Dogma (1998) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Black Comedy |
Menu Audio Dolby Digital Trailer-Train Interviews-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer-1.85:1, 16x9, Dolby Digital 5.1 (2:29) Biographies-Cast & Crew |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1998 | ||
Running Time | 123:10 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (77:49) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Kevin Smith |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Ben Affleck Matt Damon Linda Fiorentino Salma Hayek Jason Lee Alan Rickman Chris Rock |
Case | C-Button-Version 1 | ||
RPI | $34.95 | Music | Howard Shore |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, during credits |
This is the story of two fallen angels, who millennia ago were cast out of Heaven by God (Alanis Morissette) and banished to exile in the hell that is...Wisconsin. Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon) live out their existence in Wisconsin by any means possible, whilst trying to find a way back into Heaven. Unbeknownst to them, there is a loophole in the banishment and so Azrael (Jason Lee), a former muse who has also been cast out and is now a demon, decides to advise them of it. His reasons for letting them know are very much personal, but Bartleby and Loki are desperate to get out of exile. So they start a trip to a cathedral in New Jersey where they will be able to pass under a blessed arch which will get them a return to Heaven. Along the way, as is the wont of the former Angel of Death, they intend to do some killing. The slight problem is that should these two succeed, they will precipitate the end of all life on Earth. Minor problem that.
Trying to stop them will be a rag tag bunch of people. Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) is a lapsed Catholic who basically goes to church as habit rather than as a matter of faith. She also has an interesting family tree. She is visited by Metatron (Alan Rickman), one of the elite seraphim who are basically the voice of God, who recruits her for a little task: travel to New Jersey to stop Bartleby and Loki. Since a holy crusade would not be much of a crusade if it only involved one slightly lapsed Catholic, Metatron assigns two prophets to help her. And so she gets to meet these two characters after they fight off the three soldiers of Azrael, namely Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith). This interesting trio head off to New Jersey, but the journey is stalled by a couple of issues: Jay cannot drive, so driving in the one gear cooks the car engine, all he seems to do is spend his time trying to convince Bethany to fornicate, and Rufus drops out of the sky. Rufus (Chris Rock) is the thirteenth apostle - you know the one that is not mentioned in the Holy Bible because he is black. Since a holy crusade needs all the help it can get, he joins the group heading for New Jersey, which group is shortly augmented by a further member - the muse Serendipity (Selma Hayek), another refugee from Heaven who left after getting fed up of not getting the credit for her ideas. And so we gather in New Jersey for what might well be the apocalypse - although it does appear that God has gone missing in her usual omnipotent way.
It really is a wonderful story that Kevin Smith has crafted here and brought to the big screen with a nice effort from the cast. Seemingly consistent film mates Ben Affleck and Matt Damon add just the right sort of ham aspect to the fallen angels heading out on their own crusade. The rest of the ensemble cast do a nice job too, and there really is a nice consistency in the overall performance here. The obvious standout though is Alan Rickman, who never fails to command any scene in which he appears. Well directed, the whole film really works well and it really is quite a blast.
It might not be a true classic of film, but Dogma really is an enjoyable two hours of entertainment that certainly manages a gentle dig at the Holy Roman Church, whilst having a lot to say about faith. Well worth adding to the collection, and given a very fine DVD to boot.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.
How boring is this going to read? A nicely sharp transfer, with loads of detail on offer. There is hardly a let down in the entire film, other than those intended by the director. It is a gorgeously clear transfer with no hint at all of grain. Shadow detail is good throughout the film, perhaps the only place where the transfer is let down: I cannot help but feel that whilst this might be exactly what the director intended, there are a few sections where perhaps the detail could have been just a little better. Still, balancing that off are some of the best looking night-time scenes you could expect to see in a transfer. Low level noise is not an issue in the transfer.
The colours are quite wonderful, with deep, even tones that come up very well in the transfer. Very nicely vibrant too, there really is nothing wrong with the colours in this transfer. No undersaturation, no oversaturation and no colour bleed. Really very boring but really very good. Even the blacks seemed to have a nice depth to them.
There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer. Apart from a couple of very minor instances of aliasing that are barely noticeable, there is nothing in the way of film-to-video artefacts in the transfer. The only film artefacts here were a couple of white specks that were hardly noticeable.
This is an RSDL formatted DVD with the layer change coming mid-scene at 77:49. You cannot really miss it but overall I would not rate it as that much of a disruption to the flow of the film.
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The dialogue comes up very well in the transfer and there are no real problems understanding it, other than in a couple of scenes where the dialogue level is more muted (not a transfer problem I hasten to add). There is not a hint of audio sync problems here.
The score comes from Howard Shore and a decent enough effort it is too, that really helps add a little bit to the film.
The really noticeable aspect of this soundtrack is the hugely satisfying surround channel usage, with some sterling work out of the rear channels especially noticeable. A couple of times, the action kicks in so quickly that it made me jump a little, which is precisely what is intended. There is quite a wide ranging aspect to the surround channel use too, and things like the gun fire really hammer out at you in a most satisfying way. The bass channel gets a serious workout here too. The thing that I really found impressive though was the way they have managed to get Metatron's voice to ring in a real voice of God type way, with just a hint of echo to place it above the normal level of the ambient sound. Really quite cool - even if it is quite subtle. Really terrific stuff here overall.
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NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
But...there is a Region 1 Special Edition version of the DVD that has been mooted, planned to include a truckload of extras including commentaries, deleted scenes, storyboards and more. However, this is currently the subject of some legal problems it would seem and the likelihood of it being released any time soon now appears remote. However, should it get a release, it would be the way to go for sure if you love extras.
Update: the Region 1 Special Edition has been released and is definitely the preferred version of the film on DVD. Two commentaries, a truckload of deleted scenes and a bunch of outtakes, amongst a whole bunch of other stuff? It apparently uses the same transfers as the original movie-only release, but the extras make the decision easy. Make mine a Region 1 Special Edition please.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-515, using S-Video output |
Display | Sony Trinitron Wega (80cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Yamaha RXV-795 |
Speakers | Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL |