Clerks

I’m Not Even Supposed To Be Here

Clerks, starring Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson and directed by the infamous Kevin Smith, follows the day of two store clerks, Dante and Randal, and the glamorous life in retail. Dante works at a convenience store and at the start of the movie is called in because someone was sick and thus starts a not too unusual day in a retail job. Randal works across the street at a movie rental store and is just about as excited about work as Dante. Throughout the movie they deal with the normal annoying customers, salesmen, people from their past, perverts, drug dealers, all while trying to fit their own lives into the day.


Retail isn’t a very fun or interesting job. Especially when your job is working at a convenience store. No one treats you with respect, everyone thinks that you know everything just because you work there, and to top it off, you don’t get paid very much. Dante, even though he had other plans that day, comes into work because another employee got sick. His boss told him that someone would be in by noon, so he opens the store and plans to only be there for a couple of hours. Just within the first couple of minutes that Dante is there, he runs into a couple of hiccups. He has to go run across the street to grab a stack of newspapers because his store didn't get them that morning and he found that someone had stuck gum in the two padlocks covering the front windows.

“Buncha savages in this town”

-Randal Hicks

Dante, being quick thinking, ends up just making a sign and hanging it on the two metal doors covering the windows assuring the customers that the store is open.





Not too long after the store is open he runs into his first troublesome customer. First of many, who starts to preach to every customer looking to buys cigarettes that they are bad for you and that you should buy gum instead. He actually turns out to be a salesman for the gum. Dante tells him to leave but of course, he won’t and it takes Dante’s girlfriend with a fire extinguisher to break the mob up.


Dante points out a lot of things that are interesting about people who come into stores. At one point, he and Veronica are just hanging out behind the cash wrap and he has a sign next to the register saying leave what you owe, take change when applicable.





Veronica asks him how he is so trusting of customers and he replies with “If someone sees money just lying there, they will only take what is theirs because they think they are being watched.”


Not to long after, Randal comes in. He first makes a big fuss about the movie store not being open to a customer who is waiting in front of the store and bets her $20 that she won’t be able to rent the movie she came there for. He then walks into Dante’s store, grabs the key to the movie store that we find out he works in. Randal hates the customers and treats them the way he thinks they should be treated. The same way some of them treat Dante and himself.

“I could do without the people in the video store”

-Randal

“Which ones?”

-Dante

“All of them”

-Randal

There are many occasions where Randal is disrespectful to the customer whereas Dante tried to be as respectful as he can. Randal talks about “ripping” into the customers just to vent your frustration, while he does a lot while Dante denies that there are any customers that even annoy him at all until Randal convinces him otherwise. F***ing Customers.





There are many occasions where Dante and Randal try to make time for their personal lives. The first occasion is when Dante and Randal close their stores to go to a viewing which Randal ends up ruining and the second time is when they close their stores to play hockey on the roof of Dante’s store. There are multiple other times when both of them close their respected stores to hangout at the other.


After Dante finds out that he has to stay there till close, he decides to make the best of it by having his hockey game, that he had planned to have today, up on the roof of the store, even if they only get 12 minutes into the game before some guy decides to hit the only ball they had off the roof.








Along with all of this, Dante is also faced with the personal decision of what to do about his girlfriend Veronica and Caitlin, his ex who wants him back. He plans on taking Caitlin out but events occur that prevent that from happening. Veronica later finds out about Caitlin from Randal, and confronts Dante. Dante then finds out that it was Randal who told Veronica about Caitlin and thus confronts Randal which leads to a store wide brawl between the two.





They have to deal with customers being snotty, and inept while dealing with their own problems and trying to run a store. Clerks is full of laughs, especially if you have ever worked in retail. Pretty much everything in this movie is blown out of proportion but surprisingly not by much. Clerks follows the these two normal guys in a more or less normal day in the glamorous life of retail.


The entire movie is about work and the daily struggles that come with it. I work retail and I always get customers like the ones I saw in this movie. Either asking where things are when they haven’t even looked for them, or expecting us to know every single title of every single movie ever made and then get mad at us when we do not know it. This movie takes what almost every person who works retail experiences and blows it way out of proportion, which is why I found this movie so funny. I recommend this movie to everyone, especially those who work bad retail jobs because they will be able to relate to every aspect of it.





Works Cited


"Quotes for Dante Hicks." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2015. <http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026904/quotes>.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9khHJTztKk Clerks Video Clip


Clerks. Dir. Kevin Smith. Prod. Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier. By Kevin Smith, Kevin Smith, and Scott Mosier. Perf. Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, and Lisa Spoonhauer. Miramax Films, 1994. DVD.

Magnificent Maleficent

Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, takes a new view on the Sleeping Beauty story from the life of Maleficent the fairy. This is much like the musical “Wicked” which tells the story of the Wizard of Oz from the life of the Wicked Witch. Everything about this movie just screamed awesome. The special effects, the cinematography, and the acting were all spot on.

The magical forest. Home to Maleficent and all of the magical creatures. Almost the entire forest was computer generated but it looked as real as ever. The detail that was put into the creatures of the forest was incredible. They didn’t cut any corners when making this movie. Even with the smallest of fairies, you could still see every wrinkle, every smile, and every movement clear as day. And watching as Maleficent soars across the water and watching it ripple or as she flies through the sky breaking through clouds was nothing less than breath taking. Everything in this film looked as real as anything I’ve ever seen.

The camera angles, and lighting were also just as superb. Everything just seemed natural. It didn’t like I was even watching a movie. More that I was actually experiencing everything that was happening. The lighting for the movie was great. When it was bright, it wasn’t too bright and when it was dark, it wasn’t pitch black. But the low light scenes are what really got me. In the castle, where most of the low lighting scenes took place, the amber lights from the torches never clashed with the casting lights and blended right in. And when Maleficent’s forest was dark, they added soothing, yet eerie purple orbs of light all over the place to give the scene an ominous but peaceful feel.

The acting was as spot on as the rest of the movie. Angelina Jolie was truly born to play the role of Maleficent. She was sweet and kind but strong and vengeful while still keeping her wisdom. And she wasn’t the only amazing actor. Copley played a proud, but paranoid king who will stop at nothing to destroy Maleficent. Fanning played an innocent and beautiful (if you can get past her blonde hair and brown eyebrows) but strong Aurora. And Riley played a obedient yet free spirited Diaval (The crow).  Even the small actors in this movie did an amazing job.

This movie is one of the best non-animated Disney movies that I believe has ever been made. The acting, special effects and the cinematography were just plain incredible. You could really tell that the actors and the director put a lot of time into this movie and It couldn’t have been any better. 10/10 for sure.

The Equalizer

Fast paced action, sweet close-up slow motion shots, and a terrific story make The Equalizer starring Denzel Washington a must see for any action or drama movie lover. Unlike some action movies that tend to lean on long intense gun fights or action sequences to make up for a lack in story, The Equalizer has an amazing story to accompany the awesome action sequences viewers will undoubtedly take away from this movie. Another thing this film does well in is taking its time to explain the plot and each character. It doesn't skimp on any part of the story, especially the characters. The Equalizer explains in detail each main character and some of the sub-main characters and how they fit into the movie. By the end of the movie, if you pay attention, you can pick out each character and tell what their role is in the movie, even if the names are a little hard to pronounce.

The story flows throughout the whole movie and never leaves you bored and looking for the exit of the theater. It will make you feel connected to the characters, even some of the minor ones. The Equalizer is great at keeping you on the edge of your seat. Camera work is a big part of why I gave this movie a 9/10. The camera will get close-up during certain scenes and gives a perfect sense of symbolism. It makes great use of "power shots" when the camera is facing upwards at a character giving the sense of superior power. It also makes amazing use of dramatic shots, especially with Washington's character. You will see my favorite shot in the entire movie near the end (Don't worry, no spoilers) When it zooms close-up on Washington's face and slows down the role to show the water falling on and off of his face and head. That shot gave me chills.

The only bad thing I have to say about this movie is that you never really find out what Washington's character did before this movie took place. You find out what kind of connections he has but nothing more. But at the same time, I did like that sense of mystery around his character. It worked perfectly for the movie.

The Equalizer is a must see even if you don't particularly like action movies. There is a terrific enough story to keep anyone interested in this movie. Denzel Washington never seems to disappoint. Definitely earns 9/10.

Hope you enjoyed this review and my first blog post, Nation.
-Pat A. Sands