Written by Caballero Oscuro
The Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection contains Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Smith's directorial debut Clerks is a wild day in of the life at a convenience store. Chasing Amy is Smith's third film and is about the complications that arise when a heterosexual male comic book writer falls in love with a lesbian Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is Smith's fifth film and finds the former supporting characters in lead roles involved in a series of crazy adventures as they head to Hollywood to stop a movie with characters based on their likenesses from being made.
All three movies are presented in 1080p resolution with beefed-up audio options. Clerks and Chasing Amy deliver their audio in 5.1 DTS-HD MA (48kHz/24-bit), while Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back features 5.1 Uncompressed (48kHz/16-bit). That's all well and good, but does it really make a difference when the original material is famously lo-tech, especially Smith's breakout, the micro-budgeted Clerks? In this reviewer's opinion, not really. It's fine to brag to your fellow nerds about the unsurpassed quality of these Blu-rays, but in reality there's only so much video clarity and audio fidelity one can wring out of a mute fat dude and loud skinny dude saying "snootchie bootchies".
Clerks is still as grainy as you remember it, Chasing Amy is murky, while Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back impresses comparatively with the best video quality of the bunch. The audio doesn't really have much notable discrete audio separation in any of the films, so the upgraded specs are mostly for peace of mind than any gain in performance. The diehard fans will appreciate owning the best possible specs, but for average viewers there's little in the featured films to justify moving up from DVD.
The discs are packed with bonus features, but most of them are carryovers from previous DVD releases. Only Chasing Amy touts truly exclusive and new Blu-ray bonuses.
Clerks includes the theatrical version of the film with classic commentary from '95 featuring Smith, producer Scott Mosier, co-stars Jason Mewes and Brian O'Halloran (Dante). There's also an enhanced playback track containing synchronized trivia and cast and crew quotes. The disc also includes the "First Cut" version of the film with an intro by Smith taped in 2004 for the Clerks X tenth anniversary release and a separate commentary track with Smith, Mewes, O'Halloran, Mosier, and Jeff Anderson (Randal). Other extras include a featurette on the film's restoration, original trailer, and a feature-length documentary about the film's production (also from 2004) entitled "Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks". It's an exhaustive package for a trailblazing film, guaranteed to satisfy the most demanding of Smith's fans with its plethora of insider information.
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