tugs (04/02/83)
It opened in Toronto last night, and I saw the 7:00 show. I was ecstatic.
It's a return to the sketch format of the show and the first movie. This seems
to be the Pythons' forte - I found Life of Brian dragged in spots, as they
seemed weighed down by the need for continuity. If I try to ignore the
bias towards new material that affects a ranking of the four films, I'd say
that it's a tie between this and And Now For Something Completely Different
as their best film, with Holy Grail a reasonable second and Life of Brian
a poor third. Hard as it may be to believe, the Pythons have out-grossed
themselves (could there be a relation here? When they out-gross themselves,
their film will out-gross the other films...). The restaurant sketch is
a scene that will truly live on in the lower brains of millions. Watch
the opening credits closely: Terry Gilliam does some of the cleverest
animation he's ever done. On reflection, if there's anything I'd have
liked to have seen done differently (deep breath), it's a bit more of
John Cleese.
One other point about out-grossing: they've refined their technique.
There is nothing anywhere nearly as graphically violent as the Black
Knight scene in Holy Grail, yet they have spots (one scene in particular,
where you see almost nothing but a spurt of blood - and some liver) which
have similar or even stronger effects on your alimentary canal...
decvax!utcsrgv!tugs
Steve Hull