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These days, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is obviously considered a comedy classic. But when it was first released back in 1975, there was no guarantee that people would like it. And specifically, there was no guarantee that film critics would like it.

Several critics did enjoy the Pythons’ first original feature film. The New York Times’ Vincent Canby called it “a marvelously particular kind of lunatic endeavor,” and Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune, hailed Monty Python and the Holy Grail as “an incredibly silly film of great humor, brilliant design and epic insanity.”

But other critics weren’t so impressed. Variety argued that it was “basically an excuse for set pieces, some amusing, others overdone.” Gene Siskel claimed that it “contained about 10 very funny moments and 70 minutes of silence”. In the U.K., film critic and journalist Barry Norman hosted Film 75, the 1975 iteration of his long-running movie review series.

Steve Martin and the Monty Python gang are seemingly big fans of each other’s work — although John Cleese’s opinion of the American comedian may have soured slightly in recent years, after Eric Idle gave him the role of God in Spamalot and “fired” Cleese.

Martin is such a Python admirer that he was tapped to host the TV special Parrot Sketch Not Included — 20 Years of Monty Python, which featured the final onscreen appearance of those six unforgettable comedians: “John, Paul, George, Ringo, Bob and… one other unforgettable guy.”

But when Martin first got into Monty Python, he didn’t even know what they looked like. That’s because the show didn’t air in the U.S. until 1974, but their albums were widely available.

The Pythons began issuing audio recordings of their sketches as early as 1970. And while their first release, simply titled Monty Python’s Flying Circus,...

These days, Monty Python is considered “The Beatles of Comedy,” presumably because of the quality of their work, their Britishness and the fact that they won’t stop fighting over money now that the group’s broken up.

But as hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when the Pythons had to sell themselves to America. While Monty Python’s Flying Circus was already a hit in the U.K. and Canada, the show didn’t air on U.S. public broadcasters until 1974. They did still have some American fans, thanks to the film And Now For Something Completely Different and the Pythons’ album releases.

But in 1973, at the end of their first-ever Canadian tour, the Pythons, minus John Cleese, traveled to California in order to promote their albums to American audiences. In addition to posing for a Rolling Stone photo shoot with Annie Leibowitz, they...

"Monty Python's Flying Circus" was a tough sell in the United States, and it's easy to see why. Many of the TV shows and media tropes that the Pythons lampooned on their famously absurd sketch comedy show were unbearably insular to British audiences. There were jokes about local television personalities, spoofs of English news programs, and send-ups of the BBC's tendency to cram dry, not-at-all-entertaining documentaries into their programming blocks.

The BBC had made a deal with Time-Life Television to broadcast reruns of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" in the United States, but after a deal had been struck, Time-Life deemed the series to be "too British" for U.S. audiences. Ultimately, it was shelved. Time-Life's suspicions about the Pythons were proven true when the troupe's 1971 anthology film "And Now for Something Completely Different" tanked at the box office. Additionally, the six silly men performed a 30-minute block of material...

John Cleese is best known as a member of the British comedy troupe Monty Python. Let’s look back at the Oscar-nominated funnyman and his 12 greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1939 in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, Cleese rose to prominence thanks to the British sketch series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” which ran for four seasons on the BBC from 1969-1974. The troupe — which also included Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin — revolutionized comedy with their surreal, experimental sketches, the best of which were assembled into the film “And Now for Something Completely Different” (1971). This led to other cinematic outings, including “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975), “Life of Brian” (1979) and “The Meaning of Life” (1983).

Cleese achieved big screen success of his own with “A Fish Called Wanda” (1988), which he wrote and starred in as an uptight English barrister who becomes entangled in an elaborate...

Cure's exploration of the human mind's vulnerability to suggestion mirrors Monty Python's lethal joke sketch in a serious way. Military forces would want to harness Mamiya's hypnotic powers for a weapon, akin to the deadly joke in the Python sketch. Cure's cultural impact on modern horror is significant, influencing directors like Bong Joon-ho and changing the way Western filmmakers approach the genre.

In preparation for Longlegs, I had heard that the 1997 Japanese cult horror film, Cure, was a good accompaniment. Longlegs and Cure share many attributes, such as their atmospheric tone, and leaving audiences feeling unsettled by their ambiguous endings. Cure is an unnerving film, with its creepy sound design and chilling narrative, and is definitely a worthwhile watch for Longlegs fans. However, I just couldn't shake this feeling that the Japanese film was actually just a serious version of the Monty Python sketch about the funniest joke in the world.

Quick Links Playboy's Involvement in the Production of Macbeth Cast and Crew of Macbeth Why MacBeth (1971) Is the Best '70s Shakespeare Adaptation How to Watch Macbeth

What do Playboy and Shakespeare have in common? The answer is very little. Yet, for a brief period, Hugh Hefner, through Playboy Productions, looked to get into making big-budgeted movies to make the brand more mainstream. This led to a chance meeting with acclaimed director Roman Polanski, leading to Playboy Productions starting off with one of the playwright's most recognizable works, Macbeth.

We will examine how Playboy got out of the grotto to try to class up their brand and how it led to one of the best Shakespeare adaptations ever to grace the screen. We will also break down those involved in the production and why you must watch 1971's Macbeth.

Playboy's Involvement in the Production of Macbeth

While Playboy has...

It's nothing short of a miracle that anything nearly as weird as "Monty Python's Flying Circus" became a pop culture phenomenon. In the BBC television series that ran from 1969 to 1974, comedians Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, along with animator Terry Gilliam and frequent co-stars Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth, obliterated all sense of sanity on the airwaves.

Their sketch comedy show — which had neither circuses, pythons, nor a character named "Monty" — crafted off-the-wall sketches about every strange thing they could think of. Silly walks, Hungarian phrase books, and how not to be seen were just the tip of the very absurd iceberg, and the comedy troupe's absolute dedication to defying convention remains, to this day, a gold standard to which any comedian can aspire.

Monty Python didn't stay on the airwaves forever. The troupe created four feature films together over the course of twelve years,...

Directors often make appearances in their own movies, whether it's for personal reasons or as a playful gesture to the audience. Some directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, opt for subtle cameos while others, like Quentin Tarantino, take on substantial supporting roles in their films. It's not uncommon for directors to cast themselves in major roles or even write parts specifically for themselves, like Ben Affleck and M. Night Shyamalan.

Some of cinema’s greatest directors have a penchant for making appearances in their own movies. The director’s job is a layered one. More than the writer or producer, it’s the director who shoulders responsibility for a project. If it is well received, they get the praise; if it comes out poorly, they get the blame. For better or worse, the director generally holds the most visible behind-the-camera role in filmmaking; sometimes, the director decides to amplify this visibility by...

In 1972, Woody Allen scored a surprise success with his audacious sketch comedy film "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)." This rambunctious collection of ribald bits was both uproarious and deceptively off-handed. Suddenly, there was a market for loosely stitched-together, adult-skewing yuk-fests. These movies could be made fast and on the cheap because you didn't need production value to get a belly laugh out of dirty jokes or gratuitous nudity. This was smash-and-grab comedy, and it thrived throughout most of the decade.

One such practitioner of this scandalous style was Ken Shapiro. The counterculture satirist had created an underground comedy hit in New York City with his Channel One Theater, an innovative live show that barraged audiences with tawdry skits via three television sets. With Allen's movie, Monty Python's "And Now for Something Completely Different" and Brian De Palma's "Hi, Mom!" making untoward hay in movie theaters,...

When the seminal British TV program "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was still on the air (1969 - 1974), it wasn't yet reaching a massive international audience. To facilitate the show's spread, a feature film consisting of re-staged sketches from the show's first two seasons -- called "And Now for Something Completely Different" -- was released in England in 1971. That film is certainly funny, although it lacks the comedic magic of the TV show.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was put into production after "Flying Circus" went off the air. The special features for the film's 2001 DVD release featured vintage footage of late cast member Graham Chapman explaining that the troupe had been working on a script -- pointedly absurd, natch -- that was set partially in the Middle Ages and partially in the present day. After some discussion, the Pythons came up with the King Arthur/Holy Grail angle, knowing that...

Terry Jones has died. Jones, one of the co-founders of Monty Python, was 77. He has seen an outpouring of love since news of his passing spread. People from all walks of entertainment, and some of those closest to him, took to pay their respects to the late actor, writer, director and historian.

The news of Terry Jones' passing has been confirmed by the BBC and his family. Jones was diagnosed with dementia in 2015, which had made it difficult for him to communicate in recent years. Terry Jones passed with his wife, Anna Soderstrom, by his side. Fellow Python member Eric Idle had this to say on Twitter.

"I loved him the moment I saw him on stage at the Edinburgh Festival in 1963. So many laughs, moments of total hilarity onstage and off we have all shared with him. It's too sad if you knew him, but if you didn't you...

John Cleese celebrates his 80th birthday on October 27, 2019. Best known as a member of the British comedy troupe Monty Python, the Oscar-nominated funnyman has made a number of comedies that remain cinematic classics. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1939 in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, Cleese rose to prominence thanks to the British sketch series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” which ran for four seasons on the BBC from 1969-1974. The troupe — which also included Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin — revolutionized comedy with their surreal, experimental sketches, the best of which were assembled into the film “And Now for Something Completely Different” (1971). This led to other cinematic outings, including “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975), “Life of Brian” (1979) and “The Meaning of Life” (1983).

SEEKevin Kline movies: 15 greatest films ranked from...

(Aotn)-Ok, Smt Heads, you’ve waited til the midnight hour for your Thursday Trailer fix… And the night time is the right time! The red band trailer for the craziest, new indie spoof “Snake Outta Compton” has smacked the interwebs hard. So, let’s get in on the fun!

Check the red band trailer right now: Warning: Explicit Language

Coming Attractions: And now for something completely different for Thursday Trailers!

John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction: Vortex #1 is the newest comic offering from the Horror Movie Master and his collaborators. Check out the book trailer here:

With all communication lost from a mining asteroid, space station Benson dispatches a rescue ship to investigate. What the team discovers threatens not only to overwhelm and destroy them, but could ultimately threaten all life on Earth. Vortex is the second story of John Carpenter’s monthly anthology series Tales of Science Fiction.

Hugh M. Hefner

1926-2017

A Tribute

By Raymond Benson

Raymond Benson with Hefner at the Playboy Mansion.

A true American innovator and icon has left us.

While I would never claim to be one of this brilliant man’s inner circle of close longtime friends or family, I was privileged to know him for nearly three decades. I was a guest at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on numerous occasions, many times along with my wife and even my son, who first visited when he was eight years old! Hef was always a generous host—kind, warm-hearted, and full of conversation. He also had integrity. His championing of civil rights and First Amendment freedoms is legendary. He gave us the permission to embrace the sexual revolution—and, believe it or not, he was a strong advocate of women’s rights. The women who truly knew him loved him.

We...

With Unhinged due to be released on 25th September, I had the pleasure of talking with the co-writer and director Dan Allen about why he chose to remake a 1980’s Video Nasty as his first feature film.

You started making films at a young age. What first got you into film making?

When I was young my parents got me a couple of these, behind the scenes books, mainly for Jurassic Park (1993). It showed you all these animatronic dinosaurs, what they looked like without skin on. They had the camera pointed at scenes where they have a head poking in and if the camera pans slightly to the right you would have this dude with all this metal polls and stuff. I just loved that idea of making things for the screen.

I have always been interested in the construction of film and I think Jurassic Park was one of the first films,...

And now for something completely different. Many of the writing staff here at ScreenAnarchy have different careers outside of their movie enthusiasms. Myself, I have a degree in Chemistry, and work as a materials scientist. So when the opportunity to talk to the pair of nuclear fusion physicists presented itself, I was excited to get a bit more scientifically technical than is the norm when talking movies. I hope you enjoy the discussion, which is not dumbed down, with the two principals in the current excellent primer on creating the worlds first operating fusion power plant, Let There Be Light.    With all the alternative energy options slowly encroaching on the fossil fuel majority, the least discussed energy source in the 21st century is one...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

All of a sudden the scary decline at the indie box office has reversed. Through the first five months of 2017, only four films opening limited in the standard four New York/Los Angeles theaters opened with a per theater average of $20,000. In the last four weeks, four films have opened strong as “Beatriz at Dinner” (Roadside Attractions), “The Big Sick” (Lionsgate) and “The Beguiled” (Focus) opened well and reached crossover crowds.

This week’s addition, Sundance comedy hit “The Little Hours” (Gunpowder & Sky) is the latest surprise. Loosely inspired by the bawdy 14th-century Boccaccio classic “The Decameron” (The Hollywood version starred Joan Fontaine while Pasolini shocked in 1971), this tale is set in the Medieval Italian countryside with bawdy contemporary dialogue as a randy peasant hides out at a convent after his master catches him with his wife. It did strong business at four theaters on two coasts.

This comes the...

Easily the most mellow of the films of Sam Peckinpah, this relatively gentle western fable sees Jason Robards discovering water where it ain’t, and establishing his private little way station paradise, complete with lover Stella Stevens and eccentric preacher David Warner. Some of the slapstick is sticky but the sexist bawdy humor is too cute to offend . . . and Peckinpah-phobes will be surprised to learn that the movie is in part a musical.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1970 / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date June 6, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring Jason Robards Jr., Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, Peter Whitney, Gene Evans, William Mims, Kathleen Freeman, Susan O’Connell, Vaughn Taylor, Max Evans, James Anderson.

Cinematography: Lucien Ballard

Art Direction: Leroy Coleman

Film Editor: Frank Santillo, Lou Lombardo

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by John Crawford and Edmund Penney

Produced by Sam Peckinpah...

Take one fiercely individual auteur fed up with the Hollywood game, put him in Kyoto with a full Japanese film company, and the result is a picture critics have been trying to figure out ever since. It’s a realistic story told in a highly artificial visual style, in un-subtitled Japanese. And its writer-director intended it to play for American audiences.

The Saga of Anatahan

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber

1953 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 91 min. / Anatahan, Ana-ta-han / Street Date April 25, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring: Akemi Negishi, Tadashi Suganuma, Kisaburo Sawamura, Shoji Nakayama, Jun Fujikawa, Hiroshi Kondo, Shozo Miyashita, Tsuruemon Bando, Kikuji Onoe, Rokuriro Kineya, Daijiro Tamura, Chizuru Kitagawa, Takeshi Suzuki, Shiro Amikura.

Cinematography: Josef von Sternberg, Kozo Okazaki

Film Editor: Mitsuzo Miyata

Original Music: Akira Ifukube

Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya

Written by Josef von Sternberg from the novel by Michiro Maruyama & Younghill Kang

Produced by Kazuo Takimura

Directed by Josef von Sternberg...

Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with Seeso, an ad-free streaming service for comedy lovers. Subscriptions are $3.99 per month, with an option for a one-month free trial.

In early August, The New Yorker Magazine’s esteemed television critic, Emily Nussbaum, sent a tiny missive into the Twitterverse: “I just watched this new sitcom & it was good & funny & romantic. Wtf is Seeso??” with a link to “Take My Wife,” a scripted half-hour series by comedy’s favorite married lesbians, Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher, and a Seeso Original Series.

So, Ms. Nussbaum, to answer your question, what indeed (expletive redacted) is Seeso? In a growing world of niche streaming platforms, Seeso stands out for its wealth of TV classics (including all 42 seasons of “Saturday Night Live”), stand-up specials from the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Joey ‘Coco’ Diaz, Doug Stanhope, and Rory Scovel, and Original Series from...

The Ussr’s Cinerama knockoff proved a ‘good business’ between the rival superpowers, when some producers imported and re-edited six Soviet Kinopanorama travelogues to make an action- & culture-packed 3-panel Cinerama attraction. In some ways it’s one of the best.

Cinerama’s Russian Adventure

Blu-ray + DVD

Flicker Alley

1966 / Color / Smilebox widescreen / 127 min. / Street Date November 22, 2016 / 39.95

Narrated by Bing Crosby

Cinematography Eduard Ezov, Nikolai Generalov, Ilya Gutman, Georgiy Kholnyy, Anatol Koloschin, V. Kryklin, Sergei Mdeynskiy, Arkadi Missyura, Vladimir Vorontsov

Film Editor Hal J. Dennis

Original Music Alexsandr Lokshin

Written by Homer McCoy

Produced by Thomas Conroy, Harold J. Dennis, J. Jay Frankel

Directed by Boris Dolin, Roman Karmen, Vasily Katanyan, Solomon Kogan, Leonid Kristi, Oleg Lebedev

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

And Now for Something Completely Different, or, There’s Always Something New to Learn. The excellent Flicker Alley series of Cinerama restorations dazzle us with their technical virtuosity and inform us...

After weeks of speculation about the big game-changer that American Horror Story had planned for its sixth episode of Season 6, Ryan Murphy spilled the beans on Tuesday, and a day later, we did the twist, so to speak, leaving behind the format of My Roanoke Nightmare to join the series’ producer (Cheyenne Jackson) on the other side of the camera. But, this being Ahs, that was only the beginning. Read on, and we’ll go over the other ways that “Chapter 6” flipped the script.

Related2017 Renewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Getting Cancelled? What’s on the Bubble?...

Hey, there’s another movie out this weekend that’s “based on a true story”, but as the Monty Pythons would say, “And now for something completely different”. It’s not a gripping disaster like Deepwater Horizon (although its release problems were a disaster), but a “caper farce”. This flick concerns a real life heist like The Brink’S Job, but committed by The Gang That Couldn’T Shoot Straight. This crew gets by on sheer, bumbling stupidity because nobody would ever seriously refer to them as Masterminds.

The first mastermind we meet is Loomis Fargo money transport armored truck driver David Ghatt (Zach Galifiankis) circa 1997. Via voiceover he explains that he leads a dull life, that he’d even welcome a hold-up, despite the fact that he’ll soon tie the knot with his off-kilter fiance’ Jandice (Kate McKinnon). His world is soon rocked by the hiring of his new work partner,...

A nearly 600-page biography of a French filmmaker would not make every summer reading list, but any discerning cinephile will consider Éric Rohmer: A Biography. It’s one of several stunning recent releases, along with a weighty oral history of Star Trek, an intimate remembrance of Stanley Kubrick, and a fascinating breakdown of the great Suspiria. Now that’s an eclectic roster of beach reads.

The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: Volume One: The First 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman (Thomas Dunne Books)

Even minor Star Trek fans will be spellbound by The Fifty-Year Mission, a stunning oral history from Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. The first in a two-volume set — Volume Two, covering the last 25 years, will be released in late-August — is impressively comprehensive, and full of unforgettable stories. These include the original series rivalry between William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy,...

And now for something completely different. Here is a just-released music video to promote Season 3 of The Strain, which premieres August 28 on FX. This ditty wasn’t written by some carpetbagging songsmith looking to scoop a paycheck; “Vamps Rule” — billed by the cable net as “summer's most infectious new beat” — was penned by series co-stars Kevin Durand and Miguel Gomez, with David Bradley’s rap written by Ep Regina Corrado, a two-time WGA Award nominee. The Comic-Con…...

What an outrageously abundant year it's been for great TV — and we're only halfway through. 2016 has been a small-screen gold rush so far, from low-key comedies to mega-glitz miniseries, the Battle of the Bastards to the City of the Broads, hilarious fake news to horrifying true history — with dragons and spies and crooks and drunks. When two of the year's best shows are totally different takes on the same 1994 murder trial, you know all bets are off.

So here's a salute to the 10 best TV shows of 2016 so far:

The...

"And now for something completely different"... Zardoz (1974)

I didn't mean to begin with a Monty Python quote but they were Brit contemporaries of Writer/Director John Boorman. And Zardoz (1974), the follow up to his most enduring classic (Deliverance, 1972) might be better if it were aiming for comedy instead of merely conjuring laughs. Nevertheless it doesn't get any more "different" than John Boorman's bizarre drug trip about false gods, immortal hippie communes, sentient crystals, marauding assassins, chest hair, and Charlotte Rampling's unique power to both cause erections and lecture about them simultaneously.

I chose it for Best Shot only to finally make sense of its frequent meme-ready presence online -- the jokes on me as it will never make any sense -- but I don't regret it. It's too weird to go unseen. It's the only movie in existence that begins with a floating disembodied head spewing out firearms,...

Force Awakens fever is still gripping the film industry two months after the release of the seventh Star Wars entry, and the world of cinema-centric books is just as Snoke-obsessed. But there’s plenty more worth snagging, including in-depth analyses of Pixar and Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, a lavish study of musicals, and a graphic stunner called Filmish.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary by Pablo Hidalgo (Dk Publishing)

Dk’s Star Wars visual dictionaries are, quite simply, must-owns. (Even the three prequel editions are fascinating.) And the Force Awakens Visual Dictionary might be the best yet. Author Pablo Hidalgo goes deep, providing everything you wanted to know about Jakku (but were afraid to ask), offering insight on briefly seen characters like Max Von Sydow’s Lor San Tekka, and breaking down exactly why the “crossguard blades” of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber are a necessity. Plus, the film stills...

And now for something completely different: Rodents doing a podcast. Canine bullies at the dog park. Unwelcome feline neighbors. Throat-slitting birds. Randy turtles. Pupating butterflies. A snake-gobbled mouse. The offbeat list goes on in this trailer for Animals, HBO’s decidedly adult animated series that premieres next month promising “a new breed of comedy.” Created by Phil Matarese & Mike Luciano and produced by Duplass Brothers Television, Animals focuses on the…...

And now for something completely different. Maverick Korean auteur Kim Kim-duk is hopping over to China for his next project, and after years of working on microbudgets and failing to crack his own country's commercial realm, he's getting a supersized $24 million budget (+$6 million in P&A) to do it. The project is a war film with the tentative title Who Is God.After 21 films and a slew of international festival awards, including the Golden Lion from the Venice International Film Festival for Pieta (2012), Kim is one of the most well-known Korean filmmakers, but until now, he has strictly confined himself to the independent realm. Beyond the title, the only thing known about Who Is God is that it will focus on buddhism and...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

“Terminator Genisys” didn't have the greatest opening weekend. Most likely due to questionable marketing decisions and lukewarm (at best) reviews. Maybe it’s because I watched “Man of Steel” for the first time before going to see “Genisys.” Or maybe it was because “Jurassic World” drastically lowered my expectations. But for whatever reason, I enjoyed “Terminator Genisys.” It was a perfectly serviceable action movie… …but. There were still plot holes big enough to drive an armored truck through. Warning: Spoilers Beyond This Point! #1: Why are we time-traveling to the future? Image Credit: Skydance Productions There aren’t many baffling questions to this movie. Like it or loathe it, the internal logic Attempts to be consistent. Except the whole thing balances on a premise so precarious that a wisp of wind would push it over the logic event horizon. Why on God’S Green Earth did Sarah Connor and Pops...

40 years ago, the British comedy sextet Monty Python released the hilarous Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Decades later, the film is still considered a comedy classic. Cinelinx looks back at the making of one of the great film parodies. It’s being released in certain theaters for special showings this week.

They were something completely different. When Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuted on BBC TV in 1969, they were unlike anything ever seen before and they became the comedy darlings of Britain. But it wasn’t until 1975—and the release of their second film Monty Python and the Holy Grail—that they made it big in America and became an international sensation.

By 1975, the Monty Python comedy troupe—comprised of John Cleese, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam—had already finished their legendary run on the TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus and...

40 years ago, the British comedy sextet Monty Python released the hilarous Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Decades later, the film is still considered a comedy classic. Cinelinx looks back at the making of one of the great film parodies. It’s being released in certain theaters for special showings this week.

They were something completely different. When Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuted on BBC TV in 1969, they were unlike anything ever seen before and they became the comedy darlings of Britain. But it wasn’t until 1975—and the release of their second film Monty Python and the Holy Grail—that they made it big in America and became an international sensation.

By 1975, the Monty Python comedy troupe—comprised of John Cleese, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam—had already finished their legendary run on the TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus and...

And now for something completely different. Slightly different? For the first time, "American Idol" is doing a Showcase Round, featuring solo performances from the Top 48. How will the performances be laid out? How will the judges make decisions based on the performances? How many performances are we actually going to see over the next two nights? Click through and follow my recap of Wednesday's (February 18) show as we find out the answers together... 8:00 p.m. Et. "One last show will seal their fate," Ryan Seacrest warns us, while also saying that we're getting eliminations tonight and Final Judgement. Yup. I'm already confused. 8:01 p.m. The contestants arrive at House of Blues, where they'll perform for the judges and a live audience. Only 12 Guys and 12 Girls will advance to the live showcase. Then contestants will walk the Not-Really-Green Mile. Presumably not immediately. But that's what it'll look like to us.

And now for something completely different: A TV comedy that’s a little bit Disney romance and a whole lot Mel-Brooks-meets-Monty-Python reverie — all set to rollicking music by Disney’s celebrated song guy, Alan Menken. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Galavant, a four-week, star-studded musical hoot featuring Psych’s Timothy Omundson as King Richard and Joshua Sasse (Rogue) as the titular knight Galavant — a duo locked in tuneful, comical battle for the love of Madalena (Mallory Jansen), the savvy beauty who owns both their hearts. Or their hormones, at any rate. “A friend of mine said it’s a bit like The Princess … Continue reading →

The post We talk Galavant — and Alan Menken — with Joshua Sasse! appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.

Graham Norton scored a pair of awards and Jack Whitehall was named King of Comedy for a third straight year at the British Comedy Awards in London. Norton took home the trophies for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality and Best Comedy Entertainment Program for The Graham Norton Show, which airs on BBC America in the U.S. Modern Family was named Best International Program, and Moone Boy scored Best Sitcom. The Inbetweeners 2 won for Best Comedy Film. And now for something completely different — well, not all that different, actually. The 45-year-old comedy troupe Monty Python was feted with the British Comedy Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. A complete list of winners and nominees is here.

Sony Pictures Television Advertising Sales and Jewish Life Television have signed a national representation agreement for commercial advertising sales. Spt Ad Sales will sell time within the Jewish-themed cable network’s original and acquired programming programming...

With Halloween fast approaching, EW is picking the five best films in a variety of different horror movie categories. For the past week and a half, we've been posting our top picks from several specific groups—demons, ghosts, slasher movies, and so on—and giving you the chance to vote on which film from each category is your favorite. On Oct. 31, EW will reveal your top choices. We already covered vampires earlier today—but now it's time to tackle their furry, sharp-toothed nemeses. We've never really had a Werewolf Moment. Vampires have been popular figures onscreen since the silent film era.

Ghost Rider was never a comic book character I got into, and his movies were not that amazing. But I've always liked his design. A flaming head, leather jacket, chains, going at breakneck speed on a motorcycle looks, to steal a term from GeekTyrant editor Joey Paur, "Epically Badass."

These covers by Arthur Suydam are weighted a bit to the bottom to leave room for the header text and logo. Now that Marvel has the rights to Ghost Rider back, I wonder what, if anything, they will do to bring him to the big screen.

Art via: And Now For Something Completely Different...

So on Monday, I watched the Gotham series premiere with about 8 million of my friends. I started writing a column about the show and what it says (accidentally and/or purposefully) about the role of Batman in pop culture right now. But working on that column got me thinking more generally about Batman: A character who has been around for 75 years, a figure in my cultural consciousness since before my memory begins. The next thing I knew, I was making a list of my favorite Batman things–the movies, the TV shows, the vividly recalled comic book story arcs and standalone issues,...

Before we begin, an explanation: This is not a list of the 39 best SNL sketches of all time.

Any institution that lasts as long as Saturday Night Live has—and that experiences as much cast and writer turnover as Saturday Night Live does—will necessarily have stronger years and leaner years. In SNL’s case, the difference between eras can be especially stark; you’re more likely to laugh at a meh John Belushi sketch than you are at even the finest display of Charles Rocket’s talents. Given that fact, it’s easy for a simple “best sketches ever...

It would be impolite to speculate on the, ah, use of illicit substances of a stranger, but after watching Motivational Growth, it is difficult to avoid doing so. The movie just isn’t something you see every day.

Ian (Adrian Digiovanni) is a recluse living in a filthy apartment. He estimates that he hasn’t gone outside in 16 months. He also hasn’t cleaned or done much of anything in that time, save for watch TV. His television is a classic, one of those huge old ones, “a cabinet with a TV in it,” as Ian says.

The post Review: And Now for Something Completely Different… Motivational Growth appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

And now for something completely different: The first photos of Parenthood‘s final season don’t make us want to cry.

NBC has released a handful of snapshots from the dramedy’s Season 6 premiere (Sept. 25, 10/9c) and while the Braverman clan is showing off a range of emotions, the waterworks haven’t kicked in — yet.

Related Fall TV Spoilerpalooza: Exclusive Scoop and Photos From 42 Returning Favorites, Including Parenthood

Among the highlights: Kristina sharing a meaningful moment with Max, lovebirds Drew and Natalie doing a little remodeling — at Zeke and Camille’s new place, perhaps? — and Hank looking a bit apprehensive.

This week’s episode of The Leftovers is fantastic for three — count ’em, three — reasons: 1. It’s all about Nora (who, next to Garvey, is the series’ most likeable character). 2. Carrie Coons is flippin’ brilliant in the role (wouldn’t you agree?). 3. Nora actually ends the hour in a better place than she begins it (and when has that ever happened to anyone on this show before?). As an added bonus, the path that she takes to a brighter outlook is a fascinating and twisty one. Follow along, and I’ll lay out a trail of bread crumbs…

Comfortably Numb | Early on,...

1976 saw the publication of John Brosnan’s excellent book The Horror People. Written during the summer of 1975, it makes interesting reading 40 years down the line. Those who feature prominently in the book – Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Jack Arnold, Michael Carreras, Sam Arkoff, Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis, Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson and Milton Subotsky – were still alive, as were Ralph Bates, Mario Bava, Jimmy Carreras, John Carradine, Dan Curtis, John Gilling, Robert Fuest, Michael Gough, Val Guest, Ray Milland, Robert Quarry and Michael Ripper, all of whom were given a mention. Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Junior, Michael Reeves and James H Nicholson were not long dead. Hammer, Amicus and American International Pictures were still in existence. George A Romero had yet to achieve his prominence and Stephen King wasn’t even heard of!

Brosnan devoted a chapter to a new British company called Tyburn Films. Founded by the charismatic and ambitious Kevin Francis,...

Kick-Ass

Written by Jane Goldman and Mathew Vaughn

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

USA, 2010

As the famous saying goes: ‘And now for something completely different.’

There are some films studios love to make and one of those particular genres is the superhero/comic book movie. Another thing studios love to put into their films is plenty of action, with epic battles pitting valiant heroes against nefarious and deadly villains. A slick, polished look as well as a clever editing to heighten the experience, funny dialogue, memorable supporting characters, all of these are equally staples of what Hollywood enjoys churning out, especially when producing films based on superheroes. Most, if not all of these elements are ready and present in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass. However, the search for financial support within the studio system proved a bit more challenging than usual, the reason being that Kick-Ass, for all its tantalizing strengths, is...

Entertainment Geekly is a weekly column that examines pop culture through a geek lens and simultaneously examines contemporary geek culture through a pop lens. So many lenses!

Do Super Bowl commercials really matter? Yes. Shut up. Sure, it seems strange that we should think about, care about, or devote any deeper-than-shallow national attention to advertisements representing millions of dollars invested by companies worth billions of dollars in the hopes that you, me, and everyone we know will give them at least hundreds of dollars. Did the great philosophers ever grapple with the subtext of a billboard? Did John Keats ever...

And now for something completely different. Jesse Eisenberg has been cast to play villain Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman-Batman movie. In the coming books, Luthor is a brilliant billionaire corporate overlord who really, really hates Superman, as he feels he diminishes the value of human achievement. He isn't classically stammering or neurotic, though, and to be fair, we haven't seen him around girls much. As an old girlfriend once told him, "You're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true. It'll be because you're a sociopathic supervillain."Also, Jeremy Irons will be replacing Michael Caine in the role of Batman's butler and British friend, Alfred. Both are joining a cast that already includes Henry Cavill (Superman), Ben Affleck (Batman), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman...

And now for something completely different: Seth MacFarlane wrote and directed a western! Starring Charlize Theron, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried… and himself!

A Million Ways to Die in the West, or Sausage Curls: The Movie, casts MacFarlane as Albert, a humble sheep farmer who finds himself humiliated when his girlfriend (Seyfried) leaves him for the dapper gent who runs their town’s local “moustachery” (Harris, natch). Luckily, he learns to find his courage when he meets a more age-appropriate love interest (Theron), the mysterious wife of an infamous outlaw.

Check below to see all four members of the...

It’s almost impossible to imagine the world without Monty Python. In 1969, the comedy troupe made up of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin premiered the surreal sketch comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Their singular brand of madness would spin off into a series of classic films – And Now For Something Completely Different, Monty Python and The Holy Grail (which was later adapted as the successful Broadway show Spamalot), Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life - as well as various albums, stage shows, and the members’ solo careers.

Outside of a 40th anniversary reunion in 2009 which was missing Cleese (as well as Graham Chapman, ...

Click to continue reading ‘Monty Python’ Troupe to Reunite for Stage Show – Will It Air on TV?

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