Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

The Monty Python team are back again, and back to their old antics, this time taking on institutionalised religion.

Brian (Graham Chapman) is a Jewish man with a Roman father, living in first-century Palestine with his mother.

The Romans are in power, and are terrorising the citizens at every turn.

Within this culture, many splinter groups have popped up, all of them hoping to be the ones to overthrow the Romans and return their country to peace once again.

One of these groups is the Peoples' Front of Judea, which Brian joins one day. It is here he meets Judith (Sue Jones-Davies) with whom he falls in love.

The script, written by the Pythons - John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam - is filled with that classic Pythonesque humour we have come to love (if you love it, that is).

The script is not - as some have attested over the years - a mockery of the life of Jesus Christ, but rather, a satire against the very notion of organised religion and its propensity to seek to control people.

This script is an improvement on the Pythons' first film in that it follows a much more narrative structure, with only one main plotline. There is no doubt their strength lies in sketch writing, the feel of which this film has in its individual scenes, but as a unified whole, this film works much better than its predecessor.

The music - by Geoffrey Burgon - is well suited to the on-screen action, and while not being particularly adventurous or spectacular, does its job perfectly well enough.

Where this film really shines in its production design (by Terry Gilliam) and costume design (by Charles Knode and Hazel Pethig), both of which take the audience back in time to an authentically-recreated time in history. The film was shot in Tunisia, with a large number of extras, all dressed in period costumes, and all looking the part.

The cast performances are adequate for their purpose. This is a comedy film from the team who brought us Monty Python's Flying Circus, and is not likely to have won its cast any major awards for acting. But at the same time, the performances are believable enough. Sue Jones-Davies in particular is fantastic as Judith.

Director Terry Jones comes into his own with this film, and to be honest, I think having only one director helped this time too. This is a film of which I never tire, and will surely watch again and again with no drop in my level of enjoyment.

8 out of 10.

12 Monkeys (1995)

Based on the film 'La Jetée' written by Chris Marker, this film has the stamp of director Terry Gilliam all over it.

James Cole (Bruce Willis) is an underground prisoner in the future (sometime in the 21st century, I don't think the exact year is ever specified). There was a massive worldwide outbreak of a deadly virus at the end of the 20th century, and mankind was all but wiped out.

Sent back in time to a time before the outbreak, Cole is expected to bring back as much evidence as he can, in order to allow scientists to develop a vaccine that will then be able to save the world.

But when he arrives, he is arrested and placed in a mental institution, as everyone thinks he's delusional, claiming to be from the future and being completely disoriented.

His treating physician, Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) believes she has seen him somewhere before. While not completely believing his story, she does however feel that something strange is going on.

One of his fellow patients, Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) does believe him, but of course, Jeffrey is crazier than anyone else in the institution, so he isn't much help.

When Cole vanishes from a locked cell in the institution where he was bound and restrained, only to return six years later, Railly thinks maybe there is more to his story than she first thought.

Cole 'kidnaps' Railly and takes her on a road trip to Philadelphia, to track down the genesis of the virus, a group known as 'The Army of the Twelve Monkeys'.

The screenplay by David & Janet Peoples, adapted from Marker's original screenplay, is very well written. As with any film that involves the concept of time travel, there needs to be a certain cleverness to the writing in order to make the events of the film seem real enough to follow, and that is the case here. The characters are all very well written, and clearly defined with plenty of internal and external conflicts.

The music, written by Paul Buckmaster, is well suited to the film. It sounds in parts like a classic Danny Elfman-style score, which is not a criticism of Buckmaster's originality, but rather praise of his ability to lock into the psychological nature of the storyline, and compose music that adds another layer to the strange predicament the characters find themselves in.

Roger Pratt's cinematography is absolutely fantastic, with plenty of use of contrasting light and dark, and plenty of shadow. There are some unconventional camera angles used throughout as well, that again only add to the psychological sense of dread within the story. The camera is distant when it needs to be, but is mostly right in the centre of the action, creating a very unsettling feel for the viewer.

The performances of the cast are varied in their level of effectiveness. The absolutely clear standout is Brad Pitt as an unhinged mental patient, but Madeleine Stowe also does a fabulous job as Cole's doctor. Even when she is his captive, she still manages to stand her ground and give a strong performance, and is never truly a victim in the situation.

Bruce Willis, however, is Bruce Willis throughout, as he has been in any of his other projects; this character doesn't seem to deviate a great deal from any of his others. Mind you, fans of Bruce Willis aren't watching his films because of any incredible acting talent, so that perhaps isn't such a big deal.

Only Terry Gilliam - with his ever-so-slightly twisted mind - could have directed this film, and done such a good job of it, too.

7 out of 10.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

The first full-length film from the team who brought you Monty Python's Flying Circus, this film is full of fantastic British comedy of the highest quality.

King Arthur (Graham Chapman) is on a quest from God, a quest to find the Holy Grail. With him are the Knights of the Round Table: Galahad (Michael Palin), Lancelot (John Cleese), Bedevere (Terry Jones) and Robin (Eric Idle), as well as Arthur's trusty servant Patsy (Terry Gilliam).

There really is no need to describe any more of the plot; I'll leave that up to you to discover (or re-discover) for yourself.

As with all material by the Python team (the entire above-mentioned cast, who wrote the film themselves), most of the characters are played by the Pythons themselves, with many of the cast doubling roles. There are exceptions to this, with frequent collaborators Connie Booth, Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes playing one role each (or sometimes two).

The script to this film is absolutely fantastic. The film feels like an extended episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, however, with short sketch-style scenes connected by the overarching storyline of Arthur and his knights searching for the Grail; but on the whole, the scenes could also stand on their own as comedy sketches.

The costumes, designed by Hazel Pethig (who also did all the costumes on Flying Circus), are adequate enough to convey the characters. This film was made on a very low budget, but the costumes at least are well done, considering.

Terry Bedford's cinematography is also good, within the budget constraints, obviously. A fair amount of the action takes place on location, as opposed to in a studio, so most scenes are simply shot with natural light, giving the film a very down-to-earth type of feel. But of course the value of this film is not in its visuals, but rather in its comedy.

The entire cast are fantastic, certainly if you like Monty Python and their style of comedy (which I do, which helps). Graham Chapman really shines as King Arthur, and was certainly the right choice of the six of them to play this role. The other standout performer - in my opinion - is Michael Palin, who definitely has the most different roles throughout the film (I counted nine in total). But he brings a different quality to each one, and it's easy enough to forget that all nine of those roles are being played by the same person.

Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam co-directed this film together (I suppose because they had the fewest acting roles between them, or something), and they have done a pretty good job here. I know that with the following Python films, Terry Jones would direct alone, which gives those later films more of a single unity that comes from having only one person at the helm. This one, however, as I've already said, feels like a really long episode of Flying Circus. Of course, again, if you're a fan, that probably isn't an issue, but still, this film does have a bit of a disjointed feel to it.

That being said, I will probably still continue to watch it at least a couple of times each year; it really is incredibly funny, even when you can quote the whole thing along with the cast.

6 1/2 out of 10.