NOPE- God loves skeeball so much, they became HUMAN to go play it. then got put in a coma by the demon kids. since God is human, God couldn't do anything at all from a coma. So, when She pulled the plug, God (human) dies, and was God again.
My understanding is that it's in Legal Limbo due to legal cases against Harvey and all profits would end up in escrow and be another legal entanglement after the current one. Which is why its on the popular internet video site without a Dmca takedown
@@davidcohen9016 yes but its in linbo currently. Not being held hostage. We'll see how hard up 4 cash the current owner is after the legal thingy finishes eating money
As a kid, I had the 12" action figure that had bionic parts you could swap out. You could look through a hole in his head and out his "bionic eye". LOL
We're all showing our age by recognizing that reference. I remember me and my friends would pretend to be Steve and squint our eyes while making the zoom in sounds from the show! Ah, good times.
A little correction. She didnt summon god, she released her. While in a human form God could only leave in one of two situations, by choice or by death. So Azrael sent his lackies to knock god out, not kill, just put her in a coma. Meaning taking god out of the equation and leaving no one to stop Bartelby and Loki. So the Metatron and other higher up angels decided to tap the decendant of Jesus to stop Bartelby and Loki. Yeah this movie gets DEEP when you think about the plot. Edit. Yeah JUST got to where you get the connection. Yeah its one of those you REALLY got to think on it or youll miss it plot points.
He also counted on the Catholic Church's stance against euthanasia to ensure God would remain in the coma. Shanelle no doubt missed the reference to John Doe Jersey in Bethany's church service. Another dig at dogma by a frustrated American Catholic.
Silent Bob also speaks when he throws Loki and Bartlebury off the train, he says "No Ticket", referencing Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. Genius casting of Alanis Morrisette as God! Not very many references to the previous films in this one though there are appearances from Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson of Clerks. Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back more than makes up for it though.
Fun Fact: Kevin loves telling the story, when this film was released there was a protest in NJ near Kevin Smith. Kevin made protest signs and joined the protest. He was interviewed by the local news as to why he was protesting the movie. They didn't know who he was.
in his book, Kevin has pictures of little Harley dressed as an angel. he admitted when he and Jen went to the premier, he was carrying her, pretty much saying she was his human shield with the protests still going on at the red carpet
You asked about seeing the film in 1999. What younger folks might not know is how exciting, weird and daring the movies of that year were. Just for a start - Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, American Beauty, South Park, Eyes Wide Shut, The Matrix. So, for me, Dogma fit right in (loved it).
Dogma is hands down my favorite Kevin Smith movie. I was a big Kevin Smith fan already, and saw this in the theater when it came out. I love how Kevin really swings for the fences and delivers such meaningful messages in such a fun and wacky way. If you get a chance I would definitely recommend watching "An Evening With Kevin Smith" -- he tells a fun anecdote about Dogma (the whole thing is Kevin telling anecdotes - it is phenomenal).
@@RickLeMon I think it was right before Mewes was arrested; not sure though. I'm pretty sure that it was his first of these wonderful "sit downs" with Kevin Smith. I have most of them on DVD that I could get my hands on. I could listen to Kevin Smith talk all day long.
@@alib6615 The one I remember, it was days after he'd been arrested. Someone from the audience said that they'd heard Mewes had been arrested a few months prior and asked if it was true. They looked at each other and Kevin Smith said something like "was he arrested for heroin a few months ago? No." A handful of people in the audience caught on and laughed
FUN FACT: The shot of Ben and Matt stepping over the highway barrier at the "Welcome To New Jersey" roadsign was the first shot filmed in the production and it was filmed the day after they won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting.
Kevin Smith was in a documentary about George Carlin and what he meant to him. When he was a young teenager, his dad gave him a George Carlin album and told Kevin not to tell his mother. When Carlin appeared in this movie Kevin Smith introduced his dad to him. Kevin said he saw a side of his dad he had never seen before as he was a complete fan boy for Carlin.
No joke, this movie changed my life. I love it. Never underestimate a dick & fart joke movie with a substance. Someone can see it just at the right time in their life, and it can affect them in a big way. My absolute favorite Kevin Smith film.
Same. I was a teenager when I first watched this, already questioning my religion and this movie gave me the affirmation to feel comfortable in faith with positive beliefs outside of religion. Plus it’s just so funny and entertaining 😂
I know you're a 90s baby, but this really emphasized the "baby" part. Alanis Morrissette was instantly recognizable to 99% of the North American population between 1995-2000, so when you didn't clock her immediately it made me feel ANCIENT.
I was born in '90 and only recognize her because my mom was into her for a while. Youd have to be born mid to late 80s to be immediately recognizable lol
Yeah, I get it. I just think it's funny how a few years can rewrite perceptions of just how popular someone/something once was. Alanis was Taylor Swift-level big for a few years, and now she's trivia.
The demon was a foam suit. Anything dripping or wet (obviously not the cg) was a mixture of dyed methocel (slime) peat moss, oatmeal, cream corn, and various other things thrown in. The sequence was originally much longer but went through some cuts and reshoots after principle photography. This is what I did on this film, help make the poo. We made thousands of gallons twice because production didn’t want to spend the cash on the expensive preservative and of course the scene got pushed back causing the mixture to ferment requiring a second batch to be made. It was a difficult scene to shoot because the stuntman in the suit had no traction and would repeatedly slip and fall.
“Affleck needs to study some Shakespeare” the man literally starred alongside him once. Fun fact, at the time this was the only one of Kevin’s movies that Jay knew his lines for off book due to his fear and respect for Alan Rickman. In fact he was so scared of not knowing his lines in front of Rickman that he not only memorised all his line but the entire script which was a huge feat considering he had only just got out of rehab at the time
Here's a funny story: I've seen Dogma for the first time in 2019... but it wasn't this movie. So, I'm a Hungarian stage actor and one of my colleagues has his own stage group (one of his passion projects) and he asked me to be the sound guy for his stage theatre adaptation of Dogma. It was very low budget, it was performed in a basement, but I actually prefer it to the movie. Maybe just because I've seen this way for the first time, but anyway. This colleague of mine played Rufus. Some alterations were needed to be made though. See, the guy isn't black. Not many black people live in Hungary and only a small percentage of them are actors so they are hard to find. So in this version it was said that Rufus was the one who posed as Jesus for the public because Jesus was black and all the white people wouldn't listen to his teachings. So all the images we know about Jesus, it is actually Rufus. :D There's also an added joke where Rufus asks "don't I look familiar?" and Jay responds with "OMG, it's Nicholas Cage!" The actor really does have somewhat similar features to Cage. The funniest thing is, he later went on to be one of Cage's stand-ins in the movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. :D Anyway, back when the Dogma stage play premiered, my colleague tweeted about it and Kevin Smith actually wrote a comment to it! Something like: It's awesome to see that Dogma still lives in people's minds and good luck with your show!
There was a tie in comic that took place right before this movie starts. The story is that Jay and Silent Bob feel like no one respects them in Jersey so they want to get out of town and go someplace they can set up shop at. Bob keeps pointing out his love of John Hughes movies and Jay realizes they all seem to take place in Shermer, Illinois. So they decide to go there. Along the way they meet up with Suzanne, the orangutan and get into a crazy adventure with her. A small portion of that story is seen at the end of Mallrats during the credits as they're walking down the road. The full Suzanne story eventually gets told in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Kevin Smith took the Suzanne comic story and retold it in the movie. They eventually leave when they realize Shermer isn't a real place. They also get fooled into doing an adult movie, meet up with Mr. Rogers and eventually they end up across the street from the clinic. The comic ends with them just sitting there and those demon hockey skating kids zooming by them. They hear a scream and decide to check it out.
Good reaction. But just to add a bit of clarification...the old man who was brutally beaten on the boardwalk in the very first scene, and who was hospitalized on a ventilator, was God --- God came down to Earth in the pure human mortal form in New Jersey to enjoy some Skiball (sic) as a human being. The bad guys knew of this and made sure not to kill him on the boardwalk so that he would instead, as a human being, be kept in limbo in the hospital, and thus not be a threat to stopping their plans. If the old man (God in pure human form) was killed by the bad guys in the first scene, then he (God) would simply immediately go back to being God again. So, having him in a coma in the hospital still breathing, was basically the bad guy's way of 'kidnapping' God until they got their way. Bethany figured out who the hospitalized old man was, and simply pulled the plug thus 'killing' him and transforming him back to being God again.
What a great thing! "Dogma" is one of my top films. There's such a history of conflicts with this film I feared it would get lost eventually. So glad you've got it here. I hope more learn of it, and pull it further into the light. Thanks! Here we go! :)
Here's a fun fact for ya- Matt Damon has played Loki 3 times. Once in this movie and twice in the MCU (technically as an actor portraying Loki in Thor: Ragnorak and Thor: Love and Thunder).
The conversation between Loki and Bartleby about the comparison to Lucifer is one of my favorite scenes in any film ever. Matt Damon suddenly going quiet and softly saying "You sound like the Morning Star" is perfection. Also, we're here to make our own meaning. You don't need something else to tell you who you are. And it's not weird that catholics protested the movie. Not only do religious people protest anything regardless of actual content, the movie says you just have to have faith which is 100% opposite of catholic dogma that says you need the church to lead you to salvation.
The book being closed by god is the after credits on Jay and Silent Bob Strikes back, as Mewes was on a downward spiral during the making of that one and Kevin Smith just had enough of it, as opposed to Dogma where Jason was deeply focussed and relatively clean (from fear of F-ing up in front of Rickman)
Yay, new Shanelle video! The strength of this channel is definitely in the analysis. You've got the personality and sense of humor to make the videos fun to watch, but the analysis as a student of the craft is what lifts the channel up to a more sophisticated level. Keep up the great work!
As the great Bill Hicks said "All energy is matter condensed to a slow vibration. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves"
Grace and Don Smith raised Kevin and their other children as devout Catholics. Kevin attended Catholic school until High School, and served as a choir boy in his youth. In his twenties he had a crisis of faith and questioned the principles and morality of The Church in which he'd been raised. Dogma is the result of Kevin Smith questioning and exploring his own feelings towards Catholicism...Alan Rickman was a special man according to Kevin (and many others); Smith did a beautiful and moving eulogy for Rickman on his podcast (Smodcast)...Legendary man, dude, producer Scott Mosier appears as the jerk on the bus making out with the lady that is not his wife...Thank you so much for reacting to this film Shanelle.
It was a nice touch that during most of the argument in the parking garage that Loki was standing still with lights around and above him, with one usually set directly above his head like a halo, meanwhile Bartleby kept mostly to the shadows constantly moving whenever he ventured under the lights, with the lights in the background occasionally jutting from his forehead, mimicking horns. And the argument ends with Bartleby pushing Loki with him out of the lights.
Never noticed that before but that’s fucking awesome. Have seen this film probably a dozen times and missed it cause I was too caught up in them both killing it with the acting and dialogue, thank you for this🙏
Yes i get the feeling she's one of these people who no matter what, is going to hate Affleck. Blinded by her dislike for him. Affleck is great in this.
mine too. I was shocked that she didn't find that scene as amazing as I always have. such a shame when people can't overlook their dislike for certain actors and be objective. I'm not a huge Affleck fan either but there's no denying that he killed that role, especially the parking garage scene.
God (Alanis Morisette) likes to visit Earth in disguise to visit her favorite places, Azreal got wind of who and where God was when she visited Earth and sent his 3 skating lackies to put her (who was disguised as an old man) in a coma to stop her going back to Heaven, unbeknownst to Batrletby and Loki, who thought if what they were doing was so wrong then God would come and stop them. When Bethany killed God in the old mans body in the hospital she was finally able to return to Heaven and then come back down to Earth to stop Bartleby.
I saw this in 1999, in a theater in upstate New York. People laughed their asses off, as did I. It's deep, and serious, yet also somehow silly and fun. I remember Alan Rickman saying they got a LOT of serious death threats for making this film. It really rubbed a few people the wrong way. I think it's Kevin Smith's masterpiece. It's profound, and presents ideas you just don't usually see in mainstream cinema. It's a genuinely subversive movie.
Dogma might be Kevin Smith's magnum opus, despite his mishmash of Judeo-Christian mythology. What a fantastic lambasting of religion. RIP to Carlin and Rickman.
You should check out the deleted scene of Azrael's speech (with production audio). Villain motivations are usually power and/or money... having Jason Lee perfectly crush the villain motivation scene really gave a great dimension to the character and whole plot.
This was the second time I worked on a film the Rickman was in. The first being Bob Roberts. (A political satire starring and directed by Tim Robbins.) He was one of the most humble nicest humans I’ve ever met.
How did he work with the pinched nerves he got with those wings? I read his diaries on this movie and he was in tremendous pain for 5 days at least. He also said that Kevin's rehearsal process was weird, but he didn't elaborate. And how did he handle Linda when she was all pissed off and not talking to Kevin?
@@Theomite he was always professional on set from what I witnessed. I can’t say much other than that. If he had complaints or issues with other crew or cast he kept it to himself or dealt with it privately in interactions that I wasn’t privy to. He did “complain” once to me on Bob Roberts about how the hotel he was staying in was less than spectacular!
Did you know that the nun that Matt Damon talks to in the beginning of the movie played Lady Aberlin (real name Betty Aberlin) in the Land of Make Believe that the puppets talk to on Mister Roger's Neighborhood for 33 years. She also played the teacher in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl.
I absolutely love this movie, and did back in 99. It gets better with every rewatch. You'll catch a lot more the second time through. I was born Catholic, went to a Catholic university, and worked at a small Catholic college until it closed at the beginning of the millennium. I found the humor poignant, informed, and ultimately respectful, not offensive. Though some of the people I worked with thought it was blasphemous. I love your channel Shanelle. You are so engaging and likable. I'm always excited when I see that you're reviewing a movie that I love. Knowing your love of word play, I'd love it if you would do some Marx Brothers movies. My favorite is Horse Feathers. But Duck Soup, Night the Opera, Day at the Races, Animal Crackers, and Monkey Business are all fantastic. Have a good day, luv ya. 😍
Silent Bob spoke twice. I said no ticket to a passenger on the train after the threw Affleck and Damon off, and he said thanks to Rickman after Rickman said to both Jay and Silent Bob about possibly getting them into heaven if they clean up their acts.
I never saw this at the cinema, it was a few years later when a friend mentioned Jay & Silent Bob and was astonished when I said “who are they?” He rushed to his bedroom and came back with three DVDs: Clerks, Mallrats & Dogma, and without even asking if there was anywhere I need to be for the next few hours, he stuck Clerks in the player, genuinely excited that he was about to introduce me to the View Askewniverse. He knew my sense of humour all to well and I loved them. Dogma is my favourite and is so underrated. It’s not just the comedy, there’s some genuinely good scenes of dialogue, like like Bethany and Metatron when she finds out she is related to Jesus, and the scene we she discusses losing her faith with Bartleby, both describing he they thought God was no longer listening, Bethany in a spiritual way and Bartleby in a literal way. I just loved how deep it went into faith and God, despite being a comedy movie with poop jokes. And this is coming from an Atheist!
My favorite one!!! This movie was a real trip to watch when I was in Catholic school. I loved that it displayed different “ideas” that I had thought of. Glad you finally jumped on this! :) The dialogue is incredible and so funny. “We went through 5 Adams before we figured that one out.” “Noah was a drunk, look what he accomplished.” “You ever hear of a fat apostle? Nuh uh!” Glad you enjoy films so much.you’re so awesome.
No one martyred themselves. God was taking a holiday, hanging out in the body of the old man so she could play some Skee-Ball on the boardwalk. Azrael's agents attacked the old man and put him/God into a coma so God was out of the way and couldn't intervene in the Bartleby/Loki situation. Bethany realized what was going on, went to the hospital, and disconnected the old man from life support so his body would die and God would be released, at which time she went over to the church post-haste and dealt with Bartleby.
Dogma takes place after Chasing Amy. There's a comic Kevin Smith wrote (of which he used ideas from to make Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) which detail their trip from the end of Mallrats, stopping at the diner for the Chasing Amy conversation and heading to the start of Dogma, all in their quest to find Shermer, Illinois, having crazy adventures along the way.
@@dupersuper1938 I believed that was the name, but I wasn't sure. Shame Kevin Smith didn't use NPH making uhm... "indie movies" (and this was before his comeback, I believe).
Bonus Trivia fact: the nun that Matt Damon was talking with was played by Betty Aberlin who was on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, which was also filmed in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
I can't wait for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back! That was my intro to the universe, and I had to backtrach from there. And it's such a fun goofy movie.
Not sure if anyone's explained it for you, Shanelle, but the old man in the coma was actually God in Human Form, but was trapped in that form as long as they were in a comatose state.
This movie was cut down to the bare bones version that was released. It was originally about 40 minutes longer. The two biggest casualties were Azreal describing hell and Bethany’s death in the hospital. The poo demon killed her in the hospital but after that was completely cut it was changed to the light of god once he was taken off life support.
God couldn’t help because they had come to earth on god vacation and taken human form (the homeless man in the opening scene looking at the sunset who gets beaten into a coma by hockey sticks). God spends the entire movie trapped in a coma on life support. The man has to die to wake up as Morrisette. Fun fact - If you have watched the 70s classic “Harold and Maude” the homeless man is the actor who played Harold as a teen.
I've been waiting for this one! So ready for you to dig in.... To me, this movie isn't anti-religion so much as it is anti-the absolutism of religion. And it tackles that discussion in the way only Kevin Smith can.
"Why am I here. Why am I doing this" I can answer this one. You were put on this Earth to entertain. You're an entertainer! And a damned good one. Next time you need a "pick me up" just remember you entertain a LOT of people. People look forward to you and your videos.
This was the first Kevin Smith movie I saw in theaters. It was packed. There were a couple of older people in the audience who obviously didn’t know what they were about to see that got up & walked out in the first 30 minutes.
Okay. So God took on the form of that old guy in the hospital to come play some Skeeball in NJ. It just so happens that he was attacked by demons and he ended up in a coma, trapping God on Earth. Azreal, a head of the demons, most likely did this on purpose. While talking to Jay, Bethany realizes this and goes to pull the plug and gets mortally wounded doing so.
In 1999 I was 8, and for my dad's birthday that year I got him a DVD player with a Dogma DVD. I understood the big plot points of three movie, but didn't understand a lot of the specific jokes. It was my first Kevin Smith viewing and I've been a huge fan since.
Several Christian groups protested the film when it came out. Kevin and a friend seen it being covered on the local news so they went to join the protest. They even carried their own protest signs saying Dogma is dog shit. Here’s the news video. th-cam.com/video/DWmlFDYjVV4/w-d-xo.html
Silent Bob speaks one time earlier is the movie. After throwing the angels off the train, he turns around, sees a passenger staring at him, points at the door and says "No ticket"; an Indiana Jones reference to the same line. And yes, I had to watch a few times to make the connection between the old man in a coma and why she had to let him die.
Absolutely great reaction as usual. Thank you. silent Bob does have another line...on the train after throwing Matt and Ben off the train..."No Ticket" to the scared passenger
Jason Mewes was struggling with drugs during the making of this movie. He was told by Kevin Smith that this movie needs to be taken more seriously than the others they've done. So Jason took it seriously, and memorized the entire script. He remembers being intimidated by sharing a scene with Alan Rickman.
Love that you're continuing on your Viewaskewniverse journey. I've never seen anyone react to Dogma. That's awesome. You're coming up on a turning point in Kevin Smith's directorial evolution. Early on he's so focused on his dialog, the performances can sometimes suffer, and for weaker actors it can be obvious they're just trying to chew their way through it rather than it feeling organic. However, after working with so many brilliant comedians like George Carlin and Chris Rock, he started easing up on the focus on making everything exactly as he wrote it, and allowing not just improv or takes in the actor's own words, but true collaboration. After Jay and Bob Strike Back you see a lot more natural performances. Particularly in his non-View Askew films. He's really become a director who can get a really deep, high-level performance from almost anyone. For example George Carlin confided in Smith that he'd always wanted to be a serious actor, but his few movies were always cameos and jokey comedic parts. So in "Jersey Girl" Kevin Smith wrote a part just for George. He has a serious, heartwarming, beautiful story where he pulls excellent performances from the child lead actor, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, and maybe most notably, he fulfilled a friend's lifelong dream and let George show how talented he truly was. It's really too bad J-Lo was also in it, and it debuted in the midst of Ben and J-Lo's break up right on the heels of Gigli's huge flop, because Jersey Girl is a truly beautiful film that deserved better. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Kevin’s homage to his (and mine) favorite John Hughes movie “She’s Having a Baby”. I love Jersey Girl so much for Ben & George’s performances. I actually liked Gigli, but more for Justin Bartha’s performance.
Yesssss! This is by far my favorite in the View Askewniverse! I know that it's not streaming because of the controversy, I'm glad ur reacting to this here. I'm also thankful that I found this on Blu-ray a few years back due to this being one the most rarest ones to find and I still watch it constantly.
The Catholic League is run by a guy named Bill Donohue and he’s a few cans short of a six pack. He absolutely loved to get on TV around this time and Dogma outrage was one of the ways he did it.
I was 25 when this was released. I was a Kevin Smith fan since Clerks then Mallrats cemented it. I loved things that portray gen x'ers as slackers. I was raised Catholic and heard all the same dogma. For me it's Mallrats, Dogma, Chasing Amy, Clerks. The View Askew universe was one of the first. If not the first movie connected universe.
When you are done with the View Askewniverse movies, you should track down the An Evening With Kevin Smith videos, where he went around to colleges and told stories for hours. So many hilarious ones most famously about him writing the script for a new Superman movie, but also including how he got roped into making a documentary with Prince and his supposed rivalry with Tim Burton. One of the stories was how he accidentally got interviewed by a local news station protesting his own movie.
Lots of comic book references in this as well, with some inspiration from "Season of Mists" from The Sandman (and Rickman's Metatron seemed to be modeled after Neil Gaiman), and the comic Marvelman (Miracleman in the US). Also, one of those skater punks was wearing a Hellboy shirt.
Silent Bob speaks twice in the movie. He says "Thanks" to Rufus at the end, but you must've missed in an earlier scene, when he fights Bartleby and Loki on the train, and throws them out the door of it. Some guys is just sitting there looking at him confused and Bob just points out the door at them and says "No tickets." lol
Great movie. I still own my VHS copy for nostalgic purposes. Because of a certain bad person this movie has limited distribution and I'm hoping soon we'll see more movies with this situation to end up on streaming without benefiting anyone associated with W.
There's video on TH-cam, catholics were protesting at the local movie theater the night this premiered. It was also Kevin's local theater, as he still lived here at the time. And on the New12NJ broadcast, they were interviewing the protestors, and Kevin was in the crowd and was interviewed. It's pretty hilarious.
As a lifelong Pittsburgher I of course feel some local pride for this. Speaking of which, I grew up on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which was shot in Pittsburgh, and of course I loved Betty Aberlin, who brought such beauty and grace to that show -- well, Betty Aberlin plays the nun that Matt Damon is "deprogramming" at the very beginning. Saw this in the theater and, yeah, the audience dug it, even if the Church didn't. Thank you for this chance to revisit.
Shanelle... You did miss one Silent Bob line. After throwing Affleck off of the train, he lights a cigarette and someone sitting just stares at Silent Bob, after a beat, Silent Bob says, "No ticket!" like Indiana Jones in 'Last Crusade' when Indy throws the Nazi off of the airship in Germany. Affleck has done some Shakespeare on film...he played Ned Allyn in 'Shakespeare In Love' (1998) with Joseph Fiennes as William Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow in her Oscar-winning role as Lady Viola DeLessyps...along with an amazing cast including Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Imelda Staunton (Prof. Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter), Jim Carter (Mr. Casron of Downton Abbey), Mark Williams (Mr. Weasley in Harry Potter), Simon Callow, and Dame Judi Dench in her Oscar-winning role as Queen Elizabeth I. Some people hate that Gwyneth won an Oscar for the film...I am not a Gwyneth hater. I actually love the film...and nobody reacts to it. Partially due to the Harvey Weinstein connection (He won Best Picture for it). Affleck is a good actor, but it depends a lot on his roles...and he does rub some people the wrong way. I like Ben...most of the time. You need to watch 'An Evening With Kevin Smith', the first of a few movies he cut together from tours he filmed at college campuses where he would tell stories about moviemaking and the BTS of the movie business. In this particular one, he talks about 'Dogma'. There are also a few videos out there where Kevin talks about the BS he has had to deal with concerning 'Dogma' after the Harvey Weinstein fallout.
Hiya Shanelle ☺️ This is my favourite Kevin Smith film. It’s so clever, witty, well paced, well casted and well acted. I had to import this on DVD from the states back in the day as l couldn’t get it in the U.K. and had to buy a region free DVD player to watch it lol 😂 It’s a crime that it’s been locked away behind a dispute and not on streaming services etc. Its just a great flick and l am glad you enjoyed it ☺️👍🏼
As I understand it God possessed some random guy to play some skee-ball but had an aneurysm or something that so it trapped God in the body. Since he was on life support God couldn't get out until the guy died. It doesn't really make much sense, probably why Kevin Smith didn't try to explain it too much. He just needed to get Deus Ex Machina out of the picture for a while so the movie could happen.
So basically God loves ski ball, so every once in awhile She takes a mortal form to come to Earth to play it, never telling anyone where She is going. During one of those times Azrael sends his lackeys to beat up God, putting Her into a coma. Then Azrael sends Bartleby and Loki the article about the church, so Metatron enlists Bethany to stop them. Bethany then find God in human form in a coma in the hospital. She takes Her off life support, releasing God from the body.
Shanelle, I desperately wanted you to notice Alan Rickman spitting the booze back into the glass in that very first scene he was in. I remember watching this in the theater and being really puzzled until just about the end of that scene when I realized he wasn't allowed to drink alcohol and so he found a loophole. And then we get the delicious explanation.
H didn#t find a loophole, after Loki/Bartleby got really drnk and gave God the finger, she made Angels unable to drink. He spits the stuff back into the glass because he has to.
You should check out the Clerks: Animated Series next. It was just 6 episodes that ran on ABC. It's really funny seeing the cleaned up versions of Dante & Randall and especially Jay & Silent Bob. Lots of good jokes in it.
Finally someone reacting to this masterpiece! Loved this from the first time I saw it. Have even used it in school sometimes. There is a great monologue from Azrael about the nature of Hell, that was unfortunately cut from the finished movie. And it's a real shame, but can be seen by searching for "Evil is an Abstract"
And yes, I love this movie since the first time I ever saw it. Saw it at the theater. Yes, I "got it" and yes people were open to it. Not conservative religious folks, but when are they ever open to anything? My favorite story from the movie is when Kevin Smith warned Jason Mewes (Jay) to act professionally because real famous actors would be in the movie like Alan Rickman. Jason went on to memorize every line of the movie because he "Didn't want to piss off this Alan Rickman dude." 😆😆😅😅🤣🤣
Why are we here? We're here to make a kind difference to each other, on balance. People impede or help that general effort as their brains direct them. Together, we decide. That's it.
Raised Catholic, almost became a nun, originally from the same area of NJ as Kevin Smith: LOVED this movie in '99, and got all the theology in it, lol.
God couldn't get involved until the end because they were trapped inside the body of the Skee-Ball person - that body being beat nearly to death trapped God rofl you criticizing Affleck's acting when that scene's giving heavy hints that his mind is cracking - it reminded me of this time in high school I was at a friend's house watching Terminator and his dad comes in midway like "ooo his acting is awful; he's so stiff" and we just chuckled like "yeah, he's playing a cyborg.."
Catch the full length version on Patreon! www.patreon.com/shanellericcio
Please don't stop ripping into Affleck.🥰🤣
NOPE- God loves skeeball so much, they became HUMAN to go play it. then got put in a coma by the demon kids. since God is human, God couldn't do anything at all from a coma. So, when She pulled the plug, God (human) dies, and was God again.
I HATE how this movie is being held hostage even though Kevin Smith said he’s willing to pay largely to get the rights to it
Is this weinstein's new Bible in hopes he'll get out of HELL if he believes it? Maybe that's why he won't let it go
My understanding is that it's in Legal Limbo due to legal cases against Harvey and all profits would end up in escrow and be another legal entanglement after the current one.
Which is why its on the popular internet video site without a Dmca takedown
@@tiarnanquinn5403 Kevin is on record saying he tried to get rights well before the legal issues
@@davidcohen9016 yes but its in linbo currently. Not being held hostage. We'll see how hard up 4 cash the current owner is after the legal thingy finishes eating money
Always smile when I see a virtually brand new DVD of this at Goodwill for $3.
Already got mine, of course 😉
I always find it hilarious that people don't get the "Six Million Dollar Man" reference toward the end any more.
Got it. In fact, I was a member of the Steve Austin fan club.
I noticed that she didn't react to it.
As a kid, I had the 12" action figure that had bionic parts you could swap out. You could look through a hole in his head and out his "bionic eye". LOL
That's because the show is from the 70's and the last movie was shown in 1994. Most people like Shanelle weren't even born. 😄
We're all showing our age by recognizing that reference. I remember me and my friends would pretend to be Steve and squint our eyes while making the zoom in sounds from the show! Ah, good times.
A little correction. She didnt summon god, she released her. While in a human form God could only leave in one of two situations, by choice or by death. So Azrael sent his lackies to knock god out, not kill, just put her in a coma. Meaning taking god out of the equation and leaving no one to stop Bartelby and Loki. So the Metatron and other higher up angels decided to tap the decendant of Jesus to stop Bartelby and Loki. Yeah this movie gets DEEP when you think about the plot.
Edit. Yeah JUST got to where you get the connection. Yeah its one of those you REALLY got to think on it or youll miss it plot points.
What she said.
He also counted on the Catholic Church's stance against euthanasia to ensure God would remain in the coma. Shanelle no doubt missed the reference to John Doe Jersey in Bethany's church service. Another dig at dogma by a frustrated American Catholic.
Silent Bob also speaks when he throws Loki and Bartlebury off the train, he says "No Ticket", referencing Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.
Genius casting of Alanis Morrisette as God!
Not very many references to the previous films in this one though there are appearances from Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson of Clerks. Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back more than makes up for it though.
Fun Fact: Kevin loves telling the story, when this film was released there was a protest in NJ near Kevin Smith. Kevin made protest signs and joined the protest. He was interviewed by the local news as to why he was protesting the movie. They didn't know who he was.
th-cam.com/video/QepgKVOVfZ8/w-d-xo.html
in his book, Kevin has pictures of little Harley dressed as an angel. he admitted when he and Jen went to the premier, he was carrying her, pretty much saying she was his human shield with the protests still going on at the red carpet
You asked about seeing the film in 1999. What younger folks might not know is how exciting, weird and daring the movies of that year were. Just for a start - Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, American Beauty, South Park, Eyes Wide Shut, The Matrix. So, for me, Dogma fit right in (loved it).
Being John Malkavich is sooo good! ‘99 was a banner year at the cinema.
Yeah 99 was kinda the peak nexus of mainstream art.
Don’t forget Phantom Menace 👌😎😛
I was 19, we went to the theatres a lot that year lol 🍿🎥
I'd definitely say that people were more open to a movie like Dogma in 1999 than they would be now.
I loved when Kevin was outside protesting his own movie. He talks about it in one of his "An Evening with" DVDS I believe.
th-cam.com/video/DWmlFDYjVV4/w-d-xo.html
Ya it's prob one of my fav stories.. period.
There is a clip of the news coverage with him in it protesting on yt.
“Dogma is dog....” 😅
@@TheseDarkWoods no its the ma of a dog....
Dogma is hands down my favorite Kevin Smith movie. I was a big Kevin Smith fan already, and saw this in the theater when it came out. I love how Kevin really swings for the fences and delivers such meaningful messages in such a fun and wacky way. If you get a chance I would definitely recommend watching "An Evening With Kevin Smith" -- he tells a fun anecdote about Dogma (the whole thing is Kevin telling anecdotes - it is phenomenal).
EVERYONE I know who has faith loves this movie, my mom especially. There's just the right mix of humor, message, and thought.
Was "An Evening with Kevin Smith" the one with Jason Mewes shortly after he'd been arrested for heroin?
@@RickLeMon I think it was right before Mewes was arrested; not sure though. I'm pretty sure that it was his first of these wonderful "sit downs" with Kevin Smith. I have most of them on DVD that I could get my hands on. I could listen to Kevin Smith talk all day long.
@@alib6615 The one I remember, it was days after he'd been arrested. Someone from the audience said that they'd heard Mewes had been arrested a few months prior and asked if it was true. They looked at each other and Kevin Smith said something like "was he arrested for heroin a few months ago? No." A handful of people in the audience caught on and laughed
Clerks is my fav, but Dogma is ALMOST tied with it.
FUN FACT: The shot of Ben and Matt stepping over the highway barrier at the "Welcome To New Jersey" roadsign was the first shot filmed in the production and it was filmed the day after they won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting.
Kevin Smith was in a documentary about George Carlin and what he meant to him. When he was a young teenager, his dad gave him a George Carlin album and told Kevin not to tell his mother. When Carlin appeared in this movie Kevin Smith introduced his dad to him. Kevin said he saw a side of his dad he had never seen before as he was a complete fan boy for Carlin.
No joke, this movie changed my life. I love it. Never underestimate a dick & fart joke movie with a substance. Someone can see it just at the right time in their life, and it can affect them in a big way. My absolute favorite Kevin Smith film.
Same. I was a teenager when I first watched this, already questioning my religion and this movie gave me the affirmation to feel comfortable in faith with positive beliefs outside of religion. Plus it’s just so funny and entertaining 😂
This actually formed a lot of my opinions on religion
Fitting, given Shanelle's comments about Shakespearean acting. Will's plays were full of dick and fart jokes.
I know you're a 90s baby, but this really emphasized the "baby" part. Alanis Morrissette was instantly recognizable to 99% of the North American population between 1995-2000, so when you didn't clock her immediately it made me feel ANCIENT.
As I recall, the general reaction to casting Alanis as God was a collective "of course".
Ironic, don't you think?
@@Psilocybin77 you oughta know
I was born in '90 and only recognize her because my mom was into her for a while. Youd have to be born mid to late 80s to be immediately recognizable lol
Yeah, I get it. I just think it's funny how a few years can rewrite perceptions of just how popular someone/something once was. Alanis was Taylor Swift-level big for a few years, and now she's trivia.
As a lifelong atheist I loved this movie when I saw it in the theater in 1999 and it remains one of my favorites to this day.
The demon was a foam suit. Anything dripping or wet (obviously not the cg) was a mixture of dyed methocel (slime) peat moss, oatmeal, cream corn, and various other things thrown in. The sequence was originally much longer but went through some cuts and reshoots after principle photography. This is what I did on this film, help make the poo. We made thousands of gallons twice because production didn’t want to spend the cash on the expensive preservative and of course the scene got pushed back causing the mixture to ferment requiring a second batch to be made. It was a difficult scene to shoot because the stuntman in the suit had no traction and would repeatedly slip and fall.
Ethan Suplee played the demon.
@@Madbandit77 yeah dude, that would be the voice. I was there. Were you?
I saw the Shit Demon head on display at LA Comic Con a few years ago. Pretty cool
“Affleck needs to study some Shakespeare” the man literally starred alongside him once.
Fun fact, at the time this was the only one of Kevin’s movies that Jay knew his lines for off book due to his fear and respect for Alan Rickman. In fact he was so scared of not knowing his lines in front of Rickman that he not only memorised all his line but the entire script which was a huge feat considering he had only just got out of rehab at the time
That’s one of my favorite stories.
Affleck starred alongside Shakespeare? I find that a tad hard to believe.
@@SuddenReal indeed, he played a character who alongside a man playing Shakespeare in the movie Shakespeare in Love
@@Wezt334 spoiler: that was not the real Shakespeare.
@@SuddenReal not really a spoiler and it clearly wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. Calm down
Here's a funny story: I've seen Dogma for the first time in 2019... but it wasn't this movie. So, I'm a Hungarian stage actor and one of my colleagues has his own stage group (one of his passion projects) and he asked me to be the sound guy for his stage theatre adaptation of Dogma. It was very low budget, it was performed in a basement, but I actually prefer it to the movie. Maybe just because I've seen this way for the first time, but anyway. This colleague of mine played Rufus. Some alterations were needed to be made though. See, the guy isn't black. Not many black people live in Hungary and only a small percentage of them are actors so they are hard to find. So in this version it was said that Rufus was the one who posed as Jesus for the public because Jesus was black and all the white people wouldn't listen to his teachings. So all the images we know about Jesus, it is actually Rufus. :D There's also an added joke where Rufus asks "don't I look familiar?" and Jay responds with "OMG, it's Nicholas Cage!" The actor really does have somewhat similar features to Cage. The funniest thing is, he later went on to be one of Cage's stand-ins in the movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. :D Anyway, back when the Dogma stage play premiered, my colleague tweeted about it and Kevin Smith actually wrote a comment to it! Something like: It's awesome to see that Dogma still lives in people's minds and good luck with your show!
I LOVE that she called Dogma "more grounded"!!!😂😂😂 (Enter, giant poop monster.)
And literally FLYING ANGELS!
So grounded 😆
There was a tie in comic that took place right before this movie starts. The story is that Jay and Silent Bob feel like no one respects them in Jersey so they want to get out of town and go someplace they can set up shop at. Bob keeps pointing out his love of John Hughes movies and Jay realizes they all seem to take place in Shermer, Illinois. So they decide to go there. Along the way they meet up with Suzanne, the orangutan and get into a crazy adventure with her. A small portion of that story is seen at the end of Mallrats during the credits as they're walking down the road. The full Suzanne story eventually gets told in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Kevin Smith took the Suzanne comic story and retold it in the movie. They eventually leave when they realize Shermer isn't a real place. They also get fooled into doing an adult movie, meet up with Mr. Rogers and eventually they end up across the street from the clinic. The comic ends with them just sitting there and those demon hockey skating kids zooming by them. They hear a scream and decide to check it out.
Good reaction. But just to add a bit of clarification...the old man who was brutally beaten on the boardwalk in the very first scene, and who was hospitalized on a ventilator, was God --- God came down to Earth in the pure human mortal form in New Jersey to enjoy some Skiball (sic) as a human being. The bad guys knew of this and made sure not to kill him on the boardwalk so that he would instead, as a human being, be kept in limbo in the hospital, and thus not be a threat to stopping their plans. If the old man (God in pure human form) was killed by the bad guys in the first scene, then he (God) would simply immediately go back to being God again. So, having him in a coma in the hospital still breathing, was basically the bad guy's way of 'kidnapping' God until they got their way. Bethany figured out who the hospitalized old man was, and simply pulled the plug thus 'killing' him and transforming him back to being God again.
Best line of the film: "You didn't say God Bless You"
"Loki!"
"You're getting off lite!"
What a great thing! "Dogma" is one of my top films. There's such a history of conflicts with this film I feared it would get lost eventually. So glad you've got it here. I hope more learn of it, and pull it further into the light. Thanks! Here we go! :)
Alan Rickman is the best part of this movie "What are you going to do, hit me with a fish?"
Here's a fun fact for ya- Matt Damon has played Loki 3 times. Once in this movie and twice in the MCU (technically as an actor portraying Loki in Thor: Ragnorak and Thor: Love and Thunder).
I don't know if you clocked it or not, but the gun store salesman was played by Jeff Anderson who played Randel the video rental guy in Clerks.
Alannis Morissette as God is the most inspired casting I have ever seen. I can't choose between Dogma and Chasing Amy, I loved them both.
The conversation between Loki and Bartleby about the comparison to Lucifer is one of my favorite scenes in any film ever. Matt Damon suddenly going quiet and softly saying "You sound like the Morning Star" is perfection. Also, we're here to make our own meaning. You don't need something else to tell you who you are. And it's not weird that catholics protested the movie. Not only do religious people protest anything regardless of actual content, the movie says you just have to have faith which is 100% opposite of catholic dogma that says you need the church to lead you to salvation.
So you know, Shanelle...the Sh*t Demon is played by Ethan Suplee(William: "When am I gonna see the sailboat?!"...yeah, that guy).
The book being closed by god is the after credits on Jay and Silent Bob Strikes back, as Mewes was on a downward spiral during the making of that one and Kevin Smith just had enough of it, as opposed to Dogma where Jason was deeply focussed and relatively clean (from fear of F-ing up in front of Rickman)
@@sharkey25uk OMG.... that's right....sorry.... I'll edit this for non spoilers. Thanks.
This movie is why Matt Damon plays the actor who plays Loki in the dramatizations in the Thor movies.
Yay, new Shanelle video! The strength of this channel is definitely in the analysis. You've got the personality and sense of humor to make the videos fun to watch, but the analysis as a student of the craft is what lifts the channel up to a more sophisticated level. Keep up the great work!
As the great Bill Hicks said "All energy is matter condensed to a slow vibration. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves"
Here's Tom with the weather.
Ben did a “ Shakespeare” move called Shakespeare in Love. It is a really good movie. You should watch it😊
Grace and Don Smith raised Kevin and their other children as devout Catholics. Kevin attended Catholic school until High School, and served as a choir boy in his youth. In his twenties he had a crisis of faith and questioned the principles and morality of The Church in which he'd been raised. Dogma is the result of Kevin Smith questioning and exploring his own feelings towards Catholicism...Alan Rickman was a special man according to Kevin (and many others); Smith did a beautiful and moving eulogy for Rickman on his podcast (Smodcast)...Legendary man, dude, producer Scott Mosier appears as the jerk on the bus making out with the lady that is not his wife...Thank you so much for reacting to this film Shanelle.
It was a nice touch that during most of the argument in the parking garage that Loki was standing still with lights around and above him, with one usually set directly above his head like a halo, meanwhile Bartleby kept mostly to the shadows constantly moving whenever he ventured under the lights, with the lights in the background occasionally jutting from his forehead, mimicking horns. And the argument ends with Bartleby pushing Loki with him out of the lights.
Never noticed that before but that’s fucking awesome. Have seen this film probably a dozen times and missed it cause I was too caught up in them both killing it with the acting and dialogue, thank you for this🙏
Ben's rant in the parking garage is my favorite part. Ben acted the SHIT out of that part.
Not according to Shanelle 🙄
Ben would have trouble acting his way out of a wet bag.
Yes i get the feeling she's one of these people who no matter what, is going to hate Affleck. Blinded by her dislike for him. Affleck is great in this.
mine too. I was shocked that she didn't find that scene as amazing as I always have. such a shame when people can't overlook their dislike for certain actors and be objective. I'm not a huge Affleck fan either but there's no denying that he killed that role, especially the parking garage scene.
I thought he was fine to good in this movie, but thought Affleck was absolutely putrid in Armageddon. Especially the crying scene.
God (Alanis Morisette) likes to visit Earth in disguise to visit her favorite places, Azreal got wind of who and where God was when she visited Earth and sent his 3 skating lackies to put her (who was disguised as an old man) in a coma to stop her going back to Heaven, unbeknownst to Batrletby and Loki, who thought if what they were doing was so wrong then God would come and stop them. When Bethany killed God in the old mans body in the hospital she was finally able to return to Heaven and then come back down to Earth to stop Bartleby.
I saw this in 1999, in a theater in upstate New York. People laughed their asses off, as did I. It's deep, and serious, yet also somehow silly and fun.
I remember Alan Rickman saying they got a LOT of serious death threats for making this film. It really rubbed a few people the wrong way.
I think it's Kevin Smith's masterpiece. It's profound, and presents ideas you just don't usually see in mainstream cinema. It's a genuinely subversive movie.
Dogma might be Kevin Smith's magnum opus, despite his mishmash of Judeo-Christian mythology. What a fantastic lambasting of religion.
RIP to Carlin and Rickman.
did you just finish watching Billions when you typed this comment? Only other example of usage i can think of of the term "Magnum Opus"
@@CaptainRandus Never seen it. Magnum opus is just a bit of Latin I like to drop when I can.
@@LordVolkov ahh okay. Coincidental for me then lol
This was my older brother’s FAVORITE MOVIE growing up 😂🎬🍿 The references went over my head then, *but I fully appreciate it now.*
You should check out the deleted scene of Azrael's speech (with production audio). Villain motivations are usually power and/or money... having Jason Lee perfectly crush the villain motivation scene really gave a great dimension to the character and whole plot.
The best way ive heard it explained is that the 'boop' answer to "Why are we here?" Is that gods answer is "Because i love you. Thats why."
This was the second time I worked on a film the Rickman was in. The first being Bob Roberts. (A political satire starring and directed by Tim Robbins.) He was one of the most humble nicest humans I’ve ever met.
How did he work with the pinched nerves he got with those wings? I read his diaries on this movie and he was in tremendous pain for 5 days at least. He also said that Kevin's rehearsal process was weird, but he didn't elaborate. And how did he handle Linda when she was all pissed off and not talking to Kevin?
@@Theomite he was always professional on set from what I witnessed. I can’t say much other than that. If he had complaints or issues with other crew or cast he kept it to himself or dealt with it privately in interactions that I wasn’t privy to. He did “complain” once to me on Bob Roberts about how the hotel he was staying in was less than spectacular!
Did you know that the nun that Matt Damon talks to in the beginning of the movie played Lady Aberlin (real name Betty Aberlin) in the Land of Make Believe that the puppets talk to on Mister Roger's Neighborhood for 33 years. She also played the teacher in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl.
I absolutely love this movie, and did back in 99. It gets better with every rewatch. You'll catch a lot more the second time through.
I was born Catholic, went to a Catholic university, and worked at a small Catholic college until it closed at the beginning of the millennium. I found the humor poignant, informed, and ultimately respectful, not offensive. Though some of the people I worked with thought it was blasphemous.
I love your channel Shanelle. You are so engaging and likable. I'm always excited when I see that you're reviewing a movie that I love. Knowing your love of word play, I'd love it if you would do some Marx Brothers movies. My favorite is Horse Feathers. But Duck Soup, Night the Opera, Day at the Races, Animal Crackers, and Monkey Business are all fantastic.
Have a good day, luv ya. 😍
Silent Bob spoke twice. I said no ticket to a passenger on the train after the threw Affleck and Damon off, and he said thanks to Rickman after Rickman said to both Jay and Silent Bob about possibly getting them into heaven if they clean up their acts.
I never saw this at the cinema, it was a few years later when a friend mentioned Jay & Silent Bob and was astonished when I said “who are they?” He rushed to his bedroom and came back with three DVDs: Clerks, Mallrats & Dogma, and without even asking if there was anywhere I need to be for the next few hours, he stuck Clerks in the player, genuinely excited that he was about to introduce me to the View Askewniverse. He knew my sense of humour all to well and I loved them. Dogma is my favourite and is so underrated. It’s not just the comedy, there’s some genuinely good scenes of dialogue, like like Bethany and Metatron when she finds out she is related to Jesus, and the scene we she discusses losing her faith with Bartleby, both describing he they thought God was no longer listening, Bethany in a spiritual way and Bartleby in a literal way. I just loved how deep it went into faith and God, despite being a comedy movie with poop jokes. And this is coming from an Atheist!
Dogma (1999) - "Get to New Jersey"
The Warriors (1979) - "Get to Coney Island"
My favorite one!!! This movie was a real trip to watch when I was in Catholic school. I loved that it displayed different “ideas” that I had thought of. Glad you finally jumped on this! :) The dialogue is incredible and so funny. “We went through 5 Adams before we figured that one out.” “Noah was a drunk, look what he accomplished.” “You ever hear of a fat apostle? Nuh uh!”
Glad you enjoy films so much.you’re so awesome.
No one martyred themselves. God was taking a holiday, hanging out in the body of the old man so she could play some Skee-Ball on the boardwalk. Azrael's agents attacked the old man and put him/God into a coma so God was out of the way and couldn't intervene in the Bartleby/Loki situation. Bethany realized what was going on, went to the hospital, and disconnected the old man from life support so his body would die and God would be released, at which time she went over to the church post-haste and dealt with Bartleby.
Dogma takes place after Chasing Amy. There's a comic Kevin Smith wrote (of which he used ideas from to make Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) which detail their trip from the end of Mallrats, stopping at the diner for the Chasing Amy conversation and heading to the start of Dogma, all in their quest to find Shermer, Illinois, having crazy adventures along the way.
"Chasing Dogma"
@@dupersuper1938 I believed that was the name, but I wasn't sure. Shame Kevin Smith didn't use NPH making uhm... "indie movies" (and this was before his comeback, I believe).
Bonus Trivia fact: the nun that Matt Damon was talking with was played by Betty Aberlin who was on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, which was also filmed in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
I can't wait for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back! That was my intro to the universe, and I had to backtrach from there. And it's such a fun goofy movie.
Not sure if anyone's explained it for you, Shanelle, but the old man in the coma was actually God in Human Form, but was trapped in that form as long as they were in a comatose state.
This movie was cut down to the bare bones version that was released. It was originally about 40 minutes longer. The two biggest casualties were Azreal describing hell and Bethany’s death in the hospital. The poo demon killed her in the hospital but after that was completely cut it was changed to the light of god once he was taken off life support.
God couldn’t help because they had come to earth on god vacation and taken human form (the homeless man in the opening scene looking at the sunset who gets beaten into a coma by hockey sticks).
God spends the entire movie trapped in a coma on life support.
The man has to die to wake up as Morrisette.
Fun fact - If you have watched the 70s classic “Harold and Maude” the homeless man is the actor who played Harold as a teen.
I've been waiting for this one! So ready for you to dig in....
To me, this movie isn't anti-religion so much as it is anti-the absolutism of religion. And it tackles that discussion in the way only Kevin Smith can.
"Why am I here. Why am I doing this"
I can answer this one. You were put on this Earth to entertain. You're an entertainer! And a damned good one. Next time you need a "pick me up" just remember you entertain a LOT of people. People look forward to you and your videos.
This was the first Kevin Smith movie I saw in theaters. It was packed. There were a couple of older people in the audience who obviously didn’t know what they were about to see that got up & walked out in the first 30 minutes.
The day this movie is allowed to be streamed, will be the best day. I have the VHS next to me as I watch this
Okay. So God took on the form of that old guy in the hospital to come play some Skeeball in NJ. It just so happens that he was attacked by demons and he ended up in a coma, trapping God on Earth. Azreal, a head of the demons, most likely did this on purpose. While talking to Jay, Bethany realizes this and goes to pull the plug and gets mortally wounded doing so.
In 1999 I was 8, and for my dad's birthday that year I got him a DVD player with a Dogma DVD. I understood the big plot points of three movie, but didn't understand a lot of the specific jokes. It was my first Kevin Smith viewing and I've been a huge fan since.
Several Christian groups protested the film when it came out. Kevin and a friend seen it being covered on the local news so they went to join the protest. They even carried their own protest signs saying Dogma is dog shit. Here’s the news video. th-cam.com/video/DWmlFDYjVV4/w-d-xo.html
Silent Bob speaks one time earlier is the movie. After throwing the angels off the train, he turns around, sees a passenger staring at him, points at the door and says "No ticket"; an Indiana Jones reference to the same line. And yes, I had to watch a few times to make the connection between the old man in a coma and why she had to let him die.
"No ticket" is one of my favorite references in this movie but I knew it would be edited out.
I really hope she watches Swingers one day
Joe Jersey ( coma God) was played by Bud Cort. The fantastic Harold from Harold and Maude.
Absolutely great reaction as usual. Thank you. silent Bob does have another line...on the train after throwing Matt and Ben off the train..."No Ticket" to the scared passenger
Yup
Which is an homage to Indiana Jones...
Jason Mewes was struggling with drugs during the making of this movie. He was told by Kevin Smith that this movie needs to be taken more seriously than the others they've done. So Jason took it seriously, and memorized the entire script. He remembers being intimidated by sharing a scene with Alan Rickman.
Love that you're continuing on your Viewaskewniverse journey. I've never seen anyone react to Dogma. That's awesome. You're coming up on a turning point in Kevin Smith's directorial evolution. Early on he's so focused on his dialog, the performances can sometimes suffer, and for weaker actors it can be obvious they're just trying to chew their way through it rather than it feeling organic. However, after working with so many brilliant comedians like George Carlin and Chris Rock, he started easing up on the focus on making everything exactly as he wrote it, and allowing not just improv or takes in the actor's own words, but true collaboration. After Jay and Bob Strike Back you see a lot more natural performances. Particularly in his non-View Askew films. He's really become a director who can get a really deep, high-level performance from almost anyone. For example George Carlin confided in Smith that he'd always wanted to be a serious actor, but his few movies were always cameos and jokey comedic parts. So in "Jersey Girl" Kevin Smith wrote a part just for George. He has a serious, heartwarming, beautiful story where he pulls excellent performances from the child lead actor, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, and maybe most notably, he fulfilled a friend's lifelong dream and let George show how talented he truly was. It's really too bad J-Lo was also in it, and it debuted in the midst of Ben and J-Lo's break up right on the heels of Gigli's huge flop, because Jersey Girl is a truly beautiful film that deserved better. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Kevin’s homage to his (and mine) favorite John Hughes movie “She’s Having a Baby”. I love Jersey Girl so much for Ben & George’s performances.
I actually liked Gigli, but more for Justin Bartha’s performance.
Dogma is my favorite Viewaskewiverse movie. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck killed it as Loki and Bartleby.
Yesssss! This is by far my favorite in the View Askewniverse! I know that it's not streaming because of the controversy, I'm glad ur reacting to this here. I'm also thankful that I found this on Blu-ray a few years back due to this being one the most rarest ones to find and I still watch it constantly.
The Catholic League is run by a guy named Bill Donohue and he’s a few cans short of a six pack. He absolutely loved to get on TV around this time and Dogma outrage was one of the ways he did it.
I was 25 when this was released. I was a Kevin Smith fan since Clerks then Mallrats cemented it. I loved things that portray gen x'ers as slackers. I was raised Catholic and heard all the same dogma. For me it's Mallrats, Dogma, Chasing Amy, Clerks. The View Askew universe was one of the first. If not the first movie connected universe.
When you are done with the View Askewniverse movies, you should track down the An Evening With Kevin Smith videos, where he went around to colleges and told stories for hours. So many hilarious ones most famously about him writing the script for a new Superman movie, but also including how he got roped into making a documentary with Prince and his supposed rivalry with Tim Burton. One of the stories was how he accidentally got interviewed by a local news station protesting his own movie.
Lots of comic book references in this as well, with some inspiration from "Season of Mists" from The Sandman (and Rickman's Metatron seemed to be modeled after Neil Gaiman), and the comic Marvelman (Miracleman in the US). Also, one of those skater punks was wearing a Hellboy shirt.
Silent Bob speaks twice in the movie. He says "Thanks" to Rufus at the end, but you must've missed in an earlier scene, when he fights Bartleby and Loki on the train, and throws them out the door of it. Some guys is just sitting there looking at him confused and Bob just points out the door at them and says "No tickets." lol
Great movie. I still own my VHS copy for nostalgic purposes.
Because of a certain bad person this movie has limited distribution and I'm hoping soon we'll see more movies with this situation to end up on streaming without benefiting anyone associated with W.
There's video on TH-cam, catholics were protesting at the local movie theater the night this premiered. It was also Kevin's local theater, as he still lived here at the time. And on the New12NJ broadcast, they were interviewing the protestors, and Kevin was in the crowd and was interviewed. It's pretty hilarious.
As a lifelong Pittsburgher I of course feel some local pride for this. Speaking of which, I grew up on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which was shot in Pittsburgh, and of course I loved Betty Aberlin, who brought such beauty and grace to that show -- well, Betty Aberlin plays the nun that Matt Damon is "deprogramming" at the very beginning. Saw this in the theater and, yeah, the audience dug it, even if the Church didn't. Thank you for this chance to revisit.
Betty was also in Red State. She's surprisingly great in that and Dogma.
Shanelle...
You did miss one Silent Bob line. After throwing Affleck off of the train, he lights a cigarette and someone sitting just stares at Silent Bob, after a beat, Silent Bob says, "No ticket!" like Indiana Jones in 'Last Crusade' when Indy throws the Nazi off of the airship in Germany.
Affleck has done some Shakespeare on film...he played Ned Allyn in 'Shakespeare In Love' (1998) with Joseph Fiennes as William Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow in her Oscar-winning role as Lady Viola DeLessyps...along with an amazing cast including Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Imelda Staunton (Prof. Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter), Jim Carter (Mr. Casron of Downton Abbey), Mark Williams (Mr. Weasley in Harry Potter), Simon Callow, and Dame Judi Dench in her Oscar-winning role as Queen Elizabeth I. Some people hate that Gwyneth won an Oscar for the film...I am not a Gwyneth hater. I actually love the film...and nobody reacts to it. Partially due to the Harvey Weinstein connection (He won Best Picture for it). Affleck is a good actor, but it depends a lot on his roles...and he does rub some people the wrong way. I like Ben...most of the time.
You need to watch 'An Evening With Kevin Smith', the first of a few movies he cut together from tours he filmed at college campuses where he would tell stories about moviemaking and the BTS of the movie business. In this particular one, he talks about 'Dogma'.
There are also a few videos out there where Kevin talks about the BS he has had to deal with concerning 'Dogma' after the Harvey Weinstein fallout.
Hiya Shanelle ☺️ This is my favourite Kevin Smith film. It’s so clever, witty, well paced, well casted and well acted. I had to import this on DVD from the states back in the day as l couldn’t get it in the U.K. and had to buy a region free DVD player to watch it lol 😂 It’s a crime that it’s been locked away behind a dispute and not on streaming services etc. Its just a great flick and l am glad you enjoyed it ☺️👍🏼
As I understand it God possessed some random guy to play some skee-ball but had an aneurysm or something that so it trapped God in the body. Since he was on life support God couldn't get out until the guy died. It doesn't really make much sense, probably why Kevin Smith didn't try to explain it too much. He just needed to get Deus Ex Machina out of the picture for a while so the movie could happen.
I love this movie. The cast is amazing.
So basically God loves ski ball, so every once in awhile She takes a mortal form to come to Earth to play it, never telling anyone where She is going. During one of those times Azrael sends his lackeys to beat up God, putting Her into a coma. Then Azrael sends Bartleby and Loki the article about the church, so Metatron enlists Bethany to stop them. Bethany then find God in human form in a coma in the hospital. She takes Her off life support, releasing God from the body.
This was actually the first Kevin Smith movie I saw, and I loved it. Probably my favorite Alan Rockman role, actually.
You didn't hear Silent Bob say "no ticket" as his explanation for throwing Loki and Bartleby off the train?
Shanelle, I desperately wanted you to notice Alan Rickman spitting the booze back into the glass in that very first scene he was in. I remember watching this in the theater and being really puzzled until just about the end of that scene when I realized he wasn't allowed to drink alcohol and so he found a loophole. And then we get the delicious explanation.
H didn#t find a loophole, after Loki/Bartleby got really drnk and gave God the finger, she made Angels unable to drink. He spits the stuff back into the glass because he has to.
ur insane.. his performance in the garage when hes yelling about god is one of the best rants on god ive ever seen...
You should check out the Clerks: Animated Series next. It was just 6 episodes that ran on ABC. It's really funny seeing the cleaned up versions of Dante & Randall and especially Jay & Silent Bob. Lots of good jokes in it.
To this day I still will exclaim “Who’s is driving car?! Bear is driving car!!! How can this be?!!” at random times.
@@davidmcleod5133 If I ever I go into a walk-in cooler, it must be compared to that planet Hoth from Empire.
"Holy shit, it's the Pope..."
That line was when I fell in love with the movie the first time watching it.
Finally someone reacting to this masterpiece!
Loved this from the first time I saw it. Have even used it in school sometimes. There is a great monologue from Azrael about the nature of Hell, that was unfortunately cut from the finished movie. And it's a real shame, but can be seen by searching for "Evil is an Abstract"
And yes, I love this movie since the first time I ever saw it. Saw it at the theater. Yes, I "got it" and yes people were open to it. Not conservative religious folks, but when are they ever open to anything? My favorite story from the movie is when Kevin Smith warned Jason Mewes (Jay) to act professionally because real famous actors would be in the movie like Alan Rickman. Jason went on to memorize every line of the movie because he "Didn't want to piss off this Alan Rickman dude." 😆😆😅😅🤣🤣
Noooo way I actually wasn't expecting you to do dogma this made my day 😁
Why are we here?
We're here to make a kind difference to each other, on balance. People impede or help that general effort as their brains direct them. Together, we decide.
That's it.
This is my absolute favorite Kevin Smith movie, I literally jumped I was so happy to see you finally reacting to this one.
Raised Catholic, almost became a nun, originally from the same area of NJ as Kevin Smith: LOVED this movie in '99, and got all the theology in it, lol.
Awesome!!! One of my Top 10 favourite movies of all-time and haven't noticed anyone else cover it yet. You Rock, Shan! 👍✌❤
I saw that you posted this and I literally screamed "YES!" outloud. 😂
Saw this in the theatre opening night, the entire audience was laughing. One of my favorite movie memories….
God couldn't get involved until the end because they were trapped inside the body of the Skee-Ball person - that body being beat nearly to death trapped God
rofl you criticizing Affleck's acting when that scene's giving heavy hints that his mind is cracking - it reminded me of this time in high school I was at a friend's house watching Terminator and his dad comes in midway like "ooo his acting is awful; he's so stiff" and we just chuckled like "yeah, he's playing a cyborg.."
I never comment before watching the reaction, but I'm just so excited to see your reaction to this movie!