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Originally Posted by Dr. Eugene Felikson
You're bananas. What more could you possibly have wanted from a sequel to Clerks (that came out over 10 yrs later)?
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Uh, nothing. They just shouldn't have made a sequel. It was one of the least-funny movies I've ever seen; it was just annoying. Kevin Smith is horrible. Clerks 1 is great and Mall Rats is alright -- everything else he's done is unfunny, boring garbage.
exhausted - 4/10
Well, I was definitely EXHAUSTED by the end, so that's a great title. Um... purposely degraded super 8 footage has a snuff film quality to it, complete with hairs, scratches, burns, tears, etc. in the footage. Really, it's the selling point of the film, as it looks INSANE, it's almost like Begotten or Suspiria in that the visual impact is all that it really has going for it... but it's quite a sight to behold. It's an interesting little tale, I guess, but it's way way way too long, and the ending honestly grossed me out (SPOILERS: A fat chick abducts a mentally retarded prostitute and does a bizarre ritual where she puts on a gimp mask, then fucks herself with a pair of scissors and dies. The retarded girl then takes the scissors and cuts her own nipples off. Then, a retarded man fucks her and it shows a close-up of her vagina oozing cum out, and then a fetus falls out. Then, she takes the fetus to the beach and cries as she nurtures it. Truly one of the most shocking, unexpected, and downright stomach-turning sequences in the history of movies, and honestly wasn't necessary at all; the first 90 minutes were fine without it).
le gai savoir - 8/10
A truly brilliant film-essay/collage from Godard which I'd seen before but had to rewatch to get the full effect of, since -- as usual -- there's so much to take in, so much to behold, so many layers... so brilliant! Like Godard's best works, it baffles, confounds, shocks, makes one think, and inspires... probably the greatest director of our time...
network - 9/10
Had to rewatch this masterpiece with a friend who had never heard of it. Now, I'm not a stickler for acting -- bad acting, good acting, it's usually all the same to me, it usually can't make or break a picture. This film, though, is
all about acting, and as such, is the archetype when people ask me what I think is a film with good acting. This is probably
the best acting I've ever seen in a movie; all the performances are absolutely jaw dropping, just amazing. Sidney Lumet.. let's see, I've seen 5 films by him, and I love his style. Long takes sometimes, lots of clever quick cutting other times, in the films I've seen he NEVER USES ANY BACKGROUND MUSIC WHATSOEVER (?!), which creates a really interesting, sometimes creepy effect. I like that, though, it works beautifully here especially.. no "emotional undercurrent" to score our "feelings", how we're "supposed" to feel. As such, I find this movie absolutely hilarious at times, heartbreaking at other times -- is that how I'm "supposed" to feel? Who knows? But I think this is truly one of the funniest movies I've ever seen... a dark comedy, sure, but... look, it's a bunch of old asshole guys bitching and fighting about ratings and some heartless bitch yelling and raving about power... I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT!... It's so ridiculous and over-the-top, but with actual character development (!); you truly care about some of the characters, and ... I mean, it's just pretty much a perfect film. So, why the 9? Eh, sometimes it does drag, specifically in THE OLD FIRED MAN and THE YOUNG MOVING-UP-IN-THE-COMPANY WOMAN's relationship. Also, the ending -- which is kinda daring in a sense, and also really obvious in another sense -- felt like a whimper, instead of a boom that the rest of the film felt like it was leading up to.
Junk Food - 6/10
A confounding little picture... I love these "Japanese underground" movies, which are true "guerilla" pictures, but this one is a bit wandering, aimless, and overlong at times. Still has quite a few powerful scenes. Extremely disjointed and messy, and -- as with a lot of Japanese films -- overlong, but with enough interesting scenes to be reccomendable. I saw traces of Miike's more unhinged moments and even Korine's "vignettecore" scripts (as in, the film isn't really character- or plot-driven, moreso connected by scenes and general themes). Equally brilliant and frustrating.