Rating: 
Summary: Monty Python's The Color of Money
Review: It is perhaps a known tale, but Python's manager at the time gave the boys this advice after 'Life of Brian': make another film now and you'll never have to work for the rest of your life. Attracted to the idea (as most of us are) of working less and getting more for it, the boys started right in writing with no fixed point of focus ('Life of Brian', of course, stemmed from Eric Idle's 'Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory' statement). The results, from within and without the group, is that the film is a hodgepodge of material of varying quality. It also illustrates how the group itself was losing its energy for its own craft, with a minority of sketches being re-written to the point of perfection ("Mr. Creosote" had four Pythons writing on it and is easily the most concrete piece).The DVD Special Edition shows the extension of that growing split, with a Virtual Reunion and some new material scattered on the new disc. None of it is particularly funny and most of it relies on old Python tricks (one bit starts with a narrator who gets it wrong and has to start over again, and again...). The film itself is lacking the observations and gripes of the entire cast, leaving Jones (the biggest holder of the torch) and Gilliam (the one who seems to hate Python the most) to leave intermittent comments here and there. Overall, it is not as wonderful nor as illuminating as the Python's first two DVD transfers, and that is fitting for 'Meaning of Life', which itself has less of an aftertaste than your standard Midwestern light beer.
Rating: 
Summary: Film encoded terribly, special features seem OK
Review: Something has gone seriously wrong with the encoding of the film. The image suffers from some sort of interlacing effect. Whenever sharp, vertical edges move on screen, the edges fan out into horizontal lines that seem to pulsate. This effect renders the film unwatchable during virtually all tracking and panning shots. The special features disk seems to be unaffected by this problem. The "making of" featurette has scenes from the film that appear to be from the new transfer, and they do not suffer from this effect. For instance, the cut from the "every sperm is sacred" number when the men open the doors of the lavatories is crisp and clean at the beginning of the "making of" featurette. But in the film, the movement of the men suffers greatly from the interlacing effect. The net effect of this problem is a total disaster. Universal had better recall the first disk and issue replacement copies ASAP. As for the special features, the "making of" featurette was good, containing a mix of archival and contemporary interviews from the Pythons. The gag features that litter the disk did not seem that funny to me, and I am a longtime MPFC fan. The deleted scenes are a nice addition to the dvd. I am glad to see them, though in the end, I think it best that they were deleted from the final cut of the film. Terry Jones talks over some of the dialogue in a commentary on the scenes that serves as the only audio option for these items. I'm glad to have the commentary, but I wish I could turn it off. Given how nice of a job the Pythons did with the Holy Grail dvd, this one is a bit of a disappointment, featurewise, and a disaster given the encoding problems that render the film unwatchable. I sure hope that the encoding problems get fixed. I waited quite a while for this set to be released. I do not look forward to returning it and waiting for a replacement version.
Rating:
Summary: Worst mastering I've ever seen
Review: I concur with all of the reviews below. There are major flaws with the mastering of this DVD. Any significant motion on the screen results in lines and bluriness on the moving object. This DVD is nearly unwatchable. I can't believe it was released in this state, and it should be recalled. I recommend staying away from this issue at all costs until this is fixed.
Rating: 
Summary: hilarious!
Review: Finally the best of the Monty Python movies is released on dvd with a bunch of bonus features. The movie is obviously hilarious. The only problem I have with the dvd is that the picture seems distorted throughout the movie. I bought the dvd and replaced it 3 times because of the picture. But i guess it's like that on all of them. If you zoom in for the full-screen effect, that fuzziness goes away. I also wish this was available in both widescreen and full screen. Other than that, all fans should be pleased. If you're unfamiliar with the whole Monty Python thing, this is the perfect place to start. Get this dvd first!
Rating:
Summary: Just what I've been waiting for!
Review: Few movies can claim to be as funny, irreverent, and ridiculous-at the same time-as "Monty Python's Meaning of Life". This was my first introduction to Monty Python, and the one I consider the most memorable. It is different from "Life of Brian" in that it is essentially a sketch comedy spun into a movie, and doesn't follow a cohesive story line. All the better, since it probably wouldn't have worked anyway. "Meaning of Life" has some of the most outrageous sketches and songs that they have ever done. My personal favorite songs are "Every Sperm is Sacred" , which is a wonderful production number on screen, and "The Galaxy Song", which is perhaps Eric Idle's best writing to date. The sketches are varied, from the gross out (Mr. Cresote, the world's most obese man eating at a restaurant), to the hilarious (The sex education and Grim Reaper sketches). All the Pythons are in top form, and deliver one of the best comedies of all time. Sadly, this was the last Monty Python movie ever made. The new Universal 2 DVD set is similar to the 2 DVD special edition of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". It is packed with extras, some good and some filler. The best extra is the Commentary by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam. Obviously, they were not recorded together, but they are well spliced throughout the movie. Gilliam, always the Python artist, is the most technical while Jones is the more humorous, frequently cracking up. The contributions from Eric Idle and John Cleese are minimal, though, but the commentary is informative and enjoyable nonetheless. I finally found out how they did the vomit scenes in the "Mr. Cresote" sketch. The only "Serious" extra is a nice "Making of " featurette. It is mainly composed of both new and archival interviews. Also included is a handful of Deleted Scenes. They are fun for a gander, but you can see why they were cut. The rest of them, from the "Remastering a Masterpiece", "Un Film De John Cleese", and "What Fish Think" are more comedy sketches than anything. They also included some good pieces on the music of the film, as well as the usual promotional stuff. The video quality of this particular DVD release is the best I have ever seen, but this might be because I can only compare it to the VHS edition. It has some grainy moments, but it is a clean print for the most part. The sound quality is iffy at times. It frequently fads out and fades in during certain scenes. This is not so noticeable through television speakers, but people with a stereo hookup will definitely notice it. But these flaws are minor and are unlikely to hamper your enjoyment of this excellent DVD package. This is the Monty Python DVD I have been waiting for, and I can now boast about having all three of them, all special editions. While I like "Life of Brian" slightly better, I still think is the most memorable. Perhaps because I enjoy the more lowbrow humor (and this is as lowbrow as the Pythons ever got). A masterpiece on every level.
Rating:
Summary: Finally the lost scenes!
Review: I've long been a fan of Monty Python, particularly of their movies. It's great to see all of the many special features included on this 2-disc set. When the movie first came out, I had the book of the movie (unfortunately lost long ago) that gave storylines of scenes that I never saw on screen or heard mention of. Now I know that my memory of the Martin Luther scene was not a hallucination! Hide your women!
This is definately one NOT to lend to friends, you won't get it back. Better to have them over and watch it again with them.
Rating:
Summary: Disc problems - Video and DVD-ROM features
Review: [9/4/03] Quality of the Python production aside, this Special Edition suffers from major video encoding problems and the decision to shackle DVD-ROM material with platform/OS dependency. The video on the main movie disc seems to have been encoded improperly which causes, for many progressive scan capable DVD players, jagged and annoying lines whenever there is a any significant movement in the film (Imagine! "Moving Pictures..."). This is a major mastering issue and Universal Studios should (if they care about quality) issue a recall of this lot of DVD's. [Addendum 9/9/03: For argument's sake, I exchanged my defective copy but found that the replacement has the exact same problem. This is definitely a mastering glitch, now being discussed in many online DVD forums (including the Python's official website/chat board). Quickly, the issue involves incorrect interlacing of the video during mastering, which causes the video to render terribly when viewed on progressive scan capable DVD players. Universal Video may or may not choose to resolve this production flaw, at least without some consumer feedback. Any of you wishing to see this remedied before (or after) purchasing should consider contacting Universal Home Video through its web site.] As for the set's special DVD-ROM features, as have many DVD-ROM producers of late, Universal Studios has decided to require users install PC/Windows-only software to access what is essentially "created-for-Web" materials. As a Mac user (OS X), I was only able to access the features by digging through the DVD directories and opening the appropriate .htm file in my web browser. Which leads me to wonder (and complain): why do many studios insist on packaging material created to be "platform independent," in a platform dependent fashion?!? The materials have already been designed to run on ANY computer capable of viewing web pages. Why bind these to a PC/Windows-only installation? On my copy of the Special Edition DVD for Holy Grail, there is a documentary where Michael Palin and Terry Jones revisit many of the Holy Grail's remote shooting locations, watching the film's related scenes on a Mac Powerbook. As Mac users, one would hope that the Pythons themselves could access their work on DVD-ROM. Not on this "Special Edition." I'm reminded of the "special relationship" Universal has had in the past with the Pythons, especially with Terry Gilliam in the battle over the release/cut of Brzail. Looks like the same kind of executive studio thinking went into the production of this "Special Edition" DVD. Perhaps that's the cruelest joke in the "Meaning of Life."
Rating:
Summary: Yup, the dvd picture is f-ed up....
Review: Something went wrong with the print on these dvds, apparently, because everytime someone or something moves, they distort. I've discovered that the Zoom x2 function alleviates this, but if you're watching widescreen it chops it down to approximately fullscreen ratio. So I'm waiting for there to be a recall or something, because I know that if I return this I'll just get another bad copy. It's probably present in the first 100,000 or however many they make in the first batch.
Rating:
Summary: LOVE THE MOVIE, BUT THE VIDEO IS JACKED UP!!!
Review: I bought the movie wends. and the video is blurry. My friends also bought the movie, and its blurry on these ALSO!!!
Rating: 
Summary: The White Album
Review: Big, sprawling, decadent and full of...well life, The Meaning of Life was the last feature from Monty Python. It's certainly a worthy conclusion. All their feature films demonstrated a difficulty keeping a single narrative thread going. What they were great at was creating sketches. This is the sketch episode that the BBC probably would never have run. It's disgusting, funny, whimiscal and side splitting funny. My favorite Python film is still Life of Brian. While a bit uneven Life of Brian showed a knack for a comedy with a story. It didn't help the troup that they were satirizing religion (it got the film banned in many places)but the best bits (and all Python films are really comedic bits just strung together). This is a bit like The Beatles' The White Album--amibitious, sprawling and creative as heck without focus. It's still fun.
The most successful sequences include the Every Sperm Is Sacred song and dance sequence; the (gulp) vomiting man (which is so over the top it moves from comedy to vulgarity and back again with equal ease)and the Heaven as floor show conclusion. There's other inspired bits sprinkled between the film and some of the groups most outrageous sketches as well. I'm not sure if MP knew this would be the last film they would make but it certainly has all the earmarks of that quality--the film is so over-the-top as to make their television sketches (and their other movies)mild by comparison. Sex, death, bad dinner parties, glitzy dinner shows and finance are all fair game in the Python world. This two disc set has some minor improvements over the original. There are a few problems. The video seems to be encoded incorrectly. There appears to be a problem with the picture blurring whenever I play it on my progressive scan DVD player. Our regular, older model didn't have any problems with this. I don't recall the dialog being out of synch on the Pirate parody that opens the film. I could be wrong, though, as it would be prime Python to make it appear like a badly dubbed Italian movie. The print is very good. There are analog artifacts and the print isn't as pristine as, say, Brazil, but it's not a huge problem. The interactive menu is Python friendly and quite clever. The second disc contains the extras and a number of them are quite funny. Like the reissued version of Holy Grail, this is more of an augmented Meaning of Life. If you need to have everything that Life has to offer, I'd recommend this newly remastered edition with many extras. It's not the perfect Life but, well, no one expects Life to be perfect.
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