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...
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...
- 10/21/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Michael Mosley is a name that arguably not many people would know outside of BBC Four or Horizon fans. Which is a shame, because the journalist and presenter has been one of the finest documentary-makers for many years.
The Indian-born producer is back for his latest Horizon special tonight (August 18), so if you have yet to tune in to one of his many scientific journeys, this would be a great time to start.
After producing a number of science programmes for the BBC, including Robert Winston's The Human Face and Jeremy Clarkson's Inventions that Changed the World, Mosley stepped in front of the camera for BBC Four's excellent Medical Mavericks in 2008.
The four-part series delved into the history of the scientists and doctors who went to great lengths to further the world, often in rather grotesque ways.
This has become the benchmark for Mosley's programmes. His shows focus on science,...
The Indian-born producer is back for his latest Horizon special tonight (August 18), so if you have yet to tune in to one of his many scientific journeys, this would be a great time to start.
After producing a number of science programmes for the BBC, including Robert Winston's The Human Face and Jeremy Clarkson's Inventions that Changed the World, Mosley stepped in front of the camera for BBC Four's excellent Medical Mavericks in 2008.
The four-part series delved into the history of the scientists and doctors who went to great lengths to further the world, often in rather grotesque ways.
This has become the benchmark for Mosley's programmes. His shows focus on science,...
- 8/18/2014
- Digital Spy
Young Irish Game Of Thrones actor Art Parkinson (represented by Actors First) is currently filming in Belfast on Shooting for Socrates, a film about the 1986 World Cup in Mexico when Northern Ireland played Brazil.
He plays Tommy, the son of football supporter Arthur (played by Richard Dormer) from East Belfast. The lead up to Tommy’s 10th birthday mirrors the build up to the day the Northern Ireland team play their greatest match against Brazil.
The cast also includes 22 year Nico Mirallegro (represented by Curtis Brown), star of My Mad Fat Diary and The Village, who plays young footballer Davey Campbell, hailed as "the next George Best".
The film is named after Brazilian footballer Sócrates de Souza who played in the 1986 match against Northern Ireland.
November 1985, and the troubled streets of Belfast are torn up by rioting yet again. In amongst the angry mob, we find nine year old Tommy,...
He plays Tommy, the son of football supporter Arthur (played by Richard Dormer) from East Belfast. The lead up to Tommy’s 10th birthday mirrors the build up to the day the Northern Ireland team play their greatest match against Brazil.
The cast also includes 22 year Nico Mirallegro (represented by Curtis Brown), star of My Mad Fat Diary and The Village, who plays young footballer Davey Campbell, hailed as "the next George Best".
The film is named after Brazilian footballer Sócrates de Souza who played in the 1986 match against Northern Ireland.
November 1985, and the troubled streets of Belfast are torn up by rioting yet again. In amongst the angry mob, we find nine year old Tommy,...
- 11/28/2013
- by noreply@blogger.com (ScreenTerrier)
- ScreenTerrier
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg is among the contenders for the 2013 Nordic Council Film Prize, complete with $62,000 (Dkk 350,000).
Vinterberg, who last won the prize in 2010 with Submarino, will be among five nominated directors.
The line-up includes:
The Deep (Djúpid), Baltasar Kormakúr (Iceland)Eat Sleep Die (Äta sova dö), Gabriela Pichler (Sweden)The Hunt (Jagten), Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark)I Belong (Som du ser meg), Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)Open Up to Me (Kerron sinulle kaiken), Simo Halinen (Finland)
“’The human face’, the individual facing the group or society, and respect and dignity are common themes that run like a thread through all these films,” said managing director Hanne Palmquist, of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, which administers the prize.
“A Nordic reality sets the framework where daily life and its dilemmas are portrayed by eminent actors with empathy, humour and credibility. The nominated films are of high international quality, have a personal voice and something genuine at heart,” she added...
Vinterberg, who last won the prize in 2010 with Submarino, will be among five nominated directors.
The line-up includes:
The Deep (Djúpid), Baltasar Kormakúr (Iceland)Eat Sleep Die (Äta sova dö), Gabriela Pichler (Sweden)The Hunt (Jagten), Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark)I Belong (Som du ser meg), Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)Open Up to Me (Kerron sinulle kaiken), Simo Halinen (Finland)
“’The human face’, the individual facing the group or society, and respect and dignity are common themes that run like a thread through all these films,” said managing director Hanne Palmquist, of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, which administers the prize.
“A Nordic reality sets the framework where daily life and its dilemmas are portrayed by eminent actors with empathy, humour and credibility. The nominated films are of high international quality, have a personal voice and something genuine at heart,” she added...
- 9/3/2013
- by jornrossing@aol.com (Jorn Rossing Jensen)
- ScreenDaily
Chicago – The human face of the Holocaust – the Jewish genocide by Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party – has been reflected through many incredible accounts of horror and survival. A new film focuses on another amazing story, set in a cave in the Ukraine, where five Jewish families hid underground from German soldiers in 1942. The survivors give their witness in “No Place on Earth.”
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The story of these survivors – children and teenagers then, old men and women now – adds another chapter of inhumanity to the desperate times of the Holocaust era. Through the accounts of the participants, and the precise re-creation of the events by director Janet Tobias, this unusual scenario comes to life from a faraway time, in a faraway land. And beyond the event itself, it is about the gutsy discovery of a cave explorer and his curiosity, the initial telling of the tale in National Geographic magazine,...
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The story of these survivors – children and teenagers then, old men and women now – adds another chapter of inhumanity to the desperate times of the Holocaust era. Through the accounts of the participants, and the precise re-creation of the events by director Janet Tobias, this unusual scenario comes to life from a faraway time, in a faraway land. And beyond the event itself, it is about the gutsy discovery of a cave explorer and his curiosity, the initial telling of the tale in National Geographic magazine,...
- 4/21/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
By Todd Garbarini
Room 237 is the title of the excellent new documentary by director Rodney Ascher that takes the points of view of five off-screen individuals who do their best to unmask the purported hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s initially disappointing yet subsequently revered 1980 film version of Stephen King’s The Shining. In doing so, they are keeping in line with a motif derived straight from the novel in a sequence wherein Horace Derwent, a former owner of the Overlook Hotel, urges his costumed party-goers to unmask at a lavish celebration, thereby revealing their identities. The human face as a mask is also a common theme throughout all of Mr. Kubrick’s filmography, so it is only fitting that Room 237 takes the approach of removing layers to reveal what might be hidden beneath the surface in order to get at The Shining’s essence.
As a fan of Mr.
Room 237 is the title of the excellent new documentary by director Rodney Ascher that takes the points of view of five off-screen individuals who do their best to unmask the purported hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s initially disappointing yet subsequently revered 1980 film version of Stephen King’s The Shining. In doing so, they are keeping in line with a motif derived straight from the novel in a sequence wherein Horace Derwent, a former owner of the Overlook Hotel, urges his costumed party-goers to unmask at a lavish celebration, thereby revealing their identities. The human face as a mask is also a common theme throughout all of Mr. Kubrick’s filmography, so it is only fitting that Room 237 takes the approach of removing layers to reveal what might be hidden beneath the surface in order to get at The Shining’s essence.
As a fan of Mr.
- 4/2/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Well it is not as cold as we all thought it would be, but there is snow everywhere. My first rented car was not a 4 wheel drive and so I could not drive up the unpaved, snow-packed road to my host's large house in the Wasatch mountains. I got lost and the sun set, a beautiful pink sky over white mountains, really spectacular. The highway patrolman was kind enough to lead me up the dark mountain road to where my host awaited me and my hostess laid out a delicious meal of vegetarian quiche, green salad and cherry pie which we ate after a good shot of scotch and where we got to know each other a bit. Their home accommodates their 7 grown children and their 14 grandchildren. Since no one is visiting now, we have a third of the house for ourselves. It is surrounded by snowy acres of land where deer, elk and moose roam. My hosts are friends of my friend and former Sundance roommate from the early days in the 80s at Sundance when he, Todd McCarthy and I used to share a condo in Deer Valley. Harlan Jacobson of Talk Cinema invited Peter and me to stay with him again. I just saw him last month in Cuba at the Havana Film Festival, and this continuation is perfect. However so far, I am alone here in Sundance, driving unfamiliar cars up unfamiliar roads, because my partner Peter was felled by the flu and had to stay home. We hope he gets better so he can join me on Saturday. Job One on Day One was to return my car and find a 4 wheel drive somewhere, which I did online from Budget, so I returned to the airport, returned my first car at one company and went to the other, took the car and got lost again returning to Park City. I thought I would reach Nebraska as I realized I was driving on the I 80 East way too far. Saw some spectacular mountains until I turned off at Castle Rock, read about the Mormon's migration through the area and found my way back where I registered with the festival with very little trouble. I thought I had plenty of time for the 6:00 pm press screening of the Marc Silver-directed, Gael Garcia Bernal-produced documentary, Who is Dayani Cristal? except my car got stuck in a snowbank and I had to wait for Aaa to tow me out. However, I still made it to this beautiful and very sad film about the too well known story of young migrants coming from South and Central America to North America in pursuit of the American Dream. Those that die in the Arizona desert (the numbers of deaths per year has reached 2,000 in spite of increasing the size of the border patrol and building a wall between Mexico and USA which cost billions of dollars to build – money that could have better been spent on human beings seeking a better life from countries our own country has exploited for the past two centuries. An anonymous body found in the desert sparked the beginning of a real-life human drama as a group formed to track down the identities and seek the families of those who die so anonymously found his home in Honduras, the former Banana Republic and the poorest of all Latin American countries. The human face this documentary puts on this cycle of human migration, like salmon spawning upstream, was inexplicably beautiful and deeply moving. With an hour to kill, I went to my favorite sports store near the Holiday Village (where my films are showing) and bought me a sleeping shirt with the motto, "My second bike is a bike", listened to a funny story of the salesman about a colleague, and then went to stand in line for an hour for the next film. What's great about these cattle lines you must stand in for an hour (I'll send a picture next time) is you see people and actually can catch up with news. Richard Lorber of Kino Lorber and several other brands of showcase films was my partner in line, and I got to hear news not only from him but all the friends also lining up five deep. Richard picked up 129 films last year. Discussions with peers are so valuable as they are all about the new forms of distribution, theatrical and digital, that are quickly evolving by being tested, some working well, others being discarded, and mostly being shared among distributors and theater exhibitors. The previous day I had attended the Arthouse Convergence, now in its 6th year and grown from 20 to 350 attendees. The energy was incredible, again with sharing among all the arthouse owners of what works or does not work and what are the new challenges they are all facing. I attended only one session on Day Three, to hear my much admired colleague, Ula Sneigowska the Director of Programming for The American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland and Us in Progress (for films in post). Us in Progress is held in November during The American Film Festival and also in July in Paris! I was lucky to be on all 3 editions' jury. Only in its second year, it can boast of 3 films here in Sundance which were in post production when I last saw them -- The winner in Paris: A Teacher, and last November in Wroclaw: Milkshake and I Used to be Darker. All are in the next section of the festival and it looks like a good relationship between Us in Progress and Sundance is beginning. Ula previously curated an arthouse theater in Warsaw for ten years and so was an authoritative speaker on behalf of Cicae, the International Association of Arthouse Cinemas on a panel moderated by David Bordwell from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The panel, The Digital ArtHouse: Lessons and Experiences from Europe, composed entirely of women, included Sophie DeVinck, a senior researcher of iMinds-smit, a think tank based at the Free University Brussels (Vrij Universitat Bruxelles), devoted to studying digital challenges facing the European film industry; Fatima Djoumer, head of international relations for Cinemas Europa, an association of theater owners throughout Europe and extending to the Americas, Asia and Africa, and Ann Overbergh of Bam Art (www.bamart.be), the Flemish (Belgian) institute for the audiovisual and cinema, visual and media arts dedicated to keeping these creative sectors informed and knowledgeable in contemporary programming, work and business models. The audience left feeling upbeat to hear there is more than merely adversarial relations possible between the distributors and the exhibitors. In Europe the age-old rivalry, akin to "the farmer and the cowboy" syndrome in America seems to have been resolved when it comes to digitizing all the theaters and even keeping 35mm projectors working. To return to Day One at Sundance, Ula and Karolina Pasternak, a Polish film journals and I exited Crystal Fairy with mixed feelings which we discussed as we proceeded to the annual Indiewire Chili (cooked by Dana Harris herself!) party and then to Sundance's official Day One party for filmmakers and the press. Crystal Fairy's director Sebastian Silva (The Maid) and his two Chilean brothers, Juan Andres and Jose Miguel are wonderful to watch, dryly funny, infinitely patient and totally accepting of the two young, naïve Americans who go on trip with them seeking mescaline. Ula loved the film and the funniness of the Americans; Carolina and I both were put off by the typical American naiveté of the two young people. I was especially peeved and even embarrassed by their neurotic self-centeredness. It is only now, the following morning, as I write this that I realize the title Chrystal Fairy means much more because of the revelation of Isabelle which was witnessed by the others. Now I love the film and once again congratulate Chile on what this new generation of filmmakers is bringing to the world. Everyone is aware that Chile is outpacing Argentina in producing new and interesting films in Latin America. But watch out for Peru which is gaining on them from what I hear. Certainly another prize winner from Palm Springs which first played in Havana, The Cleaner (El Limpiador) is a great beginning for its director, Adian Saba. El Limpiador will next be in Guadalajara Film Festival in March.
The parties were filled with good people we knew and new acquaintances like Jacques Telemaques of Filmmakers Alliance and Todd Goldman (www.WestRimPictures.com), finally realizing this feature film worked on for the past 17 years (!), Melissa a beautiful young actress caught in the drama of the house she and three other couch-surfers are staying and many others and Roger M. Mayer of Brooklyn Reptyle Films from Studio City California and here with his second film. Coincidently, Melissa said as we were cruising the room at the Day One Party, her three roommates are also Polish. Just as she said that, they appeared. Three Lodz University graduates, these young women are at Sundance with their short, On Suffocation. The director Jenifer Malmqvist (www.tangramfilm.se) turns out to be Swedish, her producer is French and their star is actually Polish. This international mix of talent, even at the primarily American indie Sundance Film Festival, is so on the mark for me about why I love the film business. The international mix of films and people creates an excitement and belief that films can and do change the world. See you tomorrow!
The parties were filled with good people we knew and new acquaintances like Jacques Telemaques of Filmmakers Alliance and Todd Goldman (www.WestRimPictures.com), finally realizing this feature film worked on for the past 17 years (!), Melissa a beautiful young actress caught in the drama of the house she and three other couch-surfers are staying and many others and Roger M. Mayer of Brooklyn Reptyle Films from Studio City California and here with his second film. Coincidently, Melissa said as we were cruising the room at the Day One Party, her three roommates are also Polish. Just as she said that, they appeared. Three Lodz University graduates, these young women are at Sundance with their short, On Suffocation. The director Jenifer Malmqvist (www.tangramfilm.se) turns out to be Swedish, her producer is French and their star is actually Polish. This international mix of talent, even at the primarily American indie Sundance Film Festival, is so on the mark for me about why I love the film business. The international mix of films and people creates an excitement and belief that films can and do change the world. See you tomorrow!
- 1/19/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
What master do you worship?
Does your master have a name — God, Yahweh, Allah, Vishnu, Great Spirit, Creator, Father, Mother — or remain nameless? Is He/She/It an abstraction — love, light, power — or have you met? Has your master sat across a table from you and asked you to account for your transgressions? Did you stare your master in the eyes without blinking?
The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s sixth feature film, is an epic, 70mm story of tiny details that plays out viscerally on the most complicated expanse imaginable:
The human face.
Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a snarling, feral WWII veteran and drifter, wears a mask of rage and horniness that is as grotesque and primal and pained as few visages in recent memory (Klaus Kinski comes to mind — and more recently, Keira Knightley’s surprising and transformative performance in A Dangerous Method).
As Lancaster Dodd, the larger-than-life leader...
Does your master have a name — God, Yahweh, Allah, Vishnu, Great Spirit, Creator, Father, Mother — or remain nameless? Is He/She/It an abstraction — love, light, power — or have you met? Has your master sat across a table from you and asked you to account for your transgressions? Did you stare your master in the eyes without blinking?
The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s sixth feature film, is an epic, 70mm story of tiny details that plays out viscerally on the most complicated expanse imaginable:
The human face.
Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a snarling, feral WWII veteran and drifter, wears a mask of rage and horniness that is as grotesque and primal and pained as few visages in recent memory (Klaus Kinski comes to mind — and more recently, Keira Knightley’s surprising and transformative performance in A Dangerous Method).
As Lancaster Dodd, the larger-than-life leader...
- 9/15/2012
- by James Ponsoldt
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
This is the third in an occasional series examining the recession's impact on culture, The Recessionary Arts, and part two of last week's installment, "Movies And The Economy: Courting Adults In A Time Of Declining Film Attendance." Find out more about the series here.
The big story about James Erwin, who recently scored a movie deal based on a comment he posted online, isn't that he's a 37-year old dad in Des Moines, Iowa, who never intended to become a screenwriter. Or that he won't move to L.A. because he likes the new doors he just put on his house. Or even that he's won Jeopardy twice.
Those points are significant, to be sure, and will make for great details when Erwin becomes the subject of a movie, as he probably will someday. But the important story right now is that Erwin, a software-manual writer with no insider connections,...
The big story about James Erwin, who recently scored a movie deal based on a comment he posted online, isn't that he's a 37-year old dad in Des Moines, Iowa, who never intended to become a screenwriter. Or that he won't move to L.A. because he likes the new doors he just put on his house. Or even that he's won Jeopardy twice.
Those points are significant, to be sure, and will make for great details when Erwin becomes the subject of a movie, as he probably will someday. But the important story right now is that Erwin, a software-manual writer with no insider connections,...
- 11/25/2011
- by Mallika Rao
- Huffington Post
Comic John Cleese had plastic surgery around his eyes - but that's the only part of his body he would ever consider having done. The Monty Python legend, 61, admits he had work done to make his face look younger, but says he'd only ever have minor surgery - because too many stars have had their looks ruined. He says, "It has quite clearly gone wrong. There is one very well-known Englishman who was left looking like a woman." Cleese, currently promoting his television show The Human Face, adds, "The only thing I think you can have done is your eyes."...
- 8/27/2001
- WENN
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