Catholicism WOW!
What do you get when you mix an abortion clinic worker (Bethany) with two stoners (Jay and Silent Bob), a black/forgotten apostle (Rufus) and two fallen angels with a plan to get back into heaven? You get Dogma. Loki and Bartleby were cast from Heaven for disobeying an order from God himself/herself. Banished to earth and bored as hell, they finally find a plan to get back into Heaven, go to New Jersey! Cardinal Ignatius Glick has reopened the Catholic church in a new celebration called Catholicism Wow! If people show up on a particular day and walk through the doors of the church, they will be forgiven for all their sins. The problem? If Loki and Bartleby walk through the doors they’ll have proved God wrong, which can’t be done. If they prove God wrong then everything in existence will become unraveled and destroyed. Bethany Slone, an abortion clinic worker, has been charged by Metatron, the angel that helps God speak to the masses, to stop the angels before they make it to the church. Her assistance? She has to take two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob, who are suppose to guide her safely to the destination that is the church. Along the way they meet Rufus, the 13th apostle, who helps keep Bethany on the right track, which is difficult to do since the task itself is so great.
This movie is great, probably one of the most intelligent pieces that Kevin Smith, and his bunch, have put together. This statement includes every movie after this and all the movies before this. Smith tried to mix religion with comedy and that’s probably what got people all up in arms for. Of course, Smith pulled the mix off perfectly. He helped to inform people of some historical issues about religious stories that they may not have known. For the life of me, I was pretty sure that Loki existed only in Thor comics. He actually brought different types of angels to the storyline which most people probably didn’t know. More importantly he didn’t get too preachy or too overly funny, which I can’t remember the last time that balanced occurred in a movie. He gave everyone a clear role and told them to have fun playing their evil/good characters. What more could you ask for? And he got persecuted for doing this, on so many levels. So much that this movie almost didn’t make it to theaters. Everyone should thank him and/or apologize to him for overacting when they should have patted his back and said, “Excellent film, sorry we didn’t see it before we opened our mouths.” And don’t get me wrong, I understand that Smith can be quite vulgar with his humor at times, but Dogma certainly demonstrated that this once independent artist is maturing into a great filmmaker, with the exception of Jersey Girl (ouch).
With that said, the actors and actresses completely made the film happen. Jason Lee as Azrael showed just how evil this guy can get. Quite a step up from his role in Mall Rats. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon certainly pulled their own as Bartleby and Loki, two fallen angels. Linda Fiorentino as Bethany made her more of a figure in this movie than her brief role in Men in Black. Alan Rickman, as Metatron, I had no idea, prior to this film, that he could be so damn funny. I guess I’m not watching enough British films. Chris Rock’s Rufus was superb. Funny, witty, and just a very warm character on screen. Again, much like Rickman, I never knew he had such a different depth of field in him. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, well…. they are who they are.
Complicated, funny, entertaining, educating, I think this might be my favorite Kevin Smith film to date. I had seen Clerks, Mall Rats and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but didn’t like them as much as this movie. It’s too intelligent and funny to not love. Excellent stuff.
Who’s house?? Blu-ray’s house! Who’s house???? Blu-ray’s house! (it’s all I could think of, bite me)
The Blu-ray format sure does lend some good eye-candy to already made films that weren’t previously done in high-def. I don’t know the exact process, though I would love to find out, but I’m impressed nonetheless. The sound quality and the picture quality of Dogma is out of this world beautiful. You couldn’t ask for much more than what’s provided.
Aside from visuals and audio, which are given on Blu-ray format, here’s what you get in terms of special features:
-Cast and Crew Commentary (oh, this is precious material. so precious)
– Technical Commentary
– Deleted Scenes
– Outtakes
– Jay and Bob’s Secret Stash Commercial
– Storyboards from three major scenes
I’ll be honest, I’m disappointed there wasn’t a ‘making of’ documentary for this Blu-ray. Even if it was copied from the DVD, I would have been pleased as punch. As it were, the commentary and the outtakes are the most valuable assets you’ve got here. I like them both, but they only make this a good Blu-ray, not a great one. For such a wonderful movie they should have went all-out on the Blu-ray. This isn’t like other Blu-ray translations where you’re not sure how it’s going to do. Kevin Smith has a set fanbase out there just waiting for his stuff to go high-def so that they can snatch it up. Since Dogma was so good when it first came out, you could rightfully assume that people will snatch this up in a heartbeat.
Anyway, on a side note, I loved the menu system. So far, it’s the best Blu-ray menu system that I’ve seen to date. I hope they keep getting better, very stylish and sleek.
Pray that you’ll buy this
Dogma is certainly a must-own if you’re in need of a laugh or just a huge Kevin Smith fan. It’s pretty on Blu-ray, but lacking a bit in the special features department. Nonetheless, there probably won’t be a better edition on Blu-ray, and there shouldn’t be, so you’ll want to add this to your library right away!
Funny as sin and not at the same cost!