Fast Company

Starring:William Smith, Claudia Jennings, John Saxon, Nicholas Campbell, Don Francks, Cedric Smith, Judy Foster, Robert Haley, George Buza, David Graham (XI), David Petersen, Chuck Chandler, Cheri Hilsabeck, Sonya Ratke, Michael Bell, Douglas Main, Patricia Goodwin, L. Peter Feldman, Graham Light, Fred Hodgson
Director: David Cronenberg
Studio: Blue Underground
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Lo and behold, Clerks II defies the odds as a sequel that even the most ardent Clerks fans can be happy about. Twelve years after Kevin Smith turned the independent film world upside-down with his $27,000 black-and-white comedy, perpetual slackers Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) return for another raucous romp in suburbia, but this time there's no beloved Quick Stop mini-mart to ensure their low-level employment. Now they're aimless 33-year-olds flippin' burgers at Mooby's, a fast-food joint with a cow theme that's "udderly delicious." Dante's engaged to his long-time girlfriend but has unexpectedly fallen in love with Mooby's manager Becky (and since she's played by Rosario Dawson, can you blame him?), and Randal's still holding out for life, liberty, and the pursuit of low ambition. The responsibilities of adulthood are rearing their ugly head, and with Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) still dealing weed and generally being obnoxious, well... something's gotta give, right? The way Smith has written this long-awaited follow-up, the dilemmas of Dante, Randal, and their ongoing friendship are something that anyone can relate to, and with Dawson lighting up the screen (in a role demanded by producer Harvey Weinstein to boost box-office appeal), the movie's romantic chemistry is surprisingly delightful. Rest assured, also, that Smith (shooting mostly in color this time, on a $5 million budget) hasn't forgotten where he came from: Clerks II is jam-packed with the same lewd, crude humor that made Clerks an indie-film phenomenon, and Smith's good-natured sincerity is still on full display, ensuring that only the most prudish viewers could possibly be offended. For everyone else, this is as enjoyable as any sequel could ever hope to be, with amusing cameos by Smith-movie veterans Ben Affleck and Jason Lee, among others. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Bit of a let down.......2007-06-10

The first Clerks movie was an indie classic. In the second one they basically butchered the characters and plot lines. There are a few good laughs and is pretty entertaning, but in comparison to the first movie, this one is not a good.

Clerks 2 is a study in unnecessary sequels.......2007-05-29

The film opens with Dante and Randall pulling up to the Quick Stop and finding it burning down because Randall left the coffee pot on. Their lives as they know them are over... or are they? A year later they are now working at Mooby's a fast food chain, with their boss, the incredibly out-of-place Rosario Dawson. Dawson does her best to pull it off, but she's just too beautiful to belong in this movie, especially as a love interest for Dante Hicks. Fanboys and Mooby's employees can dream, but it's just too much of a stretch.

What's interesting is that it seems like the $5 million budget for Clerks 2 vs. the $28,000 budget for the original actually ends up negatively affecting the film. With more set pieces and more action, Smith doesn't seem to know what to do with his set. And bringing back Dante and Randall (Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson) for another feature is just too much. He's already squeezed these characters dry of most interesting conversation after the first film, and their deadpan lack of delivery might have worked in a low budget black and white film, but here it's almost painful to listen to. There are still a few funny monologues and moments, but for the most part, Dante and Randall's complaining and bickering just comes off a bit screeching, especially considering that they're now in their thirties.

It seems like Kevin Smith hit a wall with Dogma. After a string of successful, low budget films, maybe Smith ran out of solid ideas, or maybe he just needs to refuel his creative juices. Going back to the well with his original characters the first time for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back didn't prove very fruitful, so he set out to make some kind of romantic comedy-ish film with Jersey Girl, which flopped terribly, and now we're digging deeper into the well with Clerks 2, Smith's first sequel.

There are two discs, which makes for too much viewing really. There's a documentary about the making of Clerks 2 that's just as long as the movie itself, as well as a thirty minute blooper reel, with a few minutes of Jason Lee flubbing his lines, and showing that he just showed up to film for a few hours as a favor and is ready to get out of there.

Overall, Clerks 2 is an unneeded addition to the View Askew world and the rest of us could have done without it too. It needlessly adds to a story that concluded, and in fact detracts from the original. if you haven't already seen it, I'd recommend staying away, or asking someone that's seen it to tell you which few scenes are watchable and check those out.

even better than the original.......2007-05-22

this is, in my opinion, the funniest kevin smith movie yet, a must have for fans of his movies

Kevin Smith Strikes again.......2007-05-19

Clerks II rocked!! Plenty of KS jokes to quote later on. The characters ae awesome and he does a great job allowing Dante and Randall grow up a little. A no brainer for any who love Kevins movies.

Doesn't hold up to the original 'Clerks'.......2007-04-26

Dante arrives to work at the Quick Stop to find it burning. After 10 years in a dead-end job, Dante and Randal are forced to find new employment. Clerks II is about their new jobs at Mooby's, a fast food restaurant. Jay and Silent Bob follow them, and are now hanging out at Mooby's too.

Dante is getting ready to leave for Florida with his new fiancé, a shallow girl with a personal problem Randal is quick to point out. Her father is going to pay for their new house and give Dante a carwash to run, so things are looking pretty cozy for Dante. Randal decides to celebrate Dante's departure with a "cross-species erotica show".

Will Dante actually leave New Jersey for Florida? Will he leave best friend Randal behind? Or is there actually something left in New Jersey to hold him there?

The charm in this movie is in the dialogue alone, plus the fact that they managed to get hottie Rosario Dawson to play Becky, Mooby's manager and Dante's good friend. The first 'Clerks' had the charm of black-and-white photography, and although made on a lower budget managed to keep a tighter rein on the storyline while appearing as if the entire movie was shot through a surveillance camera. 'Clerks II' is filmed in color, and lacks the charm of the first movie.

Interesting notes of the movie is the dialogue during the argument over Lord Of The Rings vs. Star Wars, plus the crazy scene with Randal's "going away gift". There are foul words and $exual references and a lot of cynical pottie mouths, but that's what 'Clerks' is all about. Unfortunately, other than Jay and Silent Bob, the cast didn't hold up well to the passing of time and lost a great deal of their charm. However, this movie is still funny, earning three and a half stars, but can't hold a candle to the first 'Clerks'. Enjoy!

Average customer rating:

Long and talky, but with some hilarious moments
As good if not better than the original
Excellent sequel, excellent HD-DVD.
Different movie, same great characters
Good Picture Quality But Not Funny

Clerks II (HD DVD)
Starring: Ben Affleck , Ken Baldwin , Cheryl Baxter , Walter Flanagan , and Ryan Thomas
Director: Kevin Smith
Manufacturer: Weinstein Company
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: HD DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | HD DVD | Formats | DVD | Video

Comedy | HD DVD | Formats | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000I5YMR4
Release Date: 2007-01-16

Description

10 years later, Dante and Randal are working at a fast-food restaurant and Dante considers leaving the clerk life behind for greener pastures.

Customer Reviews:

Long and talky, but with some hilarious moments.......2007-05-13

I liked II better than the original. Definitely worth seeing. Very talkative at times and the humor is hit and miss. Enough funny moments to make it worth watching, and it features a rather nice, heartwarming ending.

The HD DVD looks terrific, and the 2 disc set (!) features terrific extras.

As good if not better than the original.......2007-03-29

If you're a Kevin Smith / Jay and Silent Bob fan, this is a must for your collection. Humor in the movie is non stop. The quality of the audio and video is excellent.

Excellent sequel, excellent HD-DVD........2007-02-16

While Kevin Smith's follow-up to Clerks doesn't quite capture the zeitgeist like his earlier effort did, it is still an excellent comedy. Smith has grown up along with his characters (and his fans) and it shows. This deals with more mature areas of friendship and love in more mature ways. That said, there is still plenty of Smith's trademark verbal exchanges dealing with everything from Lord of the Rings to interspecies erotica.

All of the extras on the HD-DVD are also in 1080p HD which is a nice bonus. As is par for the course with Smith and his ViewAskew cronies we get excellent audio commentaries. Here, we even get three of them, all very entertaining.

Different movie, same great characters.......2007-02-13

All fans of the first film should see Clerks 2. Not only is it really funny, but it's about people just a little older than me who haven't really done anything with their lives, and what they finally choose to do. There is also a donkey show, and everybody loves those! Some thought this might not match up to the first movie, but it truly is the logical extension of the characters' lives. Despite the comedy, Clerks 2 makes me a little sad because it reminds me of my own problems. The picture quality is very nice, even with the strange color filters, and the special features - entirely in HD - are incredible. Keep on clerkin'.

Good Picture Quality But Not Funny.......2007-02-01

I have to say the quality of the movie as far as picture and sound is just about perfect. I however didnt laugh at all during the whole movie. It is predictable and full of stupid characters. I guess its for fans only.

Clerks II (Two-Disc Full Screen Edition)

Average customer rating:

Bit of a let down
Clerks 2 is a study in unnecessary sequels
even better than the original
Kevin Smith Strikes again
Doesn't hold up to the original 'Clerks'

Clerks II (Two-Disc Full Screen Edition)
Starring: Ben Affleck , Ken Baldwin , Cheryl Baxter , Walter Flanagan , and Ryan Thomas
Director: Kevin Smith
Manufacturer: Weinstein Company
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000I0RNW0
Release Date: 2006-11-28

Amazon.com

Description

10 years later, Dante and Randal are working at a fast-food restaurant and Dante considers leaving the clerk life behind for greener pastures.

Customer Reviews:

Bit of a let down.......2007-06-10

Clerks 2 is a study in unnecessary sequels.......2007-05-29

even better than the original.......2007-05-22

this is, in my opinion, the funniest kevin smith movie yet, a must have for fans of his movies

Kevin Smith Strikes again.......2007-05-19

Clerks II rocked!! Plenty of KS jokes to quote later on. The characters ae awesome and he does a great job allowing Dante and Randall grow up a little. A no brainer for any who love Kevins movies.

Doesn't hold up to the original 'Clerks'.......2007-04-26

Average customer rating:

Review for "Crimes of the Future'
Fast Company...Finally
Fast Company...Finally
"I have great affection for this movie." - David Cronenberg
An Experiment in Telepathy

Fast Company
Starring: William Smith , Claudia Jennings , John Saxon , Nicholas Campbell , and Don Francks
Director: David Cronenberg
Manufacturer: Blue Underground
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001NBLWM
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Amazon.com

An early departure from director David Cronenberg's canon of visceral horror, 1979's Fast Company profiles one of his personal passions, racecars, in a gritty melodrama that also features exciting racetrack footage. Veteran toughguy William Smith is top-billed as a champion drag racer who clashes with the unscrupulous oil-company executive (John Saxon) who sponsors his team. Though lacking the gruesome clinical obsessions of his horror features (Cronenberg admits on the disc's commentary that the film was a tax shelter for its Canadian producers), Fast Company is also fascinated with internal machinery (here, car engines instead of human bodies), and it's easily Cronenberg's most approachable film, with plenty of automotive action alongside the solid performances (the cast includes B-movie queen Claudia Jennings in her final performance). --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews:

Review for "Crimes of the Future'.......2006-08-21

"Crimes of the Future" is the type of postmodernist "artsy" flick which considers meaningless ramblings, actions which could be cryptic messages disguised as purposeless events, and androgynous characters behind which a soundtrack of hoots, whistles, rustling, and static plays with interceptions of complete silence. This is degenerate art at its zenith and extremely surprising as coming from the same director who did "Scanners," "Videodrome," and "Nightbreed."

Fast Company...Finally.......2005-02-01

Fast Company (1979) is truly great B-cinema despite the tendencies of scholastic indifference. Whether its lack of reception has been due to lack of availability, its straight-to-Beta stigma or, most probable, an audience's disregard for anything differing from the Cronenbergian macabre is open for debate. What is certain is that this effort, his first with a budget exceeding the million-dollar mark, was a precursor to the personal trajectory of The Brood (1979).

Divorce proceedings underway, David changed focus to his consuming passion of the automobile. The final product was a decent drag strip movie, "a good B-Movie" he admits. The good versus evil tension included in most racing films is combined with some point of view shots from the car racers proper, in itself, well worth the price of the rental. Spending most of the film arguing with John Saxon, his greasy sponsor from Fast Company Motor Oil, William Smith plays Lonnie 'Lucky Man' Johnson, whose iconic status as drag strip guru is tested race after race. His real stroke of luck however comes through his onscreen squeeze, November Playmate 1969 Claudia Jennings. This marked consecutive attempts at casting notables from the adult industry.

Attempting to recreate the similar appeal and subsequent audience draw that worked for him in Rabid, Ms Jennings' luck ran out in an ironic off-screen car-accident, taking her young life shortly after the film was completed.

Fast Company...Finally.......2005-02-01

"I have great affection for this movie." - David Cronenberg.......2004-06-08

The 2-Disc Limited Edition was purchased impulsively on its street date release, after I saw it staring at me on a shelf at a local retailer. Having greatly enjoyed Rabid, The Brood, Videodrome, and Crash, I had long been curious to see Stereo and Crimes of the Future. Yet having picked it up for Cronenberg's two early features, I was watching Fast Company for the sixth time on Saturday night of that same week.

Phil Adamson (John Saxon): You know you're out of your goddamn mind, Johnson. You're out of your mind, and you're over-the-hill. First you turn my trailer into a goddamn whorehouse, now it's an insane asylum!

John Saxon's villainy as the FastCo oil company rep is hilarious. Aside from the wonderfully written dialogue, his facial expressions and gestures are fantastic. Lonnie "Lucky Man" Johnson's (William Smith) team consists of a Western genre family-like trio, with character names such as Billy the Kid, P.J. and Elder; all wonderful performances. Gary "The Blacksmith" Black (Cedric Smith) is Lonnie's top competitor. He is neither a one-dimensional friend nor foe. His personal team members, known as Stoner and Meatball, are a funny pair. Stoner is likable and not-such-a-bad guy, while Meatball is a classic A-hole. Candy (Judy Foster) is Miss FastCo, a not-so-dumb blonde with feelings for Billy, and who makes an admirable stand when her self-respect is threatened by her employer's demands. William Smith and Claudia Jennings are the long-distance relationship lovers that I, on a personal level, have grown strongly attached to. Both, individually and together, add to the film something magical and nostalgic for me that I find very rare in most movies that I've seen. The scenes involved with them makes me feel like a small boy spending time with a favorite aunt and uncle. Mind you, I come from a Hispanic middle class background.
The cinematographer is largely to thank for capturing the humor of the film, as well as the documentary-like and exciting treatment of the dragsters; not to mention a multitude of highly admirable shots. Also worth mentioning is the work of Art Director Carol Spier, as well as the choices of music that significantly add to this wonderful little film. I have to say that Fast Company has been one of the most delightful surprises that I have encountered on DVD so far this year, along with The Passion of Joan of Arc, Flesh + Blood, Humanité, and Diary of a Country Priest.
Now, about Stereo and Crimes of the Future - after my purchase, I got home as fast as I could, and saw them first. Alas, they did not fully appeal to me, though Cronenberg's aesthetic approach to the storytelling on both, and his very nice camera work, did. I am very glad to have finally seen them, and I do intend to redo so again in the immediate future.
Blue Underground along with the personal supervision of Cinematographer Mark Irwin present an amazing print for a late-Seventies B-movie. The colors and sharpness are outstanding; and the sound is extremely satisfying. David Cronenberg's commentary is both interesting and very pleasing. His own enthusiasm on the film, and at the discovery of the restoration of a thought-to-be lost seen is wonderful. Comments like: "...it's very much me. And I don't think anybody else could have made this movie the way ... that I did." He stumbles at this last comment, probably concerned with sounding egotistical. However, with his style being so distinct along with his input into the script, he has justification to make that statement. Cronenberg also remarks on the commentary: "Worth every penny of it, wasn't it?" I quite agree. And am very pleased to hear a director satisfied with his own work, for a change. This film should appeal to fans of Seventies exploitation and car racing, while bitter and stubborn Cronenberg no-nonsense horror fans might need some lubing, or repeated viewings, to appreciate it for what it is and not for what they want it or expect it to be.

Billy "The Kid" Brooker (Nicholas Campbell): You know something, gang? There's a lot of junk you can put down your pipes, you know what I mean. Now I'm talking about the good stuff. You gotta take care of your baby's engine. So I suggest you go like the pros, and go with FastCo. If you want that power, that performance, and that protection. Yeah. FastCo. This is what all the pro racers use. FastCo Motor Treatment. (Chuckles). All right.

An Experiment in Telepathy.......2004-04-25

Stereo and Crimes of the Future are among the best underground films produced in North America in the late 60's/early 70's, a time when Kenneth Anger and Martin Scorsese were also making their first films. Thanks to Blue Underground for releasing those two important productions (along with the great Fast Company in a fantastic transfer) in such a classy edition.

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Review for "Crimes of the Future'.......2006-08-21

Fast Company...Finally.......2005-02-01

"I have great affection for this movie." - David Cronenberg.......2004-06-08

An Experiment in Telepathy.......2004-04-25

Product Description

CANNONBALL is a high-energy action film about an illegal and lengthy marathon road race where the goal is to make it to the finish without being arrested or incinerated. Look for cameos from cult directors Martin Scorsese and Roger Corman.

FAST COMPANY: Though known for his thinking-person's horror flicks, director David Cronenberg provides a realistic, compelling portrait of the race-car circuit in FAST COMPANY. Lonnie "Lucky Man" Johnson (William Smith) knows that his sponsor, Fast Company Motor Oil, wants to let him go in favor of a younger, edgier image and spokesperson. As Johnson, the company representative (John Saxon), and Johnson's girlfriend Sammy (Claudia Jennings, in her last role before her untimely death), navigate through a web of competition and greed, Cronenberg presents an astonishingly detailed drama that gets to the heart of fame and the American dream.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Average customer rating:

Summer Luvin Girls

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Product Features:

Nudity and Lesbian Sexuality
Interactive Menu
All Region Disc

ASIN: B000GLD22Q

Product Description

These Backyard Beauties know how to spend their summer, playing water volleyball, cooling off in the pool, and spending quality time with their girlfriends...

Average customer rating:

Fast Frame Forward

Manufacturer: Eli Wilner & Company
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Art & Artists | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video
Product Features:

A framemaking video.
n excellent reference for curators, collectors, conservators, educators, and dealers of fine art.

ASIN: B000N8FHWK

Product Description

Watch as the skilled craftspeople of Eli Wilner & Company, the world's preeminent resource for antique frames and frame restoration and replication, create a magnificent frame. A unique look at the framemaking process from inception to completion.

DVD:

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