Clerks: Collector`s Series (US)

The movie is in my opinion the best comedy film of the years, with excellent scenarios and dialouge.

The black and white picture / sound transfer is surprisingly good, when you consider that the it was filmed on 16mm, and is more than acceptable.

The Features are excellent, and a must for any fan of the movie, especially the alt. ending, which you definatly would not expect.

Top draw, all round, really.

"I`m 37....??!!"

For any aspiring filmmakers out there, this is how it should be done:

i Write a fast, furious (somewhat offensive) and tight script with a frighteningly funny twist

ii Finance your film buy selling your comic book collection (which, as you`ll know if you`ve ever collected anything with a passion, is akin to selling your soul), borrowing from friends` parents and finally max-ing out your credit cards

iii Get yourself and several of your friends involved as cast members

iv "Borrow" the shop you used to work in for a location and break into the shop next door `cos they won`t give you permission to film there

v Shoot the whole thing in black and white - not for art`s sake, but because colour is way to expenive

iv Run off to the Sundance Film Festival with the finished film under your arm and look for a distributor

Simple.

Film: This is a semi-autobiographical film, chronicling a day in the life of the director during his illustrious career working at the Quick Stop Convenience Store. For anyone who has ever worked in customer services and been subjected to a barrage of stupid and inane questions from a public who think they are always right, this is for you. The hero of the story, Dante, is finding life a drag, being short-changed by his boss (the store owner) and is having a tough time with the ladies. He`s "conflicted" and in need of help from his trusty sidekick, Randal, who offers sage-like advice whether his opinion has been sought or not. Still, it`s not all doom and gloom. If you`re Dante, there`s always hockey to look forward to and if you`re Randal, it`s chicks with dicks all the way.

Transfer: As the film was shot in black and white, it is not easy to fault the transfer onto DVD - blacks, greys and whites are very clean - that`s about it, really. You will excuse me if I don`t spend more time going into the quality of the blacks or the `noise` in the picture, but frankly the content of the film is more important to me. As long as there are no horrendous colour casts, I could care less whether blacks are `very black` or `very nearly black` - if you don`t like it, adjust the brightness. Sorry. This, however, is a film that you have to watch several times because the dialog (and consequently, the jokes) at times, is very, very fast. The DVD sound quality is fair enough, but as a filmmakers first attempt, the sound quality and editing of the original film do leave a little to be desired - but then what do you expect when the finished film only cost $25,000 to make? Bear that in mind when you watch the film - it really does help to show what a great achievement this film is.

Extras. There is an audio commentary track that accompanies the film, but if you`ve seen any of the other Kevin Smith DVDs (Mallrats, Chasing Amy) you are likely to be a little disappointed with this one. The cast members involved in the commentary are obviously sharing one mic and although what they have to say is often very funny, you do miss bits of dialogue here and there. The usual trailers are in there too, with a music video, along with several deleted scenes and an alternative ending (talk about a bad day!).

This film isn`t for everyone, though. If you are very easily offended, leave now. The language, whilst never being gratuitous, is very coarse and the sheer offensive nature of one or two of the characters will make some of the more delicate viewers extremely uncomfortable. Still, if you think you`re hardy enough, this is a truly hilarious film. Written and directed by a man who clearly loves the filmmaking process and knows how to give his public what they want, Kevin Smith never seems to allow his vision to be compromised or diminished - and bloody good luck to him.

A R2 version? Hmmm, seems unlikely. Show your support and go multi-region.


Visit www.viewaskew.com for more.

Bunch of savages in this town . . .

Directorial debut of Kevin Smith.

Kevin Smith's first effort feature film effort followed by Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and most recently Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. I have to admit that on first viewing I was very disappointed with this film. Dogma was my first taste of a Kevin Smith film (and it remains one of my favourite films of all time), then I saw Chasing Amy, then Mallrats, and then finally Clerks - all on the strength of Dogma.

I think this was possibly a mistake, these films are worth watching in the order that they were made, simply because they get better and better. When I watched Clerks, I was expected something as good as Smith's more recent films, which it just isn't.

Now, after repeated viewings I think it's certainly a good film, but (IMO) not in the same league as any of his other films. Having said that, we get quite a nice disc to play with. The video & audio are pretty shocking but that can't be helped in view of the circumstances in which it was filmed! However, the extras are a little treat - they are not up to the standard of the other (R1) Smith discs - but they are good nonetheless.

First off we get a commentary from the cast and crew (who are pretty much the same thing!). This is very amusing and interesting but again suffers due to the poor quality. With around 6 participants sharing a microphone you can't always hear what they are saying. Also, there are moments where Kevin Smith will point out a particularly funny part in the film where they stay quite and we are obviously supposed to listen the film, but we can't hear the film without switching off the commentary! Still, its worth listening too - as it's dominated by Kevin Smith (oh, and Jason Mewes spends 95% of the film passed out on the floor!).

We also get 15 mins of deleted scenes which are given an individual intro each by Kevin Smith, which is a nice touch. Although the scenes are themselves are worth watching the once, they are not something you're going to want to re-watch. Another nice touch is that the scenes are split up into chapters, so you can skip through them at your will. We also get an alternative ending to boot.

There is also a trailer, and a Soul Asylum video directed by Kevin Smith that is shot in true Clerks style - it's also the first time you get to see Jay & Silent Bob in colour.

Overall, this is a nice disc. although I still find all of Smith's other films much much funnier. Incidentally, the Kevin Smith trilogy is available for about £31 from DVDBoxoffice (Clerks, Mallrats & Chasing Amy).

Genious! Absolutly Genious! The dialogue is incredible! Eventhough Kevin Smith since then has done a few really good movies, I think Clerks is still the best one... And the dialogue.. Genious... :)

Content

Clerks tells the tale of a day in the life of a number of weird and wonderful characters who either work in, or hang out at the Quick Stop convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey. Chief among these characters is Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) who is called in to the Quick Stop on his day off to cover for the absent manager.

Dante's partner in crime, and clerk at the local video store, is Randall Graves (Jeff Anderson). Randall has little or no respect for anything, and usually has an acerbic comment or ten for the customers. Together the pair get into all kinds of trouble and break just about every rule in the retail book. Be it closing the store to play hockey on the roof, or leaving to "crash" a funeral, Dante and Randall will usually find a way to mess things up.

To make matters worse, Dante is dating Veronica, but secretly harbours desires for his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin Bree. When he finds out that Caitlin is engaged to an Asian design major, he doesn't think life can't get any worse…

While the acting in Clerks is patchy at best, the film has a real charm to it. This is mostly because of Smith's brilliantly observed and incisive writing. Although most of the cast are amateurs (many of them are actually crew members), this actually suits the low-budget feel of the film perfectly. There are a couple of standout performances however, with Brian O'Halloran in excellent form as the whiny, self-absorbed Dante, and Jeff Anderson does a great job as wise cracking foul mouth Randall. The interaction between the two is fantastic, which is a good thing as these two are the central characters in the movie.

Marilyn Ghigliotti puts in a nice performance as the long-suffering Veronica, with most of the other roles being played by friends of Kevin Smith. In fact, Smith himself shows up here as one half of Jay and Silent Bob (the other half being the incomprehensible Jason Mewes). Although they have fairly inconsequential roles in this film, the pair have gone on to feature predominantly in Smith's other films, even getting their own movie towards the end of this year, the litigiously titled Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back…

Video

Probably the most disappointing aspect of the disc, the video quality leaves a lot to be desired. This isn't wholly the fault of the transfer, as Clerks was shot on such a low budget that the video quality wasn't great to start off with. What we get here does faithfully reproduce the source material, and it looks sharper than ever, but this unfortunately shows up the flaws in the image. The black and white picture is full of grain, and this can be quite distracting at times. The video is presented in non-anamorphic 1.85:1, which is another black mark, as I really can't get on with non-anamorphic transfers. For those of you interested in such things, the video has an average bitrate of 6.24Mb/sec.

Audio

The sleeve claims that the audio is presented in Dolby Surround, but my amp only detected Dolby Stereo. The track is Dolby Surround however, so my amp obviously doesn't get on with it.

Audio is pretty good for what it is. There is a fair bit of hiss on the track, but again this stems from the low budget origins of the film. Dialogue is nearly always audible (unless Jason Mewes is delivering the lines), with most of the action limited to the front of the soundstage, although there are a few moments when the surrounds come to life.

Features

Probably the best aspect of this disc (apart from the film), the extras are surprisingly plentiful for such a release. Included are the theatrical trailer, deleted scenes with an audio introduction by Kevin Smith, an alternate ending (which would've ended the movie on a very different note), a Soul Asylum music video featuring Jay and Silent Bob and an audio commentary from Kevin Smith and members of the cast and crew.

The commentary track is very insightful and also very amusing, not least because Jason Mewes spends most of the proceedings unconscious on the floor after getting very drunk! He does occasionally wake up long enough to mutter something unintelligible into the microphone, before passing out again. The interaction between the rest of the cast and crew is great, although it can be difficult to hear exactly what's being said at times (it sounds like they're all huddled around a single microphone in someone's bedroom).

Overall

While not everyone's cup of tea, Clerks is a very funny movie. Littered with references to other films, Clerks is also a spotter's wet dream. The dialogue is sharp and witty, although the quality of the delivery is somewhat variable, and there are several very quotable moments. It's definitely not high brow comedy, but neither is it a 'Dude, Where's My Car?' Basically, if you're a fan of movies, comics, Star Wars, vocal obscenities, razor-sharp wit and can overlook the low budget look and feel of the film, Clerks is for you.