I haven't seen Four Weddings and a Funeral since it came out, but I remember it being a fun, quality movie -- more so than your usual rom-com flavor. The Hugh Grant-starring film not only brought in a good chunk of coin and fans, but it also received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Screenplay. However, is it the best British movie of all time? That I'm not so sure about. Yes folks, the Hugh Grant comedy was recently listed the best British Film, according to a poll conducted by Virgin Media (via AOL UK).

Having polled 1,000 adults on June 25 and 26, Virgin notes that Four Weddings took in 22% of the vote, to get the top spot. The rom-com squeaked right by the wonderful Monty Python's Life of Brian, which suffered defeat by just 1% and grabbed the #2 spot. (It's also the only film that boasts a little age.) After that comedy classic, things get rougher and tougher. Next came Trainspotting with 15% of the vote, then Casino Royale with 10%, and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels came in #5 with 8%.

One of the scenes in Forgetting Sarah Marshall that people will be talking about over the virtual water cooler next week is the one that involves Jason Segel doing full frontal nudity. Yes, he lets it all hang out, and what's admirable is that he does it purely for the sake of a joke. That takes courage! That takes guts! That takes ... well, you know.

This isn't the first film to use nudity for laughs, of course. Comical naughty bits have a rich history in Hollywood. Here are seven movies with hilarious nudity.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
What's funnier than a naked dude? A naked FAT dude. And what's funnier than a naked fat dude? A naked fat dude wrestling a naked skinny dude in a hotel room, and a hotel hallway, and a hotel elevator, etc., etc.

Now that Blu-ray will officially take over the HD market with regards to DVDs, it's about time you pick yourself up a player. You'll find, though, that once you purchase a Blu-ray player, the DVDs are crazy expensive. Some, like massive special editions, cost up to $40-50. I'm sorry, but that's a lot of money for a movie. In fact, ever since receiving my Blu-ray player (in the form of PS3) back at Christmas, it took me forever to purchase my first Blu-ray DVD. That film came this past weekend when I splurged and picked up I Am Legend (for a whopping $35!). Ah, but now, Amazon has a wicked deal for those of you who desperately want more Blu-ray DVDs, but don't have the money to shovel out.

Right now, Amazon is running a buy two, get one free on a lot of their Blu-ray discs. Better yet, the discs are already on sale. For example, the Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition), originally priced at $40, is now only $27.95. You can even get 300 on Blu-ray for $23. Throw both of those in your queue, and you get to pick out one Blu-ray DVD for free! Not a bad deal if you ask me. Some of the DVDs they're offering on Blu-ray include Monty Python's Life of Brian ($19.95), The Departed ($23.95), Unforgiven ($19.95), Reservoir Dogs ($20.95), First Blood ($20.95) and a whole lot more. So check it out and have a blast -- you have until April 18.

[via Slashfilm]

This month has been absolutely dismal for new movie DVD releases. In revolt, I'm giving you two re-issues of great, classic flicks.

Groundhog Day -- 15th Anniversary Edition
It's hard to believe that this comedy came out 15 years ago. Coincidentally, it came at the end of Harold Ramis' 15-year reign in comedy -- starting with Animal House in 1978, and following with the likes of Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, and Ghost Busters. Bill Murray stars as a weather man who was sent to cover the whole Groundhog Day phenomenon and finds himself in a time loop where he keeps living the same day over and over and over again. It could've been bland, as the man learns how to be a better person, but with Murray's exasperation and snark, it was a sweet and beloved comedy that's even ranked on IMDb's Top 250 Films (#184).

The DVD features imports from the last disc offered to fans, plus a featurette about Ramis' recollections about the film, deleted scenes, and a feature on the marmot.

DVD Particulars from Christopher Campbell | Buy the DVD


Monty Python's Life of Brian -- The Immaculate Edition
Ah, Monty Python. It's John Cleese before Wine for the Confused, Terry Gilliam before Parnassus, Eric Idle before Not the Messiah...you get the picture. One of the Python classics, which Idle's recent live performance piece comes from, Life of Brian handles the story of the Jew named Brian who is born in a stable right next to the big JC. Later, he joins the People's Front of Judea, gets in trouble, and gets out of it by faking religious chatter and becoming a reluctant, and cursed, Messiah. Graham Chapman's Brian, the classic and insidiously catchy "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" -- it's all good, even 29 years later.

The 2-disc edition holds a ton of features (both new perks and old ones from the Criterion edition) including -- an animated menu, deleted scenes, an hour-long documentary, 2 commentaries featuring the likes of Gilliam, Idle, Jones, Palin, AND Cleese, radio spots, and a script read-through from 1977.

DVD Particulars from Scott Weinberg | Buy the DVD


Other New DVD Releases (January 29)

El Cid -- 2-Disc Deluxe Edition or Collector's Edition
The Invasion
King of California
Trade
Bordertown
The Nines
Rocket Science
The Comebacks
Canvas

Check out Peter Martin's Indies on DVD for even more new releases.

Enough with the same old lists of favorite holiday movies! Every year, I see the same entries, probably because there hasn't been a good Christmas movie in years. At least here at Cinematical we shake things up a bit and present you with our favorite Christmas horror, favorite Christmas action, favorite holiday musicals, favorite Christmas movies for Jews, favorites you probably haven't seen, favorite R-rated Christmas, Scrooge's favorites, least favorite obnoxious Christmas comedies and we have a guy who really hates the usual favorites, including A Christmas Story.

Last year we also had a list of non-Christmas movies set during Christmas. Somewhat similar to that, I present you with my favorite non-Christmas movies NOT set during Christmas. I know, that just defines any movie that isn't a holiday movie. I could pick ... Old School ... or The Hunt for Red October. But there's actually some logic here. On Christmas I like to avoid all true holiday movies, whether they are about Christmas, set at Christmas, make fun of Christmas, steal Christmas, blow sh*t up at Christmas, whatever. Yet there is enough holiday spirit in me to choose movies that could almost just barely be associated with Christmas, at least for me. So, if you're tired of It's a Wonderful Life, Gremlins, Home Alone, Santa Claus: The Movie, or whatever you normally watch today, try out one or seven of these:

My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)

I've never been a big fan of Santa Claus as a character. If I had to reinvent Christmas I'd choose another large jolly figure that brings joy to young children: the Totoro, specifically the largest, O-Totoro/Miminzuku. He's kind of like Santa without the annoying "ho, ho, ho", and he's probably more fun to fly with (the Catbus is likely also more comfy than a reindeer-led sleigh). Sure, Totoro's origins are more Shinto than Christian, but isn't appropriation what Christmas is all about?


Brewster's Millions (Walter Hill, 1985)

Or is Christmas really all about consumerism? The Richard Pryor and John Candy version of George Barr McCutcheon's novel (also adapted in 1914, 1921, 1926, 1935, 1945 and 1961) is one of my favorite movies that both celebrates and scorns the idea of being rich and the act of spending money frivolously (Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is another). In the movie, Pryor is a minor league baseball player who inherits $30 million that he has to blow in 30 days, after which if he's successful at maintaining no assets or savings, he receives $300 million. Another fun Pryor comedy that would make for great holiday viewing is The Toy, in which he's bought by Jackie Gleason as a plaything for his son (but that one might be viewed as a tad too racist nowadays).

If there's something Martin Scorsese knows about almost as much as movies, it's music from the '60s. Apparently. Why else would he be on such a roll these days with music documentaries on iconic acts from that time? First there was the wonderful Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home; now he's about to release a Rolling Stones doc titled Shine a Light; and he's just announced another doc he's going to make about George Harrison. According to Variety, the film will be more of a comprehensive biography, covering Harrison's time in The Beatles, as a solo artist, his Eastern religious/philosophical interests and even his stint a movie producer (his Handmade Films gave us Monty Python's Life of Brian and Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits). Scorsese is producing with Olivia Harrison (George's widow) and his No Direction Home producer Nigel Sinclair, and filming will begin with some interviews later this year. It will take awhile to finish, of course. The untitled pic will again be edited by David Tedeschi, who also cut the other two Scorsese music docs.

Maybe if time permits, Scorsese can do more '60s icons after he's done with Harrison. Neil Young may not be worth another film, and The Doors doc would probably be better suited to Oliver Stone, but surely we could use a Scorsese-directed film about Eric Clapton or any of the girl groups (The Shirelles, The Ronettes, The Marvellettes, The Crystals, The Shangri-Las) he likes to use for his soundtracks. Hey, he could just do a doc on girl groups. It's so good to see Scorsese getting back to music docs so long after working as an assistant director on Woodstock, and later as director of The Last Waltz, and I can't wait to see what else he's got planned. Anyway, there's no use thinking so far ahead. I'm still simply waiting for Shine a Light, which doesn't come out until April, and I'm definitely looking forward to the Harrison film, which will feature a ton of archival footage provided by his family and is expected to feature surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Like most hardcore movie nerds, I'm a huge Monty Python fan. And while I do own that massive Flying Circus box set, the goody-laced Monty Python Live! double feature, and even a few of their old albums ... my Python movies are my very favorite pieces of the collection. (I don't really count And Now for Something Completely Different as a "true" movie, and the Live at Hollywood Bowl concert flick is included in the MP Live! set.) So basically that only leaves three actual Monty Python movies: The legendary Monty Python and the Holy Grail (awesome Special Edition right here), the inconsistent but frequently hilarious The Meaning of Life (SE here), and the first ninth second Monty movie out of the gate...

Life of Brian! And if you wanted to own a solid version of this movie on DVD, you had to invest about $35 on this (really excellent) Criterion Collection release. (Or you could opt for this bare-bones and lame-transfer DVD.) But as of November 7 you'll have another option! According to DVDActive.com, Sony will release Life of Brian: The Immaculate Edition on that date, and you Pythonites should have a ball with what's included.

In addition to the main feature (which is just as hilarious today as it ever was), we'll also get TWO Python commentaries (one with Gilliam, Idle and Jones; the other with Cleese and Palin; unfortunately Chapman is still dead), a two-hour animated original script "readthrough" (!), an all-new 60-minute behind-the-scenes documentary (and I'm sure they'll cover the original controversy surrounding the film), five deleted scenes, some goofy old radio ads, and (as they say) more! Finally my Python Cinema Trilogy will be ... upgraded! (Again!) To those who already own the Criterion set, the question is this: Are the new doco and the nifty-sounding 'readthrough' piece worth the price of the platters? Because I'm pretty sure the rest of the goodies CAN be found on that Criterion release.

You know how Eric Idle once got it into his head that a big lavish musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be an awesome idea? And how the thing turned into a huge success that left patrons, critics and soundtrack producers clapping their hands in giddy pleasure? Well, guess what?

Life of Brian looks to be the next Python classic that's destined for the stage. EW.com's Scott Brown explains numerous things, including what the play will be called (Not the Messiah), why the thing is opening in Toronto instead of New York (religious kooks), and what exactly an "oratorio" is, information that I found pretty helpful.

Having not yet seen the Grail-inspired Spamalot, which I hear is pretty damn hilarious, I haven't much else to add on this story. But Life of Brian is absolutely one of the finest satires I've ever seen, so here's hoping Idle's new version retains that same sense of venomous playfulness. And let me know when the underrated The Meaning of Life becomes a big expensive "oratorio." It's already got that amazingly fun "Every Sperm is Sacred" number.

P.S. How is it that Spamalot: The Movie is not already in production??