The second, from AICN, does have a few minor spoilers, so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I saw Dogma last night at the Riverview United Artists here in Philly …… Wow, the movie was unbelievable. Jay and Silent Bob were hilarious, as usual, Chris Rock was funny as hell, Jason Lee played a good bad guy, Salma Hayek looked unbelievably good, and Ben Affleck and Matt Damon played characters that make us question, laugh, and believe in religion. In other words, this movie completely kicked ass.

A few small spoilers ahead…

The theater was packed. Guards armed with billyclubs had to escort two girls out who swore up and down that they had two seats reserved for them.

Before the film started, they said that we were watching a workprint. The music was temporary and some of the footage would be grainy. They also said the film was about two hours and fifteen minutes long. I guess that this is closer to the final cut of it, since the last cut was about two and a half hourse long, from what I heard. The only footage that was grainy were the dissolves and wipes. It looked like the special effects were mostly done. I wish they could keep some of the music, because it worked perfectly. They used the Danny Elfman “Batman” theme when Jay and Silent Bob were introduced, and it rocked! The roar of the crowd was deafening. Silent Bob’s one line, aside from the whole “Fat Albert” rap, was classic. Sadly, I think I was one of the only people who caught that movie reference.

What really amazed me about the movie was the level of the acting, and the maturity and depth of the writing. Linda Fiorentino did a wonderful job, Alan Rickman was Alan Rickman, and Chris Rock flat-out surprised me. I knew he could be funny, but I didn’t expect him to go beyond that. The sensetivity he showed at the fast-food joint and in the campfire scene impressed me. And the dialogue blew me away. Anybody that thinks that Kevin Smith can only do pop-culture laden, low-brow humor should listen to these conversations about faith, what’s wrong with “beliefs”, and why organized religion is being looked down on now.

I’m not a very religious person, but it made me think alot about religion in general. The film may deal with the Catholic church, but the same things could be said about all major religions. I hate the fact that I’m going to have to wait another six to eight months before I see it again.

We filled out another survey card at the end, asking what I thought about the film. I gave it mostly “excellent” or “very good” ratings across the board, except to Jason Lee’s character, Azrael, who was a bit of a weak link, albeit a necessary one. Hopefully, my fellow audience members, especially those in the focus group, don’t butcher it up too much.