Clerks (15th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]

First off here's the special features:

Audio Commentary: This commentary features a nearly countless amount of people, but mostly Kevin Smith with the occasional tid bit from actor Brian O' Halloran (also known as Brian Christopher O' Halloran) or producer Scott Mosier. Funnily, Jason Mewes showed up drunk for the recording of this and lies on the floor past out most of the time, sometimes waking up to swear or scream "Snootchie Bootchies." Obviously only one mike was used for this, but that never bothered me much, because the commentary is a load of fun, with tons of interesting things and laughs. I like this much better than the overrated Mallrats commentary.

Deleted Scenes With Introductions by Kevin Smith: There are about 6 deleted scenes, almost all of them extended bits, but all of them interesting. Ones I particularly liked were the longer Gum Guy's speech, the longer conversation with Dane and Veronica, and the longer talking between Veronica and Randal. The only completely additional scene is in #3 where Randal tries to pursuade a customer to rent Smokey and the Bandit 3. Not very funny, but interesting. The introductions to the scenes by Kevin Smith are very good, short and to the point, where as in all the other DVDs he rambles on for about two minutes about why you should visit Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash or mumbles or wastes time going "Um," you get my point. In these intros he simly states what you'll find new in the scene and then you view, I think the longest intro is about thirty seconds. Excellent.

Original Ending: The shocking original ending is included for your enjoyment, and it is obvious why it was cut, although I personally love the scene and think it'd be a great ending to the film. Why? Because it ends on a downer, just like Dante and Randal talk about early in the film, and is more realistic (OK, maybe not, but I like it). Sit through the short set of credits for a breif cameo by director Smith. The ending features an introduction where Smith states how happy he is that the scene was cut. Interesting.

Music Video: The funny music video for Soul Asylum's "Can't Even Tell", featuring a recreation of the hockey scene, in color no less! It's an interesting look at what if would be like if the movie was in color, but it's also a pretty good song, and the video is entertaining, measuring around four and a half minutes. Introduction by Smith is included, which is pretty interesting.

Theatrical Trailer: The film's original trailer is included with introduction by Smith, where he states how crazy he is for it and that it's one of his favorite trailers ever. It's a nice trailer and all, but really, it is just a trailer, and I think he sees into it more than most people will (though I read a review that called the trailer "a piece of film itself").

Anyway, those are the extras. It doesn't look like much, but quality overwhelms quantity, and all these extras are very cool, and worth your time.

The sound and picture on the film is fine, at least when you think about it. Remember Clerks cost less than a car to make, and the picture is consistently grainy throughout, as well as black and white (oh boo hoo to all you people who can't watch a black and white movie), but I could always tell what was going on, and after about two minutes, I got used to the grain (you will, too). The sound is a 2.0 surround sound that is always clear and never bothersome. There's minor hiss, but barely irritating (or noticeable).

Anyway, I like CLerks a lot, although most people won't watch it because of the black and white picture and a lot of people find it boring, but I just don't understand how anyone could find a movie with such great acting and dialouge boring. Well, if you need an explosion or a bunch of action every ten minutes.....

Hope you liked my review (kind of long, sorry), and please vote if it was helpful. Thank you for reading.

Disc One: The 93-minute theatrical cut in anamorphic widescreen (from a new HD transfer of the 16mm interpositive, supervised by DP Dave Klein), all-new DD5.1 remix (supervised by producer Scott Mosier and completed at Skywalker Sound), original commentary track from the previous Clerks release.

Disc Two: The 103-minute initial cut (from a video source) screened at the IFFM, all-new audio/video commentary track (with Kevin Smith, Scott, Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran and Jason Mewes).

Disc Three: "The Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks" 95-minute documentary, newly-animated "Lost Scene" short, new video intros, audition tapes, Clerks trivia track, "Mae Day: The Crumbling of a Documentary" student film project, Arclight Cinemas 10th anniversary Q&A, MTV's Jay and Silent Bob shorts (!), "The Flying Car" short from The Tonight Show, extensive still gallery, theatrical trailer, "Can't Even Tell" music video, 168-page original first draft screenplay, Kevin's 'Clerks' Journal, Kevin's 'Sundance' Journal, original IFFM program note, original 1994 Sundance Film Festival program note, lots of print articles (Peter Broderick's "The ABC's of No-Budget Filmmaking" that inspired Kevin, Peter Broderick's "Learning from Low-Budgets" which cited Clerks a year later, Amy Taubin's 1991 Village Voice article on the IFFM and Slacker, Amy Taubin's 1993 Village Voice article on the IFFM and Clerks, Janet Maslin's 1994 New York Times Clerks review, "The Odd Couple: Sundance 1994" chapter from John Pierson's Spike Mike Reloaded) and a very cool booklet.

To me, some of the greatest things in the movie are the little errors were people might trip on a word for a second. That's so real, that it give the movie a sense of reality that is missing in so many other movies. People have complained that Randall sounds like he's reading from cue cards. So what! Haven't you ever met anyone like that? I have.

Jay and Silent Bob are the kings of loitering. What class they possess. Dante and Randall are a shining example of what can happen to you after working too long in a convience and rental store, respectively.

There is nothing far fetched about the story of a guy having a bad day at work. I had many days almost that bad when I did retail. The dialogue is brilliant. Nice little insights about life and your place in it.

After hearing a little of the story you forget that the movie is in black and white, and you don't care because it's so good. If you are a Kevin Smith/Silent Bob fan and have not seen Clerks yet... Get it! If you've watched Mallrats or Dogma without seeing this you're missing out.

Great soundtrack, very cool Soul Asylum video, neat extras. This is one of the best comedy movies out there.

The dialog from writer/director Kevin Smith carries the movie as there is little action, but it works. You get a sense that the characters are real people as opposed to many movies in which the characters are empty and emotionless. Dante and Randall are smart and witty, and you get the sense that they have some kind of great talent that they don't know what to do with. Dante is especially unsure of what he wants to do with his life, and it takes Randall to point him towards the source of his problems. Anyone who has worked retail (including me) can relate to some of the annoying customers and how at times the job can become mind-numbingly and painfully boring.

I will not spoil the most notable scene for those that haven't seen the film. It happens off screen, but will still leave you with a look of shock when you find out what happened. Clerks is not for those who are easily offended by strong language or those uncomfortable with talk about sex (including "snowballing" and deadly means of self-gratification). But the movie works without resorting to crude, sickening humor. And of course, the infamous Jay and Silent Bob make their debut. This is a must-see for Kevin Smith fans and a great place to start if you want to get into Kevin Smith's work.