list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Dogma on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Dogma/134189/default.aspx Title: Dogma
Year: 1999
Director: Kevin Smith
Plot: Would you believe that the last living descendent of Jesus Christ is a woman working at an abortion clinic in Illinois? And that she's been sent on a holy mission with two minor characters from Clerks and Mallrats as her guides? Prepare to suspend any and all disbelief as you watch the religious satire Dogma, the fourth film from writer/director Kevin Smith. Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) has been disappointed in life and has found her faith severely tested after her husband leaves her when she discovers she cannot have children. So Bethany is all the more puzzled when she's approached by Metatron (Alan Rickman), a grumpy angel. Metatron wants her to help him stop Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), two fallen angels who were ejected from paradise, have escaped from exile and are heading to New Jersey. If they are able to pass through the arc of a certain church, it will prove God is fallible and the world will come to a swift end. Bethany has no idea what to do or why she's been given this project, but she heads out anyway, with her assigned assistants Jay (Jason Mewes), an appallingly rude former dope dealer and self-styled ladies man, and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith). Along the way, Bethany picks up more helpers, including a celestial muse named Serendipity (Salma Hayek) and Rufus (Chris Rock), who claims to have been the 13th apostle and that Jesus owes him 12 dollars. Boasting a huge supporting cast -- including George Carlin, Jason Lee, Janeane Garofalo, Bud Cort, and Alanis Morissette (as God) -- Dogma proved to be highly controversial even before its release. Miramax Pictures, owned by Disney, financed the film, but several weeks before Dogma's world premier at the Cannes Film Festival, they announced they would not release the picture and intended to sell it to another distributor (which would turn out to be Lions Gate Films). Director Smith, however, has always contended that Dogma is a film about the importance of faith, if not organized religion. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 99
Number of Lists: 104
Number of blog posts: 7
Number of discussion threads: 7
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:43:10 GMTDogma1999Kevin SmithWould you believe that the last living descendent of Jesus Christ is a woman working at an abortion clinic in Illinois? And that she's been sent on a holy mission with two minor characters from <a href=/films/91932/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Clerks</a> and <a href=/films/92916/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Mallrats</a> as her guides? Prepare to suspend any and all disbelief as you watch the religious satire Dogma, the fourth film from writer/director <a href="/players/P___111916/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kevin Smith</a>. Bethany (<a href="/players/P____23568/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Linda Fiorentino</a>) has been disappointed in life and has found her faith severely tested after her husband leaves her when she discovers she cannot have children. So Bethany is all the more puzzled when she's approached by Metatron (<a href="/players/P____60157/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Alan Rickman</a>), a grumpy angel. Metatron wants her to help him stop Bartleby (<a href="/players/P______426/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Ben Affleck</a>) and Loki (<a href="/players/P____16762/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Matt Damon</a>), two fallen angels who were ejected from paradise, have escaped from exile and are heading to New Jersey. If they are able to pass through the arc of a certain church, it will prove God is fallible and the world will come to a swift end. Bethany has no idea what to do or why she's been given this project, but she heads out anyway, with her assigned assistants Jay (<a href="/players/P___200477/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jason Mewes</a>), an appallingly rude former dope dealer and self-styled ladies man, and Silent Bob (<a href="/players/P___111916/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kevin Smith</a>). Along the way, Bethany picks up more helpers, including a celestial muse named Serendipity (<a href="/players/P___199082/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Salma Hayek</a>) and Rufus (<a href="/players/P____60918/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Chris Rock</a>), who claims to have been the 13th apostle and that Jesus owes him 12 dollars. Boasting a huge supporting cast -- including <a href="/players/P____10949/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>George Carlin</a>, <a href="/players/P___215686/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jason Lee</a>, <a href="/players/P___196031/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Janeane Garofalo</a>, <a href="/players/P____85967/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Bud Cort</a>, and <a href="/players/P___270229/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Alanis Morissette</a> (as God) -- Dogma proved to be highly controversial even before its release. Miramax Pictures, owned by Disney, financed the film, but several weeks before Dogma's world premier at the Cannes Film Festival, they announced they would not release the picture and intended to sell it to another distributor (which would turn out to be Lions Gate Films). Director Smith, however, has always contended that Dogma is a film about the importance of faith, if not organized religion. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide99Tag Target (>10)104773http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t59420kdf65.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Dogma/134189/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_March_30_Strippers/625/41380/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 3/31/2009 11:16:26 PM
Body: [quote user="mercurial"] We've all tossed around the idea in our heads. After a friend's bachelor/bachelorette party. Driving past the seedy looking nightclub with the mesmerizing sign reading "LIVE NUDES!" [/quote] First off, I always wanted to find someone to make me a custom seedy neon sign that read "DEAD NUDES". So, if you know anyone.............. I can't really think of a whole lot of movies to add except one. Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler was fantastic..................... If I had a dollar. [quote user="mercurial"] In closing I'd like to get the ball rolling with mine and a good deal of others favorite filmic stripper: Salma Hayek. Not one, not two, but three movies this lovely lady has portrayed an exotic dancer and continually outdoes herself. From her first foray for just a few moments in Four Rooms, to the grisly, yet unsurprisingly erotic Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk Till Dawn, and lastly the cliche but still tantalizing school-girl stripper in Dogma. Salma Hayek, we salute you! [/quote] I second that motion fully. I am now standing at umm..... attention..... saluting Salma.. Now take a bow.
]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:16:26 GMTleeroy711Weekly Theme3/31/2009 11:16:26 PM[quote user="mercurial"] We've all tossed around the idea in our heads. After a friend's bachelor/bachelorette party. Driving past the seedy looking nightclub with the mesmerizing sign reading "LIVE NUDES!" [/quote] First off, I always wanted to find someone to make me a custom seedy neon sign that read "DEAD NUDES". So, if you know anyone.............. I can't really think of a whole lot of movies to add except one. Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler was fantastic..................... If I had a dollar. [quote user="mercurial"] In closing I'd like to get the ball rolling with mine and a good deal of others favorite filmic stripper: Salma Hayek. Not one, not two, but three movies this lovely lady has portrayed an exotic dancer and continually outdoes herself. From her first foray for just a few moments in Four Rooms, to the grisly, yet unsurprisingly erotic Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk Till Dawn, and lastly the cliche but still tantalizing school-girl stripper in Dogma. Salma Hayek, we salute you! [/quote] I second that motion fully. I am now standing at umm..... attention..... saluting Salma.. Now take a bow. http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Weekly_Theme_for_March_30_Strippers/625/41375/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: mercurial
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 3/31/2009 8:57:27 PM
Body: We've all tossed around the idea in our heads. After a friend's bachelor/bachelorette party. Driving past the seedy looking nightclub with the mesmerizing sign reading "LIVE NUDES!" Hearing the stories about a friend of a friend that only works two nights a week and makes more than you did the last two months. We've all thought what it would be like to be a stripper. Love 'em, hate 'em, crave 'em, abhor 'em, strippers are as commonplace as free Wi-Fi at your local coffeeshop. These interesting characters intrigue us with their tightly shaped bodies, their cavalier attitude about showing their naughty bits and uncanny ability to separate us from our rent money. Our society has embraced the idea of the stripper so much we give miniature versions to our children; we even hide our jealousy of them in the name of said figurines: Bratz. Let us not forget that Flashdance made more little girls want to be strippers than ballerinas. And The Full Monty made every guy say that "If that many people would pay to see Tom Wilkinson strip then I would make a killing!" In closing I'd like to get the ball rolling with mine and a good deal of others favorite filmic stripper: Salma Hayek. Not one, not two, but three movies this lovely lady has portrayed an exotic dancer and continually outdoes herself. From her first foray for just a few moments in Four Rooms, to the grisly, yet unsurprisingly erotic Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk Till Dawn, and lastly the cliche but still tantalizing school-girl stripper in Dogma. Salma Hayek, we salute you!
]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:57:27 GMTmercurialWeekly Theme3/31/2009 8:57:27 PMWe've all tossed around the idea in our heads. After a friend's bachelor/bachelorette party. Driving past the seedy looking nightclub with the mesmerizing sign reading "LIVE NUDES!" Hearing the stories about a friend of a friend that only works two nights a week and makes more than you did the last two months. We've all thought what it would be like to be a stripper. Love 'em, hate 'em, crave 'em, abhor 'em, strippers are as commonplace as free Wi-Fi at your local coffeeshop. These interesting characters intrigue us with their tightly shaped bodies, their cavalier attitude about showing their naughty bits and uncanny ability to separate us from our rent money. Our society has embraced the idea of the stripper so much we give miniature versions to our children; we even hide our jealousy of them in the name of said figurines: Bratz. Let us not forget that Flashdance made more little girls want to be strippers than ballerinas. And The Full Monty made every guy say that "If that many people would pay to see Tom Wilkinson strip then I would make a killing!" In closing I'd like to get the ball rolling with mine and a good deal of others favorite filmic stripper: Salma Hayek. Not one, not two, but three movies this lovely lady has portrayed an exotic dancer and continually outdoes herself. From her first foray for just a few moments in Four Rooms, to the grisly, yet unsurprisingly erotic Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk Till Dawn, and lastly the cliche but still tantalizing school-girl stripper in Dogma. Salma Hayek, we salute you! http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_February_9_Public_Transportat/625/40359/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: mciocco
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 2/9/2009 4:21:21 PM
Body: Do airplanes count? Airplane! is pretty darn funny:p These are probably more about road trips in general than public transportation, but Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Midnight Run might count, right? Transsiberian is a recent thriller on a train. Didn't love it, but a lot of people seemed to think it was pretty good. Another recent horror movie on a train is Midnight Meat Train. Again, not especially groundbreaking stuff, but somewhat entertaining. I keep feeling like I'm really missing something obvious. Grrr. A lot of what I'm thinking of are just road trip movies, or movies that feature scenes on public transit... (like Dogma, which I'm not sure qualifies)
]]>Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:21:21 GMTmcioccoWeekly Theme2/9/2009 4:21:21 PMDo airplanes count? Airplane! is pretty darn funny:p These are probably more about road trips in general than public transportation, but Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Midnight Run might count, right? Transsiberian is a recent thriller on a train. Didn't love it, but a lot of people seemed to think it was pretty good. Another recent horror movie on a train is Midnight Meat Train. Again, not especially groundbreaking stuff, but somewhat entertaining. I keep feeling like I'm really missing something obvious. Grrr. A lot of what I'm thinking of are just road trip movies, or movies that feature scenes on public transit... (like Dogma, which I'm not sure qualifies) http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Weekly_Theme_for_July_21_Road_Trip/625/32843/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: mercurial
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 7/21/2008 2:18:16 PM
Body: With the summer months waning and my own plans for vacation steadily approaching, it seemed apropos to dedicate this week's theme to that equally loved and despised category of film known as the road movie. From the family-friendly RV to the magnificently perverse Natural Born Killers, the road movie appears in countless incarnations and across all genres. Personally, Almost Famous has remained not only my favorite road movie but overall one as well. The aforementioned Natural Born Killers, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Dogma, Little Miss Sunshine, Boys on the Sideand Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas round off the list. Others include Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation and The Living End; the various Aussie flicks like the Mad Max trilogy and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; the Indie hits such as Easy Rider and Buffalo '66; and lastly Alexander Payne's About Schmidt and Sideways. So bring out the map and let us in on some your favorite road movies!
]]>Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:18:16 GMTmercurialWeekly Theme7/21/2008 2:18:16 PMWith the summer months waning and my own plans for vacation steadily approaching, it seemed apropos to dedicate this week's theme to that equally loved and despised category of film known as the road movie. From the family-friendly RV to the magnificently perverse Natural Born Killers, the road movie appears in countless incarnations and across all genres. Personally, Almost Famous has remained not only my favorite road movie but overall one as well. The aforementioned Natural Born Killers, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Dogma, Little Miss Sunshine, Boys on the Sideand Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas round off the list. Others include Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation and The Living End; the various Aussie flicks like the Mad Max trilogy and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; the Indie hits such as Easy Rider and Buffalo '66; and lastly Alexander Payne's About Schmidt and Sideways. So bring out the map and let us in on some your favorite road movies! http://www.spout.com/blogs/zularian/archive/2008/7/1/31991.aspx Post By: Zularian
Post To: Zularian Blog
Post Date: 7/1/2008 7:22:09 PM
Body: I am feeling a bit grumpy at the moment so I am going to revisit the subject of my first post -- that of a director pilfering through their own material. There are a number of excellent examples of this but I am going to limit myself to two directors. The reason for this is that both of these men, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith have had a very large impact on me. My current career path has been shaped largely by these directors which is why their transgressions pain me so. First, Mr. Smith. Once upon a time there was a directory who made a crappy (production-wise) little movie called Clerks. It is not a pretty movie nor is it an interesting-looking film. Clerks has very few merits except the fact that it is quite funny and original and it somehow manages to convey the joy and exuberence of it's creator. There is a quality to Clerks, a "I just wanted to make a movie" attitude that is infectious. This film feels to me to emboy the very spirit of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) when he decides that it would be fun to run a paper. Now we flash forward to 2007. Nevermind the fact that Mr. Smith has made only one movie since this first one that has not relied heavily on the strange universe he created or his two uninpsired characters, Jay and Silent Bob. Arguments can be made for Chasing Amy, Dogma and even Mallrats as being steps away from Clerks. What I want to talk about is Jersey Girl, how it did not do well and what came next. I very much enjoyed Jersey Girland I was proud of Mr. Smith for taking his work in a different direction. Would this film have done better with a different actor as the lead? Was it just poor timing that the world at large became sick of Mr. Affleck when this film was released? Who knows. What I do know is everyone other than Mr. Smith was not shocked when his fanbase, by and large, did not take to this movie. You mean the 30 year-old stoner didn't like this movie? How can this be? So then we arrive at Clerks 2. Say what you will about any other movie Mr. Smith has done, this one can be seen as nothing other than a retreat to a proven formula because his last attempt was stomped by everyone. To say that Clerks 2 made me sad in my heart is like saying that what is bad for Mexico is bad for Mexicans. Clerks 2 isn't just a rehashing of past material, it is one of those dreadful sequels where the main characters appear to have forgotten everything that has happened in the previous installment. The shining example of this is Dante being torn between two women (again) only this time he is involved with both of them. Poor Dante, apparently the lessons learned in the first movie were forgotten during the ten year period these poor sould were left on their own. Then we have Mr. Rodriguez. Once upon a time he was the ambitious young filmmaker who decided he could make a movie with a crew of one. And what a movie he made. Originally intended for the spanish home video market El Mariachi is a highly inventive and unusual film. Slightly campy but containing a big heart El Mariachi delivers as a comedy and action film. Apparently this movie did not make enough money or receive enough attention to dissuade Mr. Rodriguez and others when it came time for making his next movie.Desperado. (I am not forgetting the movie Road Racers here, I think the number of people who have seen this film is still very small) Somehow this movie was conceived as a sequel to Mariachi, which is odd because the lead actor has changed and because this film is now all about killing, explosions and drugs. Perhaps I am just a bit think and taking the whole matter too literally. Desperado works because the two lead actors are wonderful actors and play together nicely. The plot is a bit strange to me (again perhaps I am too literal) because the man who shoots the El's hand in the first movie is not the same man who does in Desperado. Couple that with dream sequences that contain the dreaded Mocho (the spelling may be wrong on this one) who I think has morphed somehow into the new bad guy (who now seems to have ties to our hero which he did not in Mariachi). All of this could be forgiven, in fact I think most viewers were fine with this oddness, until Once upon a Time in Mexico was released. To be very brief -- the movie is meant to be the fourth film in this series (the third was never made but the important bits are relayed to the audience through flashbacks and dreams). This time around our hero is not the only lead actor and to further add to the confusion actors who were in the first and second movie (and died) appear as different characters in this film. Mr. Rodriguez had just discovered the joys of HD before beginning this project and his work as a musician on Tarantino's Kill Bill movies led him to score this film as well. The idea, so the film's commentary says, was to make this move on an epic scale, much like another film with a similar title, Once upon a Time in the West. Since this entry is really meant to be a personal gripe I'll just get on with my grumble and end this entry. What makes this particular film (for those of you having a hard time keeping up I am refering to Once upon a Time in Mexico now) so disappointing to me is that much like Clerks 2 this movie felt like a retreat to safe ground. From the story, which admittedly departs from previous works of Mr. Rodriguez, to the low-budget feel of the movie I can't help but feel this picture was made because it was safe. What made both Clerks and El Mariachi such appealing films was that both of them involved a fair amount of risk to their creators and that this risk was reflected in the movie itself. These two films truly feel like independent films in the sense that there is little that is formulaic or predictable about them. I am tempted to start listing examples from both movies but chances are if you are reading this you can think of them already. I recognize the fact that both of these directors have been very successful and what they did for their first films would undoubtedly not work now. My frustration stems from them attempting to steal from these early films, but oddly enough, lifting the banal parts or simply ignoring crucial story elements and hoping that everyone will go along. If you read the reviews for the later films from both directors it seems as though this is what happened too...
]]>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:22:09 GMTZularianZularian Blog7/1/2008 7:22:09 PMI am feeling a bit grumpy at the moment so I am going to revisit the subject of my first post -- that of a director pilfering through their own material. There are a number of excellent examples of this but I am going to limit myself to two directors. The reason for this is that both of these men, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith have had a very large impact on me. My current career path has been shaped largely by these directors which is why their transgressions pain me so. First, Mr. Smith. Once upon a time there was a directory who made a crappy (production-wise) little movie called Clerks. It is not a pretty movie nor is it an interesting-looking film. Clerks has very few merits except the fact that it is quite funny and original and it somehow manages to convey the joy and exuberence of it's creator. There is a quality to Clerks, a "I just wanted to make a movie" attitude that is infectious. This film feels to me to emboy the very spirit of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) when he decides that it would be fun to run a paper. Now we flash forward to 2007. Nevermind the fact that Mr. Smith has made only one movie since this first one that has not relied heavily on the strange universe he created or his two uninpsired characters, Jay and Silent Bob. Arguments can be made for Chasing Amy, Dogma and even Mallrats as being steps away from Clerks. What I want to talk about is Jersey Girl, how it did not do well and what came next. I very much enjoyed Jersey Girland I was proud of Mr. Smith for taking his work in a different direction. Would this film have done better with a different actor as the lead? Was it just poor timing that the world at large became sick of Mr. Affleck when this film was released? Who knows. What I do know is everyone other than Mr. Smith was not shocked when his fanbase, by and large, did not take to this movie. You mean the 30 year-old stoner didn't like this movie? How can this be? So then we arrive at Clerks 2. Say what you will about any other movie Mr. Smith has done, this one can be seen as nothing other than a retreat to a proven formula because his last attempt was stomped by everyone. To say that Clerks 2 made me sad in my heart is like saying that what is bad for Mexico is bad for Mexicans. Clerks 2 isn't just a rehashing of past material, it is one of those dreadful sequels where the main characters appear to have forgotten everything that has happened in the previous installment. The shining example of this is Dante being torn between two women (again) only this time he is involved with both of them. Poor Dante, apparently the lessons learned in the first movie were forgotten during the ten year period these poor sould were left on their own. Then we have Mr. Rodriguez. Once upon a time he was the ambitious young filmmaker who decided he could make a movie with a crew of one. And what a movie he made. Originally intended for the spanish home video market El Mariachi is a highly inventive and unusual film. Slightly campy but containing a big heart El Mariachi delivers as a comedy and action film. Apparently this movie did not make enough money or receive enough attention to dissuade Mr. Rodriguez and others when it came time for making his next movie.Desperado. (I am not forgetting the movie Road Racers here, I think the number of people who have seen this film is still very small) Somehow this movie was conceived as a sequel to Mariachi, which is odd because the lead actor has changed and because this film is now all about killing, explosions and drugs. Perhaps I am just a bit think and taking the whole matter too literally. Desperado works because the two lead actors are wonderful actors and play together nicely. The plot is a bit strange to me (again perhaps I am too literal) because the man who shoots the El's hand in the first movie is not the same man who does in Desperado. Couple that with dream sequences that contain the dreaded Mocho (the spelling may be wrong on this one) who I think has morphed somehow into the new bad guy (who now seems to have ties to our hero which he did not in Mariachi). All of this could be forgiven, in fact I think most viewers were fine with this oddness, until Once upon a Time in Mexico was released. To be very brief -- the movie is meant to be the fourth film in this series (the third was never made but the important bits are relayed to the audience through flashbacks and dreams). This time around our hero is not the only lead actor and to further add to the confusion actors who were in the first and second movie (and died) appear as different characters in this film. Mr. Rodriguez had just discovered the joys of HD before beginning this project and his work as a musician on Tarantino's Kill Bill movies led him to score this film as well. The idea, so the film's commentary says, was to make this move on an epic scale, much like another film with a similar title, Once upon a Time in the West. Since this entry is really meant to be a personal gripe I'll just get on with my grumble and end this entry. What makes this particular film (for those of you having a hard time keeping up I am refering to Once upon a Time in Mexico now) so disappointing to me is that much like Clerks 2 this movie felt like a retreat to safe ground. From the story, which admittedly departs from previous works of Mr. Rodriguez, to the low-budget feel of the movie I can't help but feel this picture was made because it was safe. What made both Clerks and El Mariachi such appealing films was that both of them involved a fair amount of risk to their creators and that this risk was reflected in the movie itself. These two films truly feel like independent films in the sense that there is little that is formulaic or predictable about them. I am tempted to start listing examples from both movies but chances are if you are reading this you can think of them already. I recognize the fact that both of these directors have been very successful and what they did for their first films would undoubtedly not work now. My frustration stems from them attempting to steal from these early films, but oddly enough, lifting the banal parts or simply ignoring crucial story elements and hoping that everyone will go along. If you read the reviews for the later films from both directors it seems as though this is what happened too... http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/6/19/31428.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 6/19/2008 3:00:57 PM
Body: This week we have two big-time offenders: Mike Myers’ The Love Guru, which has brought concern from Hindus, because the comedy seems to be making fun of the Hindu religion; and Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons, the “sequel” to The Da Vinci Code, adapted from Dan Brown’s bestseller. Earlier this week, the Vatican banned the latter production from all Catholic churches in Rome. The following statement from Father Marco Fibbi, spokesman for the diocese of Rome, was a favorite quote from the story: “Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn’t necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough.” Of course, these days, religious organizations taking offense to a movie seems so commonplace that news like this is hardly even considered bad buzz. Neither The Love Guru nor Angels & Demons will be too aversely affected by the protests or boycotts. Both films will merely be added to the following list of major offenders (in alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone who thinks one is more offensive than another), as almost a genre cataloging than an inventory of condemned. Brokeback Mountain - Because of its promotion of “the homosexual lifestyle,” many right-wing Christian groups protested Ang Lee’s film. Most famously, it was pulled last-minute from a multiplex owned by Mormon businessman and Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller, though his motivation was not necessarily claimed to be religion-based. Despite there being hundreds of gay films throughout the years, because of its popularity, this one was the worst offender. The Da Vinci Code - I already mentioned this above and in a recent post on movies that overcame bad buzz, so I’ll make it short: banned, boycotted and protested throughout the world due to its blasphemous (and fictional) allegations that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child together. The Devils - Many of the following films were banned in Italy, but with Ken Russell’s blasphemous adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s “The Devils of Loudon,” there was also threat that stars Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave would be arrested if they entered the country. The most offensive scene, labeled “the rape of Christ,” depicted a mock exorcism involving fully nude nuns masturbating with a large crucifix. The scene was removed prior to the film’s release, but there were plenty of other controversial sequences that led to protest. A very low-quality DVD of the film was released a few years ago with the “rape of Christ” scene put back in. Dogma - I understand how comedy can be seen as offensive, especially in the case of stereotypical caricatures like the one in The Love Guru. But Kevin Smith’s religious satire is so silly and all over the place that I can’t imagine that viewers would take its contents seriously. Yet enough protests required the film to be disowned by Miramax/Disney and then eventually be released (courtesy of Lionsgate) with a disclaimer stating that it is merely “a work of comedic fantasy.” Hail Mary - Jean-Luc Godard’s modern retelling of the Nativity was criticized by none other than Pope John Paul II, himself. He was quoted as saying that it “deeply wounds the religious sentiments of believers.” But even better was the response from another man who took offense to the film and decided to throw a shaving cream pie in Godard’s face at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. Also this is probably one of the rare circumstances in which the filmmaker is the one trying to prevent Italian distribution and is actually unable to do so. The Last Temptation of Christ - Like Dogma, Martin Scorsese’s film came with a disclaimer that noted it is not based on the gospels and is a work of fiction. But like the case against The Da Vinci Code, the idea or depiction of Jesus and Mary Magdalene getting it on is never forgivable. Life of Brian - I can’t believe that anyone actually took offense to the joke about the three wise men initially approaching the wrong stable, but apparently that was one of the many blasphemous scenes in this Monty Python satire of the life of Jesus. Also: how could anyone be upset about the crucifix scene? Eric Idle’s song is just too catchy to mind its offensiveness. The Message (aka Mohammad, Messenger of God) - Much of the protests against this epic movie, about the founding of Islam, came mostly because of pre-release assumptions. For instance, some groups thought Anthony Quinn was starring as Mohammad (or Muhammad), a problem both because the prophet is not permitted to be represented in human form in any medium and because Quinn is Mexican-American, not Arab (as noted yesterday, all it takes is facial hair to change that). Other preproduction rumors were that Peter O’Toole and Charlton Heston were up for the part of Mohammad. Of course, the prophet is never seen, and Quinn merely portrays his uncle, Hamza. Unfortunate, nobody told certain extremists, even when the film came out, and apparently many cinemas received phone calls with death threats. Also, a tragic hostage situation in Washington D.C. began the day The Message opened, leading to the death of a police officer and the non-fatal shooting of future-mayor Marion Barry. One of the demands of the hostage-takers was for The Message not be released. The Passion of the Christ - A rare modern film about Jesus that didn’t seem to offend any Christians. Actually, of course it offended some groups, but their protests were clearly overshadowed by the protests from Jewish groups, who took offense to the movie’s apparent placing of blame for Jesus’ death on the Jews. Considering Mel Gibson’s later controversy involving his drunken, anti-semitic outbursts, the offense definitely seems to have more merit than initially recognized. Priest - Five years before Miramax/Disney was forced to disown Dogma because of Catholic protestors, the Weinsteins distributed this “blatantly anti-Catholic” film about a homosexual priest. Of course, it was mainly criticized by people who hadn’t seen it, such as New York Cardinal John J. O’Connor, who likened the film to graffiti found on bathroom walls. Rosemary’s Baby - There’s now a whole slew (I guess a whole subgenre) of horror films dealing with the occult, Satanism and the Antichrist, but this was the hit that pretty much started it all. And because of the parallels between Rosemary and the Virgin Mary, it’s possibly the most offensive to Catholics. Even the media used it against its director, Roman Polanski, when his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered a year after its release; prior to revelation that Tate and the rest were killed by the Manson “family,” reporters speculated that it was the result of the Polanskis’ alleged satanism and some even claimed the tragedy was deserved. September Dawn - Until last year, Jon Voight’ most offensive movie was probably Karate Dog, but in 2007 he starred in this alleged anti-Mormon propaganda (called such before the Church of Latter-Day Saints viewed it, of course), which portrays an historical incident in which a Mormon militia massacred a wagon train of emigrants. The greatest offense is apparently the claim that Mormon leader Brigham Young (played by Terrence Stamp) was directly involved. Another criticism was that Hollywood made the film to somehow affect Mitt Romney’s campaign for President. Submission - Theo van Gogh’s ten-minute film criticizes the treatment of women in Islam and was apparently offensive enough that it led to the filmmaker’s assassination at the hands of a Dutch Muslim ma The Triumph of the Will - While Leni Reifenstahl’s propaganda film is well-regarded and highly respected today by film critics, scholars and historians, many Jewish groups see its celebration as being “morally insensitive.” Viridiana - Luis Bunuel made plenty of movies that mocked the Church, but this 1961 Palme D’or-winner was perhaps the most publicly protested by the Vatican and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who had it banned in Spain until after his death. Bunuel’s excellent plea of ignorance: “I didn’t deliberately set out to be blasphemous, but then Pope John XXIII is a better judge of such things than I am.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:00:57 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com6/19/2008 3:00:57 PMThis week we have two big-time offenders: Mike Myers’ The Love Guru, which has brought concern from Hindus, because the comedy seems to be making fun of the Hindu religion; and Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons, the “sequel” to The Da Vinci Code, adapted from Dan Brown’s bestseller. Earlier this week, the Vatican banned the latter production from all Catholic churches in Rome. The following statement from Father Marco Fibbi, spokesman for the diocese of Rome, was a favorite quote from the story: “Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn’t necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough.” Of course, these days, religious organizations taking offense to a movie seems so commonplace that news like this is hardly even considered bad buzz. Neither The Love Guru nor Angels & Demons will be too aversely affected by the protests or boycotts. Both films will merely be added to the following list of major offenders (in alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone who thinks one is more offensive than another), as almost a genre cataloging than an inventory of condemned. Brokeback Mountain - Because of its promotion of “the homosexual lifestyle,” many right-wing Christian groups protested Ang Lee’s film. Most famously, it was pulled last-minute from a multiplex owned by Mormon businessman and Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller, though his motivation was not necessarily claimed to be religion-based. Despite there being hundreds of gay films throughout the years, because of its popularity, this one was the worst offender. The Da Vinci Code - I already mentioned this above and in a recent post on movies that overcame bad buzz, so I’ll make it short: banned, boycotted and protested throughout the world due to its blasphemous (and fictional) allegations that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child together. The Devils - Many of the following films were banned in Italy, but with Ken Russell’s blasphemous adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s “The Devils of Loudon,” there was also threat that stars Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave would be arrested if they entered the country. The most offensive scene, labeled “the rape of Christ,” depicted a mock exorcism involving fully nude nuns masturbating with a large crucifix. The scene was removed prior to the film’s release, but there were plenty of other controversial sequences that led to protest. A very low-quality DVD of the film was released a few years ago with the “rape of Christ” scene put back in. Dogma - I understand how comedy can be seen as offensive, especially in the case of stereotypical caricatures like the one in The Love Guru. But Kevin Smith’s religious satire is so silly and all over the place that I can’t imagine that viewers would take its contents seriously. Yet enough protests required the film to be disowned by Miramax/Disney and then eventually be released (courtesy of Lionsgate) with a disclaimer stating that it is merely “a work of comedic fantasy.” Hail Mary - Jean-Luc Godard’s modern retelling of the Nativity was criticized by none other than Pope John Paul II, himself. He was quoted as saying that it “deeply wounds the religious sentiments of believers.” But even better was the response from another man who took offense to the film and decided to throw a shaving cream pie in Godard’s face at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. Also this is probably one of the rare circumstances in which the filmmaker is the one trying to prevent Italian distribution and is actually unable to do so. The Last Temptation of Christ - Like Dogma, Martin Scorsese’s film came with a disclaimer that noted it is not based on the gospels and is a work of fiction. But like the case against The Da Vinci Code, the idea or depiction of Jesus and Mary Magdalene getting it on is never forgivable. Life of Brian - I can’t believe that anyone actually took offense to the joke about the three wise men initially approaching the wrong stable, but apparently that was one of the many blasphemous scenes in this Monty Python satire of the life of Jesus. Also: how could anyone be upset about the crucifix scene? Eric Idle’s song is just too catchy to mind its offensiveness. The Message (aka Mohammad, Messenger of God) - Much of the protests against this epic movie, about the founding of Islam, came mostly because of pre-release assumptions. For instance, some groups thought Anthony Quinn was starring as Mohammad (or Muhammad), a problem both because the prophet is not permitted to be represented in human form in any medium and because Quinn is Mexican-American, not Arab (as noted yesterday, all it takes is facial hair to change that). Other preproduction rumors were that Peter O’Toole and Charlton Heston were up for the part of Mohammad. Of course, the prophet is never seen, and Quinn merely portrays his uncle, Hamza. Unfortunate, nobody told certain extremists, even when the film came out, and apparently many cinemas received phone calls with death threats. Also, a tragic hostage situation in Washington D.C. began the day The Message opened, leading to the death of a police officer and the non-fatal shooting of future-mayor Marion Barry. One of the demands of the hostage-takers was for The Message not be released. The Passion of the Christ - A rare modern film about Jesus that didn’t seem to offend any Christians. Actually, of course it offended some groups, but their protests were clearly overshadowed by the protests from Jewish groups, who took offense to the movie’s apparent placing of blame for Jesus’ death on the Jews. Considering Mel Gibson’s later controversy involving his drunken, anti-semitic outbursts, the offense definitely seems to have more merit than initially recognized. Priest - Five years before Miramax/Disney was forced to disown Dogma because of Catholic protestors, the Weinsteins distributed this “blatantly anti-Catholic” film about a homosexual priest. Of course, it was mainly criticized by people who hadn’t seen it, such as New York Cardinal John J. O’Connor, who likened the film to graffiti found on bathroom walls. Rosemary’s Baby - There’s now a whole slew (I guess a whole subgenre) of horror films dealing with the occult, Satanism and the Antichrist, but this was the hit that pretty much started it all. And because of the parallels between Rosemary and the Virgin Mary, it’s possibly the most offensive to Catholics. Even the media used it against its director, Roman Polanski, when his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered a year after its release; prior to revelation that Tate and the rest were killed by the Manson “family,” reporters speculated that it was the result of the Polanskis’ alleged satanism and some even claimed the tragedy was deserved. September Dawn - Until last year, Jon Voight’ most offensive movie was probably Karate Dog, but in 2007 he starred in this alleged anti-Mormon propaganda (called such before the Church of Latter-Day Saints viewed it, of course), which portrays an historical incident in which a Mormon militia massacred a wagon train of emigrants. The greatest offense is apparently the claim that Mormon leader Brigham Young (played by Terrence Stamp) was directly involved. Another criticism was that Hollywood made the film to somehow affect Mitt Romney’s campaign for President. Submission - Theo van Gogh’s ten-minute film criticizes the treatment of women in Islam and was apparently offensive enough that it led to the filmmaker’s assassination at the hands of a Dutch Muslim ma The Triumph of the Will - While Leni Reifenstahl’s propaganda film is well-regarded and highly respected today by film critics, scholars and historians, many Jewish groups see its celebration as being “morally insensitive.” Viridiana - Luis Bunuel made plenty of movies that mocked the Church, but this 1961 Palme D’or-winner was perhaps the most publicly protested by the Vatican and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who had it banned in Spain until after his death. Bunuel’s excellent plea of ignorance: “I didn’t deliberately set out to be blasphemous, but then Pope John XXIII is a better judge of such things than I am.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/groups/Five_for_Five/Re_Let_me_know/255/28029/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: leeroy711
Post To: Five for Five
Post Date: 4/30/2008 6:29:55 PM
Body: How about Kevin Smith films one star - Jersey Girl two stars - Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back three stars - Clerks 2 four stars - Dogma five stars - Mallrats
]]>Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:29:55 GMTleeroy711Five for Five4/30/2008 6:29:55 PMHow about Kevin Smith films one star - Jersey Girl two stars - Jay &amp; Silent Bob Strike Back three stars - Clerks 2 four stars - Dogma five stars - Mallrats http://www.spout.com/blogs/mythman/archive/2007/12/13/22756.aspx Post By: mythman
Post To: Watch Everything and Still See ONLY What Is Good
Post Date: 12/13/2007 1:00:25 AM
Body: True, no one exactly does it consciously; but everyone is affected by The Force (whether they choose to acknowledge that effect, there it is).The Force Lays-Out the Fabric in the Pattern of The KingI especially thought of Aaron Stimpson, because he has probably come closest to "trying to teach me" The Force.The first thing that comes to mind is our naming of The Force. It was just a regular night, we were having a Mars Hill meeting at Sauced. One of the tables--for some reason--was situated at a 25-to-30°-angle, with a glass sitting on it. Noticing that the glass might slide down, I held out my hand to catch it before it fell off the table. The glass slid into my hand, and Aaron smiled and said, "Using The Force, J?"Not wanting to seem like some sort of mystic guru (and since Aaron's an "engineer"), I replied, "Well, gravity—sure!"; so--in a manner of speaking--I was 'using The Force.' And there we "named" (knew by mentioning) The ForceHowever--I realize upon further reflection--'gravity' is not The entire Force. No, The Entire Force is "How Things Fall"--and that is most-admittedly an over-simplification of The Force (for purposes of generalization ... just like we call our creator "God," though she is really many-many-many-more things than just a "Huge Spirit who Loves Us or something").The 'more-important right now'-definition is 'Using The Force.' I'll spare you all the enlightenment involved (although it's probably not possible to use The Force without Luminesence), and tell you that 'using The Force' is the multi-part process of knowing 'How Things Fall' and placing yourself in the position made opportune thereby. Originally posted on:The Enlightened Xombee
]]>Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:00:25 GMTmythmanWatch Everything and Still See ONLY What Is Good12/13/2007 1:00:25 AMTrue, no one exactly does it consciously; but everyone is affected by The Force (whether they choose to acknowledge that effect, there it is).The Force Lays-Out the Fabric in the Pattern of The KingI especially thought of Aaron Stimpson, because he has probably come closest to "trying to teach me" The Force.The first thing that comes to mind is our naming of The Force. It was just a regular night, we were having a Mars Hill meeting at Sauced. One of the tables--for some reason--was situated at a 25-to-30°-angle, with a glass sitting on it. Noticing that the glass might slide down, I held out my hand to catch it before it fell off the table. The glass slid into my hand, and Aaron smiled and said, "Using The Force, J?"Not wanting to seem like some sort of mystic guru (and since Aaron's an "engineer"), I replied, "Well, gravity—sure!"; so--in a manner of speaking--I was 'using The Force.' And there we "named" (knew by mentioning) The ForceHowever--I realize upon further reflection--'gravity' is not The entire Force. No, The Entire Force is "How Things Fall"--and that is most-admittedly an over-simplification of The Force (for purposes of generalization ... just like we call our creator "God," though she is really many-many-many-more things than just a "Huge Spirit who Loves Us or something").The 'more-important right now'-definition is 'Using The Force.' I'll spare you all the enlightenment involved (although it's probably not possible to use The Force without Luminesence), and tell you that 'using The Force' is the multi-part process of knowing 'How Things Fall' and placing yourself in the position made opportune thereby. Originally posted on:The Enlightened Xombee http://www.spout.com/blogs/lopezdash/archive/2007/12/10/22694.aspx Post By: lopezdash
Post To: The Movie Blog
Post Date: 12/10/2007 1:02:19 PM
Body: From the Entertainment and Culture blog over at New York Magazine comes a list of THE TEN MOST ANTI-CHRISTIAN MOVIES OF ALL TIME. What a title, eh? 10. Carrie (1976) After the titular protagonist gets her first period at school, her crazy, devoutly Christian mother locks her in a closet and tells her to pray, explaining that only sinners menstruate (Wikipedia says this is false). Luckily, Carrie has telekinetic powers, which she uses to toss her mom across a room, electrocute her principal, and burn down her high school's gymnasium, killing hundreds of students. Parents, take note.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJe0iVo8y3A 9. Priest (1995) Antonia Bird's film — which caused a flash of protest when Miramax released it — follows Linus Roache's gay priest as he struggles against his vow of celibacy, and his inability to help a young girl who confesses that her father is abusing her. Perhaps better described as anti-celibacy than anti-Christian, the film ends with a moment of grace that casts the film's view of faith in a somewhat gentler light, but it's hard to overstate how violently some religious viewers responded to the image of a Catholic priest doing it with Trainspotting's Robert Carlyle.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHVNbV1zPDU 8. Footloose (1984) Despite its canonical status as an eighties classic, we’re willing to bet that if an original script like Footloose — in which fun-loving teen Kevin Bacon arrives in a small town where preacher John Lithgow has banned rock music and dancing — landed on a Hollywood exec’s desk today, they’d be too afraid to produce it, lest it offend some key demographic. It’s Lithgow’s villain who really makes the movie: Soft-spoken and patronizing when he’s not spitting out the fire and brimstone ("He’s testing us!!"), his performance is a bone-chilling portrait of smug self-righteousness and could easily blend in among any number of Sunday-morning-TV preachers. The only thing missing is a bad hairpiece. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH2t6T7rhCU 7. Dogma (1999) Sure, not all of the jokes were funny. Also, its plot is almost as incomprehensible as the Bible's. Even so, you've got to admire Kevin Smith for having the nerve to cast George Carlin as a cardinal (who tries to make Catholicism more accessible by replacing the crucifix with a statue of Jesus giving a thumbs-up), Chris Rock as the thirteenth apostle (who was omitted from the Bible for being black), and Alanis Morrisette as God (this really pissed off Christians, since her second album had just come out and it was a total stinker). Plus, he got Disney to pay for it!Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3zEraHgfO4 6. Jesus Camp (2006) Documentary filmmakers Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing probably never set out to make Evangelical Christians look crazy, but when they showed up at the Kids on Fire School of Ministry, a children's Bible camp in Devils Lake, North Dakota, and set up their cameras, that's exactly what happened. The home-schooled little rascals roll around on the floor speaking in tongues, take strategic pointers from radical Islam, and bless a cardboard cutout of President Bush (see above). Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard even shows up to decry the horrors of homosexuality, presumably in between visits to his gay, meth-dealing masseur.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CgvgjfwyPs 5. The Name of the Rose (1986) True, the heroes of Umberto Eco's religio-literary mystery are themselves monks — played by Sean Connery and Christian Slater in the movie version — but that doesn't stop this thriller, set in a medieval abbey where the faithful are dying in pursuit of a long-lost and forbidden copy of Aristotle's Poetics, from being one of cinema's most damning looks at religious superstition. Not the least because,besides the two leads, practically every monk in this film (1) is hideous-looking and (2) dies a horrible, excruciating death. It's as if H.R. Giger and Dario Argento collaborated on the film version of God Is Not Great. Don't miss the scene where Ron Perlman eats a rat.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc-_hkLBVnc 4. The Magdalene Sisters (2002) There have been plenty of movies in recent years about priestly abuse — God only knows why — but few are more single-minded in their condemnation than Peter Mullan's harrowing look at three unfortunate young Irish Catholic women who wind up under the custody of a Magdalene convent for wayward girls in the sixties. Between the beatings and rapes they're subjected to at the hands of sadistic nuns and lewd priests, and the brutality of the ostensibly God-fearing society outside the convent walls, Mullan's film plays at times like Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS remade in monastic disguise. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJYiJQ-jbkM 3. The Boys of St. Vincent (1993) This four-hour Canadian telefilm is a difficult, complex portrait of a Catholic orphanage ruled over by a pedophilic priest (Henry Czerny, in a role that launched him into a career of playing creepy bastards). But the film isn't anti-Christian because it's yet another movie about a priest who can't keep his hands off the flock; it's anti-Christian because its primary theme is the creeping danger of Catholicism's emphasis on submission of the self to those above you on the pecking order, whether that's a priest, a Church administrator, or God Himself. 2. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) The blasphemous Life of Brian would have been the obvious choice here, but that one just gently chides the Jesus myth, whereas the Pythons' final film actually eviscerates the pettiness of religion in everyday life, never more effectively than in the hilarious musical number "Every Sperm Is Sacred," sung by a miserably poor and overpopulated Catholic household while their preening, repressed Protestant neighbors look on in pity. ("When Martin Luther nailed his protest up to the church door in 1517, he may not have realized the full significance of what he was doing, but 400 years later, thanks to him, my dear … I can go down the road any time I want and walk into Harry's and hold my head up high and say in a loud, steady voice, 'Harry, I think I'll have a French Tickler, for I am a Protestant!'")Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8 1. The Canterbury Tales (1972) Although he made what many still consider to be the quintessential Jesus movie (The Gospel According to St. Matthew, 1964), Italian Marxist homosexual poet Pier Paolo Pasolini was no fan of religious dogma, and his sex-drenched, free-form adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer's poem constantly thumbs its nose at the falsely pious. But Pasolini saves the big one for the end: The film ends with a shocking and hilarious vision of Hell in which Satan cracks open his butt cheeks and shits out streams of screaming friars. In close-up. Repeatedly. Sadly, we were unable to find this clip on YouTube, but then we realized we could put it up ourselves. Enjoy, because it won't last long.
]]>Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:02:19 GMTlopezdashThe Movie Blog12/10/2007 1:02:19 PMFrom the Entertainment and Culture blog over at New York Magazine comes a list of THE TEN MOST ANTI-CHRISTIAN MOVIES OF ALL TIME. What a title, eh? 10. Carrie (1976) After the titular protagonist gets her first period at school, her crazy, devoutly Christian mother locks her in a closet and tells her to pray, explaining that only sinners menstruate (Wikipedia says this is false). Luckily, Carrie has telekinetic powers, which she uses to toss her mom across a room, electrocute her principal, and burn down her high school&#39;s gymnasium, killing hundreds of students. Parents, take note.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJe0iVo8y3A 9. Priest (1995) Antonia Bird&#39;s film &mdash; which caused a flash of protest when Miramax released it &mdash; follows Linus Roache&#39;s gay priest as he struggles against his vow of celibacy, and his inability to help a young girl who confesses that her father is abusing her. Perhaps better described as anti-celibacy than anti-Christian, the film ends with a moment of grace that casts the film&#39;s view of faith in a somewhat gentler light, but it&#39;s hard to overstate how violently some religious viewers responded to the image of a Catholic priest doing it with Trainspotting&#39;s Robert Carlyle.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHVNbV1zPDU 8. Footloose (1984) Despite its canonical status as an eighties classic, we&rsquo;re willing to bet that if an original script like Footloose &mdash; in which fun-loving teen Kevin Bacon arrives in a small town where preacher John Lithgow has banned rock music and dancing &mdash; landed on a Hollywood exec&rsquo;s desk today, they&rsquo;d be too afraid to produce it, lest it offend some key demographic. It&rsquo;s Lithgow&rsquo;s villain who really makes the movie: Soft-spoken and patronizing when he&rsquo;s not spitting out the fire and brimstone (&quot;He&rsquo;s testing us!!&quot;), his performance is a bone-chilling portrait of smug self-righteousness and could easily blend in among any number of Sunday-morning-TV preachers. The only thing missing is a bad hairpiece. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH2t6T7rhCU 7. Dogma (1999) Sure, not all of the jokes were funny. Also, its plot is almost as incomprehensible as the Bible&#39;s. Even so, you&#39;ve got to admire Kevin Smith for having the nerve to cast George Carlin as a cardinal (who tries to make Catholicism more accessible by replacing the crucifix with a statue of Jesus giving a thumbs-up), Chris Rock as the thirteenth apostle (who was omitted from the Bible for being black), and Alanis Morrisette as God (this really pissed off Christians, since her second album had just come out and it was a total stinker). Plus, he got Disney to pay for it!Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3zEraHgfO4 6. Jesus Camp (2006) Documentary filmmakers Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing probably never set out to make Evangelical Christians look crazy, but when they showed up at the Kids on Fire School of Ministry, a children&#39;s Bible camp in Devils Lake, North Dakota, and set up their cameras, that&#39;s exactly what happened. The home-schooled little rascals roll around on the floor speaking in tongues, take strategic pointers from radical Islam, and bless a cardboard cutout of President Bush (see above). Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard even shows up to decry the horrors of homosexuality, presumably in between visits to his gay, meth-dealing masseur.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CgvgjfwyPs 5. The Name of the Rose (1986) True, the heroes of Umberto Eco&#39;s religio-literary mystery are themselves monks &mdash; played by Sean Connery and Christian Slater in the movie version &mdash; but that doesn&#39;t stop this thriller, set in a medieval abbey where the faithful are dying in pursuit of a long-lost and forbidden copy of Aristotle&#39;s Poetics, from being one of cinema&#39;s most damning looks at religious superstition. Not the least because,besides the two leads, practically every monk in this film (1) is hideous-looking and (2) dies a horrible, excruciating death. It&#39;s as if H.R. Giger and Dario Argento collaborated on the film version of God Is Not Great. Don&#39;t miss the scene where Ron Perlman eats a rat.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc-_hkLBVnc 4. The Magdalene Sisters (2002) There have been plenty of movies in recent years about priestly abuse &mdash; God only knows why &mdash; but few are more single-minded in their condemnation than Peter Mullan&#39;s harrowing look at three unfortunate young Irish Catholic women who wind up under the custody of a Magdalene convent for wayward girls in the sixties. Between the beatings and rapes they&#39;re subjected to at the hands of sadistic nuns and lewd priests, and the brutality of the ostensibly God-fearing society outside the convent walls, Mullan&#39;s film plays at times like Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS remade in monastic disguise. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJYiJQ-jbkM 3. The Boys of St. Vincent (1993) This four-hour Canadian telefilm is a difficult, complex portrait of a Catholic orphanage ruled over by a pedophilic priest (Henry Czerny, in a role that launched him into a career of playing creepy bastards). But the film isn&#39;t anti-Christian because it&#39;s yet another movie about a priest who can&#39;t keep his hands off the flock; it&#39;s anti-Christian because its primary theme is the creeping danger of Catholicism&#39;s emphasis on submission of the self to those above you on the pecking order, whether that&#39;s a priest, a Church administrator, or God Himself. 2. Monty Python&#39;s The Meaning of Life (1983) The blasphemous Life of Brian would have been the obvious choice here, but that one just gently chides the Jesus myth, whereas the Pythons&#39; final film actually eviscerates the pettiness of religion in everyday life, never more effectively than in the hilarious musical number &quot;Every Sperm Is Sacred,&quot; sung by a miserably poor and overpopulated Catholic household while their preening, repressed Protestant neighbors look on in pity. (&quot;When Martin Luther nailed his protest up to the church door in 1517, he may not have realized the full significance of what he was doing, but 400 years later, thanks to him, my dear &hellip; I can go down the road any time I want and walk into Harry&#39;s and hold my head up high and say in a loud, steady voice, &#39;Harry, I think I&#39;ll have a French Tickler, for I am a Protestant!&#39;&quot;)Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8 1. The Canterbury Tales (1972) Although he made what many still consider to be the quintessential Jesus movie (The Gospel According to St. Matthew, 1964), Italian Marxist homosexual poet Pier Paolo Pasolini was no fan of religious dogma, and his sex-drenched, free-form adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer&#39;s poem constantly thumbs its nose at the falsely pious. But Pasolini saves the big one for the end: The film ends with a shocking and hilarious vision of Hell in which Satan cracks open his butt cheeks and shits out streams of screaming friars. In close-up. Repeatedly. Sadly, we were unable to find this clip on YouTube, but then we realized we could put it up ourselves. Enjoy, because it won&#39;t last long. http://www.spout.com/blogs/alienlazer/archive/2007/8/15/18161.aspx Post By: AlienLazer
Post To: AlienLazer Blog
Post Date: 8/15/2007 4:55:49 PM
Body: This was the best fantasy movie of the late 90's. No second guessing there. With everything from good/bad angels to a crap demon to a "special" god. Who could resist this enchantingly perverted tale? I sure couldn't !
]]>Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:55:49 GMTAlienLazerAlienLazer Blog8/15/2007 4:55:49 PMThis was the best fantasy movie of the late 90&#39;s. No second guessing there. With everything from good/bad angels to a crap demon to a &quot;special&quot; god. Who could resist this enchantingly perverted tale? I sure couldn&#39;t ! http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/funny/MemberTagFilms.aspxfunny
Number of films tagged: 608

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Number of times used: 941

]]>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:28:29 GMT608316941Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/comedy/MemberTagFilms.aspxcomedy
Number of films tagged: 1086

Number of people who tagged: 253

Number of times used: 1340

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]]>Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:21:00 GMT18064274Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/deception/MemberTagFilms.aspxdeception
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]]>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:18:11 GMT109055123Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/satire/MemberTagFilms.aspxsatire
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]]>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:27:25 GMT17055120Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/bizarre/MemberTagFilms.aspxbizarre
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]]>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:12:13 GMT22853113Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/redemption/MemberTagFilms.aspxredemption
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]]>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:18:53 GMT62653117Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/truth/MemberTagFilms.aspxtruth
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]]>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:23:51 GMT3593663Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/faith/MemberTagFilms.aspxfaith
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]]>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:02:48 GMT6283572Tag