Rating: 
Summary: If only python wrote the BIBLE
Review: Pure genius 'the world is seperated into two sections, those who love python and those who don't' and the finger goes out to those who don't. This is an excelent spoof of the whole jesus times of the new testiment and it don't get no better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Most cohesive of all Monty Python movies
Review: Life of Brian is the funniest and most cohesive of all Monty Python movies. Brought to you by England's troupe of well-educated wabble-wowsers. [DW]
Rating:
Summary: Budget-priced version of one of the funniest films ever!
Review: This is the "no-frills" budget-priced DVD of "Life of Brian," containing just the movie with no extras (except for a trailer). Criterion has released an excellent Special Edition with commentaries, a documentary, and deleted scenes; however, the price of it is pretty steep. If you're a Python fan, you'll want to spend the money on the Criterion Collection DVD. If you have a more casual interest in the film, or just don't want to spend so much money, then this DVD will satisfy your needs. Either way, you'll get one of the funniest films ever made. With Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" ringing up box-officer registers and inflaming controversy, it's never been a better time to re-visit this classic but also controversial film from the Monty Python troupe, which takes on the story of the Messiah in a hysterical, yet sharply satiric, way. It's the best piece of work the Pythons ever produced, exceeding all their other movies and their television programs. Instead of merely stringing together sketches around a common theme, as they usually did, the Pythons here created a wonderful, coherent story with consistent themes and a steady target for their cynical humor. It's not only a wonderful comedy, it's really a wonderful character drama as well! No big producer would touch the controversial material, so the film was funded with the help of former Beatle George Harrison. Although filmed on a tiny budget, the work of director Terry Jones and designer Terry Gilliam make it look as handsome as a multi-million dollar Cecil B. DeMille epic. (It helped that they had sets available from Zefferelli's recent TV mini-series "Jesus of Nazareth" still around for their use.) The story follows the misadventures of Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), who was born just down the street in Bethlehem on the same night as another famous baby. Brian's life parallels Jesus's (glanced occasionally, played by Ken Colley), only in a completely mistaken, unintentional way. He becomes part of the People's Front of Judea, becomes an unwitting rebel, then an unwitting messiah to a group of mindless followers ("Yes, we are all individuals!" they shout together), and then an unwitting martyr. (Which leads to the classic finale song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.") John Cleese in interviews has tried to distance the film from being a direct attack on Christianity, saying it was really meant to criticize the mentality of people who follow leaders without question. However, "Life of Brian" is very cynical about religion in general, there's no mistaking that. But it doesn't have to be viewed as an insult to the Christian religion at all, as many claimed it was. It also makes fun of historical epics, gender roles, "Star Wars" (in a very funny special-effects sequence created by Terry Gilliam), and people who would rather fight with those who agree with them than with their common enemy. There's also no mistaking that this is one of funniest films ever made. Hysterical scene piles up on hysterical scene: John Cleese as a priest trying to control a mob at a stoning; Michael Palin as the world's least inspiring prophet ("And then a friend shall lose his friend's hammer..."); Eric Idle forcing Graham Chapman to haggle when he doesn't want to; Michael Palin's lisping and completely ridiculous Pontius Pilate ("Thwow him to floor, Centoorion!"); John Cleese as the leader of the P.F.J. trying to prove that the Romans have done nothing for Judea, despite his followers many claims to contrary (the aqueduct, the roads, the court systems, education, wine, sanitation...); and Terry Jones as Brian's mother telling his crowd of followers: "He's not the Messiah! He's a very naughty boy!" My personal favorite scene has John Cleese's centurion correcting Graham Chapman's Latin in the anti-Roman graffiti he's painting on the palace walls. I would like to point out what an excellent actor Graham Chapman was. All the Python's were brilliant comedic performers and writers, but Chapman was a very talented, pure actor. He could have played dramatic roles as easily and comic ones, and there's a reason he took the lead role in this film. His sincerity in the role of Brian really holds the film together. It's a tragedy that he died so young. Grab this DVD for gut-busting comedy and satire - unless you want to lay down the dough for the Criterion Collection (which I think is worth it).
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant...
Review: ...especially as the first in a double feature with The Last Temptation Of Christ. You'll see loved ones around you wonder what's so funny about the scene playing on Temptation, thus missing the satire of it shown in Life Of Brian.
If you have any liking of Monty Python and haven't seen it, get it and you'll thank the Python crew for making it for years! Even if you don't like Python, the satire will make you laugh at the historical look at how things were "then". It'll make you look at today's events with a more open mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Monty Pythons Average movie
Review: Life of Brian as performed by the Monty Python troup is just as nonsensical as all Python movies. But this one is a little too confusing... to where you aren't sure if they are trying to be funny or just rash. There are some very cleaver moments that make this movie one of the funniest compared to modern comedies released in the thearters today. But overall it was a string of sexual inuendo's with a muttled story line.
Rating: 
Summary: average for Monty Python standards
Review: I love Holy Grail and all of the Flying Circuses, and was excited to see this film. I was very disappointed with it. While it did have some funny parts, such as Pontius Pilate and Biggus' speech impediments and the roman graffiti, a lot of it was unnecessary and sacreligious. Was it important to the story to show Graham Chapman fully naked? What about the other woman's nudity, pushing the envelope even for some of today's standards. If that was what I wanted to see in a movie, I would have never turned to Monty Python. I also found the movie to be very sacreligious. While there were no direct attacks on Christ or Christians in general, the different situations in the movie were screaming blasphemy. A lot of religious parodies are aimed at Christianity, and to be honest, I think that if this moive would have referred to Islam or Hinduism, or any other religion, it would be seen as degrading towards that religion. Putting that aside, though, the movie was funny. Eric Idle's song, "The Bright Side Of Life" is a classic. The roman graffiti will always be remembered, and the rivalry between the People's Front of Judea and the Judean People's Front was humorous. Overall, the movie was very average in humor, but is pulled down dramatically by the blasphemy in the film. I don't recommend it unless you are a huge Monty Python fan.
Rating:
Summary: The Funniest Movie Ever Made....
Review: ....That isn't an early Mel Brooks or Richard Lester movie! This film pretty much made me a fan of the Pythons, leading me to go see a retrospective of theirs including "And Now For Something Completely Different", "Jabberwocky" and "Monty Python & The Holy Grail". By far the most ingenious and well written thing they've done since and maybe SLIGHTLY funnier than "Grail", this movie makes fun of zealotry, hypocrisy, decadence, dumb luck and history, all in one fell swoop! The movie generally involves a case of mistaken identity that affects a Nazarene named Brian, born on the same day as, and right downstream from, you-know-who. This mistake affects Brian's life through the course of the entire movie, even after he joins a fanatic sect of Roman-hating terrorists. Though the Wise Men who mistook him for Jesus early in the film corrected themselves, Brian still has a hard time convincing the sheepish, desperate people who follow him everywhere that he isn't a messiah while trying to escape Roman capture. Cleese, Idle and Palin especially shine in this film, playing many disparate parts...Cleese as 1) A Roman centurion, 2) Reg, the leader of a terrorist faction Brian happens onto, and 3) A high priest/Pharisee/Sadducee - whatever, holding a zany trial for someone who has said the Lord's name in vain; Idle as: 1) Stan, a terrorist with gender identity problems, 2) A crazy but extremely lucky guy who never gets crucified though he's due for it, 3) A guy who taunts a fellow at the sermon on the mount by repeatedly calling him "Bignose" and 4) A stuttering gravedigger; Palin plays: 1) Pontius Pilate, 2) a particularly zealous member of the terrorist band Brian joins, 2)A squirrelly beggar complaining about being cured, 3) a VERY mild-mannered head counter at Brian's crucifiction, 4) The guy Idle taunts at the sermon on the mount and 5) A verbose false prophet. Even Chapman, the one playing Brian, assays the roll of Biggus Dickus, the lisping friend of Pontius Pilate as well as the hapless "Red Sea pedestrian" himself. Terry Jones plays Brian's mother and an ascetic who has his vow of silence ruined by Brian stepping on his foot. When I first saw this movie, I didn't remember laughing so much since seeing Richard Lester's "Help!" and "Hard Day's Night" at the Circle In The Square up in Greenwich Village. A true masterpiece of zany comedy as only the British seem able to do it. Wouldn't it be great to see either Rowan Atkinson's or "Grant/Naylor's" take on religion? The possibilities are endless!
Rating:
Summary: A Satire On... Well, Just About Everything!
Review: Monty Python's 1979 "Life of Brian" continues its tradition on making jabs at sacred cows as only the wacky British group can do: and what laughs they evoke! Although some may consider this to be a crude mockery of Christianity, it's not. As usual, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, John Cleese, and the rest of the gang inject their dark satirial humor on just about everything: their focus here is political and religious zealotry and nothing is sacred. Brian: "No, I'm not the Messiah!" Crowd: "Only the Messiah would say he's not the Messiah!" Indeed, after seeing this film, we get a good answer to the question, "What have the bloody Romans really done for us?!" Overall, another great comedy to own by England's most famous bards of comedy: don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Not as offensive as it's made out to be
Review: Well, the message behind Life Of Brian, to take a line from Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," extols people "don't follow leaders," and blindly at that. This biblical send-up has sight gags, barbed and hilarious lines and situation, funny voices, which all flow like milk and honey here. The setting is in Judea, AD 33, and Jesus is preaching his Sermon on the Mount, you know "Blessed are the cheesemakers" or was that "Blessed are the Greek"? But there is quite a bit of disharmony going on in the back row. My three favourite scenes have to be the stoning, the Roman grammar lesson and the scene where Brian (Graham Chapman) is first brought before Pontius Pilate (Michael Palin). When one Matthias is sentenced to be stoned for committing blasphemy, saying "Jehovah," the lynch-mob crowd mentality is demonstrated by an automatic launching of a stone at that word. As the Jewish priest (John Cleese) says, "Now look, no one is to stone anyone until I blow this whistle. Do you understand? Even, and I will make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehovah." Guess what happens? The second scene: After falling in with the People's Front of Judea, led by Reg (Cleese), Brian is instructed by them to write "Romans Go Home." He is caught (gasp!), but because this is Monty Python, he gets a grammar lesson from the centurion (Cleese) on duty, so remember, it is not "ROMANES EUNT DOMUS.E And the third scene brings me out in giggles the same way as the Roman guards, not only because of Pilate's gay lisp, but because of his friend's name, which has the guards trying hard not to dissolve into laughter. His friend's name? First name is Biggus. Another theme that's brought into light is the way a conquering people brings some benefits to its conquered, and Dr. Davies, my Western Civ. teacher, showed this part of the video to demonstrate it. Reg (Cleese) rhetorically asks his PFJ cohorts what the Romans have done for the Jews? To which they list the aqueduct, wine, irrigation, among other things, to which Reg reluctantly concedes. The punchline is that the Romans to some extent, have brought peace to a previously unstable region. Palin has the best roles as "Big Nose", an ex-leper, a crazed prisoner, and Pontius Pilate, and Cleese does great as a Roman centurion, Reg, and the ill-fated Jewish authority figure. Eric Idle does best as a stuttering Roman guard, a vendor who teaches Brian how to haggle, and Stan, who wants to be a woman and be called Loretta. BTW, Jesus is played by Kenneth Colley, who was Admiral Piett in both Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. This movie is ingenious, irreverent, cheeky, but not offensive or blasphemous. The lines and jokes are at their barbed best per usual, but the jokes involving crucifixion are the boldest: As I said, the main message is told by Brian to the people who blindly see him as the Messiah: "You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals. You're all different." And you'll enjoy this movie,... even if you do say Jehovah!
Rating:
Summary: Better than Grail.
Review: Thank God, for Life of Brian. Holy Grail has been ruined through years of people endlessly quoting it, thankfully a majority of people, at least from what I've seen, haven't seen Brian. Beside having one of the greatest ending of any movie or book, Brian also offers a very funny look a religion. The only problem with this movie, may be that it's too short. But what's there is genius. Some people might see it as offensive or blasphemous, but it's not. Brian is not Christ, their are similiarities, but that's it.
|
