Every Monday morning, InsidePulse Movies Czar Scott “Kubryk” Sawitz brings an irreverent and oftentimes hilarious look at pop culture, politics, sports and whatever else comes to mind. And sometimes he writes about movies.
The most interesting thing this week in cinema to me was Kevin Smith’s announcement that he’s shifting gears: Clerks 3 will now be his final cinematic endeavor per his Twitter account that instead of Hit Somebody (which he’s trying to position as a mini-series). It’s interesting to me because Smith, who seemed to wrap things up in Clerks 2 for good, is now going out on the same road he came in on.
I’ve written about Smith and his cinematic exploits many times, of course, but the one thing that always brought me back was that any number of his films are always rewatchable for me. Clerks was the gift that kept on giving in college, the quirky indie film I introduced most of my friends to. Dogma was memorable because I nearly threatened my college roommate with bodily violence, despite having a couple of cracked ribs myself from a car accident the night before, to see. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back was a nice denouement to the View Askew universe. Chasing Amy was an interesting if flawed romantic drama. I may not have liked Cop Out but I did pay to see it; I wasn’t a fan of Red State either but he still got my money. Smith’s a director I’m always interested in, even if he hasn’t made a film I’ve loved in quite some time.
While I’m secretly excited to see the film, as Clerks was one of the seminal films of my high school years, the one thing that bothered me about Clerks 2 is that it felt unnecessary. Clerks 3 feels even more so right now. It’s because the point of diminishing returns is settling in to the whole Clerks experience.
I get why Smith wanted to make another film, as there’s a way you look at your life in your 40s that apparently is a lot different than your 30s or 20s. It’s a lot like how we view romantic love, I suppose, as I know I view life a bit differently in my mid 30s than I did a decade ago. And after a diverse life experience like he’s had one imagines that Smith’s final film in a Clerks trilogy would follow Dante and Randall as they’re no longer young men anymore. There’s something interesting to be explored with these two characters, I think, but that diminishing returns aspect keeps coming back up in my mind. The second one wrapped up a story that seemed to be already closed in the first film; Dante and Randall made that final leap from being slacker 20 somethings to adults, the world coming into focus what had been hazy earlier in their lives.
Do we really need another Clerks film?
I don’t know … what do you think? Let me know below what you think.
A Movie A Week – The Challenge
This Week’s DVD – They Live
“I’ve come here to kick ass and chew bubblegum … and I’m all out of bubblegum.”
What happens when aliens take over the world but no one knows it? They meet up with Nada (Roddy Piper), a down on his luck construction worker who discovers a vast alien conspiracy. From there he decides to take it on with the human resistance that has discovered it alongside him.
It’s a solid exploitation flick back, a sort of Matrix type film but without the harder science-fiction edge to it. It’s a really good representative of an ‘80s film: hard edge, synth score, etc. It’s all the basics of an ‘80s action film but without that final kick to make it brilliant. Liked it, didn’t love it, but the new release on Blu-Ray/DVD is filled with extras if you’re into that sort of thing.
Recommended.
What Looks Good This Weekend, and I Don’t Mean the $2 Pints of Bass Ale and community college co-eds with low standards at the Alumni Club
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – A hobbit joins a bunch of dwarves and the bearded dude from Lord of the Rings to steal treasure or something.
See It – It’s the first of a prequel trilogy to LOTR, I think, and if that universe is Peter Jackson’s wheelhouse than it should be enjoyable.
Scott “Kubryk” Sawitz brings his trademarked irreverence and offensive hilarity to Twitter in 140 characters or less. Follow him @ScottSawitz .
