Dogma

Rating:
Summary: A different twist to religion.
Review: This is a very interesting and different movie, the emphasis in "different". If you take offense at "religious jokes", then you should not see it. For those of you that are a bit more opened minded this is a movie that will make you think about some points of the modern religious "dogmas" and some of the known mythologies.

Rating:
Summary: A lot of fun.
Review: Dogma is not as controversial as I had expected it to be. Even so, it draws attention to several doubtful issues in the Catholic Church. Contrary to some opinions I've heard, you don't need to be an expert on churchlaw to understand the story, although some basic knowledge is helpful.
Most of all, it is simply an enjoyable comedy, telling the story of two fallen angels who try to get back to heaven and the desperate attemps to stop them.

Rating:
Summary: what a stupid movie
Review: i saw this movie i should have brought with me my pillow and my blanket the movie was so bad i walked out of the movie holding my nose i should stayed at home and bored my self to sleep my friend thought that this was a poor excause for a movie he said that it stunk even when we walked out we said why did we spend the money for this i should have saved my money and bought baseball cards and i dont buy baseball cards

Rating:
Summary: Religious fanatics, beware!
Review: To begin with, I am a major fan of Kevin Smith and the View Askewniverse. I enjoyed Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy.

Now, I haven't seen Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back yet, but so far, Dogma is my favourite Smith flick. Why? To be honest, I'm not sure. I found the dialogue to be very clever, but funny at the same time. I thought that Matt Damon/"Loki's" description of his former occupation (Angel of Death) was very humourous. As usual, Jay & Silent Bob were great. A lot of people are criticizing the casting, but I thought it was quite appropriate. Admit it, didn't you laugh when one sound from Alanis Morissette/"God" has the power to kill? I know I did.

The other thing I liked about this film is that it poked fun at organized religion, Catholicism in particular. I am not a big fan of organized religion, so I thoroughly enjoyed that element. I have a feeling that a lot of the people who criticized this film are religious and take themselves and their religion WAY too seriously!

Anyway, definitely see this film. It was great.

Rating:
Summary: Take it from a future minister...
Review: Take it from a future minister - this movie is DEFINITELY worth watching and buying. Yeah, that's right. After college, I plan on going to seminary and becoming a minister (not Catholic - I couldn't handle the celibacy thing). You know what? This was an excellent movie about the (amazingly enough) dogma of the church and how it has become corrupted over the years. Jerry Falwell and all like him - stick that in your pipe and smoke it! I'm a pro-life, conservative Republican from an extremely conservative background and I FREAKIN' LOVED THIS MOVIE! Kevin Smith proved once more his directoral talent and faced the Spanish Inquisition Pt. II because of it. It teaches an amazing amount about the church and makes some excellent points. If you think it sacriligeous - why don't you try going to church and actually paying attention to some of the stuff that happens there?

Rating:
Summary: God, Save Us From This Garbage!
Review: It's strange (not really, look at Quentin Tarantino) how Kevin Smith's movies have gotten progressively worse over time. Clerks was brilliant, one of the Ten Best of the 90's. Mallrats was stupid, but an absolute riot. Chasing Amy, well that kind of bucked the trend, it was excellent. This, I don't know what this is. I am Catholic, but to be honest, I didn't find this movie all that offensive to those sensibilities. Offensive to good taste, but not to Catholics. The first problem is that the celebrities in this movie were wasted (Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek). These parts in this movie could have easily been played by Kevin Smith standards. How about Jeff Anderson (Randall) as Bartelby (s.i.c.), Guinivere Turner (MC at Meow Mix) as Bethany, Jason Lee as Lokey (s.i.c.), or La Fours as the Cardinal? This is all part of a larger problem: Kevin Smith has gotten too big for his own good. When he was making independent, low budget faire about young adult angst, dating politics, and sexual mishaps (e.g. Brad Michaelson and Alan Harris. Chess team Alan Harris? The same.), he was in his element. This was an attempt to match wits and cliches with James Cameron. By the way, I can't be the only person who's getting a little sick of Chris Rock. Or George Carlin. Or Alanis Morrisette. Which reminds me, if you're going to criticize the Catholic Church, make it original. I would have found this movie thought provoking if the criticisms were ones I hadn't heard hundreds of times. But Smith just trotted out "Jesus was black", "God is a woman", "Silent during the Holocaust", etc. Finally, I remember in an interview, Kevin Smith said he thought that people were going to criticize this movie as preachy and Pro-Catholic and that he was surprised that people found it offensive. I didn't find it very offensive at all, but I can't believe he didn't know that a lot of people would. Now, he's followed up with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I didn't even bother to go see it.

Rating:
Summary: This movie is terrible!
Review: Kevin Smith is the most overrated filmmaker in American History.

Rating:
Summary: Growing Up In Public
Review: 1. Dogma has a great script and an exceptionally talented cast including Alan Rickman, Linda Fiorentino, and Chris Rock.

2. Dogma was directed by a devout Catholic named Kevin Smith who endured the trials of Job when it was found that this little fantasy was critical of THE CHURCH.

3. Dogma is Smith's 4th movie. He had only a brief stint at a film school. Each movie's direction/production values have improved by leaps and bounds. He is lucky enough to be able to finance his projects while still learning his craft.

4. Dogma, unlike most comedies, will actually make you think, even while you laugh.

5. Smith deserves our support...he continues to improve, and his movies entertain and are full of witty dialogue, so why should we complain?

6. Just by doing Clerks, he showed he had more cojones than all the fanboys out there.

7. Dogma is occasionally pedantic, but mostly funny as hell.

As I'm still growing up myself, I'll leave it there....

Rating:
Summary: Another great Kevin Smith film
Review: If you've seen some of Kevin Smith's movies before and hated them, you probably won't like this. He tends to make movies for his fans, not for everyone.

Having said that, this film is perhaps the least for the fans he has yet made - yet it is also the one with perhaps the narrowest appeal. People who buy into religious dogma won't like it, and many who have no time for Christianity at all. That's not to say you have to be a Christian to like this, just that you have to not have a fiery loathing for it.

The story follows two angels, Bartleby and Loki (Affleck and Damon respectively), who were banished from heaven to Wisconsin for disobeying God when Loki, the angel of death, refused to carry out a slaughter as ordered. Thanks to the 'Catholicism WOW!' campaign, they find a loophole to get back in heaven, which incidently will unmake all of reality by proving God wrong. The last descendant of Jesus (Fiorentino) is called upon to stop them, with help from the 13th apostle (Chris Rock), left out of the Bible because he's black, the Voice of God Metatron (Alan Rickman), the Muse (Salma Hayek) and Smith regulars Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself) - prophets. But not God, he's gone missing, thanks to the foul play of the demon Azrael (Jason Lee), who is helping Bartleby and Loki, and Metatron also needs help to find him.

If the story sounds complex, well it isn't really being little more than a road trip, but there are too many characters in this movie, and this is its greatest flaw. The story can get a little confused at times, particularly with subplots which really have nothing to do with the main plot weaving in and out at various points (the slaughter of the Mooby executives for example). But it is very funny - the 'Buddy Christ' scene is one of my favourite scenes ever. It is also rife with bad language (like all of Smith's movies) so avoid if you hate that kind of thing. Smith is also trying to make some valid points in this movie, about the dangers of blindly believing in dogma to the exclusion of all else. A lot of people seemed to find the movie too wordy and dialogue heavy, but I can't say I had the same problem, although Smith's valid points did tend to get hammered into your head through 50 repetitions - subtlety was decidedly lacking. This is a minor complaint however, in one of the funniest movies in a long time.

This DVD special edition is excellent, trasnfer quality is top notch and some excellent special features, particular the deleted scenes (over an hour plus commentaries) and the Director/Crew/Cast commentary which is just as funny as that on Mallrats - my particular favourites being Kevin Smith recounting how he had told Jason Mewes to learn his script well because this movie would have real actors "not just Lee and Affleck, but REAL actors!". Also amusing is the woman who pops up when you select an option to tell you "this movie is the work of the devil!" or some such other drivel.

If you're somewhat open minded, I fully recommend this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: The best film on religion made in the last 10 years
Review: I must confess that I'm an extremely late newcomer to the delightful ViewAskew universe. Unfortunately, I live in Australia, which means I don't have much exposure to Kevin Smith's films - more's the pity. The first time I heard about him was in relation to Dogma and the so-called "controversy" surrounding the film. After watching Dogma, I must say that I've never seen a more ridiculous case of "wowserism" in my entire life.

In my opinion, Dogma is the most underrated film made in the past decade. This is probably due in part to Kevin's prediliction towards, uhm...scatalogical humor. On first viewing, his style seems very similar to that of South Park. But a closer viewing shows that Kevin Smith is a writer who very much wears his heart on his sleeve.

Granted, Dogma has plenty of poop jokes, but underlying all that is a gentle sincerity and compassion that permeates the entire film. Dogma isn't just a South Park-clone. It's really a sophisticated and well-thought out diatribe against the dangers of organised religion, and the wonderful power and influence that a single idea can have. I found a lot of the religious discussions in the film to be deeply refreshing - it's wonderful finally being able to see people discuss religious beliefs without feeling awkward about it. For that reason alone, Kevin Smith has my undying admiration.

I was one of the lucky ones who bought the Special Edition DVD, and not the original "feature-free" version that was originally released. Regardless on whether you've bought the Dogma DVD already, I strongly recommend buying the Special Edition. There are plenty of good features, including -
- some moderately amusing outtakes,
- every single deleted scene that was left on the cutting room floor,
- and best of all - a very funny commentary from Kevin Smith (aka Silent Bob, also the Director and Writer), Jason Mewes (the one-and-only Jay), Scott Mosier (long-time friend and producer), Vincent Perriera (View Askew historian), Jason Lee (aka Azrael), and Ben Affleck (who gets a major ribbing from Kevin). You also get to see video footage of the cast members in the studio doing the DVD commentary. The commentary is the best part of the DVD, as it's obvious that these people are very good, close friends and they get along really, really well. Although that doesn't stop Ben Affleck getting a major ribbing from Kevin Smith every chance he gets!

In conclusion, I think Dogma is one of the most approachable and enjoyable films about religion made in the last 10 years. It has a really good mix of laugh-out loud humor and sincere religious discussion. You certainly don't have to be religions (and I'm not) to understand the issues raised in this film. I'm definitely going to watch Chasing Amy, and I can't wait for the 'Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back' DVD to come out. Bring it on!