grantss
A compilation of the best skits from Seasons 1 and 2 of Monty Python's Flying Circus - a "greatest hits" of sorts.Monty Python's Flying Circus was a brilliant, innovative comedy series, possibly the greatest comedy series of all time. It was certainly the most influential, iconic and quoted.They didn't hit top gear immediately though. Season 1 was great, but not their best. Still experimenting and finding their feet, it had some great sketches, but nothing as iconic as what was to come.Season 2 was where they really hit their straps. Most of their well-known sketches are from Season 2: Piranha Brothers, Ministry of Silly Walks, The Bruces, Spam, The Spanish Inquisition, Scott of the Antarctic.This movie captures these moments well.
ElMaruecan82
It's like going to a restaurant, the starter is "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and then comes the piece of resistance "Life of Brian" and if you look at the right side of life, I mean, kitchen, you'll see the dessert coming with "The Meaning of Life", a bit lighter but you've had a good meal already. What's that got to do with "And Now Something Completely Different"? Well, you have the film that played the role of the appetizer.As far as Monty Python's history goes, there will be a before and an after 'Flying Circus' in Britain, and a before and after 'And Now For Something Completely Different" in the rest of the world, where foreign audiences will discover that they're onto now something completely different on the field of humor."And Now For Something Completely Different",This is the recurring joke that marks a brief pause between the sketches, an interlude that is as hilarious as Gilliam's trademark animation. But talk about misleading audiences: yes, they're right in the sense that they do introduce something completely different, but if you expect another display of purely British absurd humor meant to produce a reaction of hilarity, the word 'different' IS misleading. That's just to say, this film, which was the first to introduce the Monty Python to the American audience by playing some of their most famous sketches without an audience, is simply the greatest monument to their comedic genius, you'll laugh, you'll chuckle, you'll faint and you'll hurl.Well, that's it. What can I say now? Nice weather isn't it? Mmm, I don't know, I don't think there's any need to get further, who is going to read this anyway? One who saw the film knows how great it is, and one who didn't will check by himself if he didn't, and since the opening sketch is "How Not to be Seen", well, I don't think one can consider the film as unfunny after that. So, I don't know I'm wasting my time writing this while I have probably more constructive things to do.Well, not precisely at this time, I'm unemployed and it's ten o'clock PM, so this would be the most appropriate time to write a little review. Or maybe I should go in my bed with my wife… our marriage is a real wreck… Wait … maybe I should get back to the point.(clearing throat)So, what's the film about? It's about a TV political program praising the virtues of not being seen, ever, providing some advice many stars of our time should follow, it is also about an accountant who dreams to become a lion tamer, a dirty book that translates Hungarian with naughty words, it's about gang of old ladies or baby snatchers, it's about a lumberjack (who's okay), a writer who wrote the deadliest joke in the world, so deadly even a chuckle can kill you, it's about a contest of upper class twats, a dirty fork's comment that escalated quickly, and many many many other glorious attempts to be funny that actually works, some better than others, but the lesser ones work better than the better of today's inner lesser programs, get my point? I can't be serious while reviewing the film but I hope it conveys the point that this film is exactly what was war according to Clemenceau, something too serious to be given to generals, humor is too serious to be given to comedians, Monty Python aren't comedians, they operate beyond the requirements of comedy, they know the structures by the book, when to put a punch line but most of the time, they get nowhere, there is something so instinctive in their humor that you just wait until the genius clicks, when it doesn't, it means that the premise of the sketch might have been overestimated but when it does, it's laugh-out-loud that justify the more timid chuckles, what a small price to say to have a good old belly-laugh.I enjoyed the film, I remembered I used to watch it with my high-school friend, yes, I'm a nerd (and I'm okay), it contains some of the funniest jokes ever and that it didn't meet with the initial public shows how sophisticated it was for their time and yet they could make you laugh with a few fast-motion and grimaces. You can't just label Monty Python, they're beyond any form of humor with humor as the focal point, the punctuation mark, the package, the structure and the deconstructive elements, many writers write gags with the basic elements: set-up-gag- punch-line, even the set-up in its own right is funny.And now for something completely different… is a fantastic showcase of Pythonesque humor, one that will never cease to be, kick the bucket or be told about like a certain Blue-Norwegian parrot. Got my point, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more
Leofwine_draca
The first of the four MONTY PYTHON movies is simply a compilation of popular sketches from the first series of the TV show MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS. All of the most famous sketches are here, from the lumberjack song to the dead parrot sequence, and they're all handled with aplomb.While the series has clearly dated in the forty years since release, I found AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY to have plenty to offer to modern viewers. First, there's the influx of surreal humour that would make the likes of Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel proud; secondly, there's a sense of madcap energy coming from the performers, each of them hard at work playing multiple roles throughout, and third, it just happens to be very funny.Of the entire film, my favourite sketch is the last, the 'Upper Class Twit of the Year' competition, but that's merely the cherry on a hugely tasty cake. There's a definite predominance of successful over unsuccessful gags here, making this a real riot and a perfect introduction to the concept for newcomers.
morrison-dylan-fan
Talking to a friend recently about Comedy TV shows/movies that they had either never seen or heard of before,I was surprised to find out that she had never seen any footage of a Comedy group called Monty Python.Deciding to go for a Python DVD that would hopefully act as a good intro to their work,I was pleased to discover,that a boxset had been brought out,which along with containing the Python's most well know titles, (the classic Holy Grail,and Life of Brian-which I still need to see!) also contained two movies of the Python's that I have hardly heard ever get mentioned.The outline of the film:Designed as a film to introduce "Monty Python" to the US,the movie features re-staged and re-filmed sketches from the first two seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus,with a loose,over lapping theme of a character appearing in the end of one sketch and then in the beginning of the next,and also a breaking of the sketches into pieces,by having an announcer appear on the screen every 15-20 minutes to say "And now for something completely different".View on the film:Joining with the Python's for their big screen debut (which despite being aimed for America,ended up making more money at the UK box office than at the US box office!),director Ian MacNaughton smartly uses the film's small $80,000 budget (from Playboy magazine) to burst the sketches out of there original studio confines,with one of the movies best sketches about a "deadly joke" being used against the German's in WW II (?) being given a brilliant "fresh" feel thanks to MacNaughton giving the scene and misty look and also fully displaying the vast location.Despite the group surprisingly not using the widescreen format to feature a number of background or side gags that could be picked up on repeat viewings,the Python's impressively keep away from making the sketches ever feel old & recycled,by using the overlapping character's as a way to include a wonderfully new,absurd element into each of the sketches,that leads to viewer being excited about what direction the next sketch will go in,the moment they hear the words "And now for something completely different.".
