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Even at the age of 85, John Cleese is hard at work announcing new versions of classic comedies he was involved with, then never actually making them. Remember the Fawlty Towers reboot starring Cleese and his daughter? How about the Life of Brian stage show that Cleese refused to censor even though no one had actually asked him to?

One of Cleese’s oldest ill-conceived, yet-to-be-produced reboot pitches is a proposed musical version of A Fish Called Wanda, the acclaimed 1988 comedy that he both starred in and scripted.

Cleese has been working on the Wanda musical since at least 2008, which, perhaps not coincidentally, wasn’t long after Cleese’s frenemy Eric Idle achieved Broadway success with his own musical adaptation of an old movie: Spamalot.

Regardless of whether or not it was motivated by spite, Cleese’s musical has yet to come to fruition because, according to the 85-year-old comedian, it...

Director Harold Ramis has helmed several titles that can be termed essential comedies. "Groundhog Day," "National Lampoon's Vacation," and "Multiplicity" are just some examples of Ramis' ability to evoke genuine hilarity, which is often mixed in with engaging drama that can be revisited time and again. Given how incredibly adept he was at writing comedies, it is a shame that Ramis' final genre film, "Year One," was deemed a critical flop in 2009. Although Ramis' goodwill as an actor/writer/director undoubtedly remains untarnished, "Year One" is a baffling phenomenon that is quite difficult to explain, as the brand of bawdy, illogical humor it weilds has only aged even more terribly with time.

Well, it seems that Hulu's algorithm has (once again) spotlighted films that are best left forgotten. You see, "Year One" is currently ranked #13 among the streaming platform's Top Movies List, having recently lost its #9 ranking to the...

Cheech and Chong's Last Movie, a new documentary about the longtime stoner comedy duo, is coming to theaters on April 25, 2025, with early screenings (naturally) on April 20. Before then, they're teaming up with Alamo Drafthouse for a series of pre-movie videos telling you not to chat during the movie. Collider has an exclusive look at the two videos, which prove the two are Still Smokin'.

In the first video, Cheech Marin does the talking, explaining that no matter how funny the movie is, or no matter how high you are, you cannot talk or text in the theater. An unusually taciturn Tommy Chong seems to agree with him...until it's revealed that he's actually holding in an enormous quantity of weed smoke. The second promo lets Chong do some talking, as he insists that you not talk or text "in the thee-ate-er, man." Marin adds that, as much as it pains him to say so,...

Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a very quotable movie, as evidenced by the fact that the world’s richest man recently used an excerpt from its climactic song to explain why losing more than a hundred billion dollars isn’t such a big deal. And now one of the film’s most memorable lines has been used to obfuscate a controversial art piece in Australia.

For those of you not keeping track of local news stories in New South Wales, visual artist Michael Agzarian recently made headlines for creating a mural depicting several local politicians and billionaires as Nazis and displaying it in the window of his ad agency. He defended the piece by suggesting that it was merely meant to be a parody of the characters from the 1960s Pow camp sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. One of the politicians, Riverina MP Michael McCormack, clearly isn’t buying that explanation...

A lot of attention has been paid to the recent squabbles between the surviving members of Monty Python, but they’ve been clashing with each other long before the days of social media.

In addition to the time Terry Jones threw a typewriter at John Cleese’s head, not everyone in the group was too thrilled with Spamalot, Eric Idle’s Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Michael Palin’s latest installment of his published diaries, There and Back, covers the years 1999 to 2009, which includes the time that Idle first began working on Spamalot. According to the book, when the idea was first floated, Cleese and Palin objected to Idle using “Monty Python” in the musical’s title, and Palin had “vaguely disquieting misgivings about the project as a whole.”

Once Spamalot was completed, Palin didn’t hate it, but still wasn’t a huge fan.

While most of the roles in a Monty Python film tend to go to members of the group, obviously some do end up being played by non-Pythons. Various supporting parts were played by well-known actors, as well as frequent Monty Python collaborators Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland. Sadly, whichever bunny rabbit played The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog seems to have been uncredited.

For their second film, the controversial 1979 Biblical spoof Monty Python’s Life of Brian, director Terry Jones stumbled upon a new source of on screen talent: random tour groups.

Python scholar Kim “Howard” Johnson was invited to the set of Life of Brian in Tunisia to document the filming. In 2008, he published his diaries from that time in the book Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian. Howard’s account is full of vivid behind the scenes details — such as how John Cleese was preoccupied with cracking...

Paramount’s free streaming service, Pluto TV, has revealed its February highlights. The Pluto TV February 2025 lineup includes The Black Collective for Black History Month, ValenCrimes for Valentine’s Day, new channels, and more.

To celebrate Black History Month, Pluto TV is bringing back The Black Collective, a curated category featuring must-see Black cinema, TV and music that you won’t want to miss. Valentine’s Day is also just around the corner, but who needs roses when you can dive into ValenCrimes? Indulge in a true crime binge that adds a little mystery to your month of love.

And for the fight fans, Pluto TV is rolling out the red carpet with the launch of the Pluto TV Rocky + Creed channel, which is your front-row seat for every punch, every round, and every legendary comeback.

Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service, delivering hundreds of live, linear...

Monty Python is commonly referred to as the “Beatles of comedy” — or are The Beatles the Monty Python of music? In any case, the two groups did overlap to some extent, thanks to Python fan George Harrison, who famously befriended the comedians and financed Monty Python’s Life of Brian when no other studio would.

The Python member who was most tight with Harrison was Eric Idle. Idle even credited the former Beatle for saving his life and lifting him out of a depression.

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Recently, a fan asked Idle on social media whether or not he ever considered working on a musical project with Harrison. Idle noted that, in addition to collaborating on Life of Brian, he also directed two music videos for Harrison, including the distinctly Python-esque video for the 1977 song “Crackerjack Palace.”

Idle also pointed out that he did co-write a song with the music legend: “The Pirate Song.

As fans are well aware, a number of famous rock stars contributed to Monty Python projects — Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd all helped to finance Monty Python and the Holy Grail, George Harrison mortgaged his home to pay for Life of Brian and, more recently, Mick Jagger introduced the troupe’s reunion show press conference while implicitly poking fun at his own career.

Despite this cozy relationship, few musicians took any direct artistic inspiration from the sketch comedians — although Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson did name-check Monty Python while attempting to explain the album Thick as a Brick.

But in 1988, one of the biggest rock supergroups in music history, The Traveling Wilburys, included more than one shout-out to the Pythons in their debut album.

The group’s stacked lineup included George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne and the legendary Roy Orbison. According to Orbison’s son,...

Monty Python isn’t exactly known for creating the most festive content, with the possible exception of the first five minutes of Life of Brian, and the “Christmas in Heaven” musical number that wraps up The Meaning of Life.

But, oddly enough, one Python member secured their role in the troupe by finding a creative use for an old holiday tradition.

Back in 1968, Terry Gilliam was having trouble getting work. He had previously made photographic comic strips for a magazine called Help!, including one in which a horny John Cleese hits on his kid’s Barbie doll.

When Help! went under, Cleese told Gilliam to get in touch with the people making Do Not Adjust Your Set, a children’s comedy series featuring Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, which had become a surprise hit with adults. Gilliam later wrote that he was only hired because producer Humphrey Barclay “took pity on me,...

Every Family Guy Christmas episode has something unique to offer, though Seth Macfarlane's animated comedy has misses as well as hits among the festive specials of its 25-year run. There have been 11 Christmas episodes of Family Guy so far, with the best of them also being examples of the show at its strongest. Installments like season 16’s “Don’t Be A Dickens At Christmas” and season 9’s “Road To The North Pole” are Family Guy doing what it does best, and even the worst of the festive outings are still far from the weakest episodes of the show overall.

It’s safe to say that Family Guy has never really had a bad Christmas special. However, there is a definite gap between the best and the worst Family Guy Christmas episodes. When comparing every Family Guy Christmas episode, it’s a case of how well the plot and humor...

While the surviving members of Monty Python will likely never reunite, at least they keep throwing shade at each other online. And that can be pretty entertaining too.

The latest online slight came after a fan recently asked Eric Idle about Monty Python’s Life of Brian, specifically the allegedly controversial scene in which the People’s Front of Judea debate their member’s right to be accepted by society as a woman named Loretta.

Some fans have interpreted this scene as an anti-trans statement, including Elon Musk. This interpretation was seemingly backed up by John Cleese, who bravely proclaimed that he wouldn’t cut the scene from his (supposedly) upcoming stage adaptation of Life of Brian — even though nobody ever asked him to.

It turned out that he himself had sensed that the scene might not play well with contemporary audiences, so he asked his cast for feedback, and...

In 2013, "Family Guy" released perhaps its most controversial episode yet -- no, not "Partial Terms of Endearment," it was "Life of Brian." After a seemingly typical opening act, the episode switched gears when Brian was hit by a car. There were no jokes — the Griffins' grief was treated with almost total seriousness in a way that was pretty jarring to most long-term fans of the series. The rest of the episode centers around the Griffins coping with their loss by getting a new dog, this one named Vinny (Tony Sirico). Stewie initially doesn't like this new foul-mouthed Italian dog, but he comes around to him by the end.

Fans were not thrilled. Not only does this episode kill off Brian, but it moves past him with almost offensive speed. By the following week's episode, "Into Harmony's Way," the show had already embraced this new status quo, having Vinny casually hang...

As we’ve previously mentioned, there’s currently a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to build a statue honoring late Monty Python member Terry Jones in his hometown of Colwyn Bay, Wales. In a rare moment of agreement, all the surviving Pythons have thrown their support behind the project, dubbed “A Python on the Prom,” which will possibly result in a detailed bronze replica of Jones playing the organ while completely naked.

The campaign has, at the time of writing, raised 83 percent of its goal, but organizers are hoping to make up the difference with a new exhibition celebrating Jones’ life. “The Life of Terry” will open in Colwyn Bay on December 12th, with all proceeds going toward the statue fundraiser. The exhibit will reportedly feature more than 100 items that have been loaned by Jones’ family and the Monty Python archive.

The items will include rare personal photographs, as well...

Movies about Rome often bring to memory emperors, gladiators, Julius Caesar, and aristocrats. Many people also think of William Shakespeare, as the Bard himself wrote frequently on the subject in his plays. Outside of Shakespeare and adaptations of his work, Ancient Rome played a big role in massive studio movies since the early days of silent films. Some of the most renowned movies in cinema history have been set in Ancient Rome, including some of the world's earliest blockbusters with headline-grabbing budgets, such as Ben Hur's then-recording-breaking $15 million dollar production cost in 1959.

Movies set in the Roman Empire fall into the "sword and sandal" movie subgenre, though the movies set in this specific corner of the ancient world are renowned for their tendency to have massive sets and budgets to match. The increased budget brought with it big risks, but the best movies set in Ancient Rome often ended...

This week marks 35 years since Monty Python’s Life of Brian hit theaters in the U.K., several months after its U.S. release enraged American evangelicals. Of course, the backlash was very much a thing in England as well.

The most famous artifact of this controversy is the the heated debate, on the show Friday Night, Saturday Morning, that found John Cleese and Michael Palin taking on Bishop of Southwark, Mervyn Stockwood and Christian journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who, incidentally, was later outed as a “serial groper” of women.

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Frequent Monty Python collaborator Julian Doyle, who edited Life of Brian, has a new book out about the film. But The After-Life of Brian isn’t about the film’s production, it’s seemingly more about the film’s representation of the historical time period compared to The Bible. According to Doyle, the movie is by far the more trustworthy source.

For the most part, it's hard to have too many strong opinions about "Family Guy" on an episode-by-episode basis. Most of the show's humor comes in the form of cutaways or otherwise self-contained jokes, meaning that so many of its best and worst moments feel completely disconnected from the episode they're from. I for one really hate that joke where Quagmire rapes Marge from "The Simpsons," but it barely affects my feelings towards the episode it's part of ("Movin' Out (Brian's Song)"), mainly because it's so easy to forget that this was the episode where the series did that gag.

That said, some episodes of "Family Guy" have a plot so terrible that they really do stick in viewers' minds long after the credits roll, regardless of any funny cutaways they have to ease the blow. So, below are five of my least favorite "Family Guy" episodes in the series.

1982’s Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, is one of the all-time great comedy concert films, perfectly capturing the iconic troupe’s electric stage presence back in the days when they were all still alive, and didn’t hate each other’s guts.

The Pythons spent four nights in September of 1980 headlining the famous venue, which they themselves revered. “There was just something about performing at the Hollywood Bowl which I think tickled all of us,” Michael Palin once confessed, “because we were all brought up on LPs of people 'Live at the Hollywood Bowl,' whether it was Sinatra or Errol Garner or the big bands that played on the stage there.”

Terry Jones noted that it was “kind of a party,” and the chill vibe even infected noted crank John Cleese. “I enjoyed every minute of it, and had a wonderful time,” Cleese later admitted. That rock...

Contrary to John Cleese’s baffling suggestion that Monty Python’s Flying Circus was somehow banned, the show has been widely available on Netflix since 2018. The popular streamer has also been the home of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and various other Python specials and documentaries. Oh, and Eric Idle’s bizarre faux radio play What About Dick?

But all that is about to change.

The entire Python catalog will disappear from Netflix on November 1st, meaning that a lot of folks may be spending Halloween night binging 50-year-old comedy sketches. This marks the end of the much-publicized association between Netflix and the Pythons, which not every member of the group has been super-happy about.

Since Netflix has failed to renew its deal with Monty Python, the iconic comedy troupe’s back catalog was free to find a new digital home. As reported...

Shout! Studios has reached an agreement with Mercury Studios Media Limited to license exclusive U.S. and Canadian distribution rights including AVOD, SVOD, broadcast, theatrical and non-theatrical distribution rights for a catalog of Monty Python films, specials and performances.

This includes perennial favorites such as the landmark sketch comedy TV series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” recently restored and available for the first time across all platforms in HD, and comic masterpieces “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” which marks its 50th anniversary in 2025.

Shout’s CEO Garson Foos said: “Since the earliest days of the company, Shout! has been dedicated to celebrating the best entertainment that pop culture has to offer and has sought to be a trusted home for beloved films and series. Iconic and iconoclastic, Monty Python has long been at the top of that list. We are fans first and foremost,...

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...

As Eric Idle continues to promote his new book The Spamalot Diaries — technically it’s an old book that’s been dusted off and published — the Monty Python legend recently stopped by The Daily Show to chat about it with host Jordan Klepper.

Klepper admitted to being a huge Python fan, telling Idle, “I would not be doing comedy in this world if it wasn’t for you and the folks at Monty Python. Thank you.” Klepper also joked that “there was a 15-year period before I actually got legitimate employment in comedy — and during those 15 years I would have cursed you on the streets. But once I found a little bit of employment in comedy, now you’ve become a hero once again.”

As the conversation progressed, Klepper brought up Idle’s Python frenemy John Cleese, who the host noted has “been prickly about modern woke audiences.” For context,...

Unless Frank Sinatra somehow rises from the grave and can convince them all to show up at the same live telethon, the surviving members of Monty Python likely aren’t going to be patching things up anytime soon. And as long as they keep giving interviews, journalists are seemingly going to keep asking them about the group’s perpetually-simmering tension.

Eric Idle, who has a new book out all about the making of Spamalot, recently chatted with the AARP. When asked about his friend, former Beatle and Life of Brian backer George Harrison, Idle shared that the former Beatle once gave him some invaluable life advice. “He cheered me up when my first marriage was breaking up by telling me I was going to die,” Idle explained. “Which is good advice. Fuck it. Every day you’re lucky.”

On the subject of the Beatles, Idle was asked whether or not...

It’s been 35 years and three days since Monty Python star Graham Chapman passed away from complications related to cancer, but John Cleese hasn’t forgotten how good he roasted the late legend at the memorial service.

When Monty Python’s resident leading man left this world on October 4, 1989, he left a hole in the world of absurdist comedy that hasn’t been filled to this day. Between his sketch work on Monty Python and the Flying Circus and his monumental performances as the main characters of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Chapman achieved a level of comedic immortality in which his work is still constantly quoted, discussed and appraised as some of the finest artistry in the history of humor in film. As such, when the credits rolled on the Pythons’ cheeky, openly gay and iconically irreverent lead actor, it didn...

The hands down funniest crucifixion scene in all of movie history came at the end of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Just as the titular not-the-messiah has abandoned all hope, a fellow crucifixion victim, played by Eric Idle, suggests that he cheer up, and proceeds to belt out the now-iconic tune “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”

In the years since the movie came out, the ironically-peppy number has become a sort of anthem for Idle, who even performed it during the closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics.

But the song that’s made so many people so happy (and a whole lot of Christian fundamentalists very unhappy) was recorded just one day after Idle experienced a personal tragedy: the death of his good friend, legendary drummer Keith Moon. According to Idle, he hugged Moon the day he died, and had to record a Disney-esque ditty soon afterwards.

Although somewhat tame by today’s standards, when Monty Python’s Life of Brian was released in 1979, it was considered to be among the most offensive — and blasphemous — films ever made. While no strangers to controversy, Monty Python faced a backlash like never before with their third film, in which they relentlessly mocked organized religion via a biblical epic parody about a man named Brian who is mistaken for the messiah just because he’s Jesus’ neighbor.

Forty-five years after its initial release, Life of Brian is still regarded as a classic, and many consider it to be the best, most sophisticated work the Pythons ever did. Here’s how it all came about, how angry it made everybody and why it’s stood the test of time…

45 Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory

Life of Brian was first conceived when the Pythons were on the publicity tour for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Thanks to Steven Spielberg and his various acolytes, ’80s kids didn’t lack for entertainment made directly for us. But that doesn’t mean we weren’t periodically traumatized by a Gremlins or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or, in the case of my younger brother, The ‘Burbs.

Nobody, though, specialized in making movies that were ostensibly for kids but definitely weren’t for all kids like Terry Gilliam. One of my first moviegoing memories is abruptly leaving a revival screening of Jabberwocky because it wasn’t the movie my parents thought it was. Audiences experienced similar unease with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and, before that, 1981’s Time Bandits, a frequently playful juvenile romp that’s also nonstop dark imagery and narrative jagged edges. The film replicates the chaotic weirdness of childhood dreams, but resists any of the pat moralizing that often anchors kid-friendly storytelling.

Most of...

Because Hollywood won’t rest until it’s turned every Terry Gilliam movie into a TV show, Apple TV+ will soon be releasing a Time Bandits series, starring Lisa Kudrow as a temporal plunderer.

While recycling ‘80s films for modern audiences doesn’t always work (I’m looking at you 2014’s RoboCop), this show is produced by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, and judging from the recently-released trailer, it looks like a lot of fun.

Gilliam’s original 1981 Time Bandits was a box-office success when it first came out, and it’s generally regarded to be one of the best children’s fantasy films of its era. But, like much of Gilliam’s work, it was a huge pain in the ass to get made.

As Monty Python fans are well aware, George Harrison put up his own money to fund Life of Brian, mortgaging his home and office when...

The Book Of Clarence postulates apostle traits for an invented figure whose place among the apocrypha opens with a chariot race. That's a competition with a heavy wager to pay off a debt to a criminal figure, and over-leveraged borrowing is everywhere in the film.

The presence of a parallel Messiah can't but be compared to Life Of Brian. This was filmed in Matera, the Unesco heritage Italian village carved into the cliffs of a steep valley which was also where The Passion Of The Christ was shot. If those seem uncomfortable tonal companions then know that The Book Of Clarence is full of similar variety, with similarly mixed results.

Lakeith Stanfield's charisma does a lot of the lifting, from stolen cloaks to various spirits. Omar Sy as the slave gladiator Barabbas first appears wearing a helmet that seems to be based on the mask worn by rapper Mf Doom,...

Stilgar replaces Idaho in Dune 2, providing humor and emotional support to Paul's journey. Stilgar's role as a mentor fills the void left by Idaho, providing Paul with guidance and friendship. Stilgar's comedic timing and role as a confidante make Dune 2 more engaging and compelling for viewers.

Warning: Contains Spoilers for Dune: Part Two

Jason Momoa's performance was a highlight of Dune (2021), but his replacement in Dune: Part Two is arguably even more central to the story's success. Momoa's turn as Duncan Idaho included gentle humor, as well as impressive action scenes, making him one of the movie's most likable and charismatic characters. As a result, his death in Dune's ending made it essential for the sequel to find a suitable replacement.

Idaho's role in Denis Villeneuve's first Dune movie stays largely true to the character's depiction in Frank Herbert's original novel. As one of Paul's mentors,...

A feud erupts between Monty Python founders as Eric Idle blames Terry Gilliam's daughter for financial troubles. Idle claims the 2014 reunion concert was to pay for a legal battle and calls his pursuer an "entitled git." Cleese defends Holly Gilliam, and shares positive opinions shared by Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam. He also revealed a long-standing dislike between Idle and himself.

A feud erupts between the founders of Monty Python as Eric Idle speaks out and John Cleese fires back. Originally formed in 1969, the legendary British comedy troupe consisted of Cleese, Idle, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. They first gained prominence with their sketch show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, which ran for four seasons on the BBC from 1969 to 1974 and went on to multiple Monty Python movies, including the famous Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Life of Brian.

Recently, a feud erupted as...

To borrow a phrase from Paddy Chayefsky, Eric Idle is mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore. The founding member of Monty Python, 80, has taken to X in recent days to clear the air on a number of matters regarding the legendary British troupe — whose catalog (four seasons of Monty Python’s Flying Circus plus five feature films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python’s Life of Brian) have elevated them to “Beatles of comedy” status. (Idle, it’s worth noting, is also the mind behind the 1978 Beatles parody The Rutles.) The claims — which many fans say are ruining their cherished Python memories — are as follows:

Idle is Out of Money — and Blames the Gilliams

We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I...

Eric Idle has set the record straight for anyone who thought he had a cushy life from his earnings as a member of Monty Python, saying that he still has to work for a living.

“I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster,” the 80-year-old actor and comedian wrote on Twitter. “Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age.”

Later on, Idle clarified that though the British comedy troupe owns “everything” they ever made as part of the group, changes to royalty distribution — and what he sees as mismanagement of the company — have made a drastic impact on their earnings.

“I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously,” he wrote. “But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised.

“Monty Python” alum Eric Idle addressed an apparent fan misconception on Friday: that he and the rest of the legendary British comedy troupe’s members aren’t swimming in cash from their productions. As he put it, “I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster. Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age.” Idle is 80 years old.

I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster. Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age. https://t.co/nFDbV9BOfC

— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 9, 2024

Hours later, Idle added, “We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam...

Biblical epics used to be Hollywood's bread and butter. From "The Ten Commandments" to "Ben-Hur," the unique blend of high-stakes drama, and big-scale spectacle used to dominate the box office as well as awards season. Today, they've all but disappeared from the filmmaking landscape. This makes the release of a movie like "The Book of Clarence" all the more special.

Written and directed by Jeymes "The Bullitts" Samuel ("The Harder They Fall"), "The Book of Clarence" combines a biblical epic with the comedic tone of Monty Python's "Life of Brian" or Mel Brook's "History of the World," poking fun at the story of a rising messiah, and the man who sees that fame and power and decides to get some of that for himself.

/Film's own Witney Seibold reviewed "The Book of Clarence" and called it "aspirational, unique, moving, funny, weird, and very shaggy." The film stars Lakeith Stanfield ("Atlanta...

Celebrating its 48th-and-a-bit anniversary, Monty Python And The Holy Grail is coming back to cinemas for a limited time only.

Forget your usual sing-along screenings of your favourite musical. You can go to a quote-along screening of Monty Python And The Holy Grail this February.

It’s been 48 (and a half) years since the iconic comedy premiered in cinemas. Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, Monthly Python And The Holy Grail marked the directorial debuts of Gilliam and Jones.

To mark the anniversary, the film is making a comeback in cinemas, but there will also be special quote-along screenings. They will give you an opportunity to shout out lines like “She’s a witch!” and “I fart in your general direction” at the screen.

Tickets for these are already on sale and you can purchase them here.

Monty Python’s Life Of Brian...

Monty Python's Life of Brian challenged religious taboos and sparked controversy. The film humorously explores the meaning of faith and mocks religious authorities. It encouraged critical thinking about religion and opened up discussions about the portrayal of Jesus in history.

Marking its 45th anniversary this year, Monty Python's Life of Brian serves as a jumping-off point for countless artistic and religious debates. Movies with religious themes tend to go one of two ways for filmmakers. You can either go with the safe option and treat your story with kid gloves, retelling dull, sanctioned hagiography. Or you can take the Martin Scorsese angle, and retell an old tale for a new age, inevitably riling up controversy.

Those viewing it today, unaware of the firestorm of self-righteousness that surrounded its debut in 1979, would be none the wiser. Life of Brian bears all the hallmarks of Monty Python's other tongue-in-cheek films. Sparked by an off-the-cuff joke,...

This past week saw the release of The Book of Clarence, a movie about a down-on-his-luck guy who hits upon a get-rich-quick scheme that leads him into a heap of trouble. It’s a classic topic for a movie, but it is treading on more controversial ground than usual. Because in the case of this story about a hustler getting in over his head, the hustle happens to be set around Israel and Palestine during the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, that is Clarence’s whole scheme: He sees Jesus and decides to get into the messiah business.

This is not the first film to portray the story of one of Jesus’ fictional contemporaries. Monty Python’s Life of Brian attracted protests, controversy, and endless talk show guest slots over its portrayal of a man who was definitely not the messiah, just a very naughty boy.

The Book of Clarence, Jeymes Samuel’s follow-up to all-Black Western The Harder They Fall, is, without doubt, the funkiest biblical epic ever put on screen. The film, which opened across the U.S. on Friday, Jan. 12 — nicely nestled between Christmas and Easter — is a combination of comedy, drama and satire, at turns sacred and profane, a mash-up of Monty Python’s Life of Brian with sword-and-sandal epics of another era, from The Ten Commandments to The Robe.

Lakeith Stanfield leads an A-list cast — which includes James McAvoy, David Oyelowo, Anna Diop, Benedict Cumberbatch and Alfre Woodard — as the titular Clarence, a street hustler and religious skeptic in early A.D. Jerusalem who spots Jesus Christ preaching to the masses and thinks imitating a Messiah might be a way to make some easy cash. This is not your father’s biblical epic. Clarence likes to get high. A lot. There...

Plot: In A.D 33, Jerusalem, a hustler named Clarence (Lakeith Stanfield), thinks he’s found the perfect con – he’s going to pose as a new messiah. Yet, when the plan works better than expected, he finds something he never thought he would – faith.

Review: It’s interesting that people are comparing The Book of Clarence to Life of Brian, as other than the A.D 33 setting, they have next to nothing in common. When people heard Jeymes Samuel would be making an off-kilter comedy set at the time of Jesus Christ, they assumed it would be a hard-hitting satire. But the truth is that The Book of Clarence is ultimately a morality tale with heavy Christian themes. While the apostles may take a ribbing, Jesus himself is presented as an unassailably positive character. The result is a movie that will probably have a more challenging time crossing over to...

Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) and Clarence (Lakeith Stanfield) in The Book Of Clarence. Courtesy of Sony

Director/writer Jeymes Samuel seems to have been inspired by those Hollywood’s long tradition of epic Biblical movies, like Ben Hur and The Robe to try his own version of those big-screen extravaganzas mixing Bible stories with adventure and action for The Book Of Clarence – but with a big comic twist. With a plenty of humor, some social commentary and with a mostly Black cast playing the Jewish population of “Lower Jerusalem” in 33 A.D., Jeymes Samuel aimed to create a new, entertaining version of this venerable movie genre. The result is a movie with one foot in something like Ben Hur crossed with Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, with a touch of Mel Brooks’ History Of The World Part 1. The Book Of Clarence is a cinematic creation that teeters precariously and...

Jeymes Samuel, aka The Bullitts, directed a Western in 2021 called "The Harder They Fall," which took the names of real post-Civil War cowboys and gunslingers and put them into a highly stylized, highly fictionalized adventure story that was exhilarating to watch and refreshingly complex. What Samuel seemed to be doing was reclaiming the Western genre from the hands of boors like John Wayne and his associated "white savior" stories that, for many Hollywood generations, deliberately ignored the Black experience. 

Samuel now takes a similar approach to the Hollywood Biblical epic with "The Book of Clarence," an exciting, ambitious, sloppy, but somewhat excellent New Testament remix, replete with a mishmash of tones, anachronisms, and interesting ideas. "Clarence" sees Jerusalem in Ad 33 as the setting of a modern crime drama, wherein the title character (Lakeith Stanfield) interacts with a slap-happy John the Baptist (David Oyelowo), his own bitter twin brother Thomas the...

Happy New Year! The first month of the year begins next week, and January means a few things in the world of movies: First off, there’s the Sundance Film Festival, where new movies and talent will be discovered that the rest of the world will have a chance to see over the rest of the year. There are also the Oscar nominations on January 23 which will become the focus of movie lovers for the next few weeks. There’s also the notorious myth that studios save all of their bad movies for January, which isn’t necessarily true, but one probably shouldn’t expect too many mega-blockbusters in the coming month. Read on for Gold Derby’s January 2024 box office preview.

“Mean Girls” (Paramount – Jan. 12)

Twenty years after Tina Fey made her jump into movies with the high school comedy on which this musical is based, people are still trying to make “fetch” happen.

Feel-good movies combine comedy and positive messages, leaving audiences smiling with happy endings and cheerful musical numbers. Genre doesn't limit uplifting stories, as even adventure movies and crime thrillers can evoke feelings of joy through a sense of fun. Movies like "Elf," "Ghostbusters," and "Mamma Mia" bring infectious joy and laughter with delightful performances, catchy music, and a great sense of humor.

Sometimes, people just need a fun movie to lift their spirits, and there are plenty of great options which are bound to leave their audiences smiling. The best feel-good movies are able to combine great comedy with a positive message. Happy endings are a necessity, since this will affect how audiences leave a movie. Plenty of feel-good movies end in a cheerful musical number for this exact reason. This can come across as cheesy, but if a movie earns this type of ending, then the audience are likely...

Eagle Pictures and Studios de Paris owner says he is looking to partner with Saudi executives on film industry investments in the country

One of the most prominent international figures attending this year’s Red Sea is Tunisian-French producer, distributor and studio-owner Tarak Ben Ammar.

Ben Ammar, who brought over 60 movies such as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Life of Brian to shoot in Tunisia, owns Italy’s production and distribution banner Eagle Pictures and French production facility Studios de Paris. Eagle Pictures recently co-produced The Equaliser 3 with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Speaking to Screen, Ben Ammar compared...

If you want a risk-taking Broadway musical that weaponizes disco-glamour to tell a story of crumbling democracy, I hope you already invested in a ticket to the immersion of "Here Lies Love" in its dying breath. If you want a work of artistic and personal self-reflection, see the "Merrily We Roll Along" revival. But if you hunger for Broadway-based belly laughs, you have two musical options: "Gutenberg! The Musical!" or the "Monty Python's Spamalot" revival.

"Lovingly ripped off" from the 1975 "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" as well as other "Monty Python" media, "Spamalot" reigned for 1,575 performances from its 2005 Broadway premiere. Transported from the Kennedy Center run in May 2023, this Broadway revival at the St. James Theatre serves up the oldies with adequate variance to its secondhand Pythonesque humor.

From the moment the Arthurian tale opens with an irrelevant Finland number, anyone who has not seen anything "Monty Python" is in for hijinks.

The film Jesus might have bombed, but the real miracle would come a decade later, thanks to a resurrection on VHS. Everything you need to know about this Jesus-themed biopic film, you can tell from the title: Jesus. Alternately titled The Jesus Film, the directors were making it painfully transparent that they were not taking any liberties with the subject material. It did come with the odd marketing angle that the movie fixated on only one of the gospels from the Bible, The Book of Luke.

Under the Peter Sykes-John Krish directing duo, Jesus was released in the fall of 1979 to little fanfare. It was a competitive time for Jesus biopics. Godspell, Life of Brian, and Jesus Christ Superstar were just a few productions in a very congested market. All were looking to take advantage of provocative subject matter to sell new interpretations to new audiences who wouldn't be caught dead in Bible study class.

With enough passion and grit, powerful, personal stories made one-man-band style can stand up against the best work of top Hollywood talent with far greater budgets.

Warwick Thornton’s “The New Boy,” inspired by his own experiences of being packed off to a Christian boarding school in Australia as a youngster, was in development for 18 years, finally coming together when Cate Blanchett read the script and suggested taking it on through her company Dirty Films. After working with him to adapt the lead role into the character of a nun who fills in for a priest whose death has been kept secret, the project began to come together, with newcomer actor Aswan Reid as the titular boy who begins to work wonders.

It just won the top Camerimage Film Festival prize, the Golden Frog, beating out work by some of Hollywood’s most lauded directors and cinematographers.

Thornton’s background...

John Cleese, founder member of seminal British comedy group Monty Python, has said that they were “early targets of cancel culture.”

Cleese was speaking with The Sunday Times about his new Gb News chat show “The Dinosaur Hour,” which has an episode on cancel culture. Monty Python’s 1979 film “Life of Brian” caused a furore when it released among some members of the Christian community.

“You could say that we were early targets of cancel culture,” Cleese told The Sunday Times. “People don’t like to have their cherished ideas punctured or questioned. We all love to live in our own closed systems of thought, to be surrounded by people who think a bit like us. This is what happens on the internet too, where you get these blasted echo chambers. It’s why comedy is even more important today as a way of pricking those bubbles, opening them up,...

Festival completes its 2023 programme.

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has unveiled the juries for its 27th edition, with jurors including Danish star Trine Dyrholm, and John Altman, who has worked on the music for Titanic, Life Of Brian and No Time To Die.

Jury head Dyrholm and English composer Altman are on the official selection competition jury, alongside filmmakers Xie Fei from China, Hilmar Oddson from Iceland, and Inna Sahakyan from Armenia.

The first feature competition jury consists of Mexican producer Nicolas Celis of Pimienta Films, who heads that jury, alongside Diana Ilijine, former Filmfest Munchen director; Chinese filmmaker Ran Huang...