To review "Monty Python & the Holy Grail", there are five schools, I mean three :
1--- The Ecstatic Review : One of the greatest laugh riots ever committed on the big screen, an epic quest of absurdity like only the glorious Monty Python could have lead.
2--- The Not-so-ecstatic-but-no-less-enthusiastic Review : Damn, I wish the movie was longer, couldn't they get more budget, it's such a shame. Oh, well, I had a great time, and only for the opening credits, the movie deserves its reputation.
1--- The Ecstatic Review (again): You don't get it, Harold, that's exactly the point, it's a low-budget film, and its apparently low quality contributed to the high popularity of the film. Man, it's called a parody.
2--- The Not-so-ecstatic-but-no-less-enthusiastic Review : I know, what a parody is, Bernard, thank you. But my point was that the movie could have been so much better if only
*** WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE FAULT IN THE REVIEW. HAROLD AND BERNARD HAVE BEEN SACKED ***
3--- The Not-ecstatic-not-really-enthusiastic-in-fact-quite-negative Review : This movie is so flawed I don't even know where to start, hell, they didn't even have horses and Aaaaarggggh!
*** WE APOLOGIZE AGAIN, FOR THE NEGATIVITY EXPRESSED IN THAT REVIEW. THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN S WELL, SHALL WE SAY, HE MET WITH AN UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT ***
As I was saying, to review "Monty Python & the Holy Grail", there are three, I mean two schools of review that actually can both be fused into one unique review, MINE, so let me be the bard to sing the praises of this epic tale of hilarity through :
I--- The Self-Hedonistic-Introspectively-Tautological Review : The comic genius of the film is so surrealistic it goes beyond any reasonable attempt to measure, judge and therefore give it a proper review. It would be like answering the eternal question : "What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" I think one should consider the wisdom of Sir Bevedere who said that "The Earth is banana shaped", an interestingly fruity allusion which is not without reminding Newton's apple that would revolutionize the law of Physics and originate one of the most important principles governing the film, the one I call
1/ The 'Tarte Tatin' principle :
This culinary example might satisfy the descendants of the French "Ka-niggets", the tart was basically invented when a woman who burnt her apple pie rescued it by putting the pastry on the apples and turning out the upside down tart. The result became a famous and delicious dessert. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" works the same way, it's botched, disjointed, irreverent, turning into derision every cinematic mechanism of the epic genre, but the result is just one of the funniest laugh-out-loud comedies and one of the perfect examples of the level of sophistication and unlimitedness that absurdity can reach, the one I call
2/ The 'Red Nose' principle :
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is a succession of incoherent episodic sketches governed by strong coherence in absurd style and surrealistic comedy, and vice versa. The film is the celebration of the boundlessness of comedy. Here's a mathematical demonstration that would have made Sir Bevedere proud : let's admit, by hypothesis, that there was one limit "NI" that comedy could never exceed. Now, what is the definition of comedy? According to the Oxford dictionary, it's a "professional entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches, intended to make an audience laugh". Now, if "NI" existed, that would mean that there would be no comedic purposes in anything above that "Nl" level, which indirectly means that there's absolutely no one who would ever laugh to any subject implying the use of comedy above the "Nu" sorry the "NI" level, in other words, anything above the "Nl" level could be admitted as 100% serious. But consider that total seriousness is so psychologically oppressive that it inevitably implies the use of a comical element to relieve the tension. And the use of a comic relief is even more necessary in a totally serious narrative. So, from a reductio-ad-absurdum, I've demonstrated that even in the existence of a limit above which we can't laugh, we realize that not only we can, but we should. Quod Erat Demonstratum. Whatever seriousness you build, whatever order you create, it's meant to collapse. That's the principle, the one I call
3/ The 'Castle of Cards' principle :
The castle of cards has only one goal in its short existence, to collapse. It's the perfect demonstration of the ephemeral essence of any organized and perfectly structured entity. And the higher it gets, the closer is the cataclysm. What's that to mean? "Monty Python & the Holy Grail" highlights the eternal victory of anarchy over order, and how even anarchy can be appealing. It's a perfect assemblage of chaotic situations, that gets your mind acclimated to the so universal and true unpredictability of life. Nothing can surprise you, yet everything is absolutely surprising : a three-headed knight, a black knight who continues the fight even if he's totally chopped off, a witch with a fake noise, a castle full of virgins with nymphomaniac impulses, a harmless bunny that can decapitate you in one second, and one of the worst cases of cinematic party pooping ever. Everything is built up until it dramatically ends in one of the most brilliantly abrupt endings, demonstrating the inevitable destruction of every measurable structure. World was created from chaos and it will end up in chaos in such a pointlessness that absurdity is the only language that could define it. Also ...
*** ANY ATTEMPT TO TAKE THIS REVIEW SERIOUSLY WILL BE PUNISHED BY MOOSE TRAMPLING, ACCORDING TO THE SEVERE BUT FAIR LAW OF SVENSONLUNDERJUNGERGUNDESON***
1--- The Ecstatic Review : One of the greatest laugh riots ever committed on the big screen, an epic quest of absurdity like only the glorious Monty Python could have lead.
2--- The Not-so-ecstatic-but-no-less-enthusiastic Review : Damn, I wish the movie was longer, couldn't they get more budget, it's such a shame. Oh, well, I had a great time, and only for the opening credits, the movie deserves its reputation.
1--- The Ecstatic Review (again): You don't get it, Harold, that's exactly the point, it's a low-budget film, and its apparently low quality contributed to the high popularity of the film. Man, it's called a parody.
2--- The Not-so-ecstatic-but-no-less-enthusiastic Review : I know, what a parody is, Bernard, thank you. But my point was that the movie could have been so much better if only
*** WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE FAULT IN THE REVIEW. HAROLD AND BERNARD HAVE BEEN SACKED ***
3--- The Not-ecstatic-not-really-enthusiastic-in-fact-quite-negative Review : This movie is so flawed I don't even know where to start, hell, they didn't even have horses and Aaaaarggggh!
*** WE APOLOGIZE AGAIN, FOR THE NEGATIVITY EXPRESSED IN THAT REVIEW. THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN S WELL, SHALL WE SAY, HE MET WITH AN UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT ***
As I was saying, to review "Monty Python & the Holy Grail", there are three, I mean two schools of review that actually can both be fused into one unique review, MINE, so let me be the bard to sing the praises of this epic tale of hilarity through :
I--- The Self-Hedonistic-Introspectively-Tautological Review : The comic genius of the film is so surrealistic it goes beyond any reasonable attempt to measure, judge and therefore give it a proper review. It would be like answering the eternal question : "What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" I think one should consider the wisdom of Sir Bevedere who said that "The Earth is banana shaped", an interestingly fruity allusion which is not without reminding Newton's apple that would revolutionize the law of Physics and originate one of the most important principles governing the film, the one I call
1/ The 'Tarte Tatin' principle :
This culinary example might satisfy the descendants of the French "Ka-niggets", the tart was basically invented when a woman who burnt her apple pie rescued it by putting the pastry on the apples and turning out the upside down tart. The result became a famous and delicious dessert. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" works the same way, it's botched, disjointed, irreverent, turning into derision every cinematic mechanism of the epic genre, but the result is just one of the funniest laugh-out-loud comedies and one of the perfect examples of the level of sophistication and unlimitedness that absurdity can reach, the one I call
2/ The 'Red Nose' principle :
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is a succession of incoherent episodic sketches governed by strong coherence in absurd style and surrealistic comedy, and vice versa. The film is the celebration of the boundlessness of comedy. Here's a mathematical demonstration that would have made Sir Bevedere proud : let's admit, by hypothesis, that there was one limit "NI" that comedy could never exceed. Now, what is the definition of comedy? According to the Oxford dictionary, it's a "professional entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches, intended to make an audience laugh". Now, if "NI" existed, that would mean that there would be no comedic purposes in anything above that "Nl" level, which indirectly means that there's absolutely no one who would ever laugh to any subject implying the use of comedy above the "Nu" sorry the "NI" level, in other words, anything above the "Nl" level could be admitted as 100% serious. But consider that total seriousness is so psychologically oppressive that it inevitably implies the use of a comical element to relieve the tension. And the use of a comic relief is even more necessary in a totally serious narrative. So, from a reductio-ad-absurdum, I've demonstrated that even in the existence of a limit above which we can't laugh, we realize that not only we can, but we should. Quod Erat Demonstratum. Whatever seriousness you build, whatever order you create, it's meant to collapse. That's the principle, the one I call
3/ The 'Castle of Cards' principle :
The castle of cards has only one goal in its short existence, to collapse. It's the perfect demonstration of the ephemeral essence of any organized and perfectly structured entity. And the higher it gets, the closer is the cataclysm. What's that to mean? "Monty Python & the Holy Grail" highlights the eternal victory of anarchy over order, and how even anarchy can be appealing. It's a perfect assemblage of chaotic situations, that gets your mind acclimated to the so universal and true unpredictability of life. Nothing can surprise you, yet everything is absolutely surprising : a three-headed knight, a black knight who continues the fight even if he's totally chopped off, a witch with a fake noise, a castle full of virgins with nymphomaniac impulses, a harmless bunny that can decapitate you in one second, and one of the worst cases of cinematic party pooping ever. Everything is built up until it dramatically ends in one of the most brilliantly abrupt endings, demonstrating the inevitable destruction of every measurable structure. World was created from chaos and it will end up in chaos in such a pointlessness that absurdity is the only language that could define it. Also ...
*** ANY ATTEMPT TO TAKE THIS REVIEW SERIOUSLY WILL BE PUNISHED BY MOOSE TRAMPLING, ACCORDING TO THE SEVERE BUT FAIR LAW OF SVENSONLUNDERJUNGERGUNDESON***