• CHUD calls Mallrats #40 in their list of 50 cinematic “guilty pleasures” with a fairly extensive write-up. Here’s a few tidbits:
  Instead of pushing off from the critical success of Clerks, Kevin Smith made a film that proved he might actually be the voice of a generation, if Generation X was the lazy, unmotivated bunch of bums some claimed it to be. The characters in Mallrats occupy some neutral zone between junior high and college, and instead of the relatively accurate, if exaggerated dialogue of his debut, they all spew the verbose fantasties and monologues which would later be proven as Smith’s de facto m.o. The only time the dialogue works this time is during the game show finale, where I have to admit it’s actually funny as hell, even if Jason Lee’s jabs at Brian O’Halloran amount to shooting fish in a barrel. “I should know — we can smell our own,” gets me every time.
• How ’bout some more Rats news? Mallrats hit HD-DVD on June 26th, and High Def Digest has the first review that we’ve seen (we don’t have the high def equipment setup to review these puppies just yet). In short, the reviewer does give high marks to the film and the disc, which contains everything in the Mallrats 10th Anniversary package from a couple years back. Sounds like the picture and sound both offer some small step ups in quality.
• Shock Till You Drop and Cinematical have more San Diego ComicCon details realeased today. As we mentioned, Kevin will be speaking on Friday July 27th – STYD calls it a Q&A, while Cinematical just refers to it as a talk. Expect the usual format there, we’re betting on some new stories, too — A preamble to the big August 2nd event in Red Bank!
• Check out a new View Askew themed podcast called Salsashark. Looks like he’s got some more episodes on the way, too.

• Malcolm Ingram’s award-winning documentary “Small Town, Gay Bar”, produced by View Askew, will be available on a packed DVD August 7th, 2007. You can bet that we’ll have a fantastic pre-order price on SIGNED copies of this film through the Stash, so stay tuned for those details as soon as we can get ‘em. Those of you lucky enough to see the film at a Vulgarthon or another film festival over the past year or two can attest to what a good job that Malc did to capture this walk of life. Read Kevin’s reveal over at the board.

By the way, sneak into Kev’s post and you’ll also notice that he’s made a MAJOR casting for “Zack & Miri” — Judging by the secrecy, we’re betting this may be for the “Zack” role, too — As we’re still figuring Rosario for “Miri”. We can’t wait to find out who’s coming into the family.

• Some specs and art have leaked for the DVD arrival of “Catch and Release”, set to arrive on the 8th of May. DVDActive has the scoop which reveals that the disc will be light on extras (just two audio commentaries) but both fullscreen and widescreen versions of the film. We’ll be shocked if Kevin’s not on at least one of the commentary tracks. Here’s the report:

Title: Catch & Release
Starring: Jennifer Garner
Released: 8th May 2007
SRP: $28.95

Further Details: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced romantic comedy Catch & Release which stars Jennifer Garner, Juliette Lewis, Kevin Smith, and Timothy Olyphant. The film will be available to own from the 8th May, and should retail at around $28.95. The disc will carry both anamorphic widescreen, and full screen presentations – along with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks. The only extra material will be two audio commentaries (participants to be confirmed) and preview trailers. A Blu-ray release will also be available for $38.96.

• The excellent DVD review website DVD Verdict sings high praises of the awesome Clerks II DVD. Check out a snippet or two to see what we mean:

Read the entire review over at their site.

• The Hollywood Reporter has the fantastic news that DVD sales for Clerks II are off to a HUGE start, holding their own against major players such as “Superman Returns”, “Ice Ace 2”, and “Cars”. Yep, number FOUR on both the sales AND rental charts against all those big-budgeters! Many thanks to all of you who rented or bought the film, continuing to show the amazing track record of Kevin and View Askew when it comes to home video and DVD. Here’s the blurb from the HR article:

And Kev’s two cents (and news on some display changes at the beautiful Secret Stash shops):

• We ran some hints on Easter Eggs located on the new Clerks II DVD in our review earlier this month. But in case you were too lazy to track them down yourself, here’s a list of what’s been discovered so far. Of course, if you’ve got more to add, let us know:

• We’re pleased to report the highly anticipated arrival of THREE View Askew related titles on DVD today. First up, the latest in Kevin’s Askewniverse series, Clerks II, which many (including Kevin) say is the likely end to the View Askewniverse as we know it. You’ll certainly want to complete your collection with this one, and read our review of the disc set as well.

Next up — Kevin goes international with 2 Q&A sessions from Canada and the U.K. in “Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder”. Another two disc set chronicles Kevin’s hilarious Q&As and anecdotes, as Kevin entertains packed houses like no one else can. Look for tons of laughs and unexpectected surprises in these no-holds-barred sessions. Now everywhere on DVD (finally caught up with you Australia!).

And finally, Jeff Anderson’s directorial debut, “Now You Know” — Not originally produced by View Askew, but now presented by Kevin Smith as it earns a place in Askew myth in its own right, due to discovering Trevor Fehrman who steals many a scene in “Clerks II”.

As we speak, fans everywhere are converging on Stash Westwood for a big signing of DVDs today with Smith, Mewes, Anderson and Fehrman. If you’re in line, we hope you’re having a blast, and look forward to your tales and photos.

For the rest of us, here’s hoping you’ve got your pre-orders in with the Stash, as it’s still the only spot to get personally signed copies of all these discs to put under your tree. In the meantime, here’s some other info on today’s releases and what special goodies you can find at various outlets:

• Suncoast Pictures are carrying the Clerks II DVD packed with the bonus DVD. The disc contains a music video contest winner, the VH-1 Special and 5 BONUS Train Wrecks.
• Many Best Buy stores are in short suppy of the Mooby’s Meal Box set. If you want one, we suggest you run and grab one as soon as you can!
• The free comic in the Circuit City version, we’re being told, is only coming packed with the Full Screen version of the film, NOT the widescreen. Be careful.

• One vigilant scooper from the North travelled down to a New York Best Buy last night and happened upon one of those limited edition Mooby Meal boxes, out EARLY! So thanks to him, we have some new high res shots of the contents of this beauty. We’ll be at our local Best Buy to pick these suckers up tomorrow, you can bet on that.

Of Canadian interest: Not as impressive as the Best Buy USA exclusive, Canadians get a free original ‘98 Clerks Comic book with the purchase of Clerks II on DVD. None of the other stores seem to have any deals of any sort.

• It took longer than expected to compile this one, because we think this disc set’s got more content packed into it than ever before! THREE commentary tracks. An amazing new 90 minute documentary. Over an hour of deleted scenes and outtakes. Train Wrecks. Easter Eggs. And the fantastic film itself, which just begs a couple of immediate re-watches. Yes, the Special 2-disc edition of Clerks II is almost here on DVD (November 28th everywhere) and we were lucky enough to have an early look at its contents. Thanks to Zak, Joey, and the gang at Genius Products for the hookup. We’re happy to present our in-depth coverage of the contents of this disc, with exclusive screenshots and details that you just won’t find anywhere else. We proudly bring you: The News Askew Clerks II DVD Review!

• Can you smell the excitement in the air? View Askew’s biggest DVD day EVER is coming next month, with Evening 2: Evening Harder, Clerks II, and Now You Know all hitting on the same day. We haven’t screened Evening 2 yet, so we’re as excited as the rest of you to see it. IGN’s taken some of the pain of waiting away, with a bagful of NEW VIDEOS and previews for the disc. You can get to the first of three pages at this link.

You can watch NINE CLIPS IN ALL, including a trailer, Kevin chatting on Canada’s love of hockey, clips from the Q&A portions, and more. And man, are they ever FUNNY. Watch Kevin go international with clips from Canada and the UK. They’re censored but you can still make out the jokes. This could very well top Evening One as one of the best party DVDs ever. Try it sometime — Evening With is one of the most crowd entertaining DVDs that we’ve ever seen. And don’t worry, the released version will be totally uncut and uncensored.