The Missionary (1982)

I wish I could tell you that The Missionary was yet another film I regretted not seeing for years, but I can't. It's not a terrible film, and features a cast all being a lot of fun in their various roles, but it's not quite as good as I had hoped it would be.

Michael Palin plays Fortescue, a man of the cloth who returns to England and the love and kindness of his fiance, Deborah (Phoebe Nicholls). He still wants to do good work though, and soon ends up tasked by a Bishop (Denholm Elliott) to create a charitable home for the purpose of helping and rehabilitating prostitutes. Fortescue has to secure funding, which puts him in the sights of Lady Ames (Maggie Smith) and her husband (Trevor Howard), and he also ends up offering the women comfort in ways that would surely be frowned upon by the church.

Loosely based on the life of Reverend Harold Francis Davidson, aka the "prostitutes' padre", The Missionary has Palin also on board as a writer, and Richard Loncraine in the director's chair. Neither seem quite able to decide exactly the tone they want to go for, which leads to only a few scenes working as well as they should. This is a character piece, and Fortescue is fun to watch as he wrestles with his conscience, decides what ends up being the best way to help others, and gets himself further and further into a big mess that seems likely to prove his undoing at any minute. Loncraine doesn't make the best use of his talented cast, especially when there are people like Timothy Spall and Sophie Thompson in very small roles, but there is a lovely attention to period detail throughout that makes up for some of the less entertaining moments. 

Palin is very enjoyable in the lead role, all sweet innocence and good intentions. If he'd given himself a better script to work with then this could have easily been one of his best works. Smith is also very good, especially as she continues to create reasons for Fortescue to have to stay under her roof for a night she plans to make the most of. Howard and Elliott are as enjoyable as expected, Michael Hordern is a delightfully forgetful butler, and David Suchet does well in his feature debut, although his character only makes a few brief appearances in the back end of the film. Nicholls is sadly underused, as are those I mentioned earlier, and there's a disappointing lack of main characters from the selection of "fallen women" who end up around our lead.

There's certainly enough to appreciate here, especially if you're a fan of Palin and Smith. There's just not quite enough to make it fully work as either a drama or a gentle comedy, with the end result landing a bit awkwardly in between the two. It's also a shame that there doesn't seem to be any sharpness to what could have been a real exploration of morality, rehabilitation, and the role that the church tries to hold within many communities. There are a few points raised as things muddle along from the start to the finish, but nothing that really sticks with you once the end credits roll. In fact, I'd say that the best thing about the movie is how it can then lead you to read up on the extraordinary life, and strange end, of the "prostitute's padre".

Often as pleasant and harmless as the central character, The Missionary should prove slightly disappointing to those wanting something (anything) more than a nice-looking distraction to take up 90 minutes of their day.

5/10

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The Death Of Stalin (2017)

People living under Josef Stalin didn't have an easy time of things, to put it mildly. He was a dictator who ruled with fear, forcing citizens to adore him and cater to his every whim. Anyone who opposed him, or his views, could end up on a list, spirited away in the middle of the night to be imprisoned and/or executed. His death led to a vacuum that needed filling immediately, while also giving everyone a chance to rewrite the recent narrative to play up their positive aspects in his regime while trying to downplay the negatives. And it's this turbulence, this almost farcical warping of the facts, that is looked at in a comedy that WILL make you laugh aloud without shying away from some of the nastier elements (e.g. some men are spared a bullet in the head as a change of order is delivered mid-way along the line, the difference between life and death being nothing more than a political tactic).

Based on a graphic novel, by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, it's easy to see why this material appealed to director Armando Iannucci (a sharp comedic commentator, arrguably best known nowadays for popping the bubble of British politics with The Thick Of It). Iannucci knows how hilarious it can be to observe the hoops that politicians will jump through to serve themselves while also trying to cling on to their elected positions. And he knows that those moments should all be weighed against just how the general public are affected. The scenario shown in The Death Of Stalin may be a bit extreme, but it's undeniable that politicians make life-affecting decisions every single day, sometimes with seemingly very little thought to the consequences.

Bringing all of these points to the screen, playing up the absurdity of certain moments while showing sudden threats and death, Iannucci has banded together with David Schneider, Ian Martin, and Peter Fellows to adapt the screenplay by Nury. That's a talented pool of people right there, and their dialogue is handed over to a hugely talented cast.

Simon Russell Beale may not be on the main poster but he's the main character, Lavrenti Beria, the right hand man to Stalin and the one who has to do the most scheming to try changing his perceived image. He was the man who handed out the "death lists". Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) is the other main figure trying to get himself into a better position, with Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor) being the man stuck in the middle, replacing Stalin for the time being, despite not having any real thoughts of his own about the best way to move forward. Othe rmain figures include Vyacheslav Molotov (Michael Palin), Field Marshal Zhukov (Jason Isaacs), and Stalin's children (played by Andrea Riseborough and Rupert Friend).

You may have noticed that none of the actors above are Russian. I can't think of anyone who is. Certainly not Paddy Considine, Paul Whitehouse, Tom Brooke, Paul Chahidi, or any of the other supporting players are either. Olga Kurylenko is the closest, I guess, originating from Ukraine, and there are a few people in much smaller roles who seem native to the country, but that's about it. Which is fine. Iannucci has gone for the best actors, not the best Russian actors, and he hasn't made anyone put on dodgy accents that might make them sound silly. I assume, considering the reaction to the film from certain people in Russia who have commented on the content of it, that this may have been a film difficult to populate with an all-Russian cast. Nobody living there would want to fear a major backlash over their involvement here, which makes the approach from Iannucci sensible, and ultimately beneficial when it comes to the selling of the film.

Nobody puts in a bad performance and it's genuinely hard to pick a standout. I was going to praise the wonderful no-nonsense machismo of Isaacs (his appearance just over the halfway mark also standing out as a way to help the pacing of the film). Then I was going to praise Palin for tapping back into some of his golden comedic ability, especially considering he has been on both sides of such a dictatorial regime now. But Tambor made me laugh a hell of a lot, Buscemi was entertainingly determined to turn things around and not be kept on the back foot, and Beale was a great mix of weaselly charm and Machiavellian scheming at all times.

Darker than you might expect, or just as dark as it should be, The Death Of Stalin is a fantastic comedy aimed at adults, allowing Iannucci to once again chop off the heads of the arrogantly powerful with a gleaming sword of brilliant comedy. And one or two gags about a man wearing a corset.

9/10

Buy it here.
The graphic novel is available here.

April Fools: A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

A Fish Called Wanda is a great comedy. A modern classic, in my opinion, thanks to the mix of dialogue, cast, characters and situations. Unfortunately, it also seemed to start the advertising trend that plagues British hits to this day. Every comedy that came along after it would find someone able to say that it was "the best British comedy since A Fish Called Wanda". Until Richard Curtis came along, at least, and then Four Weddings & A Funeral took over, soon superceded by The Full Monty and, well, every other big British success at the box office since then. But let's get back to Wanda.

It's the story of a daring robbery, and a little double-cross by some members of the team. The lovely Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the woman with the grand plan, and she will use all of her feminine wiles to get what she wants. Her partner is Otto (Kevin Kline), a man pretending to be her brother. Otto is a great man with a weapon, but he's not as smart as he thinks he is. Just don't call him stupid. Wanda and Otto are working together to find out where the diamonds from their big robbery have been hidden. George (Tom Georgeson), the man who planned and led the robbery, has been arrested and, funnily enough, doesn't trust anyone. He has moved the loot, and only Ken (Michael Palin) has the key to use whenever the location is revealed. Meanwhile, Archie Leach (John Cleese) is the man defending George in court. He's the one George may tell about the whereabouts of the diamonds if he needs to make a deal, so he's the one that Wanda needs to get close to. Very close.

Directed by Charles Crichton, with a script written by Cleese, this is a film that stands up alongside his earlier classics such as The Lavender Hill Mob. In fact, it's hard to think of a more fitting final film for the man, so perfectly does it mix the old with the new by juxtaposing the repressed Brits alongside the more outlandish Americans. There aren't too many flourishes, but the material doesn't need it.

The cast are all clearly having a lot of fun (with Kline even snagging a surprising Oscar for his supporting role - the Academy often overlooks/dismisses such comedic material, in my experience) and the clash between Curtis and Kline whenever they're onscreen alongside Palin or Cleese is always as entertaining as it is exaggerated. Georgeson has less to do, but is just fine, while Maria Aitken is excellent in a rather thankless role, playing the rich, self-absorbed, wife of Leach. She's a reminder of what happens to people who allow their dreams and energies to die for the sake of a good place in society and a nice house.

Full of so many great lines and moments, from the many stupid sentences spoken by Otto, to the attempts made by stuttering Ken to kill a key witness (Patricia Hayes), to the famous sight of John Cleese stripping off while speaking in a foreign language, to the even more famous sight of Palin with chips up his nose, this is a film that still proves as rewatchable and laugh-inducing today as it did when first released.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Called-Wanda-Two-Disc-Collectors/dp/B000IONJJ2/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1397829319&sr=1-4&keywords=a+fish+called+wanda

Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life (1983)

I have a bizarre viewing relationship with this, the last, Monty Python movie. I first saw it many years ago and quite enjoyed it. I was young, there were many jokes that I didn't get, but it had enough amusing moments to keep me entertained. Just. Then I saw it as an adult and enjoyed it a lot more. I'm sure that I even thought those who criticised it were being unduly harsh. On a recent rewatch, with me still being an adult (I haven't suddenly developed some kind of Benjamin Button syndrome, despite my moments of immaturity), I have found that I fall in line with the majority. The Meaning Of Life has moments of greatness, but it's far from a great film.

Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, this film suffers from excess in a way that neither of the previous Monty Python features could have tolerated. In fact, one segment entitled "The Crimson Permanent Assurance" almost unbalances the entire thing. The fact that it was directed by Gilliam, who can't seem to align the practical aspects of controlling costs and maximising efficiency alongside the need to express his artistic vision, should come as no surprise to those who have continued to watch the ups and downs of his career.

Putting that segment aside, despite the fact that it comes along at the start of the movie and then interrupts proceedings later on, what else is on offer here? It's very hit and miss. Written and acted, as usual, by the whole troupe - Gilliam, Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin - with supporting turns from Carol Cleveland, Patricia Quinn and a few others, the sketches touch on various aspects of life and humanity. Birth is covered, with the superb song "Every Sperm Is Sacred" being a highlight, war is looked at a couple of times, the significance of our lives (or lack of it) is brilliantly summed up in "The Galaxy Song" (^^^see above^^^), there's the unforgettable sight of a certain Mr. Creosote and, of course, Death makes an appearance towards the end of the movie.

Fans of the Pythons will still find enough to enjoy here. Gilliam gets to throw in some crazy imagery, everyone has at least one scene-stealing moment and the surreal "find the fish" sequence has grown from something that I simply endured to an inspired moment of brilliance that I could probably watch repeatedly without never becoming bored. There are many great lines, but they often happen to be caught amongst many distinctly average, or even unfunny, moments.

I can't say this is a BAD film, and I'd hope that any Monty Python fan would agree, but it's a big step down from the previous movie outings. The BIG laughs are few and far between, though it's important to remember that they are still there, but a lesser Monty Python film is still full of more wit and ideas than a hundred other movies released in the same year.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Pythons-Meaning-Special-Edition/dp/B0001WAGHO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1373148756&sr=8-4&keywords=monty+python%27s+the+meaning+of+life

And Now For Something Completely Different (1971)

The first movie outing for the Pythons, this is little more than a loosely connected series of sketches taken from the first series and the, yet to be aired at the time, second series. The fact that most of the sketches are typically brilliant is what makes this film so enjoyable, even if it's a lesser outing when compared to the features that the gang would release.

All of the guys are here - Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin - and all have their usual heavy workload, sharing in the scripting duties before taking on multiple character roles to act out everything onscreen. They are joined by Carol Cleveland, Connie Booth and one or two others, but they remain front and centre, with Gilliam providing numerous bits of animated madness, as ever.

Director Ian MacNaughton doesn't really do much to move the material firmly away from TV territory. In fact, the familiarity of it all adds to the enjoyment. Any fan hearing of "the dead parrot sketch" or "the lumberjack song" will be ready to laugh and fire quotes at anyone else willing to listen. These are much-loved comedy sketches for good reason, because they're fantastic.

One of my favourite sketches sees a milkman lured into a household by a voluptuous housewife before things get absurd. It takes the easygoing attitudes of the time - typified by the "Carry On..." films and, later, the "Confessions Of..." movies - and then twists them to great comic effect. The perfect blend of clever and stupid, much like the absurd brilliance of "Hell's Grannies" and, of course, the grand finale showcasing "The Upper Class Twit Of The Year."

The Monty Python movies were never really designed to win over new fans. The group already had a sizable, loyal fanbase and rewarded them with a number of fun features. It's this first outing, however, that makes no concessions whatsoever to people new to the humour on display. Which is fine by me, especially when the result is as funny as this.

In summation - it breaks no new ground, but it sure does still tickle the funny bone.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Pythons-Something-Completely-Different/dp/B00009PBSJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373095874&sr=8-1&keywords=and+now+for+something+completely+different

Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)

Monty Python And The Holy Grail is my favourite film from the Pythons. I really love Life Of Brian, but this film just has even more inspired lunacy in the mix. The big laughs here are BIGGER laughs, to me, and it's one of the most quotable movies of all time. Don't believe me? Ask any fan about it and see how long it takes to hear them reel off a full quote.

What's the story? Well, it's supposed to be all about King Arthur (Graham Chapman) assembling the Knights Of The Round Table and going on a quest for the holy grail, but it's really just a series of fantastic sketches that use the time and characters to wring the maximum comedy from every moment of screentime.

It starts off with the opening of Dentist On The Job (a gag that surely confused a number of cinema-goers back in the mid-70s), moves into a number of sequences in which those responsible for the subtitles try to further their own bizarre agenda and then, eventually, gets to the main "storyline".

Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, and written and acted by the whole gang (Chapman, John Cleese, Gilliam, Eric Idle, Jones and Michael Palin), there are also small, but memorable, roles for Connie Booth - playing a witch, with a witch nose and everything - and Carol Cleveland.

I have tried to refrain from simply listing all of my favourite scenes, but it's hard. The film is like a Greatest Hits Of Comedy album with no weak spots. There are amusing animated skits from Gilliam, some hilarious anachronisms, the Camelot Song (Knights Of The Round Table), the Black Knight, the Knights Who Say 'Ni' and much, much more.

Okay, I caved in and listed a lot of my favourite scenes, but even that doesn't begin to cover it. The only way I could fully express my love for every moment of this movie would be to just copy and paste the entire script here. It's THAT good.

I have to go now. I've been ordered to cut down a tree . . . . . with a herring.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Python-Grail-Blu-ray-Region/dp/B0015GQ3EA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373011211&sr=8-2&keywords=monty+python+and+the+holy+grail

Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979)

An irreverent, clever look at religion from the Monty Python team, this comedy classic tells the story of Brian (Graham Chapman), a young man who spends his life, due to numerous coincidences, being mistaken at particularly inconvenient moments for the messiah when he was, in fact, born in the stable next door. He gets himself involved with the People's Front of Judea (not to be confused with the Judean People's Front . . . . . . . . . . splitters!) and is soon wanted by the Romans for a number of crimes. Considering the fact that just uttering the line "that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah" is enough to get a man stoned to death, things don't look too good for Brian.

Directed by Terry Jones, the script features the usual contributions from the whole team (Jones, Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Michael Palin) and the gang also take their usual selection of multiple roles. Taking one example, Michael Palin plays an ex-leper cured by Jesus and still trying to make a living from begging, a spectator insulted for his big nose, Pontius Pilate, a member of the People's Front of Judea named Francis and quite a few more memorable characters.

While the comedy is still scattershot in places, this is a more cohesive and focused film than many others from the Python troupe. Fans of Terry Gilliam's artwork may wish there was a bit more of it here, but there's a glorious title sequence and at least one other enjoyable skit later in the film that features some of his art. Everyone involved seems to agree that they were at their peak here, with Chapman in especially fine form, and the tightrope being walked, as they tried to make the best film possible with such controversial central subject matter, may have helped.

Despite what the thin-skinned, quick-to-take-offence, complainers will say, Monty Python's Life Of Brian isn't actually an offensive movie, unless you're offended by being made to laugh so hard. Jesus is mentioned, parallels are made, but the gang never actually mock the life of Christ directly. What they do is much better than that. They make jokes about the time, about the attitudes and about blindly following people who may be equally desperate for signs to show them the way forward. It's about silly names, the importance of correct grammar and the futility of people fighting against each other, despite having the same aim.

And it poses that vital question: "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Pythons-Life-Brian-Immaculate/dp/B000X4ZGL6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1372929082&sr=8-2&keywords=life+of+brian