Movie Review: 'Clerks II'

'Clerks II' (2006)

The QuickStop, long-time place of employment for Dante and Randal, has burned down. Both find employment at a Mooby restuarant and, after a year, many things remain the same in their lives. However, one massive thing HAS changed; Dante is engaged and is planning to move to Florida, leaving New Jersey and Randal behind forever. As the bulk of the movie starts, it's Dante's last day at Mooby's before moving away. In many ways, it's just like every other day.

In a lot of ways, 'Clerks II' is the same movie as 'Clerks' but in just as many other ways, it isn't. The bits that 'isn't' are the important ones. The original movie takes place in the space of one 24 hour period. In the sequel, the bulk of the action takes place in one 24 hour period but there is also an intro piece set a year before the main action and a coda that takes place months after the main action. In the original, the Clerks close the store to attend a funeral. Here, it's to go ride go-karts. Both movies have scenes set on the roof of the store but only one of those is set to a Jackson 5 song. The sequel manages to follow many of the same storyline beats as the original without following it completely and becoming the exact same movie.

Underneath all the crudeness and geek language is a point. The point is: be yourself. Find out what you want to do with your life and do it. Don't strive for something that other people want you to be when you can be yourself and be happy. Oddly enough, Randal had this figured out in the original 'Clerks' and is why, despite his complaining, he is so upbeat throughout the movie. He is happy. He gets to watch movies all day and his best friend is just next door. This is all he desires from life and, for the longest time, he gets it.

As with all Kevin Smith movies, I tend not to recommend them to people who don't like Kevin Smith movies. They are crude and this one is certainly no exception to that rule. Before spending a pile of cash to see this one in the theatre, rent the original 'Clerks' or one of Kevin's other films (apart from 'Jersey Girl' which is another style altogether) and see if you like that first. If you are already a fan of Kevin's work, then you should enjoy this movie as well.

Daily you say?

I have no real format planned for this thing and I rather prefer that to having a format. I have so many diverse interests that segmenting this blog to one of them would probably kill any writing momentum I might start.

That said, if there are any requests for specific topics of discussion you’d like me to, well, discuss or any stories you’d like me to tell here, feel free to make those suggestions. I’m not adverse to input from the readership.

Whatdaya mean it sounds like I’ve already run out of ideas? Poppycock! Rot! Drivel! I’ve just run out of ideas for today is all…

Drink, Gurls, Feck

Every once in a while I grow particularly philosophical. When in that mode I attempt to understand the basic things of life; those things that most people never even question. One topic I often enjoy considering is: why do I find the female form attractive? What is it about that general arrangement of flesh, bone, muscle and fat that appeals to me so deeply?

To date I have yet to figure it out. Perhaps someday I shall figure it out. Perhaps not. In the meantime, I suppose I will have to continue observing the variations in the female form as part of my ongoing research.

This is not the toughest assignment I’ve ever had in life.

Remind me again?

Monday night I sat down to watch ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ because I enjoy Gordon Ramsey’s intensity. His desire to help people make quality food via screaming is impressive to me as is his ability to swear fluently. Fox was not coming in properly on my cable. It appeared to be the only channel thusly affected. I rebooted my cable box and waited for a few minutes. No change. I hopped on the phone to give the cable company a call as maybe it was just a problem on Fox’s end of things. I waited on hold for over twenty minutes. I never spoke to a person. Once the episode that was new for this week started, I gave up on the phone as it wasn’t worth the effort anymore.

Why am I paying for cable again?

Preapology

One problem I've already noticed with doing this blog type thing is that I have all sorts of ideas on what to ramble about... until I have my computer in front of me. At that point, all those ideas just disappear on me. So, I'm working on fixing that already.

Baby steps.

I start a blog and immediately had to go on vacation

So this past weekend I visited my friends in Stevens Point that I haven’t seen in years. I had a good time and, as I tend to prefer while on vacation, accomplished very little. We hung out, chatted a lot and watched movies. I’m looking forward to doing it again soon.

I don’t like overly complicated vacations. I got to go to Japan a couple years ago and there was this concern on the part of the friends I was meeting there that they wouldn’t have enough for me to do. I didn’t need much. I spent a couple hours one morning just sitting outside the train station, having something to eat and watching people go by. It was awesome.

One item of interest regarding the Point trip was that the path that I take to get there had changed for the better. The highway into town had been more or less extended to the freeway. This meant that I arrived in Point about an hour earlier than expected. I was pleased.

There was a bit of a wrinkle upon my attempt to return home to Milwaukee. I was barely out of town when police cars flew past me. My forward motion was soon ended by the same cars. An accident spread across the road and prevented any further progress in this specific direction. I was forced to return to town. The upside to this is that there is another highway that goes through Point. The downside to this alternate path is that it is a longer route so I had to drive for about three hours instead of about two. I hope no one was seriously hurt in the accident. It looked complicated from a distance.

I wish there was something more exciting to report from my trip but, apart from the joy in seeing my friends again, nothing all that exciting happened. Perhaps next time.