Dogma (1999)

 "Bethany, bless the sink!"

I watched, and enjoyed this film, many years ago but, as often happens as the decades pass- and I am not, you understand, in any way confessing to being middle aged- I remembered very litttle. Last night was pretty much a second first viewing.

And it's superb. As a comedy, it's bloody good, with a constant stream of laughs. Linda Fiorentino is perfect as the star. Chris Rock and Alan Rickman are both brilliant. George Carlin is perfect casting as a down-with-the-kids cardinal. Some dodgy angel wing CGI aside- and we can be forgiving, because it's 1999- there's not much wrong with this.

It is, of course, a very different beast from the very '90s slacker romantic comedies for which Kevin Smith had previously been known, although there's a fair bit of that sort of thing here. But the religious stuff is obviously going to come across as provocative, not least with Bethany working at an abortion clinic and (spoilers!) the plot requiring God's life support machine to be switched off. Casting Alanis Morissette as God is, of course, entirely uncontroversial.

And yet... I don't get this film to be mocking faith, or religion itself, in any way, but rather the reactionary and socially conservative structure that eventually inserts itself around every religion. I've never had any religious faith myself, I wasn't brought up with it and am simply unable to believe in something without empirical proof, but even I was moved by Bethany's drunken nostalgia for a time when she had a childlike, simple faith. But perhaps this film also hints at a deeper truth. Divine or not, this Jesus person seems to have been anything but conservative.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

 "Be excellent to each other!"

Obviously, I've seen this film a million times. That goes withoit saying. But that was before my blogging days, and it was in another century. And besides, the wench is... sorry.

Anyway. we all know the story, and how splendidly silly it is; Bill and Ted must manage not to flunk history (how do they pass everything else???!!!) in order to one day form the band that will end all war and poverty by being awesome. This proves that we metalheads will save the world, although presumbly with better guitars.

It's not about this. It's about the gleeful playfulness with history, the irreverence. It's about that late 80s rock zeitgeist. It's about Keanu Reeves' firsr venture into Hollywood, although Alex Winter is seemingly the more characterful of the two. It's about Napoleon and water slides.

It's about military schools, presented here as comedy, but... resder, if you have ever sent your child to one, taught in one, or endorsed their existence in any way, you are subhuman scum. That is all. Thank you.

It's about the coolness of shsdes in 1989. It's about how the phone box time machine is in no way the TARDIS, and how the very concept of a phone booth evokes such nostalgia in 2022.

This very silly and very cool film is not, on the surface, very clever. But thst's misleading as there's quite a lot going on, much of which breaks the fourth wall.