• Ok, first up — Kevin officially confirms that the street date of the Clerks II has been moved up to November 28, 2006. Just a couple short months away until this gem can be a part of our collections! The cover we previously posted, he reveals, is also incorrect, as a Chicago Sun-Times quote will appear on the cover.

Kevin also confirms that the disc will indeed be packed with features, including an ironic 37 minutes of deleted film footage:

We’ll of course keep you updated on this exciting disc — With this and Evening Harder on the way, it’s going to be a happy Fall for our DVD players.

• We’ve been telling you about Affleck’s turn in “Hollywoodland” lately, and now a major film festival has backed up that claim — Ben’s been awarded the “Best Actor” trophy from the Venice Film Festival this weekend. Major congratulations to Affleck, who channels the late George Reeves to perfection in the flick. A much-deserved award for a guy who’s been a friend to View Askew for many years.

The official announcement can be found HERE, while Joblo has some nice words of congrats to pass on as well. Let us add to the praise, and also finish up with this IMDB posting on the accolades that Ben’s been enjoying:

Ben Affleck is seeing something that has eluded him for a long time — good reviews. There are plenty of them for his performance as actor George Reeves — who played Superman in the 1950s’ TV series — in Hollywoodland. Gene Seymour in Newsweek writes: “Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Reeves epitomizes the movie’s solicitousness and grace. Affleck gives his all to his star-crossed character, evoking Reeves’ vocal inflections and physical presence (even his creeping middle-age puffiness) with startling precision and affecting sympathy.” Chris Kaltenbach in the Baltimore Sun writes: “The scenes featuring Reeves, played with just the right mix of professionalism and exasperation by Ben Affleck, are the best things about Hollywoodland.” Susan Walker in the Toronto Star comments, almost in amazement: “Somehow Ben Affleck is perfect as … Reeves.” And Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News concludes: “Affleck’s thoughtful performance reflects the despair of a natural-born charmer who discovers that charm isn’t enough to reach Hollywood’s heights. Those who insist that Mr. Reeves’ rise and fall mirrors Mr. Affleck’s career trajectory are entitled to their opinions, but Hollywoodland definitely is an upward step.” Several critics agree, however, that Affleck is better than the film itself. As Manohla Dargis writes in the New York Times: “Ben Affleck has packed on the pounds, slipped on some tights and given this exasperating film far more than it gives in return.”

• Kevin hints that the location of the Movies Askew gala, Cinespace, may hold an “Evening Harder” watching party sometime in early November – How cool is THAT? No details yet, but man, it gets harder and harder living on the east coast all the time. As soon as details are announced, we’ll have ticket info here.
• Coming Soon confirms a September 12th release for the Jason Mewes-Paris Hilton DVD “Bottoms Up”.
• A Moobys shirt was spotted by a sharp scooper on The Food Network this weekend:

• This just in: Clerks’ Marilyn Ghigliotti will appear at the Arclight in Los Angeles today with her short “Bad Hair Day” as part of the LA International Short Film Festival. Details:

LA Shorts Fest
Program 51
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Theatre #13
The Arclight Cinemas
6360 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(at Sunset and Vine)
www.lashortsfest.com
Tickets are $10, and there are 7 shorts in the program.

Bad Hair Day is written, directed and produced by Sheila Cavalet. Starring and produced by Marilyn Ghigliotti. About a divorced women struggling at trying to make a fresh start on her own when after a trying day, eventually she realizes that she can do it with the help of her family and friends.

• The folks over at DVDActive seem to have nabbed the first glimpse at the cover for the forthcoming Clerks II DVD. They also list specs for the disc, the first we’ve seen — Not sure if this is official, but here goes:

Sounds great to us — We’re expecting they’ll pack it all onto one disc. We don’t expect the sheer amount of deleted scenes we’ve seen in the past, though the documentary sounds fantastic (and we assume will be built from Train Wreck footage). We’ll keep you posted, and of course have a first look right here as soon as a test disc comes our way. Until then, see below’s newsbites for a scan that holds even more clues.

• The extensive short film contest “Movies Askew”, hosted for the past hear by View Askew Productions, held a gala event awarding the top prizes last night, September 6th, at Cinespace in Hollywood, California. Kevin, Jennifer, director Richard Kelly, and many contest finalists, stars, and other personalities were on hand to celebrate the culmination of our first-ever private, fan-created film festival.

In photos above, courtesy Movidude74, the grand prize goes to “Up Syndrome” (see the photo of Kevin and the winner above). An unplanned special recognition was awarded in absentia to “Perils in Nude Modeling” presented by Richard Kelly. And, in the final photo, the director of “Chingaso the Clown” accepts the Audience Award. Congratulates to all the winners, finalists and thanks to all who took the time to participate in this fantastic event. Will we do it again? Stay tuned and find out details.

The grand prize winner took home an amazing package of Panasonic goodies, including the spectacular AG-DVX100A camera.

• Much thanks to the overwhelming amount of fans who sent us their Clerks II ticket stub for a chance to win the newly released “The Tick vs. Season One” on DVD, from Buena Vista Home Video. We have five lucky randomly selected winners from all the entries received straight ahead. If you see your name here, and you don’t hear from us first, hit us with your shipping info, and we’ll get your prizes out to ya.

See that? Checking out View Askew flicks in the theater is the gift that keeps on giving. Sorry we couldn’t give ya all a prize. Thanks to all who enetered, and thanks again to Buena Vista for offering up the fun prizes. If you dig the fast, dry humor of Clerks: The Animated Series, you’ll certainly love The Tick as well.

• Two new scans from Home Retailing Magazine to kick off newsbites today. First up, a shot of Jay with pal Andy Milonakis at his FYE DVD signing. More telling, however, is a NEW scan on the Clerks II DVD with quotes and info from Kevin. In it, learn of the Clerks II deleted scenes slated for the disc, the documentary, and more.
• Catch the great, personable Brian O’Halloran at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville this Friday night. He will be doing a Q&A after a 9:30 screening of Clerks. It should start around 10:30. Sounds like something you can’t miss if you’re in the area.
• Clerks II has received a coveted “15” rating in the UK without any cuts.
• Ben Affleck is the main subject of this Hollywoodland article from MSN movies. His turn as George Reeves has been highly praised by fans and critics who’ve seen the flick.
• TMZ checks in with some interesting Jason Lee news today:

• We love bringing you these scans from the excellent Total Film magazine in the UK, especially since so many of us can’t find this cool publication over here in the States. So, take a look at their latest offerings — First off, a full four-page article/interview with the cast titled “Eternal Sunshine of the Filthy Mind”.

And then, don’t miss that glowing FIVE STAR REVIEW here, including their patented, always funny “projected interest curve”. Their final verdict? “Everything you could want from a sequel and much, much more, Clerks II reminds us why we love Kevin Smith”.

• We’re stoked to see that the always enjoyable “Kids In Mind” review of Clerks II has now been posted. These reviews cover pretty much every aspect of material in a film that could be objectionable to parents with children, and wow, do they ever go into crazy detail (which is a lot of fun for fans like us). For example, did you know the film had 139 F-word (and derivative) utterances? The film scores an easy 10 in both the sex and profanity categories, but sadly only a 4 in violence. We’re sure Kevin can take care of upping that number in the next project, though. Enjoy!
• The Australian press continues to come in — for a small place they sure do soak up the press pretty well, we’re happy to see! Check out video of Kevin being interviewed by Robbie Buck in the streets of Sydney, courtesy JTV.
• Clerks II is doing quite well in this IMDB pool asking users their favorite flick of the summer – Get your vote in, and help us score even higher! The flick sits at #5 at presstime.
• It seems that “Dogma” will be the first View Askew flick available for download via iTunes. It’s part of Lion’s Gate’s crop of initial offerings according to this article. Pricing is expected to be from $9.99 to $14.99.
• Entertainment Weekly names Jason Mewes as a runner-up for their “Best Comeback” of the summer.
• Clerks II opened at #6 nationally in Australia last weekend, with a take of $420,285 on 124 screens.
• Anyone know that the hilarious Jay Chandrasekhar of the “Broken Lizard” trouble (of Super Troopers, Club Dread and Beerfest fame) started as a grip for “Chasing Amy” and played a producer in VA’s “Big Helium Dog”? We never did.

• And last, but not least, we remain very excited for the upcoming release of “Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder”. Here’s the latest US marketing scan, confirming the November 7th release date and the features of this 2-disc set. A must-own. See ya next time!