#381: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Directors: Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones

Cast: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle ...

King Arthur is traveling across England with his squire Patsy to find the bravest of the brave to become the Knights of the Round Table, and to seek the Holy Grail at the behest of God Himself. They encounter many obstacles, including the Knights who say Ni, the enchanter named Tim, and the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog. Along the way, they also kill a historian who was chronicling the tale of King Arthur, prompting an investigation by the British police to stop these madmen in a troupe called "Monty Python" who are acting as Arthurian figures.

You may have all been wondering why there was such a huge gap since my last post. It was because of this movie. How do you write about this film!? It's damn near impossible. I actually watched it well before it was "due" if I stuck with the daily movie. I suppose I'll just have to do my best and get on with the list.

One of the most effective gags in the film that makes it stand out in comparison to a majority of comedies to this day is its excessive use of "breaking the fourth wall", which is to say that the actors break the imaginary barrier between the show and the audience. For example, while all the knights stand in awe of the sight of Camelot, Patsy remarks that "it's only a model."

The evident low budget of the film could have been a huge setback to the film, but in the end enhanced it thanks to the production team's decision to poke fun at their own work. Rather than being taken seriously whatsoever, the team clearly had a fantastic time acting absolutely ridiculous.

And, a bit o' trivia before the actual trivia section. It seems that their is quite the rift in demographic appeal when comparing the United Kingdom to the United States in terms of Monty Python fandom. While the United Kingdom widely prefers the later Life of Brian, the United States has always ranked Holy Grail as the better of the two feature-length Monty Python films. I have to admit that I can be classified as an ignorant American, having never seen The Life of Brian. No worries - that'll be rectified within the next 200 films I see.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Scenes such as Arthur approaching the first castle and Lancelot's running dash to Swamp Castle were filmed on Hampstead Heath, a London park beside one of the city's busiest road junctions.
• Some major scenes scripted, but never filmed: - additional "Knights who say Ni!" scene, they intend to call themselves "the Knights of Nicky-Nicky" - additional police detective scenes - several scenes where Arthur and the knights meet "King Brian, the Wild". - After the Bridgekeeper, they come upon the Boatkeeper. "He who would cross the Sea of Fate Must answer me these questions twenty-eight!" - Arthur and his knights end up finding the Holy Grail at Harrods' department store
• Funds earned by Pink Floyd's album "The Dark Side of the Moon" went towards funding The Holy Grail. The band were such fans of the show they would halt recording sessions just to watch "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969).
• "God" is in fact a photograph of the famous 19th-century English cricketer W.G. Grace.
• The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is roughly 11 meters per second, or 24 miles per hour, beating its wings 7-9 times per second rather than 43. And a 5 ounce bird cannot carry a one pound coconut.

#426: Enduring Love (2004)

Director: Roger Michell

Cast: Daniel Craig, Rhys Ifans & Samantha Morton

Lovers Joe and Claire are enjoying a day out in the sun, having a picnic in a field outside of Oxford. Their time together is interrupted suddenly when a hot air balloons descends from the sky, one of its passengers dangling from the basket being dragged along the field. Joe, and others who witness the crash from the road, run after the balloon and bring it to a halt. However, before the man's young son gets out, the balloon takes off again with Joe and the other helpers holding on. One by one, the helpers let go of the basket, while one holds on too long. The men watch the balloon drift away, and finally the last man falls down to his death. Joe is traumatized by what he witnesses and can't seem to let it go. Soon after, one of the helpers calls his flat. This man, Jed, tells Joe that there is something they must discuss. When they meet, Jed is very off-putting, never stating quite what he means to say. Joe soon finds himself struggling to disentangle himself from Jed, as well as the balloon accident.

In my view, the genre of this film itself alters completely about halfway through. In the beginning, it posed moral questions to the audience. Who is at fault for the man's death? Why did the man hold on for so long? Halfway through, though, we seem to forget all of this as all of a sudden we find ourselves in the midst of a thriller. Personally, I feel that this is just a bad decision to make, and I suppose I must blame Ian McEwan, author of the novel. There's no question that this simply wasn't his best novel (though I haven't read it myself).

Aside from that, this film is quite well done. The cinematography is phenomenal, especially the scene of the balloon accident. The acting is very good, as well. Daniel Craig flawlessly portrays the devolution of a man's character after a traumatic experience.

The reaction to the film seems to be mixed. Among the audience, many have criticized the film as negatively portraying both the mentally troubled as well as homosexuals. I have to agree, I found that there was absolutely no sympathy for our antagonist, which I believe is simply something that shouldn't be done aside from evil maniacs in fantasy stories.

Overall, I'm pretty ambivalent.

No Fun Trivia, once again, folks. IMDB is failing on us.

#466: Snatch (2000)

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Jason Statham, Stephen Graham, Brad Pitt, Alan Ford, Rade Serbedzija, Ade, Robbie Gee, Lennie James, Dennis Farina & Benicio Del Toro

Snatch is an action-packed, witty, gritty movie with two stories being interwoven. The first story is following the movements of criminals trying to get their hands on a recently stolen 86-karat diamond. After being brought to London, a former KGB agent hires a trio of stupidity-laden thieves to rob a bookie and retrieve the diamond. Meanwhile, a gangster threatens a boxing promoter when the promoter's most recently found fighter fails to intentionally lose the match, which the gangster had planned to rig.

While glancing through Rotten Tomatoes, I came across Tarantino's name a lot. Loads of people are discrediting Guy Ritchie for this film because the style reflects Tarantino's throughout. I, on the other hand, must disagree. The only similarity I can find is a high level of grittiness in combination with a witty dialogue. Aside from that, none of Tarantino's trademarks are to be seen (such as blood being splattered everywhere, a retro soundtrack, and any kind of color scheme throughout the film).

The character probably most remembered for this film is Brad Pitt's role as Mickey, a gypsy with a completely unintelligible accent. His character is completely ludicrous, but somehow believable at the same time. The accent alone is not traceable, but there's no doubt that it sounds authentic.

There's really nothing outstanding about the film-making of Snatch, but it holds its own as an incredibly entertaining film with brilliantly colorful characters. One-and-a-half thumbs up.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Every mistake that Sol, Vincent and Tyrone make were inspired by various late-night TV shows about real-life crimes gone horribly wrong.
• When Guy Ritchie told Brad Pitt that he would be playing a boxer, Pitt became concerned because he had just finished shooting Fight Club(1999) and did not want to play the same type of role again. Pitt book the role anyway because he wanted to work with Ritchie so badly.
• During the opening credits, the Hasidic-clad diamond thieves are discussing the Virgin Mary. This is a reference to Reservoir Dogs (1992), where during the opening scene the thieves are discussing the Madonna song "Like a Virgin".
• According to the DVD commentary, Bow, the dog was very difficult to work with. During car scene with Vincent, Sol and Tyrone, the dog was actually attacking Lennie James, and James was actually bitten in the crotch by the dog but didn't suffer any serious injury. The dog was replaced after that incident.
• Brad Pitt's character and indecipherable speech was inspired by many critics' complaints about the accents of the characters in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Guy Ritchie decided to counter the criticisms by creating a character that not only couldn't be understood by the audience but the also couldn't be understood by characters in the movie.

#485: The Wicker Man (1973)

Director: Robin Hardy

Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento & Britt Ekland

On Summerisle, a small island off the coast of western Scotland, a girl has gone missing. When Sergeant Howie arrives at Summerisle, he encounters a very hospitable and charming village, but something is wrong. Nobody seems to believe that the missing girl has ever existed - even the girl's own mother. As time passes, more and more of the townspeople's strange practices are revealed, until their underlying darker side is finally revealed.

The singular impressive feature of this film is its use of suspense and pacing. From the beginning, Hardy shows us a beautiful northern British culture, pulling us in even further with an authentic-sounding folk soundtrack scored by Paul Giovanni. The realization that the townspeople are hiding something occurs early on, but how can such a happy society hide something as dark as the murder of a missing child? Hardy allows his audience to view Sgt. Howie as the darker of characters, clinging fervently to his Christian faith. It is Sgt. Howie who speaks of rotting corpses, while the townspeople have a light and happy view of reincarnation as hares and other animals. Only at the riveting finale are we finally exposed to the true dark nature of the townspeople.

The Wicker Man has sadly become a dated film, with not much holding it together but the single question: What have the townspeople done to Rowan Morrison? It's easy to say why Neil LaBute decided to recreate this film, though it appears he's been thoroughly unsuccessful in that endeavor (though I can't say - I've never seen it). It's still a very intriguing film, and I'd recommend it to any film buffs out there.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• Christopher Lee agreed to appear in this film for free.
• The film gives it's name to a music and arts festival (The Wickerman Festival) which has been held annually in the area where the film was shot (Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland) since 2004. At the end of the festival a giant Wicker Man sculpture is burned as a 'sacrifice to the festival gods'.
• According to director 'Robin Hardy', Howie's final speech is based upon Walter Raleigh's dying words.