Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
★★½
This review may contain spoilers.
I feel like this is a movie that I would have made as a kid with some friends and a camcorder and there is something really interesting about that
however and I don't know why but this one didn't work for me. it's got everything that I like fourth wall breaks, awkward cringe humor also very dry humor, some joke musical songs, subtle little jokes that only keen-eyed viewers will notice, jokes that linger way too long and so much absurdism but it's with heavy heart that I have to say that this movie is not my cup of tea, I don't know why I just didn't find it funny and I also found it kind of boring but even though it's not my cup of tea there is a lot to love here and I would rather focus on that than say a bunch of bad and mean things. comedy after all is very subjective.
the makeup and hairstyling and costumes in this film look freaking great and this is for sure for me where the film truly shines so many great little details like the footprints in the mud, or the straw on the ground in the rooms, the way the pen ink writes on the paper, the detail in the bricks, warts, and puss on warts on the peoples faces, the red shine to everyone's faces, the scraggly-ness of there beards being half cut and not trimmed up on some peoples faces and on others, way too much trimming, the costumes linen and how the water splashes and stays on it, the mud details the chainmail all this stuff is pretty great to look at but it looks like the stuff was shot in these real locations if it wasn't this is great attention to detail and if it was I can't imagine how much fun being on sets in these real environments must have been I mean it must have been hot and dreadful but the way being in a real environment allow sot exist is great. so gritty and grimy and full of life.
just want to say that this was shot on film and it is so beautiful to look at it the grain and the colors that it has look so great.
the stunt coordinator and stuntmen did a great job in this film so many great stunts all done within the frame of the camera which is so cool, especially for the time that it was filmed.
I like the pretty cooky story structure, to be cutting between multiple stories as they enter each other's stories as well as seeing the narrator who got murdered slowly getting taken care of throughout the film is pretty cool, the cool stylistic title cards are pretty dope as well as the well-done animated bits in the film.
one thing that came from watching this movie is that I have started to kind of question why I find things funny, not in a bad way just in a way that I am genuinely curious why I find this not funny but something like Spaceballs endlessly funny, I think it has to do with the story while Spaceballs is a pretty wacky movie and it's based in parody that parody is based in the story and characters where this has a very very thin plot that seems like a vehicle to house a sketch show. there is nothing wrong with that after all movies are experimental art is subjective and can be anything you want and it would suck to see the same things over and over. I think I am just kind of really upset that this movie didn't work for me and that may be the take away I think.
notes below
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- I just started and a bunch of people got sacked so we are off to a great start.
- like this fog right at the beginning.
- invisible horse?
- was this shot at a real castle?
- I mean they are presenting very good arguments about the coconuts.
- the color palette in the scene where they say bring out your dead is very nice.
- the sets are very cool.
- I love the soundtrack very bold and loud.
- the fact that it was shot on film is so beautiful
- the make-up department did a great job.
- this movie reminds me a lot of Galavant the musical tv show. which isn't a bad thing.
- the blood was so visceral.
- it was a draw.
- "Build a bridge out of her" has to be the single greatest response I have ever heard.
- this movie is like a really good game with a crew of wacky people playing D&D
- I love the stop-motion editing on the animated King it was great.
- the introduction of the title card was pretty cool.
- watching them get animals thrown at them was pretty chaotic and silly.
- watching them re-enact the horse of troy was actually pretty funny.
- that wooden horse stunt was pretty cool, I don't know if it was a stunt when it smashed but it looked pretty cool.
- the facial expression of guy on the far right on the three-headed knight was pretty good.
- these introductions to the title cards are pretty great.
- I also love how each one of these is shot in a different style.
- I like how the camera lays very low and tilted upwards as he meets Zoot.
- I liked how they communicated across scenes that was pretty cool.
- did the previous guy get eaten by a gorilla, that's kind of cooky
- love the horror elements that are creeping in here, great mixing of tons/genres
- I love how they block scenes in this film -- it seems like great care went into blocking and choreography.
- the way they did this action scene up the stairs was pretty cool.
- the VFX explosions are pretty cool.
