Clerks II

It appears I'm all set to go to the 7:40 showing tonight. Snoogans.

I note my boss wasn't very kind to Jersey Girl in his post this morning (not like many others were), but I feel a need to defend it. Not just because it's a Kevin Smith film and I genuinely do count myself a very big fan (ok, probably an outright fanboy), but because I respect what he was going for in the film - which really is quite sweet - and also because there are some genuinely fine performances.

Rachel Castro, George Carlin (who might actually have his best acting work to show from this film) and Stephen Root are all completely on the money. JLo is barely in the movie and Ben Affleck, well, he's Ben Affleck. Like Smith said on his college tour DVD, he think's Affleck is the best actor in the world and if they were remaking JAWS he'd cast him - "Affleck could be the shark!"

Oh, and did anyone else check out Kevin Smith's scathing appraisal of Joel Siegel? Story has it that Siegel walked out of the screening of Clerks II, which marked the first time he'd ever done that in his 30-year career. Smith's issue was not Siegel walking out of the film, but the way he chose to go about doing it - yelling, creating a scene, etc. The next day Smith was on the Opie and Anthony show and so they decided to call Siegel up. I probably shouldn't make a direct link from this post, in fear it might get me in trouble with the ol' bosses due to the adult language, but I will say the url is exactly like "Silent Bob Speaks" but if you just typed it out as a one big word. Enjoy that.

Kevin Smith, just four years my senior, represents a real renaissance not only in film-making, but in storytelling and modern American pop culture. Jobsite's very-much beloved play The March of the Kitefliers, set to make a return in the spring of '07, is undoubtably influenced by Smith's style. We even sent an invitiation to Smith for the original production, which we know he probably never got but was worth sending anyway. This year we intend on trying to get to him even sooner. Hey, we always thought it would make a great film ... so long as I don't get replaced with Affleck.

- David J.