- Well the weekend is HERE!!!!! And with it, lots more Dogma newsbites, just some little things here and there really. Some other NewsBites for ya as well. Nothing much else to say today really, for one I’m not feeling very loquacious. Go figure. Heeeere we go:
Archive for October, 1999
DogmaBits™
- Roger Ebert, while hammering that new likely to fail SNL flick “Superstar”, managed to give a positive nod to Dogma yet again today:
Too bad the Catholic League is so busy attacking good films, like “Dogma,”that it can’t spare the time to picket bad ones. I’m not in favor ofprotesting films on the basis of theology, but to picket them becausethey’re boring could be an act of mercy.
Thanks, Roger!
- “Jim Mullen’s Hot Sheet”, that fun little section in each Entertainment Weekly, even mentions Dogma in its write-up on Superstar:
“#15 SUPERSTAR – SNL’s Molly Shannon takes her panty-flashing Catholic schoolgirl to the big screen. It’s Dogma Lite”
- TheSpark.Com puts Dogma as one of it’s Top 10 list of flicks to see this fall:
DOGMA
Directed by: Kevin Smith
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Chris
Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Alanis Morissette
Release Date: Early November
I think the world needs far more religious comedies. With Dogma, indie hipster king Kevin Smith, the brains behind such comic favorites as Clerks and Chasing Amy, spins this irreverent tale about a pair of renegade angels (Good Will Hunting pals Damon and Affleck) trying to scam their way into heaven. The only one who stands in their way is Fiorentino, who plays a descendent of Jesus working in an abortion clinic. Rock star Alanis Morissette pops up as God, George Carlin dons the robes as a foul-mouthed cardinal, and Jason Lee plays Azrael, desperately trying to escape from Hell. The premise is terrific, but I think it’s worth noting that if I were running things, Jennifer Love Hewitt would be God.
- Salon.Com also has a Dogma story, it’s a big longer though so you can find it over on the Dogma RC press page.
- US Magazine also gives Dogma a blurb in their November issue, but it’s just a one paragraph plot synopsis.
- The BBC has also placed their own story covering the Dogma premiere and protests online HERE.
View Askew NewsBitesâ„¢
Scoops Courtesy Of August &Jess
- Kevin’s got an interivew in Widescreen Review this month where he voices his opinions towards the DVD format. If anyone’s got a copy of the piece, please send it in.
- Happy 29th birthday to Matt Damon today. His performance in Dogma really gets more enjoyable each time you see it. Especially in that Mooby boardroom scene.
Have a great weekend!
DogmaBits™
- Here’s a few stories too small for article pages, but we thought worth a read anyway. The first comes from People Online, the second from AnotherUniverse…
Matt Damon Is Cool
More on Monday’s New York Film Festival premiere of “Dogma,” after yesterday’s PEOPLE Daily report on the protest staged by some outraged Catholics over the film’s satirical take on death: “These people haven’t even seen the film yet,” the film’s co-star Matt Damon told PEOPLE as demonstrators shouted at him (and, in one case, thrust rosary beads at him). “I’m all for protests, but I think you have to see (the film) to know what you’re talking about. But I defend anybody’s right to protest.” An agitated-looking Ben Affleck, who costars in the movie, acted surly at the premiere and refused to speak to the press. He attended the festivities with his mother.
Dogma’s Big Apple Fans, Pans
When Kevin Smith’s highly irreverent new film Dogma opened in New York Monday night, it drew critical acclaim as well as vehement protests from about 1,500 people gathered outside the Lincoln Center. The protestors were led by New York’s Auxiliary Bishop Francisco Garmendia, standing in for Cardinal John O’ Conner, and were bolstered by a pan of the film from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Smith noted, “We thought we were going to have to battle the Catholics, not the mayor.” But Ben Affleck, who stars in the film, joked about being late for the premiere. “Sorry it took so long. We stopped to pray with the protesters.”
We’re also added these stories to Dogma RC, along with a new review…So make that part of your daily visit, of course.
Interview Magazine Piece Online…
- We’ve FINALLY got a transcript and scans of the wonderful piece in Interview Magazine, thanks to Chris Reaves for doing the legwork on this one. Enjoy the interview and the pics, including one of cute little Harley!
Dogma Premiere/Party Pics!
- We’ve never been known to carry a camera around to take pics of stuff, and just never felt comfortable asking celebs if we could have our pics taken with them, so you probably noticed the lack of original shots from our latest diary from the Dogma Premiere on Monday as well as our stories in the past. Luckily, Ming was along with his trusty camera and has some exclusive shots for us today. Ming’s got a couple pics with him and some of the big names there, including A classic with him sandwiched Ben and Salma. There’s also a shot of the Lowe’s electronic marquee displaying the Dogma logo (cool stuff). And yes, there’s even one of us in there (it was taken in the back of the VIP area, not outside of a dressing room at The Gap as it might appear). Chris is on the left, Brad’s on the right, FYI. Click all these thumbs for larger, clearer versions. We think Ming’s got more, too, but may be using them as part of a special page for the View Askew site. Not sure what he’s got in store at this point.
As for the Red Bank showing at the end of this month, we’re not sure if we’re coming in for that or not. It’s not that we wouldn’t LOVE to see Dogma again, and meet some of you as well, it’s just that we’re getting low on days off from work due to all of these weekday events, plus with the busy month of moving and all, well…It’s gonna be tight. We’ll see, though. Thanks to all of you that asked about it, though, we’ll keep ya posted. Glad so many of you were able to get your tickets.
Commentary
- The daily updates continue…When there’s this much news, there’s never time for a day off! We got ya covered though. Actually, compared to the past couple of days, today’s fairly light, though we DO have some shots from the premiere and the post party (courtesy of Ming), a couple more articles and NewsBites, but no HUGE news. Enough to make it worth the stop, though.
I’m closing on my house a week from today, and the MAJOR move is taking place the weekend after that, when myself, Chris, and our other roomie Steve lug all of our stuff into our 3 respective new places. We’ll be changing internet service providers then, too, but expect that to be transparent to all of you. There just may be a day or two without an update and a delay in e-mail responses as we get settled in again. It’s been a fun ride at this apartment, but it was just time we all moved onto our own places. The actual moving of some of this stuff is gonna suck, though.
By the way, the broken clips from yesterday have been fixed, so try them again! Sorry for any inconvenience.
Alrighty then, let’s see what we’ve got today:
View Askew NewsBites™
- DVD Website extraordinaire The Digital Bits reports a tidbit on the Chasing Amy DVD today:
We’ve been told by very good sources, that Buena Vista is negotiating with Criterion to obtain the rights to all of the supplemental materials used for the Chasing Amy laserdisc. Buena Vista reportedly wants to release the title as a Miramax Collectors Edition DVD. Let’s hope that they do a new anamorphic transfer while they’re at it. Whatever disc gets released, you can expect Alliance’s postponed Canadian version to be identical.
This is a good sign, and sort of what we’d expected. We’re afraid to say that Buena Vista is about as likely as Criterionto do a 16:9/anamorphic transfer (and chances of that are slim to none) so we’re not holding our breath. We’d assume thatVincent or Kevin would somehow have gotten involved if something like that was going down, too. All the same, it’ll beworth the dinero for the sweet extras — And let’s hope Kevin gets to make that documentary he mentioned, too.
- What’s Linda Fiorentino gonna follow up Dogma with? Here’s something hot off the wire:
Linda Fiorentino and Ben Kingsley are in negotiations to star in a dramatization of painter Georgia O’Keeffe’s life titled “Till the End of Time.”
The film, which focuses on the passionate and stormy relationship between O’Keeffe (Fiorentino) and Alfred Steiglitz (Kingsley), is set to begin shooting in November in the U.S and Munich. Marek Kanievska (“Less Than Zero”) will direct.
An O’Keeffe project has been in development at Paramount Pictures for at least a decade, with such actors as Michelle Pfeiffer, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere at various points and in various degrees involved.
- There’s a George Carlin box set on the way, containing old and previously released material. It’s called “The Little David Years” and it’s set for an October 19th release. 7 discs, including six classic LP’s, [FM & AM, Class Clown, Occupation: Foole, On The Road, Toledo Window Box and An Evening With Wally Landow] plus a seventh disc simply reffered to as “Unreleased Material.” We’re big Carlin fans, and we’re sure this’ll be a way cool set.
- Looks like Kevin will be in The Big Apple tomorrow again (or, most likely, he just hasn’t left yet) for a taping ofthe Sundance Channel show titled World Cinema Today. It’s happeneing at THE IMAGE GROUP/MTI STUDIOS, 885 Second Avenue @ 47th Street (Entrance on Northwest corner of 47th Street and Second Avenue) in NYC at 12:00 noon. We assume that it’seither limited or closed to the public, but if you’re in the area you may wanna swing on by and check into it.
- Finally today, Jay & Silent Bob appear in the upcoming Mojo Mechanics, issue #3 (You can order it through Previews now) , from Syndicate Publishing. The guys behind it are big View Askew and News Askew fans, and sent us the first two books…Fun stuff. Definitely worth checking out, even if you’re just collecting books with Jay & Bob references.
View Askew NewsBites™
- James White from Total Film contacted us to inform us that they made a mistake in their printing…As far as they know, the UK release of Dogma is still slated for December 26th, not in February as they’ve earlier reported.
- Hecklers Online, a comedy website, uses Dogma in the subject of their Interactive Top 10 List today. How it works is that readers can type in their own witty contibutions, and the next day the list is printed with the best of the reader’s entries. Today’s subject was “Catholic Church’s Top Ten compaints about the new Ben Affleck-Matt Damon movie ‘Dogma’”. Go add yours!
Complaints About the New Ben Affleck-Matt Damon Movie Dogma
10. Pope contends it’s too much of a chick flick. (mattgill2@aol.com)
9. A Canadian God? Blasphemy! (blaklyte@fear.horrified.net)
8. Lacks mature, introspective probing of Stigmata. (cynic000@aol.com)
7. Where’s Stallone? (boomike@aol.com)
6. Cameo appearance by Jesus Christ edited out. (ekpisces@aol.com)
5. Church preferred buddy team of Pope John Paul and Jerry Lewis in lead roles. (hmb3223@aol.com)
4. No good butt-shots of either one of them. (finbass@aol.com)
3. Unrealistic portrayal of pedophilia as some sort of sin. (3barblues@clarityds.cnchost.com)
2. Too much dog, not enough ma. (homerayk@aol.com)
There are a lot of offensive movies out these days, but this one has incurred the wrath of the biggest church in the world. jefmem@tecinfo.com has a clue why…
1. Dogma promotional items were nothing more than recycled “Happy Meal” toys with crosses glued on.
CNN, indieWire, Liz Smith, & More On Dogma…
- More press! You betcha. Today, Dogma RC adds heaps more articles from CNN, indieWire, Liz Smith, and more. We’ve even got a new positive review of the flick from Texas. All of the latest is on our press & reviews page…
Dogma On The Tube…
 E! News Daily (104 Seconds) |
 Entertainment Tonight (67 Seconds) |
 Extra (134 Seconds) |
- Naturally, the entertainment programs, and even some of the news stations around the country (and other countries as well, actually) covered the Dogma premiere on Monday night. It’s kind of a shame though that the movie and the celebrities themselves weren’t enough to do a story on, though. Most agencies seemed to mention the film then focus mainly on the protesting and the so-called controversey with the flick. Why can’t Dogma just be allowed to be Dogma in a segment? Always with the protesting…Anyway, it’s still good press, though some folks for some reason seem to think Disney and Miramax still own the flick. Click above for RealVideo versions of the stuff that aired on Entertainment Tonight, E! News Daily, and Extra. News agencies in Pittsburgh, New York, and even the BBC in London ran Dogma segments. It sounds as if the BBC’s was the most expansive, with almost 10 minutes devoted to the flick and its premiere. Talk about a country waiting for a film!
For those of you that haven’t read the press yet, most of the clips are of Damon, Affleck, and Hayek chatting about the flick (and yes, the protests), Kevin carrying an angel-wing clad Harley Quinn, and again sticking up for the fact that Dogma is indeed a very pro-faith movie. We couldn’t agree more after seeing the flick again for ourselves.