I thought Clerks (1994) (i.e. Clerks I) would be a really great movie since I only heard good things about it, but it wasn’t really. I kept hoping it would get better as we got further into the movie, but it didn’t. It was so bad, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I hope I won’t hate Clerks II just as much when we get around to seeing it.
I think A Scanner Darkly would be a better movie if it wasn’t animated. It was not as bad as Clerks I in my opinion, but it wasn’t great either. The story was dragging too long. Predictable plot. Too much talking. Very little action. Why bother turning it into an animation if all the characters do is talking?
Finally, a movie that I actually enjoyed: Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. It was nothing short of brilliant. Great story. Great animation. The best movie I watched this past weekend. I’m really looking forward to watching the other Miyazaki’s animation, Howl’s Moving Castle. And I’m not even an anime fan!
Adventures in the Cool North
I say this a lot about movies like Clerks, but I’m not joking: you’d like it if you watched it again. Sounds weird, but I wasn’t thrilled with it the first time either and now I love it.
This was only the second time that I watched Clerks and I enjoyed it more the second time. Like Nicole I wasn’t that crazy about it the first time (thought it was over-rated).
As for A Scanner Darkly. My thoughts are that the story was pretty good, but there was too much extra chatter. The chattering part reminded me of Linklater’s other movie Waking Life, which I despised.
If you enjoyed Spirited Away then you will enjoy most of his other movies as well. Just one thing to point out most of his movies has a nature theme and he uses animals in just about ever single movie.
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‘Clerks’ is a real place and time film. When I saw it in the early nineties it really was one of the most exciting films I’d ever seen, simply because it looked like the kind of film someone like me could make. Then a hundred films were influenced by it and as always happens the original loses its lustre. It is one of my favourite films, but I know that to an extent its because I’ve grown up with. If I were to see it now for the first time, it I might not be able to see through all the odd and stuttery line readings, slapdash pacing and wierd sound. ‘Clerks II’ is about the only film I actively want to see before Christmas …