Love_me_like_a_lion
12-22-2007, 12:26 PM
Clerks:
One of the best movies ever. Sure that is an overstatement, but it truly is an excellent movie. The characters, the humor, the setting; everything about it was top-notch.
Starting the with the characters, Dante Hicks and Randal Graves really make the movie. In fact, the inclusion of so little main characters is what made the movie. The almost Gilmore Girls speed of speech that these two characters constantly made was what kept this movie going. Every line was either witty, funny, heartwarming, or a combination of the three. You can really tell that the two main characters have great chemistry together.
Also introduced in this movie are Jay and Silent Bob, which are both great characters. It also helps that in Clerks, compared to future Kevin Smith movies, these characters are only secondary. They appear in the background most of the time and pop out in front of the main characters at the perfect time(s).
The little things in this movie help its greatness as well. Such as the fact that it takes place all in one day, and everything that happens is more or less believable (though there are some moments that are out there). The fact that this was in black and white helps as well, and that it was small in opening. There is no denying the fact that if this wasn\'t a black and white movie and had such a low budget that this would not have as big of a cult following as it does now. It just makes the movie feel \"classic\" in a way. 10/10
Clerks II
More than Ten years and several Kevin Smith movies later, Clerks II came to theaters. I came, I saw, and I was mildly disappointed. This was no means a bad movie, but compared to Clerks II it severely lacked in content.
Starting with the characters; they were not nearly as great as they were in Clerks. Dante Hicks went from a fairly normal guy who complains a lot to a hollow shell, that is way too nice for his own good. The actor doesn\'t say his lines nearly as great as he portrayed Dante in Clerks, and even his interaction with Randal has dwindled. They no longer go back and fourth discussing random shit at the speed of sound, but have actual conversations.
Randal is also worse than he was in Clerks. He used to be the bad side to Dante\'s good, and even though he still has a bad mouth he really cleaned up his act a bit. In fact this movie portrays Randal as much more of a loser than ever, and he doesn\'t have that quick pace of talking as he did in Clerks.
The inclusion of new characters can be considered both bad and good. Elias Grover, the 19 year old working along side Dante and Randal, really helps Randal vent some of that profanity he loves on to the geeky character. However the boss, Becky Scott, somewhat transforms the movie from just \"two guys hanging out\" to a touchy-feely movie that does not feel right. She plays a major part, but it really isn\'t a good thing.
Jay and Silent Bob play a bigger part in this movie as well, and even though it was a lot better when they were on the side in Clerks, they still produce laughs in Clerks II.
Over all however Clerks II was just not as good, and it was just a very O.K. movie. It had some good laughs, but the whole \"two guys just hanging out\" thing from the first movie completely disappeared into \"two guys actually doing something to make a movie\" theme. It also had a very touchy ending compared to the first Clerks, which more of \"ok, the day\'s done, see ya tomorrow\" While Clerks II had a definative ending that didn\'t really work.
Clerks II gets a 6.5/10
One of the best movies ever. Sure that is an overstatement, but it truly is an excellent movie. The characters, the humor, the setting; everything about it was top-notch.
Starting the with the characters, Dante Hicks and Randal Graves really make the movie. In fact, the inclusion of so little main characters is what made the movie. The almost Gilmore Girls speed of speech that these two characters constantly made was what kept this movie going. Every line was either witty, funny, heartwarming, or a combination of the three. You can really tell that the two main characters have great chemistry together.
Also introduced in this movie are Jay and Silent Bob, which are both great characters. It also helps that in Clerks, compared to future Kevin Smith movies, these characters are only secondary. They appear in the background most of the time and pop out in front of the main characters at the perfect time(s).
The little things in this movie help its greatness as well. Such as the fact that it takes place all in one day, and everything that happens is more or less believable (though there are some moments that are out there). The fact that this was in black and white helps as well, and that it was small in opening. There is no denying the fact that if this wasn\'t a black and white movie and had such a low budget that this would not have as big of a cult following as it does now. It just makes the movie feel \"classic\" in a way. 10/10
Clerks II
More than Ten years and several Kevin Smith movies later, Clerks II came to theaters. I came, I saw, and I was mildly disappointed. This was no means a bad movie, but compared to Clerks II it severely lacked in content.
Starting with the characters; they were not nearly as great as they were in Clerks. Dante Hicks went from a fairly normal guy who complains a lot to a hollow shell, that is way too nice for his own good. The actor doesn\'t say his lines nearly as great as he portrayed Dante in Clerks, and even his interaction with Randal has dwindled. They no longer go back and fourth discussing random shit at the speed of sound, but have actual conversations.
Randal is also worse than he was in Clerks. He used to be the bad side to Dante\'s good, and even though he still has a bad mouth he really cleaned up his act a bit. In fact this movie portrays Randal as much more of a loser than ever, and he doesn\'t have that quick pace of talking as he did in Clerks.
The inclusion of new characters can be considered both bad and good. Elias Grover, the 19 year old working along side Dante and Randal, really helps Randal vent some of that profanity he loves on to the geeky character. However the boss, Becky Scott, somewhat transforms the movie from just \"two guys hanging out\" to a touchy-feely movie that does not feel right. She plays a major part, but it really isn\'t a good thing.
Jay and Silent Bob play a bigger part in this movie as well, and even though it was a lot better when they were on the side in Clerks, they still produce laughs in Clerks II.
Over all however Clerks II was just not as good, and it was just a very O.K. movie. It had some good laughs, but the whole \"two guys just hanging out\" thing from the first movie completely disappeared into \"two guys actually doing something to make a movie\" theme. It also had a very touchy ending compared to the first Clerks, which more of \"ok, the day\'s done, see ya tomorrow\" While Clerks II had a definative ending that didn\'t really work.
Clerks II gets a 6.5/10