about "porch monkey" as Wanda Sykes and Earthquake are trying to order .. I can't wait to see what he does with the horror flick!
Jason Mewes? In pigtails? Alright, now I've seen it all.
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