are in the back. You're a member of this crew. Can you face

some unpleasant facts? My doctor advised against it.

I think you ought to know what our chances are. The life of everyone onboard

depends upon just one thing. Reviewing these comedy spoofs, I know, I know!

But surely you can't be serious. I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.

Well, I'm a little rusty, but I'll see what I can do.

There's one thing I do know. You're the only chance we've got.

Then I better get to it... this is Movie Night!

Hello and welcome inside the TCL Chinese Theater for the sixth season of Movie Night. Bringing

you high-quality, in-depth reviews in four minutes or less... I'm your host, Jonathan

Paula. How about that all new intro? We've certainly come a long way since my first review

show premiered over ten years ago. Anyway, for part one of tonight's big premiere, we'll

be reviewing half of my ten favorite comedy parodies. As always, we begin in chorological

order, with, "Monty Python And The Holy Grail".

This cult-classic comedy film from the legendary English comedy trope Monty Python was a box

office success, earning more than twelve times its small $400,000 budget. With these sales

it became the most successful British film released in America following its April 1975

premiere. The 91-minute narrative is generally a parody of King Arthur's quest to find the

Holy Grail during the middle-ages, but the story bounces around quite a bit, and contains

more than its fair share of anachronistic jokes. Truthfully, the PG-rated story is amounts

to little more than a series of loosely connected sketches set in and around some English castles.

Weird animation inter-titles, a trademark of Monty Python's sketch-comedy TV show, are

sprinkled throughout the plot to fill in gaps left by this disjointed story. Fortunately,

the group of actors, that each play about eight separate characters, do an outstanding

job with the material. Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones,

and Michael Palin, are experts at their craft; and their impeccable timing, sharp writing,

and brilliant delivery is what makes this film. The majority of

the laughs are derived from the extremely memorable and quotable dialogue, rather than

sight-gags, or pratfalls. Indeed, the film literally opens with a subtitle joke regarding

a Norwegian moose of some sort. Bookended by slow dips to black, each scene plays out

like a self-contained sketch, many of which have become rather famous since. There's the

hilarious question and answer session regarding the methods of proper witch-hunting, a rescue

effort that sees Cleese murdering everyone in sight with reckless abandon, a debate on

the airspeed of unladen African swallows, and of course... the Knights who say "ni".

The only such sequence that isn't quite on par with the brilliance of the others is a

drawn-out bit involving horny maidens locked away in a castle, that even breaks the forth-wall

to ask audiences if the scene should have been cut. And honestly, they probably should

have. I would be remiss however if I didn't mention my favorite scene, when Cleese dons

a suit of armor as the "Black Knight" who persists on sword-fighting even after losing

three of limbs, playfully defending, "Just a flesh wound." Unable to afford real horses

because of their shoestring budget, a recurring gag involving coconuts is used instead with

fabulous results. The lack of money wasn't always advantageous though, as there are notable

deficiencies with the lighting, making it hard to see the actors faces at times. An

oft repeated chunk of trumpet-laden music by Neil Innes does give the film a more regal

quality however. Although the movie's pace is very inconsistent (some scenes linger far

longer than they should) the laughs are plentiful, and the experience is a delightful one. Fans

of tongue-in-cheek British humor will absolutely adore this film, but I suspect most of them

have already seen this classic. "Monty Python And The Holy Grail" is a rewatchable collection

of hilarious moments from comedy legends. Now let's see what you had to say in the YouTube

comments.

With calling this one of the funniest British films ever made, your scores averaged to a

NINE out of ten. I similarly adore this picture, but there's also little semblance of a story,

especially with its rushed ending - so I can't quite award it my top score. I thought it

was AWESOME too. Next up tonight, "Airplane!"

Released on July 2, 1980 - this satirical disaster comedy film was written and directed

by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker - a trio collectively known as "ZAZ". Primarily

parodying big-budget disaster ensembles like "Zero Hour!" and "Airport", this $3.5 million

dollar production was a huge success - earning $80 million in profit. When the crew of airplane

is taken ill, the only person capable of saving them is an ex-pilot traumatized by his service

in the war; but he overcomes his drinking problem, and personal demons to assist the

flight. Playing everything entirely straight, the mammoth group of dramatic actors take

their first swing at comedy, and absolutely nail it. The relatively unknown Robert Hays

and Julie Hagerty star as the romantic leads, and it's their perplexing chemistry that manages

to give the film a bit of emotional resonance, despite its overtly wacky delivery. The breakout

performance however is from longtime respected dramatic actor Leslie Nielsen, whose brilliant

turn as the flight's deadpan doctor marked a huge turning point in his storied career.

Remarking on his surprising talent for comedy, famed critic Roger Ebert remarked that he

was the "Olivier of spoofs". When he stoically lays out the exposition to Hays, the washed

up war vet can only muster a confused response, "Surely you can't be serious". Nielsen's straight-faced

reply, "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley" is one of the film's many excellent uses of

verbal pans, and perhaps "Airplane!"'s most iconic moment. Similarly, Robert Stack, of

"Unsolved Mysteries" fame, Lloyd Bridges, and Peter Graves contribute excellent performances

as well - who somehow manage to keep from cracking in even the film's funniest scenes.

The mile-a-minute 87-minute narrative is busting at the seems with sight-gags, verbal puns,

pratfalls, and absurd cutaways... including a hilariously contentious back-and-forth with

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who ostensibly plays himself), an over-the-top flashback send-up

of "Saturday Night Fever" that includes a violet mid-song murder, a confusing conversation

involving the crew's surnames and flight-lingo, and a particularly clever fellatio joke with

the plane's auto-pilot. Supported by wonderful cartoon-style sound effects, the music from

Elmer Bernstien further helps the picture masquerade as a serious action-film: making

the juxtaposition of bouncing boob shots and hysterical passengers than much funnier. For

a collaborative effort, ZAZ still manages to maintain a consistent visual style for

the PG-rated film: keeping most shots locked-down and wide: punching in for close-ups only when

absolutely necessary. Inspiring countless comedies in its wake, including a decently

entertaining sequel of its own - "Airplane!" is an immensely funny and rewatchable comedy,

and if I absolutely had to pick one, is probably my all-time favorite comedy. Now let's see

what you had to say in the YouTube comments.

Both of us gave plenty of praise to the non-stop gags, and Nielsen's excellent role - you thought

this movie was AWESOME. An obvious classic, I happen to consider this film especially

fantastic, I'm rating it an AMAZING. Plenty of options to choose from, including tonight's

five movies: so for tonight's poll question: what is your favorite spoof comedy? Leave

your response below with the hashtag #PollQuestion to be eligible for a one-year "Pro-level"

account on Letterboxd.com - I'll be announcing a winner in part two of this episode. Our

third review tonight is for "This Is Spinal Tap".

This improvised mockumentary from director Rob Reiner was released nationwide in March

of 1984, where it doubled its $2.5 million dollar budget. The quick 82-minute experience

is an excellent send-up of rock culture, portraying the fictional British heavy metal band "Spinal

Tap" during a year on tour with hilarious results. The R-rated picture perfectly satirizes

everything from their wild debauchery, musical pretentiousness, performance blunders, and

general cluelessness. Perpetually teetering on the edge of realism, it's the extremely

subtle and true-to-life humor that not only makes this movie so funny, it also tricked

a fair number of audiences into believing this band actually existed. In their first

of many such parody-documentaries, veteran comics Christopher Guest, Michael McKean,

and Harry Shearer lead the picture as the titular group of cod-piece wearing narcissists:

ad-libbing a majority of their lines in the process. In an inspired bit of casting Reiner

appears as an ambitious film director within the film, often interviewing the band on-camera.

Later, he sets up the picture's most iconic moment when he questions Guest's decision

to label all of his amps with an "11", asking, "Why don't you just make ten louder and make

ten be the top number and make that a little louder?" ... the drawn out beat before Chris

answers, "These go to eleven" is one of the most legendary examples of comedic timing.

Joined by some cameos from before-they-famous actors like Bruno Kirby, Billy Crystal, Fran

Drescher, and Ed Begley Jr. - the core group of players make their biting improvisation

and witty banter look effortless, but their heavy accents, and talking over one another

sometimes makes it hard to follow their conversations. This is one picture that definitely benefits

from having the subtitles turned on. Structurally, the movie could really be arranged in any

order... each scene works well by itself, but when assembled together, there's very

little cohesion or over-arching story here. The fly-on-the-wall visual style lends credence

to the picture's unscripted nature too, consistently cutting away to Spinal Tap's many shortcomings

and humorous issues during their on-stage performances, like when Shearer gets stuck

in a cocoon-like apparatus, forcing him to wail out his bass-solo in the cramped compartment.

Indeed, the movie is littered with dozens of little gags like this, including the group's

unexplained herpes, difficulties with their overly simplistic album cover, and overtly

misogynistic song lyrics. When Guest waxes poetic on a romantic ballad he's been arranging

influenced by Mozart and Bach, he then shares that the song's title is "Lick My Love Pump".

Despite the absurd and lewd material, their music is actually rather catchy - and should

appeal to most rock fans. U2 guitarist, The Edge famously said of the film, "I didn't

laugh, I wept. It was so close to the truth." And that is perhaps my biggest issue with

the movie: there's plenty of great concepts and jokes, but much like a great "The Onion"

article, it often induces more of a soft chuckle than true laughter. Still though, as the only

movie on IMDb to be rated out of eleven, "This Is Spinal Tap" is wonderful satire of rock

culture worth watching more than once, I thought it was COOL. Now let's check out some of your

reviews.

Opinions were a bit mixed on this one, but you enjoyed the sharp writing and silly music,

scoring this an EIGHT out of... "Eleven". Not quite as strong as remember, I'll score

this a COOL myself. Next up, "Spaceballs".

This sci-fi parody film written, produced, directed, and starring Mel Brooks was released

in June of 1987 - where it earned back slightly less than double its $22-million dollar budget.

Primarily functioning as a spoof of "Star Wars", this goofy and joke-filled 96-minute

movie also riffs on "Star Trek", "Alien", "Planet Of The Apes", and other Hollywood

classics. Functioning as a sort of Indiana Jones meets Han Solo analog, Bill Pullman

is featured in the lead role, who attempts to rescue Daphne Zuniga, a beautiful princess

from the supposedly evil Rick Moranis, as "Dark Helmet". Pullman's trusty sidekick is

a half-man, half-dog played charmingly by the late John Candy, while Zuniga's sidekick

is a female C-3PO-like droid voiced by the late Joan Rivers. This core group of five

players, plus Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, and Brooks himself handle the quick and sarcastic

dialogue perfectly - with top marks going to Moranis as the nerdy Darth Vader-type villain.

His initial entrance, revealing a helmet six times larger than his head is a tremendous

sight-gag, and one that had me literally hit "pause" the first time I saw this movie because

I was laughing so hard. When attempting to catch up to the escaped heroes, Moranis orders

his comically large spaceship to immediately jump to "ludicrous speed"... to which Candy

surprisingly exclaims, "They've gone to plaid!". A quote I loved so much, I had it printed

on a T-shirt you buy now at Jogwheel's all-new merchandise store, ThatReference.com! Speaking

of shameless plugs, a running gag involving "Spaceballs" merchandise, including toilet

paper, action figures, and even flamethrowers - is particularly amusing. Although Brooks

breaks the forth wall to hock some of these products, they sadly never existed in real

life: as this was the singular condition George Lucas requested when allowing the funnyman

to spoof his work. No doubt though, the standout sequence occurs when the bad guys resort to

watching a VHS cassette of the film itself to gain information. Seeing them interact

with the video loop in real-time is a wonderfully hilarious moment, and one my friend Riley

and I even poorly recreated in one of my earliest YouTube uploads. Despite containing a number

of swears, including the F-word, this movie is somehow still rated-PG, and I have fond

memories of this one when I was younger - but upon rewatching this recently, it honestly

didn't hold up that well. The adequately-paced story is supported by a disco-theme provided

by longtime Brooks collaborator, John Morris that overtly incorporates space-sound effects.

It works well enough, but more than anything, it dates the movie as a 1980's production.

The visual effects are competently handled by Apogee, Inc - who utilize some great model

and compositing work to bring the space adventure to life. Like most of Mel's work - this is

a goofy and harmless movie that should easily entertain younger audiences, and all fans

of Star Wars. "Spaceballs" is a quirky send-up of space fantasies with plenty of inspired

gags. Here's what you had to say in the YouTube comments.

A double EIGHT for "Spaceballs"... obvious praise goes to Mel Brooks and the endlessly

quotable dialogue, with both of us scoring this a GREAT. Even though I took most of the

summer off from my film reviewing duties, I was still hard at work over on the Movie

Night Archive channel, uploading various commentaries on recently released trailers - including

my most recent thoughts on the "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" teaser. So please subscribe

to that channel for more exclusive content, and a full library of every movie we've reviewed

so far. Finally tonight, here's my review of "Naked Gun: Files From The Police Squad!"