The Movie of the Summer

Not a stellar summer movie season thus far. M:I3 wasn't memorable. X3's concept had promise, but the execution was very disappointing and basically killed the franchise for me, though I'm sure they'll keep going with it anyway (hopefully with a new writer and director, which could revive it, a la Batman Begins). Da Vinci was panned by both critics and audiences, and I still haven't ponied up for it. Superman was decent, but the lack of dialogue really detracted from it. Pirates was pretty marginal on its own, but its quality will ultimately be determined by the quality of the third movie. If the third one sucks, I'll just pretend the last two never happened (a la Die Hard, Matrix, Back to the Future). If it's good, I'll probably perceive the second one as a good bridge movie. Regardless, it's no Empire or Two Towers (though talk about unfair comparisons).

I'm pretty sure the best movie I've seen this summer starred Al freakin' Gore.

But I expect that to change this weekend. My hopes are sky high for Clerks II, and if yours aren't, then I'm guessing you haven't seen the original. Fans of dialogue-driven movies rejoice!

The other day I watched some of the Clerks director's commentary, and I had to laugh when Kevin Smith remarked about a music video that was made with the Clerks characters, "That's the closest we'll ever come to a sequel." Well, I guess the money on the table was substantial, because part 2 is coming Friday.

There haven't been many reviews yet, but one critic made some waves by walking out on a screening earlier this week. Smith had some choice words for the noted critic, Joel Siegel:

A Dick in a Mustache is Still Just a Dick

That blast just makes me want to see this movie more. Do yourself a favor and check out Clerks this week, then join me for the sequel this weekend. If it comes anywhere close to the original, it'll be great.