The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Arts & Entertainment => Topic started by: jough on July 22, 2006, 12:04:46 am
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Just got back from Clerks II - if you're already a fan of Kevin Smith movies this one won't disappoint. It really accomplishes everything that Smith has been aiming towards for the past 12 years.
Also, I'm in it. Well, okay, I'm not actually in it, but my company is listed in the credits.
Fun stuff.
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Did either of the two rumored titles (Hardly Clerkin' or The Passion of the Clerks) make it into the movie anywhere?
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How about if you were disappointed by Jay and Silent Bob?
And I haven't even dared see Jersey Girl yet. The Jersey trilogy I love though... And really want to like Clerks 2...
So, what you reckon?
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I have to sheepishly admit that Mallrats is my favorite, but mostly because of Brodie.
I was also disappointed by Jay and Silent Bob, but there's hope with this one. HOPE!
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Just the fact the Joel Siegel walked out on it (And Kevin Smith's HILARIOUS response) is enough to make me want to see it.
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Yeah, I didn't much like Jersey Girl (I can't really remember much of it since it was so generic) and while I thought J&S Strike Back was funny it too was slight and not really worth a lot of reviewings.
Clerks Deuce (no mention of Hardly Clerkin' or Passion, although there is a lot of Jesus in it, unsurprisingly) is probably my favourite of Smith's after Chasing Amy now, but I will look forward to rewatching it on DVD.
There were two sequences that really had nothing to do with the rest of the film (three, actually, but the third one was such a delight that I didn't mind) but otherwise it was very funny, and more poignant than I would have expected (without being schmaltzy or overly sentimental).
I think it was a fitting sequel to the original Clerks without retreading the same territory. Sure, there are a lot of references to the first movie, and of course the same characters ten years later, but this film has more weight to it than the original Clerks.
Also, Joel Siegel is an idiot, and the part he walked out on wasn't even all that offensive. He should've stayed for the donkey show.
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See, my favourite part was that devastatingly handsome extra in the Hawaiian shirt in the Wanda Sykes scene. I ain't gay or nothin' but... if I hadta, I would definitely break me offa piece of some Customer #2.
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I thought Jay and Silent Bob was okay, but Clerks, Mallrats and Dogma were all better. I am looking forward to seeing this, only in my family the curse we have is that no males ever go to see a movie in a theater. I think this has something to do with chain smoking.
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I don't like to go to the movies much anymore either, but I went to see this one.
This year so far I have seen:
Art School Confidential
Superman Returns
X-Men 3
Clerks II
in the theatre. Otherwise I just rent DVDs. A couple of the online download places are offering full DVDs now of semi-current movies complete with menus and extras and stuff for a fairly low price (> $10) so that may be an option too.
Some movies I still want to see on the big screen, like Superman and other action movies (I wanted to see MI:3 too but never got around to it) and movies like Clerks II are more fun with an audience, although the audience I saw it with was pretty dead. No one was really laughing much.
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Yeah, I didn't much like Jersey Girl (I can't really remember much of it since it was so generic) and while I thought J&S Strike Back was funny it too was slight and not really worth a lot of reviewings.
Clerks Deuce (no mention of Hardly Clerkin' or Passion, although there is a lot of Jesus in it, unsurprisingly) is probably my favourite of Smith's after Chasing Amy now, but I will look forward to rewatching it on DVD.
There were two sequences that really had nothing to do with the rest of the film (three, actually, but the third one was such a delight that I didn't mind) but otherwise it was very funny, and more poignant than I would have expected (without being schmaltzy or overly sentimental).
I think it was a fitting sequel to the original Clerks without retreading the same territory. Sure, there are a lot of references to the first movie, and of course the same characters ten years later, but this film has more weight to it than the original Clerks.
Also, Joel Siegel is an idiot, and the part he walked out on wasn't even all that offensive. He should've stayed for the donkey show.
I tried my best to go into this flick spoiler free, and after hearing about Siegel's tirade, I was totally expecting to at least see the donkey's equipment. Having seen the movie, in terms of Siegel, I can just say "Guy's a douche."
I really think Smith hit one out of the park with this movie. I honestly think it's better than Chasing Amy. Didn't understand the need for a full-on dance scene, but I shouldn't bitch about a movie that was as good as this one.
Yes, I'm a fanboy, but this the best movie I've seen all summer.
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Okay, well, SPOILERS will follow, then.
Yeah, I guess we differ on this point, then, in that I LOVED the dance scene. I am, however, a big fan of whimsy in general and especially in films that I am already enjoying, and I thought the slow buildup to big dance production was great, left me giggling with delight, etc.
I thought the go-cart scene was completely unnecessary, and the donkey thing, while PG-13, was also pointless except for a single joke. I could see it coming from a million miles away, as I'm sure could anyone who views the film.
For a movie that complains about the Lord of the Rings having too many endings, this one had too many endings too, but I liked the final happy ending and of course the open door for a Clerks III, which would be welcome, as far as I'm concerned. Clearly Smith is at his best when dealing with these characters.
Of course, next year we'll have the animated Clerks movie, and while it won't be a sequel to this film, it'll be a nice welcome dose of more Clerks characters.
No one ever said that Siegel wasn't a douche, but the way he left that screening was unconscionable for a professional critic. I hope he issues an apology to Smith.
It was my favourite of the summer films so far too, although I haven't seen A Scanner Darkly yet.
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It was my favourite of the summer films so far too, although I haven't seen A Scanner Darkly yet.
Man, lots of people I know (the only ones who would want to see A Scanner Darkly) all went to it why I was at the Woody Guthrie Festival. I would have totally gone to that in theaters.
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wait, so, is that Scanner movie good? it's playing at this theater like a mile from my house.
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The book was incredible. I haven't seen the film yet.
I do want to go see it though. It's only playing at the crappy art house theatre in Philly, and I was hoping it would open wider, but alas. So either I'll see it in NYC or just wait for DVD.
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yeah, I win. This new theater opened down the street from me that shows "art" movies.
the thing that pissed me off, though, is that in the newspaper the guy who started it was quoted as saying "Charlotte has never had a theater that showed independent and art films, until now." when possibly the oldest movie theater in the city is "The Manor," a place that shows only art/independent films.
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The book was incredible. I haven't seen the film yet.
Man, they are playing it in malls in Oklahoma, I figured they would be playing it everwhere.
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**Clerks II SPOILER ALERT**
I saw it on Saturday.
Jough, I have to agree with you, the song and dance routine was lovely, the go cart thing went on way, way too long, and if you think the donkey scene was a little too much, try watching it while sitting next to your buddy's mother. That was so awkward...
Anyway, I did enjoy it over all, and was genuinely touched by the final ode to friendship at the end. The laughs were good, and I enjoyed the Jay and Silent Bob stuff to a point.
I was a little bothered at the whole "it's okay to cheat if the other relationship was meant to be" message. In reality, a relationship built on infidelity is never one that equates to a happy ending/foundation to build your life/future on. I don't remember enough of the first Clerks movie to remember if his fiance was referred to in the first one, so maybe it was pre-established elsewhere that she was a horrible bitch, but in this film, there was some serious glossing over of the whole issue of cheating... Yeah, she was a little controlling, but otherwise not horrible, and seemed to be genuinely in love with Dante, and she was just sort of written off after running of crying, basically pretty horribly "punished" for doing nothing wrong. What, she's evil because Randell doesn't like her/ is jealous of her usurping him? Isn't it's Dante's job to fix this instead of choosing between them? I kind of expected this to be the rub of the film. But instead none of this happens and Dante comes off a a noble guy somehow... He sees the girl in the window wave at him (so obviously and distractingly Kevin Smith's daughter) and it's sort of implied he's making the "noble" choice to be a man/father... It's all a little too easy, is all I'm saying. He hasn't earned the happy ending Smith gives him, so for me Dante came off more as lazy, staying in his comfy little niche, and giving in to the easy road... which is sort of the opposite of what Smith was obviously going for. This is made all even more fucked up, in that Smith cast his own wife as Dante's fiance. WTF?
I seem to remember this as being recurring in other Kevin Smith movies. I remember one of my friends was really pissed off after seeing... I think it was Chasing Amy?.. that infidelity = okay in another Kevin Smith Film... and wasn't this along the same lines in the first Clerks?... it's all pretty hazy to me. I haven't seen his other movies in years, and they don't really stick with me as anything but episodically enjoyable moments, loosely strung together to make the funny.
But if I don't look at the underlying message of the film... I enjoyed it, it was good fun, and true to the original. Basically episodically enjoyable moments, loosely and questionably strung together to make the funny.
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Dante's always been sort of a pusharound. Why would he have been friends with Randal for so long?
I think that the movie implies that you've got to make yourself happy. Sometimes personal happiness involves breaking someone's heart for what seems like unexplainable reasons.
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"do whatever the hell you want to make yourself happy! yay!"
the fact that the dude who has done bad things to me is a big Kevin Smith fan makes everything clear, suddenly.
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So Kevin Smith is an objectivist?
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Isn't Smith's next project the film version of The Fountainhead?
However, I don't think the message here is "Do what makes you happy, even if it hurts some people." but rather "Hurt some people because it makes you happy to do so."
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Hurting Paris Hilton would make me happy. I should do this and blame Kevin Smith, then be viewed as a martyr by a grateful world.
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That's the spirit.
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However, I don't think the message here is "Do what makes you happy, even if it hurts some people." but rather "Hurt some people because it makes you happy to do so."
So, is the movie good b/c it's funny, or bad b/c of a questionable underlying theme? Also, what about the porch monkey scene?
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The movie is good because it is funny, but bad because it is shallow.
Smith was never one of the great thinkers in cinema. His skill is in dick and fart jokes.
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Yeah, what jough said.
What it comes down to for Clerks II is it's really good when it comes to the comedy, and not so good when it comes to the over-arching storyline's supposed deep meaning. If you examine the story arch it self, it sort of falls short of good storytelling, but the humour hits the mark quite well. Basically, enjoy it for it's surface value. Clerks II is the comedy equivlent of going out on a date with an extremely attractive stranger who never gets a second date.
As for the Porch Monkey thing - it was enjoyable, but gets a little run-in-to-the-ground.
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So, is the movie good b/c it's funny, or bad b/c of a questionable underlying theme? Also, what about the porch monkey scene?
The porch monkey scene is one of the funniest things I have seen in a film in a long time, I must admit. Probably because I saw it with my friend, and the pair of us are constantly having conversations as tasteless as that.
I did really enjoy it, because it was funny. It was nice to see Smith can write again, although it was as if instead of ripping off John Hughes now, he goes for ripping off South Park.
It's also worth it for the number of people who seemed to have been brought along and weren't remotely getting it.
stupid laptop keyboard