Clerks II Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I think it's safe to tell you, without spoiling the movie, that The Men Who Stare at Goats includes a couple of scenes with Jeff Bridges and George Clooney dancing around. The scenes are amusing and a little strange -- why are soldiers dancing? But they did fit consistently with the film as a whole. However, I was reminded of moments in movies that aren't musicals, but suddenly shift to some crazy kind of dance or musical number. I love these moments, and in fact I wish the dance scenes in The Men Who Stare at Goats were a little less toned-down and a little more "WTF?"

Okay, I'm kind of BS'ing you here. The Men Who Stare at Goats is a flimsy excuse. I really just wanted to write about surreal dance numbers in otherwise straightforward movies, because that can be so much fun. Last year's Adam Sandler vehicle Bedtime Stories was an annoying dud ... except for one glorious, shining moment where Guy Pearce launched into a song-and-dance number. Sometimes these dance moments are the best part of a movie, sometimes they spoil the mood and sometimes they're just one more weird aspect of an altogether bizarre film. Here are seven of my favorites.

For those out there who saw this headline and thought their dreams had finally come true, get ready for a major disappointment. MTV Movie News spoke with director Kevin Smith about his two new films, Red State -- a horror film that revolves around a fanatical religious leader, and the comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno. First up is Zack and Miri, and that's where Dawson comes in. Smith told MTV, "I wrote [the role of Miri ] for Rosario Dawson, I'd be kind of flabbergasted if she didn't do it". Unfortunately, when MTV contacted Dawson's reps they said that, "no deal is in place at the moment" -- with the emphasis on "the moment", I would expect. The comedy centers on two old high school friends who meet up at their reunion and decide to go into the amateur porn business, and the film marks the first time Smith has written a female lead.

Last month, Erik had news of a script excerpt released to Entertainment Weekly, but at the time no casting had been finalized. Now, Smith has confirmed that long-time co-star Jason Mewes, and Clerks alum Jeff Anderson are both signed on to appear. Smith had worked with Dawson on Clerks II and the two seemed to hit it off. Considering Dawson seems to be a bit of a comic book nerd herself, I am sure they have plenty to talk about. Smith is planning on having Porno done by Christmas, and then he's off to start shooting Red State in February or March of next year. Since Dawson's other commitment, Poor Things, might have hit a snag, she could have some free time coming up in her schedule.

The 60th (!) Edinburgh International Film Festival had its closing gala on Sunday night, and both audience and jury* awards were distributed. The biggest name scoring a trophy was Clerks II (mistitled Clerks 11 by Screen Daily -- innocent typo or glimpse of a very dark future?), which thumped Little Miss Sunshine in winning almost 80% of votes cast by the public, and taking home the Standard Life Audience Award (presented by none other than Sean Connery!). Jury awards, meanwhile, went to: Brothers of the Head, which just beat out the no-budget thriller London to Brighton for Best New British Film; Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton) for Best New Director; The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief, cinematographer Jake Clennell's "portrait of an Osaka night club with a staff of the city¹s top male escorts," which was named Best Documentary.

*The jury, by the way, was headed by John Hurt, and included such luminaries of film and criticism as ... Chrissie Hynde. I just thought you should know.

People, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has made over $321 million domestic. In THREE WEEKS. Good freaking lord that's a lot of money. Anyway, though off 43% from last weekend's earnings, Captain Jack easily retained his grip on the top box office spot ahead of three major debuts, taking in about $32 million from 4133 screens. The second and third spots, meanwhile, were filled by two of those new films, with Monster House making a respectable $23 million, and Lady in the Water earning just $18.2 million, well-below the expected "mid-$20 million" open for which Warner Bros. had been hoping. (Looks like it's not just those foolish critics who aren't smart enough to get the great M. Night, huh?) The weekends other big release, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, stumbled badly, landing in the seventh spot with only $8.7 million, a total that left it nearly $1 million behind Clerks II, which opened on about 600 fewer screens. That said, both films were beaten out by sophomore flicks You, Me and Dupree ($12.8 million) and the critically loathed Little Man ($11 million).

Full numbers are after the jump.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
-- The Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians 13: 11

Jerky, grainy black-and-white, the ugly grind of a low-paying job, the zombie-like stumble through a life unlived: Clerks II opens exactly like 1994's Clerks did, with nervous and harried counterworker Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) heading to the Quick Stop for another day. In Clerks, Dante found the shutter's locks jammed with gum -- a story point springing out of the economic reality that Smith shot the film in his real neighborhood variety store after-hours. In Clerks II ... well, the good news is that the shutters aren't locked (in no small part thanks to Smith's ability to command bigger budgets); the bad news is that years later, Dante is still slumping in to open the same damn shutters.

There's worse news for Dante -- a career change (or, rather, lack-of-career change) that's put him and his gum-snapping, blithely obnoxious best friend Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) under the same roof of employment, as well as romantic complication, existential angst and a peer group made of equal parts dimwits and dickheads. All of this is bad news for Dante, but its good news for us, as viewers, insofar as Clerks II is the best film Kevin Smith's made in quite some time, in part because it's got a certain sense of wistfulness and hope to it, along with the dick jokes. Clerks II is actually heartwarming -- or, rather, as heartwarming as any film that includes the phrase 'donkey show' can be.

And we live in an era where you can have a heartwarming film include the phrase 'donkey show' -- in no small part thanks to Clerks, which clumsily-yet-firmly paved the way for a wave of appealing, appalling comedies at the box office: From There's Something About Mary to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, films with foul mouths and big hearts have become more and more possible. Clerks II may occasionally be rankly sentimental -- no more so than in Smith's endless, near-unendurable end credit acknowledgments -- but it has more than a spoonful of medicine to help the sugar go down.

Now and then, you go the long way around, come back to where you started ... but where you started isn't where you started, because you changed on the journey. That's the underlying message of Clerks II, which opens Friday nationwide; in many ways, it's the underlying metaphor for Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran's return as Randal Graves and Dante Hicks, the lead characters from 1994's Clerks. On a bright, clear day in San Francisco, Anderson and O'Halloran talked about working with writer-director Kevin Smith, returning to their best-know work .. and, surprisingly, inital reluctance to the project. As part of the pleasure of Clerks II is Anderson and O'Halloran's interaction and vocal cadences, we're presenting this interview as an audio file, which you can download right here.

Even though Kevin Smith probably has a lot of fans who would do anything for him (yes Scott, I'm talking to you) without asking for anything in return, he's Harvey and Bob Weinstein are apparently not sure those people exist in big enough numbers to promote Clerks II effectively. So, in an effort to make sure that all of MySpace loves him, Smith and and his friends at The Weinstein Company has worked out a deal with MySpace and is offering the following perk: The first 10,000 MySpacers who "friend" the Mooby's Presents: Clerks II page will get on-screen credit in the movie in return.* Um, woo hoo?

If you've got limited space in your friends list, or have stringently high standards for adding friends, keep in mind that the names aren't going to appear in a giant font, surrounded by flashing lights or anything. According to TWC, "the names will appear horizontally and begin scrolling after the credits." So, basically, you're going to need to wait for the DVD SE before you can pause the credits and actually see your name. But hey, if you love Kevin Smith, you'll be linked forever on celluloid, which I guess is something. The count begins today at 5pm, so get that friend-adding finger ready.

*I'm not a Smith fan and tend to pretty cynical about all things related to him, but he's apparently blameless here. According to his own post at the View Askew forums, it was an entirely TWC deal, and all he did was provide a quote. So blame Harvey and Bob, not Kevin.

EDIT: The consensus seems to be that the site originally linked here was fake -- we'll see what pops up after 5pm.

EDIT AGAIN: The real page is here. Thanks, Wes and Scott.

Rejoice, all ye who tingle with glee at the mere mention of the words "Kevin Smith!" Despite rumors to the contrary, Clerks II will, in fact, be debuting at Cannes. Woo hoo! The film will screen Out of Competition as part of a hilariously diverse slate that includes everything from X-Men: The Last Stand to Johnnie To's Election 2 to Zidane, a game-length documentary about one of soccer's greatest players. (I'd love to know how the Out of Competition slate is selected -- studio money? Whatever gets the most attention? Actual good movies? Looking at the films, it's a complete mystery to me.)

Since both Clerks and Dogma made their first appeared at Cannes, this news isn't as surprising as it might seem; hell, Cannes is probably old hat for the View Askew crew. On the Clerks II MySpace site, Smith confirms that he will attended the May 26 screening, and also hopes to be at the festival in time for the Southland Tales premiere, which takes place several days before his own film debuts. You know, in case you're headed to Cannes and want to stalk him, or something.

Word on the street is that the trailer for Clerks II (meaning the real, official one, not the "Woo hoo, swearing!" one that showed up on the movie's website a few weeks ago) is showing before Scary Movie 4, so most of you probably saw it this weekend. If, however, you happen to be one of the 16 people who didn't shell out for the movie, the trailer is now up at You Tube, and it's actually sort of ... charming. Whoa. Mostly missing is the self-congratulatory in-joke stuff that seems to have dominated the movie's promotional materials to this point, and it's been replaced by cleverness, a bit of self-effacing humor, and an adorable Rosario Dawson. What's not to like?

The movie is due out August 18.

[via Freeze Dried Movies]

Erik told us in great detail last weekend about the teaser for the The Simpsons movie, but if you still want to see it for yourself and missed it last night (and weren't one of the 14 trillion people who went to see Ice Age: The Meltdown), here's your chance. Or at least it would be your chance, if YouTube wasn't down. Oh dear. If it doesn't go up within the next 30 minutes, I predict a complete internets meltdown. Hide the children! Ahem. Moving on. Homer and clan will be in theaters in July 2007.

Also making its first appearance is a new, internet-only teaser for Clerks 2. Yippee. I suppose if you're a Kevin Smith fan, this is totally hilarious to you but sadly, I'm just not sophisticated enough to grasp the complex humor. That said, however, I do totally dig Wanda Sykes, and she's in it -- that's something, right? This one will beat the Simpson family into release by almost a year: it hits theaters this August.

[via The Movie Blog]