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Monty Python and the Holy Grail: 40th Anniversary Edition
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: 40th Anniversary Edition

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: 40th Anniversary Edition

(PG, 91 minutes)

This Blu-ray is a celebration of the wacky British comedy troupe's 1975 classic about a truly silly search by King Arthur and his knights for the Grail. It has inspired countless hilarious set pieces (like the knights who say Ni) and punchlines (like "that's no ordinary rabbit" and "bring out your dead") that never cease to be repeated by fans, and never cease to produce laughs.

Bonus features include a Q & A hosted by John Oliver with Python members Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, John Cleese and Eric Idle at New York's Beacon Theater during the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival; outtakes and extended scenes; lost animations; commentary by the cast; three sing-along songs; featurettes; a photo gallery; and the original theatrical trailer. The Limited Edition Gift Set features collectible castle packaging with a working catapult and rubber farm animals.

The Fifth Element (PG-13, 126 minutes) and Leon: The Professional (R, 110 minutes)

The Fifth Element, a 1997 futuristic good-and-evil thriller directed by Luc Besson, concerns New York cab driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), who picks up a unique fare consisting of a perfect beauty, a perfect being, and a perfect weapon. Together, they must save the world. With Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm.

Leon: The Professional, a stylish and violent 1994 actioner, also directed by Besson, is about a professional assassin (Jean Reno) in New York whose work becomes dangerously personal when he becomes the guardian of 12-year-old Mathilda (Natalie Portman) after his next-door neighbors are murdered. With Danny Aiello, Gary Oldman.

Part of the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Supreme Cinema Series now available on Blu-ray, each of these films features a high-definition picture, enhanced sound, making-of featurettes, and limited-edition collector's packaging and a 24-page booklet of photos and behind-the-scenes detail.

Max (PG, 111 minutes) A perilous and ambitious war critique, slowed by sentimentality, in which a military Belgian Malinois, working in Afghanistan with the Marines, is adopted by his late handler's grieving family in east Texas. With Josh Wiggins, Thomas Haden Church, Lauren Graham, Jay Hernandez; directed by Boaz Yakin.

Tu Dors Nicole (unrated, 93 minutes) A dreamy, episodic crossroads drama in black-and-white in which recent college graduate Nicole (Julianne Cote), glumly working part time at a secondhand clothing store in her small Quebec hometown, gets a jolt of inspiration when her brother and his bandmates show up unexpectedly. With Marc-Andre Grondin, Juliette Gosselin; directed by Stephane Lafleur. In French with English subtitles.

Southpaw (R, 123 minutes) A depressing, predictable melodrama featuring well-prepared Jake Gyllenhaal as Billy "The Great" Hope, the reigning junior middleweight boxing champ of the world, whose lavish lifestyle is destroyed by a tragedy. Hence, a struggle for redemption ensues. With Rachel McAdams, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Forest Whitaker, Naomie Harris; directed by Antoine Fuqua.

Pixels (PG-13, 106 minutes) Silly, uneven and sprinkled with bits of real comedy here and there, Pixels concerns an alien misinterpretation of classic arcade-game video feeds as a declaration of war against them, provoking them to attack the Earth using games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Galag, Centipede and Space Invaders as models for assaults. So president Will Cooper (Kevin James) calls on 1980s video game champion Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler) to lead a team of old-school arcaders (Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad) to defeat the aliens and save the planet.

Blu-ray bonus materials include music video "Game On," two featurettes on the games in the film, looks at classic arcade game characters, and commentary by Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani.

MovieStyle on 10/30/2015

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