Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection (Clerks/Chasing
Amy/Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back)
(Miramax Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B-/B-/C- Films: B/B+/C+
Like
Quentin Tarantino’s career, Kevin Smith’s film success and popularity seemed to
spring out of no where. With his
breakout film Clerks (1994) Kevin Smith made the film community
take notice and we all knew there were more good things to come. Clerks
was that simple kind of film that on first viewing many can not appreciate;
even making people question the skill of the creator. However, it is the brilliance in the films
simplicity that made it so memorable; establishing realistic, yet off center
characters in an exaggerated world that was strangely relatable. The simplistic elegance that got Kevin Smith
in the door continued for his first several films, but in recent history has
turned into large budget disasters that act more as caricatures of Kevin
Smith’s work than what he should be making.
It is that “make what he thinks fans expect” mentality that has made
recent films such as Jay and Silent Bob
Strike Back, Jersey Girl and Clerks II so forgettable.
Besides
the fact that I think the 3-Movie Collection should have included Clerks,
Mallrats and Chasing Amy (in order of the director’s release); the collection
is pretty nice. On second thought, the
film collection should have been a 6-Movie Collection that included Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II in order to contain an era of Kevin Smith and cap-off a
story-arch that was over a decade long.
Whereas it seems you either love Kevin Smith or hate him; this reviewer
has found himself in the abused lover category.
I love Kevin Smith’s films and whereas in recent times he has mentally abused
me with his garbage productions, I keep coming back for more.
Clerks
The
brilliantly simple film mentioned above takes the viewer on a twisted tale of
the mundane and not so mundane moments of a convenience store clerk and a video
store clerk’s lives. Kevin Smith made
his first film venture amazingly after dropping out of film school and funding
the low budget ($27,000) film on a series of loans, luck and love. The film was shot at the actual stores Smith
worked at; working by day and filming by night.
The film was cut down to the necessities as it showcased the grittier
side of life in an off center manner.
Whereas the film has its rough edges, it is insanely creative and
intelligent. The story is a tad rough as
the acting has its highs and lows; as well as the story overall being somewhat
uneven. The film is for the most part
realistic, but as events like Dante’s girlfriend in the bathroom unwind the
realism is quickly lost. The part of
Dante (Brian O’Halloran) in the film has always been a love/hate relationship
for me as he is often annoying, but at the same time works so well in the
film. Randall (Jeff Anderson) is well
done; but it is Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) who steal the
show. In follow up appearances in films
such as Mallrats and Dogma Jay and Silent Bob were always
essential to the story and film’s success; carrying key elements of the plot
and comedic interludes. It is sad that
in their standalone film moment (Jay and
Silent Bob Strike Back) they were made almost cartoony; in turn Smith
sacrificed plot and film quality. In the
end I would say Clerks was a great
jumping off point for film, but his success with certain later films out shadow
his first attempt at film making.
Chasing Amy
Whereas
many consider Smith’s second film (Mallrats)
to be a failure, it remains one of this reviewer’s favorite Smith films; and
above all else gave Smith the inspiration to make Chasing Amy. Mallrats brought together actors like
Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck; in the end inspiring Smith to get
back to roots as a low budget film maker and create Chasing Amy. The story of Chasing Amy, like Clerks, holds its brilliance in its simplicity. The tale is about a straight guy named Holden
McNeill (Ben Affleck) who falls in love with a gay girl named Alyssa Jones
(Joey Lauren Adams) and the friend of Holden, Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), who
can not stand what his friend is doing.
The film slowly develops into a comedic look at love and trust as chaos
ensues. Unlike Clerks, the film has much better acting and a story line that is
charismatic and well balanced. Though
the filming style of Smith for this film left some to still be desired; he had
improved over Clerks and as the
viewer is caught up in the boy loves girl storyline you can hardly notice the
stylistic downfalls. Critics of both Mallrats and Clerks definitely began to give Smith more credit (if not take a
step back) after the release of Chasing
Amy; the film even garnering recognition as it was released by Criterion. The film overall is great and managed to take
actor/writer/producer/director Kevin Smith to the next level.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Whereas
the desired set I mentioned above, that would contain Dogma, will never happen as Sony holds the rights to that film
(after Miramax, a subsidiary of Disney, sold it off); we can skip right to
Smith’s next venture with the release of Jay
and Silent Bob Strike Back. The all
out slapstick comedy, features the duo crossing the country on an epic journey
that involves everything from crime fighting to vigilante chimpanzees. The film is not one of Smith’s best works,
but has its merits as Smith obviously wanted to change directions after being
lambasted for his take on religion in Dogma. The film is funny, yet idiotic and creative,
yet too Hollywood. The film narrowly
escapes the Wal-Mart bargain bin as it is a Smith film with two classic
characters (not to mention an appearance by both Carrie Fischer and Mark
Hamill); but in all reality the film where as good to some extents, on other
fronts it is the start of Smith’s Hollywood downfall.
For a
more in depth look at the Blu-ray can be viewed by following the link below:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4305/Jay+&+Silent+Bob+Strike+Back+(Blu-r
The
picture, sound and extras on these films are adequate but far from what they
should be on Blu-ray. The picture on
Clerks is a 1080p/MPEG-4 presentation that looks better than ever before, but
does not get the treatment here it deserves; whereas blacks are inky and grays
are clean, the grit/grain of the film is distractingly annoying. Even Kevin Smith seems to think the film
deserves an adequate High-Def rendering; which is substandardly done here. Whether it is the source material or shoty
transfer I am not sure, but Chasing Amy deals
with similar issues as Clerks and
adds on new issues as the color is bland and the contrast does not work all too
well. Jay and Silent Bob looks the best
of the three films, but not by much as MPEG-2 transfer does have great
contrast, vivid colors and inky black, but there is still a level of grain that
is inexcusable. The audio on Clerks and Amy get the same treatment as they receive a DTS-HD Master Audio
Track that projects crisp and clean dialogue, but lacks fullness with the
exception of the moments that include music to back up a lagging track. Jay
and Silent Bob Strike Back gets an Uncompressed 5.1 PCM track that has the
energy behind it to make for a decent track; using the full soundscape with a
nice crispness and directionality. It
still falls flat at times, but much less than the two aforementioned films.
The extras
on each film are somewhat extensive and show the love that Smith holds for each
of his films. Extras include the
following:
Clerks
A
Theatrical Version film commentary (circa 1995) by Smith, Mos, Mewes, Brian and
others; a Theatrical Enhanced Playback Track with synchronized trivia and
cast/crew quotes; a First Cut Version audio commentary with Smith, Brian, Jeff,
Mos and Mewes (in 3 viewing modes); 2004 Smith Intro; Clerks: The Lost Scene
(animated short); “The Flying Car”; MTV Sports with Jay and Silent Bob;
Theatrical Trailer; Soul Asylum “Can’t Even Tell” Music Video; Clerks
Restoration; Original Clerks Auditions; “Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks”;
“Mae Day: The Crumbling of a Documentary” with Intro by Kevin Smith and Scott
Mosier; Outtakes from Snowball Effect; 10th Anniversary Question and
Answer Session. All of those extras are
nice, but sadly all featured in standard definition. There are a couple of Blu-ray exclusives
which feature a new Introduction by Kevin Smith and oddly enough “Oh, What a
Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” For the most part the Blu-ray extras are all
ported over from previous editions; but the new intro by Smith is hilarious as
he blatantly recognizes that this is another studio “cash grab” and says adding
the new intro and the Jay and Silent Bob extra were to take the sting out of
buying this film for the 19th time.
Chasing Amy
Chasing
Amy features the most amount of new Blu-ray exclusives out of the three discs
featuring new Audio Commentary with writer/director/actor Kevin Smith and
producer Scott Mosier; Tracing Amy: The Chasing Amy Documentary; Was it
Something I Said?: A Conversation with Kevin and Joey; 10 Years Later Q&A:
With Kevin Smith and Cast. There are
also some ported over standard definition extras that include your normal
Deleted Scenes; Outtakes; Trailers. The
newness of the extras gives Chasing Amy the
best bang for your buck; whereas Clerks
has the most numerous, Amy offers fans something new to sink their teeth
into.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
This
Blu-ray actually has WORSE extras than the DVD previously released as Miramax
has stupidly chosen to dump all extras; with the exception of an Audio
Commentary and some clips pulled together called “Movie Showcase.” A BIG disappointment here.
I would
say it is a nice set, but if you already own Jay and Silent Bob; just wait for the individual release of the
other two films. This may just be a case
of Miramax trying to clear out their overstock of the crappy Jay and Silent Bob Blu-rays. Yikes!
- Michael P. Dougherty II
