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Reviews
Dogma (1999)
A fair enough Smith movie. A jack of all genres and master of none.
Being a HUGE fan of both Clerks and Mallrats, I thought that Kevin Smith drifted a little in the wrong direction with Chasing Amy. The third (and ironically critically acclaimed) in the "Jersey Trilogy" tried to mix the writer's knack for inventive, funny, ultra-real and often vulgar dialogue with a deathly serious (anti)romance agenda. This and the lack of Jay & Silent Bob made it a bit of a damp squib for me - leave the angsty dramas to other directors and TV movies Kev, stick to what you're good at!
I therefore expected that by drifting in the opposite direction - that of a blockbuster - Kevin Smith might rectify his previous mistakes. Unfortunately Dogma hits just as far off the mark as Chasing Amy, only in the opposite direction. It seems to be an uneasy balancing act between serious satire and sci-fi fantasy, muting a lot of the humour.
I don't agree that only Catholics will "get" Dogma. Anyone with a vague knowledge of religion can see the jibes and reasoning going on here. And this is one of the strong points. It doesn't mock Catholicism, but it DOES mock the hypocricies and illogical reasoning of dogmatic belief - things people take so literally or fearfully that they lose sight of their faith. It also mocks those who try to make too light of religion.
This satire works reasonably well with the verbal/gross-out comedy of Jay & Silent Bob but unfortunately, the blend of these elements just DOESN'T WORK when combined with fantasy elements of devils and angels and sh*t demons... The whole idea of Jay & Bob et al is that they live in a very normal world (cf: Clerks) and the fantasy elements don't seem to gel in a Smith film.
One final thing I'd say is that most of the Catholic criticism of the film is utterly unsubstantiated. It is plainly obvious that many of the dissenting voices have never even seen a draft of the script and are merely going on word of mouth. I am not saying that these people are lying, or of poor judgement but they should not condemn a film if they have quite obviously not seen it (quoting quite bizarre plot elements that have nothing to do with the film, taking all casting judgements and thematic elements to be grossly insulting without seeing them in context and complaining blindly just because they hear that the film has something to do with religion).
Stella Street (1997)
The best little show on the Beeb
I was one of the many people who saw this originally and just thought "Huh?" Missing the wonderfully surreal point of the show. I've since bought both the videos and am thoroughly looking forward to series 3
Who could forget Jack Nicholson's unexplained obsession with Shreddies, or Al Pachino's Ikea fetish? Or David Bowie's "Laughing Man" tour? Michael Caine's "liver crossed with a spleen" shaped pool and Mick & Keith period. MORE! MORE!
Brass Eye (1997)
Morris is truly a one-off man-mental...
I wish to God that Channel 4, in all their infinite wisdom, would see their way clear to releasing Brasseye on video... Just look at the sales of the Day Today videos well over five years since the series was topical...
For anyone unlucky enough to miss the TV airing, I must echo the sentiments of previous commentators in saying how spot-on Morris' parodies were. TV execs now loathe him as much as the celebrities he mocked; being too much of a hot potato, but students and the disaffected love him.
PLEASE RELEASE BRASSEYE ON VIDEO!!!! (Maybe we should set up some kind of petition?)
Withnail and I (1987)
Dear God, do you negative people have no soul?
I have meant to add my two cents on Withnail ever since I discovered the IMDb a couple of years back. Now I've finally registered and I'm making good that pledge.
I cannot for the life of me imagine how this film's average score is lingering around the 6 stars mark... Just take a look at the distribution percentages for a view of how much love this film has attracted. As practically everyone has said thus far, the performances - particularly stand outs from the two leads, Richard Griffiths & Ralph Brown, are nigh on faultless and the bittersweet tone of the entire movie from the script to the soundtrack are spot on.
My relationship with this film goes back to a TV showing >somewhere in the early nineties when I didn't understand it and didn't much care for it. Since then, despite being neither an actor or a child of the sixties, I have grown (as every decent English student does) to love this poignant masterpiece.
The Hamlet speech is perfection. The desperate alcoholism is aspired to by a whole (sad) generation. The quintessential "Englishness" of the countryside and the city remind me sentimentally of home more so than any "Four Weddings" ever could... And the video store here in Champaign has probably had more rentals of this tape since I got here than ever >before(!)
Rent it, Buy it, just watch it. If you don't like it then you don't deserve to live.