Anyone know when "Religulous" on DVD will be out?

[Joe the Liberal]

I didn't get to see Bill Maher's movie Religulous in the theater but I will see it when comes out on DVD, does anyone know when that might be? Has anyone on here seen it? Is it good?

[salvorhardin]

1. February 17

According to Amazon:

This title will be released on February 17, 2009.
http://www.amazon.com/Religulous-Bill-Maher/dp/B001MFNB5I

I haven't watched it yet either, but a few members of my local CFI affiliate, FreeThought Fort Wayne did. Many of us had doubts about the movie beforehand since Maher isn't exactly a paragon of rational thinking (he's an anti-vaxer among other things) but the general verdict was that it was surprisingly good. Here's a review one of our members wrote:

Religulous isn’t the boring Jay-Walking skit I feared it might be. It’s much better than that, and I wonder about the critics who say it wasn’t funny. I was laughing several times, as was most of the rest of the crowd, because of the absurdity of the subjects and because of the well-timed jokes that point that absurdity out. The jump cuts and fast editing are there, but they’re not malicious; they just inject context to what are usually one-sided, contextless conversations. And the targets are mostly frauds or idiots who have voluntarily put themselves in the public sphere, by getting a Rev. before their name, or opening a creationism museum, or being a Senator, or running to Iran and meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or running an ex-gay counseling service, or playing Jesus in the public shows at Jesus Land. Or claiming to be the Second Coming of Jesus personally.

There was a little Michael Moore-ish grandstanding, ...

But there’s enough meat there to overshadow the sparse bits of egotism and amateurism. He’ll give subtitles exposing the lies of the opulently dressed megachurch megapastor as the guy speaks; he’ll interview Catholic priests (including the Vatican astronomer) who giggle at the idea of hell and Creation and all the stuff their flock is goaded into taking literally; he’ll get the Senator to equivocate on evolution, he’ll hammer at the Jesus actor, past all the “God-sized hole in your heart” rhetoric, until the guy pulls out Pascal’s Wager; he’ll show you the salesman for the crazy kosher workless wheelchair—and he’ll do it with that affable, I’m-on-your-side schtick that disarms his opponent.
Full review: http://freethoughtfortwayne.org/2008/10/06/religulous-better-than-i-thought

[Joe the Liberal]

2. Sounds good thanks......

I'll give it a rental when it comes out. Thanks again. :)

[amyrose2712]

3. I just watch it last night...

It was very good. I like Bill but he is always a bit snarky and arrogant, but I REALLY enjoyed this film. I laughed out loud quite a few times. The editing was great. A definite MUST SEE!

[ihavenobias]

9. I loved the first 50-60% or so of the movie but...

But then it really lost a lot of of steam. I was bored when Bill went to that temple or whatever it was (can't quite remember now), and I was really annoyed that he decided to include the completely unnecessary scenes smoking pot in Denmark.

I'm for legalization so it's not a moral or legal objection, it's most that it had NOTHING to do with the message of the movie and it was just distracting. More importantly it just gave more ammunition for critics of Maher to dismiss him as a Godless-hippie-druggie-radical-nut (or something like that).

Finally, the ending was insanely sloppy and haphazard. It's like they got tired of working and decided to cut to overly dramatic music and a mini-ramble/rant from Maher. Shouldn't the rapture have been discussed a little more?

I had such high hopes for this movie and was ultimately disappointed. It was pretty good but it could have been GREAT and it really fell short. Maybe if they cut out the unnecessary junk (see above) and replaced it with more neuroscientists and people like Sam Harris, a DVD version could brilliant.

[amyrose2712]

10. I guess I wasn't expecting what you were.

I do agree that the ending was overly dramatic, compared to the tone of the rest of the film. But, for some reason, I liked it as a comedy more than a documentary. There wasn't anything in the movies that you couldn't get in more detail somewhere else. But, in any case, I laughed a lot.

[ihavenobias]

13. I know it wasn't meant to be a straight up documentary

but again, the last 1/3 of the movie or so wasn't even funny to me (overall), it was incredibly boring.

I'm referring to when he goes to that Muslim (?...if I remember right) temple. The movie really went downhill from there, and the ending was just so sloppily put together. Again, if he could've replaced most of that last third with talking to people who believe in the rapture and the impact of that on foreign and domestic policy it could have funny AND made some good points.

[amyrose2712]

14. Yeah, I guess I can see your point...

maybe the "tea" helped. :silly:

[tiddlywinks]

4. since i live in the buckle of the bible belt it wasn't shown anywhere near me...:/

[LeftyMom]

5. It's okay.

Like I said in another post, it struck me as a snarkier "Root of All Evil" and for the most part made very similar arguments.

There's finally a torrent up if you don't want to wait for the DVD.

[charlie]

6. It's been YouTubed

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CF6818481C3F1EDA

[Joe the Liberal]

11. I just watched it.......

I thought it was great, I hope to see more movies like this in the future done by other atheists.

[and-justice-for-all]

7. That flick was kickin'! I saw it twice..

the second time with a former Jesuit(now Atheist), he loved it!

[immoderate]

8. It was very funny.

--IMM

[Blue Gardener]

12. I loved this movie

I think I'll have to add it to my collection when it comes out.