Kevin Smith's Dogma

This is HUGE news. The movie has been famously unavailable for streaming and OOP on physical media for a very long time.

Wow. I recall seeing it back then and being told that I'd probably go to hell for seeing the movie. So far, so good, but I'd like to see it again. I think it was the loophole that gets you into heaven that made it so damnable.

How bizarre. I have seen it countless times in recent years (yes, via means that shan’t be named). I love that movie though it isn’t as smart as it thinks it is imo. But also, what with a theology degree and a deep love for films both exploring and skewering Judeo-Christianity, I’ve always felt the backlash is rather excessive. There are far more blasphemous things out there.

I don’t understand the Weinstein angle at all. It reads like satire. What he could possibly want with those rights (now and then both) I do not know. Then again, people are losing their ability to appreciate irony in droves, so maybe it’s for the best.

The comments I recall hearing were from people that wouldn't know irony unless it came wrapped in liturgical garments. Humor on this topic was not welcome.

That’s terrible but expected, I suppose. In my family, in true contrarian (and somewhat satirical in its own right) fashion, I spent hours putting said theology degree to use trying to explain to my mother (who considers herself religious!) why Dogma could be perceived as blasphemous. That in itself was hilarious.

(Alas, I’m afraid she never quite got it).

The discussions I had that got lost was my question about why Dogma is more sinful than something like Inglorius Bastards or Scarface. I guess, blood and gore is OK, but sarcasm and irreverence is not.

guessing it's to do with how it addresses christianity specifically, something that basterds or scarface don't do at all. if the passion of the christ is any indication, it's that there are people who will prefer blood and gore to sarcasm and irreverence towards organised religion (even - especially - if said irreverence is coming from a faithful member of said religion).

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Tried watching it about 10 years ago and turned it off after 15 minutes or so. Couldn't stand it.

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Being an irreverent but basically decent person, a lot of this gets lost on me and bogged down in those questions about a lot of things in life that we just don't want to talk about.

Ironically, now I'm talking about it, though not in any detail. Also ironically the discussion and controversy makes the movie seem more powerful than I thought it was. When I did see it, my recollection is that it was a full length movie that got as many chuckles from me as does a 10 minute SNL skit on a similar topic, kinda like when Jason Sudeikis did his recurring monolog identified as The Devil, complete with red suit, horns and pitchfork. In the laugh per minute measure, Dogma came up short.

Oh well, sometimes I just don't get humans at all.

My update.....a couple weeks ago, Dogma was available as a DVD on that big site named after the South American river, but was something like $50. Today, it's down to $12.97. I just might spring for it, just so I can have one and give the finger to the moralizers.

I remember enjoying it quite a bit - maybe it's a movie you have to watch to the end to appreciate. Granted, as a student of religions, I also enjoy religious satire (well, satire in general). The problem is I get this movie and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (along with other Kevin Smith movies) mixed up in my memory. They all seem kind of like the same movie to me! (Such as, which one has Carrie Fisher playing a nun?)

Make sure it's not a bootleg!

Yeah....today's, on Amazon, range from $12.97 to $99 and none of them "looks like" a fake, not that I could tell from a web page. I don't know what the heck all that is about, but I'm not doing any shopping today, so I guess it's on the back burner for now. The next time I need a hundred pound bag of salt or some tractor tires, I'll check again.

They "prefer" blood and gore when what's being depicted was, in fact, bloody and gory. I don't like blood and gore but if someone's making a film about WW2 I'd "prefer" that it not shy away from depicting it. And there would be no reason whatsoever to extrapolate, from that, that I had a preference for violence over sarcasm (or anything else). There is similarly no reason to extrapolate this from the apples-to-oranges comparison you're talking about.

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Wow, I just checked back on Amazon and get Dogma offers that include $24, $22, $149 (!!!), $28, and so on. I'm not even all that keen on having it, but I am curious to see where this goes. My guess is that the $24 offer comes along with a curse.

who said anything about extrapolating. i don't think we are in disagreement on this being a matter of certain contexts being deemed more tolerable (if not necessarily acceptable) than others.

Me, saying that you were extrapolating.

Right, but those contexts are about accuracy, not about preference for violence over sarcasm, inherently. The thing I responded to makes no mention of accuracy or context, and has no qualifier of any kind, it's simply about the type of content:

okay.

Dogma is a bad movie that could have only gotten worse with age.



Smith was passable creating characters standing around talking about Star Wars and jerking off. When he attempts anything bigger than this (which is pretty much everything else) it's always immediately clear he's bitten off more than he can chew. I guess it's good that he tried something so beyond his abilities, but I found it completely insufferable. And that's not even getting into just how technically horrendous he is as a filmmaker.

Maybe some people just didn't make enough effort?