 
Jabberwocky   Not the poem by Lewis Carroll, but Terry Gilliam's first film as solo director, starring Michael Palin as a dull young man who just wants to be with the fat, ugly girl he loves, but instead winds up going on a great adventure, slaying a fearsome beast and winding up with a beautiful princess, all of which he doesn't enjoy at all!Terry Jones, Gilliam himself and Neil Innes all have cameos in this film. A decent first effort for the director, this is easily Gilliam's weakest film, but even considering the high quality of Gilliam's later work this is still a good film in its own right. The main problem is that Gilliam has not completely separated himself from Python as a director here - although funny in a subtle, dark, grotesque sort of way, the film looks like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and so the audience expects bigger laughs. In his later films, Gilliam would establish his own style as a director much more clearly, and become one of the great directors of our time. 
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)"We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold ..." Terry Gilliam directed and cowrote this adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel, a twisted true story about a journalist and a lawyer who crash into Las Vegas while out of their minds on drugs, making fools of themselves in a last attempt to remember what the 60s were all about, just as the corruption of the Nixon years and the 1970s is setting in. Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro give great performances in this hilarious, bizarre, shocking, depressing, comic tragedy of a film. "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man ..." Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Screenplay by Terry Gilliam and Tony Grisoni, based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson. Our Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Screensaver for Windows 
The Fisher KingTerry Gilliam directs this Oscar-nominated film about love, friendship, Ethel Merman and the search for the Holy Grail. Jeff Bridges plays a former wiseguy disk jockey who loses everything when something he says on-air causes a murder. Now penniless, he meets a delusional homeless man, Parry (Robin Williams), who also lost everything, after his wife was murdered, and is now haunted by visions of a red knight. Bound by fate, the two must put their lives back together ... Can Parry overcome his madness and win the heart of a shy girl (Amanda Plummer), and get his life back on track? And is the Holy Grail really hidden in New York City?Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Amanda Plummer and Mercedes Ruehl (who won an Oscar) give terrific performances in this film written by Richard Lagravanese. This is the first film Terry Gilliam directed that he did not write. Gilliam connected with Lagravanese's script and wanted to make the film. One of Gilliam's best - a great film from a master director. Twelve MonkeysTerry Gilliam directs this film about a man who has been sent from the future to our time to find out more about a virus which killed most of humanity. But is he really from the future, or is he simply insane? Even he doesn't know ... Starring Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and Madeline Stowe.Twelve Monkeys: Screenplay from the Terry Gilliam film, by Jan and David Peoples. LabyrinthClassic fantasy film by Jim Henson (The Muppets). Starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie. Executive produced by George Lucas. Terry Jones was called in to write the screenplay, inspired by the art of Brian Froud. Jones wrote several drafts, but he could tell that Henson wanted to take the film in different directions than he did. Jones enjoyed working with Henson, but doesn't really recognize the final film as his. Jones is happier with artist Brian Froud's book "Goblins of the Labyrinth," which was inspired by the film, calling it the film they should have made. Jones and Brian Froud would continue to work together, creating silly but lovely books like "Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book."Labyrinth: Screenplay by Terry Jones, for Jim Henson. 
Transformers: the Movie (1986)Eric Idle plays the voice of Wreck-Gar the junk king in this animated film, based on the popular kid's toys. Visit our Transformers the Movie page.
The MissionaryMichael Palin wrote and starred in this period piece, which is fairly similar in tone to Palin's tv series Ripping Yarns. Palin plays a clergyman who returns home after ten years in Africa to marry a woman who turns out to be an incredible bore. As the wedding preparations continue, Palin fights off the amorous advances of a rich benefactor (Maggie Smith), and goes into service reaching out to fallen women, trying to get prostitutes to change their ways. But the fallen women wind up falling for him! And it's Palin who changes his ways, becoming a man of the ladies rather than a man of the cloth. Will he miss his own wedding? Can he stop his rich benefactor from murdering her husband? And can she convert the missionary?Not a very good film, but often very funny in that Palin sort of way. Neil Innes has a cameo as a strange-looking cockney singer, and sings the end credits tune, "Put On Your Ta-Ta Little Girlie." American FriendsMichael Palin considers this his most personal film - he wrote it based on a memoir of a Victorian ancestor, who gave up a high position at Oxford to be with the woman he loved, causing a scandal. A touching drama and romance starring Palin, Trini Alvarado and Connie Booth.
A Private FunctionMichael Palin again stars with Maggie Smith in this film by Alan Bennett. Palin stars as a meek podiatrist who becomes caught up in a scheme to hold a ham dinner in a time during the war where food is rationed, and ham is scarce. Gently amusing little film, very much in the same vein as Palin's other period-comedy work such as "The Missionary" and "Ripping Yarns." |
