While COLUMBIA TRISTAR already released "Dogma" on dvd with extra
features, their new "DOGMA:SPECIAL EDITION" truly qualifies as a
"special" edition!

For the masses who missed this film during its brief theatrical run,
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck play two angels who've been banished to
earth. When they find a "loophole" that would allow them to re-enter
heaven, and thereby making god imperfect, an impossibility that would
"thereby" cause time and mankind to cease existing. Of course, this
quest by the forces of good, to stop Damon and Affleck, and "evil"
wanting them to succeed, allows for Smith to introduce the audience to
an onslaught of unusual characters. Linda Fiorentino portrays Bethany,
a girl working in an abortion clinic and directly related to Jesus.
While we don't actually meet Jesus, we "do" get to meet Rufus, the
unknown "13th apostle", in a great casting choice of Chris Rock. Rufus
knows Jesus, in fact, as he states "Jesus owes him money!" While the
humor isn't slapstick or over-the-top enough to please the masses, its
wit should find intelligent viewers making up the growing numbers of dvd
owners.

COLUMBIA TRISTAR has preserved the correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio with 16:9
enhancement. The colors are solid and vibrant. While we recall the
theatrical version being a little grainy, the image here is extremely
slick and grain is minimal. The contrast is also impressive with deep
blacks and grays in dark, dark scenes! It's really surprising to find
the contrast to such a modestly budgeted film, and one from Smith, to be
this incredible!

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundmix is also incredible! While, like all of
Smith's films, an intelligent film necessitates it be dialogue-driven,
it's not at the expense of directional and surround effects! Most of the
directional effects are focused towards the front soundstage, but the
surround effects, while restrained, are incredible. Surrounds are used
more frequently to boost the musical presence, as in the strip-tease
scene with Salma Hayek, but when they're employed for targeted effects,
look out!

COLUMBIA TRISTAR often includes a commentary on even their lesser known
releases, eg., "Kept", "Bats" and others, so when they include
supplements on a "Special Edition" one can assume the audio commentary
will be worthwhile. Any commentary featuring director/writer/actor
Kevin Smith would be worthwhile. In fact, we wish he was featured on
commentaries for other films he's a fan of, just to get his reflections,
in the same manner as Scorsese has done on certain laserdiscs. When
Smith offers commentary on his own films, "Mallrats", "Clerks", "Chasing
Amy" and now "DOGMA", it's a welcome event!

Smith provides two commentaries for this "special edition". One of them
is the "cast & crew" commentary, in which he, Ben Affleck, producer
Scott Mosier, "View Askew historian/fellow-filmmaker Vincent Periera,
Jason Mewes and Jason Lee. All of them offer great insight and laughs,
and they get into many areas here. Not only do they provide some
interesting reflections on the film, but also about "dvd", newsgroups,
websites and much more! It's a terrific commentary!

The second commentary is much more technical, although not without its
share of laughs. It actually begins with a warning that listeners are
on the wrong track if looking for laughs. "This" is a track where they
try to keep things "real" as Kevin Smith claims. He's featured here
with producer Scot Mosier and Vincent Perera. At the introduction,
Smith credits Perera with being a dumb-ass about everything, with the
exception of filmmaking. He states Perera knows numbers like "2.35:1
and 16:9 when talking about dvd compression" so we know we can look
forward to the technical aspects of the film and the dvd from the
get-go! While the commentary can lag in spots due to its offering of
"ho-hum" info like which footage was shot first, it's still filled with
enough info about the filmmaking process to please any movie fan.

Other supplements include:

Deleted scenes- This section, consisting of deleted scenes and
outtakes, lasts almost two hours! It's rare that movie fans get this
much material, with the exception being "Spinal Tap" , so it's welcome
addition, sure to please fans! The only disappointment in this section
lies in the fact that these scenes appear a little rough, and without
16:9 enhancement. There are also trailers, bios, tons of pics in the
still galleries, and much, much more! Even the menu screen is
impressive! This is a special edition that should be in every
collection!