tomherg Pretty much a no brainer, one of Matt Damons better performances. Many people that watch the film simply overthink it, as in they feel insulted. But in the end it is just an early show of when the decline of this industry started. When the heads are corrupt and disgusting Pedros, what do you expect. Anyways, Matt Damon was OK, so 3 out of 10. Never again.

sol- When two renegade angels threaten to bring about the end of the world, an agnostic abortion clinic worker is given a divine quest to stop them, something that helps her regain her faith in this energetic Kevin Smith comedy. The plot is a tad too complex with a lot of exposition (and therefore dialogue) required, which provides some pacing issues. The film has a lot of interesting things to say though, and curiously enough, it is not half as sacrilegious as one might expect. Smith actually delivers some positive messages about faith while taking quite a few shots at organised religion and the commercial value that some place on religion - an agenda especially apparent with an absurd new crucifix that the Catholics in the film release to try to attract new parishioners! The film is frequently funny too, though mostly when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are on screen as the fallen angels. Damon's take on the Angel of Death is especially amusing given his boyish looks. There is a superb sequence in which he intrudes on a board meeting to wreak havoc in the name of divine justice, though his funniest bits come from the baffled reactions of all those around him - in particular, an old lady in a elevator and a gun salesman. Linda Fiorentino is less effective as the abortion clinic worker and fun as it is to have Jay and Silent Bob along for the ride, the 'good' characters here are significantly less enticing than the baddies. 'Dogma' is, however, generally a fun ride with a handful of interesting things to say. The anti-platypus 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' style opening credits are also a treat.

lasttimeisaw A revisit of Kevin Smith's subversive religious comedy DOGMA, "subversive" may it seems in a story where God is a woman (played by the one-and-only Alanis Morissette, whose voice can shatter anything into fragments, deservingly to be the choice chanteuse during my adolescence); there is a 13th apostle Rufus (Rock) who has been omitted in the Bible simply because of his skin colour; two fallen angles Loki (Damon) and Bartleby (Affleck) find a loophole induced by a new "Buddy Christ" propaganda from Cardinal Glick (Carlin) in New Jersey, they will get the supposed plenary indulgence and re-enter Heaven, until one of them goes berserk becomes a human-killing winged creature. A blasphemy cannot be dodged for sure, but eventually the film appears not as subversive as the synopsis suggests, au fond, Smith simply picks various characters from religious myth and squeeze them into a wacky adventure of fantasy without even badmouthing Catholicism, there should be no hard-feeling (as the opening pointers amusingly noted).So the dogma is "God is infallible", two angels' plan will precipitate the undoing of the present human world, thus the last scion of God's bloodline, Bethany (Fiorentino), is a divorcée works in an abortion clinic who is infertile, is informed by Metatron (Rickman) to stop them with the allies of two prophets Jay and Silent Bob (Mewes and Smith himself), the said Rufus and the Muse Serendipity (Hayek), who is trapped in a writer's block and moonlights as a stripper. Also involved is the evil force led by a demon Azrael (Lee) and the Stygian Triplets, not to mention the crass excremental creature Golgothan which Azrael summons.All these modifications and additions are reflecting Smith's geeky upbringing, a bit vulgar nevertheless, but also straightforwardly amusing, and it even becomes more topical as a cultural phenomenon now. Among the motley crew of the cast, Alan Rickman pops out with his noble persona as the second-only-to-God Metatron (in spite of his unconventional look), who is allocated with the forbidding task to materialise in front of the unwitting Bethany, explain the whole absurd scenario convincingly to her and persuade her to fulfil the mission, believe it or not, he actually carries it through wonderfully. Florentino (now completely retired from the screen) discharges a phlegmatic quality contrary of others' comedy-leaning dramatisation and loquacity (bar Silent Bob). Damon and Affleck are quite at ease to play off each other and Hayek is at the crest of her physical beauty whereas Rock is in his own comfortable zone without being too irritating. All in all, any film who has the guts to cast Morissette as the almighty God (even only for a paltry of minutes) deserves its place on my guilty pleasure list.

ibnalmauser AN excellent film, brash and over the top as expected, but with a few plot holes as well. My chief gripe is the way it attempts to mess with my belief system. I do my best to avoid propaganda films, no matter what the rating, and although this is not as bad as some others it doesn't take a genius to see what its going for. The scene in the parking with Loki and Bartleby in the parking lot when the Affleck character flips and rants on with some pretty weighty questions on Christianity and organized religion made me think some. I mean alright, fair enough, they invite one to think. And I did. Paused, and talked it out with my cynic side out loud. But I definitely do not appreciate it, not when I'm watching a film for entertainment. Debates and diatribes are for other times. 7/10