Dogma

While Clerks dealt with our relationship with work and capitalism, and Chasing Amy dealt with our relationships with each other, Dogma opts for controversy and deals with our relationship with religion and faith, and in this case, God. You only have to read the reviews here to see with how much venom people hate this movie, because of their religious viewpoint (hate being an important word in religion). Look past the controversy, as i’m sure most movie goers will and Dogma, aside from being very funny, is quite life-affirming (A phrase i don’t like using because i don’t feel that i need a film or song to make me feel happy about my life), and will make you think twice about your faith, or lack of it. Watching Alanis Morisette as God, smiling, taking pleasure in doing a handstand against a tree was, for me, suspiciously moving.

But if you just want fart and sex jokes delivered in a fast, witty way then Kevin Smith is your director, and Dogma is your movie. There is a Demon made of sh*t, Salma Hayek stripping for dollars, decapitations, and the usual capering from Jay and Bob, along with some classic dialogue. Most of the cast have small roles, but they all do well, and Jay And Silent Bob get their largest roles yet. I’m not a fan of Affleck or Damon, but when they are with Smith, they do okay. Rickman and Lee are excellent as always, though Lee’s part in the film does seem criminally small.

The film follows fallen angels Affleck And Damon on a road trip to get back into Heaven, therby proving God’s infallibility and destroying all creation. Reluctantly trying to stop them is Linda Fiorentino, a descendant of Christ who has lost her Faith in God, and mankind. Along the way she meets various figures who try to help or hinder her, and all the while she questions her Faith. There are many witty and clever scenes here, in the middle of the usual lewd jokes from Smith, but perhaps that is the point. We shouldn’t get so annoyed by a few rude jokes, or ‘inappropriate’ words, when there are many more important things we could be concerning ourslves with. Sure, The Lord may not approve of the film’s swearing and images, but how many modern mainstream movies make (ooh the alliteration) a genuine point about faith?

The DVD has plenty of extras, the commenary and deleted scenes being the best of these.

Dogma

 

As always, please leave any comments regarding the review and the movie. Is this Smith’s best? How do you view the controversial topics?

Chasing Amy

Chasing Amy, easily the most emotional of all of Smith’s, and definately the most serious, though don’t let that put you off- there is still plenty of humour, wit, profanity, and one-liners. Smith may not be a great director, but he is a good story teller, and probably the best man around now for clever quotes, satirical, political, religious, sexual, or gaseous. The story follows a couple of friends who work in the glorious business of comic books, their world turned upside down when they meet a girl who one of them falls for. Naturally, she is a lesbian and nothing good can come of such feelings.

Although I’m not a fan of Affleck, he is always good in Smith’s movies. Again though Jason Lee runs riot, proving to be one of the best deliverers of witty dialogue today, and this was years before ‘Earl’ brought him to the masses. Joey Lauren Adams screaming her lines is extremely affecting and effective, and the movie breaches on heartbreaking almost solely because of her performance. Bob’s speech makes more sense with every failed relationship we go through, with every person we leave behind, too scared to talk to them, or commit, whatever. Like Mallrats, this film seems to give the slacker generation a kick in the face- an alarm that we can, and should do something with our lives, though this does not come across as contrived, false, or sentimental. The best romantic comedy of the nineties, if it can be called a romantic comedy. Funny too.

The DVD, usually cheap on Amazon etc

Chasing Amy

has plenty of interesting extras- a few good deleted scenes, and intersting stuff from the cast and crew.

As always, feel free to comment on the review and the movie. Is this Smith’s best movie?

Heartbreakers

Heartbreakers

A romantic comedy with an unusually varied cast giving good performances. Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt star as a mother and daughter con-team. They are like the legacy hunters of Ancient Rome, following around wealthy men in order to get their money. Their usual scam involves Max (Weaver) seducing a man, then marrying him. Then Page (Hewitt) appears and makes him unfaithful so that Max can divorce him and get half his money. The film begins with such a scam, taking mechanic Ray Liotta for a ride. Max is annoyed though with their slim pickings, and Page claims she can move out on her own. They decide to go for one last score each, to see who can earn the most. Max sets her sights on aging Billionaire Tensey, played by Hackman and Page follows Bartender Jason Lee who is also rich. However, Page falls for Lee and Max realises she may lose her daughter, as well as Tinsey’s fortune as he refuses to die. Also, Liotta has found the two and realised their plans. He wants his money back…

Although this starts out as quite a dark and cynical comedy it soon becomes more light-hearted and typical fare. There remains though a subtle tone of skepticism throughout which is refreshing in a genre which rarely offers any originality, or entertainment. Each actor seems to enjoy themselves fully, some being pulled widely away from the characters they usually play. Weaver is very strong and in control, Hewitt is extremely sexy rather than her usual roles involving screaming, crying or cuteness, and she does very well. Liotta is excellent giving the best jokes in the film, Hackman is also very funny, and Jason Lee, though toned down from his Kevin Smith roles is still capable of getting our laughs and sympathy. You can usually buy this pretty cheap so it would hardly be a waste, better than most of its type but unfortunately it is a type which is limited. Overall, good fun.

The DVD has a few tiny feautures- trailers, TV spots, nothing overly exciting. For any fans of the cast or of romantic comedies (which do not rely on overly sexual or toilet based humour) this is a cheap purchase.

Feel free to comment on the review and/or the movie- what did you like, what didn’t you like?

Dreamcatcher

In the late 80s and early 90s Freddy was at his peak of fame and notoriety. Kids were running around outside wearing stripey jumpers, mums were running around the kitchen with gloves, teens were running around sitting down with videos they were too young to watch, and all sorts of merchandise and spin offs were running around our shops and TVs. Freddy’s Nightmares was an OK show, Freddy’s Sex was excellent obviously, though Clean Your House with Freddy (and kill your neighbour) was a lowlight. Freddy popped up in a few other movies too- Friday The 13th part 7 or 5 or something, and The Goonies (if you watch closely).

‘A Nightmare On Elm Street 8: Dreamcatcher’ was after all this and was meant to reboot the series, like Police Academy 6 did. Unfortunately, Freddy doesn’t do much in it- he hides in a toilet, and makes all the folks in the town dream about aliens but that’s about it. They even hired Steve King to pencil the script for this, but even his genius couldn’t save the day. Whoever wrote the original story was clearly an idiot and Steve King shouldn’t sully his name being involved with such inferiors. I bet the staff weren’t even Freddy fans, they just wanted to make a quick buck. There isn’t even a strong female lead like Heather Krueger Mellenkamp from the earlier ones- you would think after the success of Buffy that every horror film would capitalise by having a kick ass heroin, but not here. We just get a bunch of men walking around in the snow. Some of the deaths scenes are pretty good, some of the best in the whole Elm street saga in fact, but that isn’t enough to save it. I hope the next film deals more with Freddy than this one did. They should call it The Dream Executioner or something cool like that.

Best Scene I can’t think of any stand out scenes but I must admit the snow looked rather nice. It was quite realistic and made me want to throw myself into the fire.

 

Freddy 9: Sunnydale Goon Camp