What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us? • Hacker News Board

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#21

Post by pmjordan » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 11:31 AM UTC

roundsquare wrote: post #14

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #5

However, 30 years on, that same film is regularly touted as the funniest British comedy of all time I love everything that Monty Python ever did, but I would hardly call Life of Brian the funniest British comedy of all time. Respectfully, I disagree. I think the author overstates his case. LOB could easily be made today.

LOB could easily be made today. Maybe without the one scene... (where he wakes up to a crowd of his followers.).

In Britain? Nah. The UK has become less gymnophobic over time, not more.

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#22

Post by stonemetal » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 12:19 PM UTC

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #10

> However, current tastes and sensitivities make it highly unlikely that a comedy group would even attempt making a film like Brian today. Dogma ?

Dogma wasn't made by the British.

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#23

Post by trevelyan » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 12:44 PM UTC

dhimes wrote: post #11

"Vidi, vici, veni" Classical brilliance.

My favorite is Reg's easily missed summary of the Sermon on the Mount:

"As far as I can tell, blessed is just about everyone with a vested interest in the status quo"

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#24

Post by charlesmarshall » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 1:22 PM UTC

dhimes wrote: post #11

"Vidi, vici, veni" Classical brilliance.

"He's not the messiah, hes a very naughty boy"

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#25

Post by charlesmarshall » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 1:23 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #5

However, 30 years on, that same film is regularly touted as the funniest British comedy of all time I love everything that Monty Python ever did, but I would hardly call Life of Brian the funniest British comedy of all time. Respectfully, I disagree. I think the author overstates his case. LOB could easily be made today.

Hmm.. I can't think of one, which ones are you referring to?

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#26

Post by charlesmarshall » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 1:25 PM UTC

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #10

> However, current tastes and sensitivities make it highly unlikely that a comedy group would even attempt making a film like Brian today. Dogma ?

Dogma is good, but nothing as cutting as the stoning scene or the mass crucifixion

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#27

Post by DanielBMarkham » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 3:11 PM UTC

redcap wrote: post #6

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #5

However, 30 years on, that same film is regularly touted as the funniest British comedy of all time I love everything that Monty Python ever did, but I would hardly call Life of Brian the funniest British comedy of all time. Respectfully, I disagree. I think the author overstates his case. LOB could easily be made today.

If you don't mind, could you list some of the films that you regard as funnier than the Life of Brian?

Off the top of my head? The top two are definitely Python.

Holy Grail reached a cult status that LOB never reached, for instance.

Meaning of Life is an odd duck -- most people didn't like it as much overall but love all the scenes in it. I'd still rank it (a bit) over LOB.

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#28

Post by diego_moita » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 4:00 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #27

redcap wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind, could you list some of the films that you regard as funnier than the Life of Brian?

Off the top of my head? The top two are definitely Python. Holy Grail reached a cult status that LOB never reached, for instance. Meaning of Life is an odd duck -- most people didn't like it as much overall but love all the scenes in it. I'd still rank it (a bit) over LOB.

I confess I also prefer Holy Grail to LOB (although I do like both).

It is probably the surprise effect; it was the first Monty Python I ever saw.

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#29

Post by andrewcaito » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 5:41 PM UTC

Until pretty recently, the top google result on my name for years was this 1997 haiku contest: http://orangecow.org/pythonet/haiku.html

It's interesting to me that this showed up on HN, as I remember Monty Python being a huge part of my first experiences with the internet. Before searching was so easy, I would spend hours looking up quotes, scripts, clips, and so on.

I might be tempted to say something else that 'Life of Brian' did for us was give people like me reasons to become more familiar with the internet, leading to careers in programming, etc.

Re: What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

#30

Post by redcap » Mon, Nov 30, 2009, 10:53 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #27

redcap wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind, could you list some of the films that you regard as funnier than the Life of Brian?

Off the top of my head? The top two are definitely Python. Holy Grail reached a cult status that LOB never reached, for instance. Meaning of Life is an odd duck -- most people didn't like it as much overall but love all the scenes in it. I'd still rank it (a bit) over LOB.

Well fwiw Grail is rated higher on IMDB than LoB. And I can agree that some (a lot?) of the skits in Meaning of Life are pure gold, but overall it lacks the narrative that ties both Brian and Grail together.

Life of Brian being rated as one of the best British comedies I can understand if only because it had more of a broader appeal (at least more widespread coverage thanks to the religious hullaballoo).

Grail on the other hand, may appeal to the cult market more and be more popular on that front (being the type of people who might vote on IMDB).

I'm grasping at straws here, but at least in my books the religious aspect of Brian (combined with the overall quality of the film) would lead me to say that it's more important than the other two Python films.

It's also telling that the two films you regard as better than Life of Brian are both by the Pythons :)