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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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Your Highness
Your HighnessQuote: Your Highness is a 2011 action fantasy comedy film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Danny McBride and Ben Best, and starring McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Zooey Deschanel. Filming began in the summer of 2009 in Northern Ireland and concluded in October 2009. The film was released in theatres on April 8, 2011.
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict.
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Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:28 pm |
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Libs
Sbil
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:38 pm Posts: 48626 Location: Arlington, VA
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Re: Your Highness
Pretty disappointing considering the potential and the pedigree involved. I kept feeling like there was a hilarious "medieval stoner comedy" struggling to emerge from the finished product at several points, but something went awry somewhere. Your Highness is not a horrible film and contains some decent laughs, but the film seems to think its biggest laughs are the characters saying "fuck" and "shit" a lot, and it gets rather tiresome. David Gordon Green seems lost directing a film like this, as the pacing is consistently uneven. The special effects and the "serious dialogue" (when actually employed) are laughably bad but that should be expected. Danny McBride is consistently unlikable as the lead, while James Franco goes from giving one of the best performances of 2010 to mostly standing around looking pretty (although he does it well!). Natalie Portman is definitely the highlight, as even though she is underused, she gets to kick butt and delivers some of her lines with relish. And I'm just going to assume Zooey Deschenal's useless appearance in this film was a favor to the director. My harsh review probably makes me sound like I totally hated it, which I didn't. I just expected a lot more and walked out disappointed. C
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Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:06 pm |
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jmovies
Let's Call It A Bromance
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:22 pm Posts: 12333
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Re: Your Highness
Your Highness is not as strong as Pineapple Express but is still a riot. The critics I believe got this one wrong at this film is filled with constant great jokes. Now some may not like it because Danny McBride essentially acts like his other character Kenny Powers, but it works really well. James Franco also does a really good job as does Natalie Portman. Some jokes are so out there that they could offend some them but if you're not offended than it is truly a great theater experience. I bet there was a lot of jokes I missed from laughing and as such I wouldn't mind watching it again. Funniest film so far this year. ***1/2
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Sat Apr 09, 2011 4:50 pm |
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Viper Rodgers
Leader of the Pack
Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2006 3:35 am Posts: 1526 Location: A better place
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Re: Your Highness
Its been awhile since I've written a review, let alone post one, so its time to break that streak... Quote: The masterminds who brought us the contemporary classic “Pineapple Express” three years ago are back with an epic take on medieval quests and shenanigans. Oh wait… This is a review of “Your Highness,” the latest immature stoner flick starring Danny McBride. In that case, screw the praise; let’s talk about the juvenile douchebaggery that runs rampant in a movie that teases to be a clambake, but merely offers an amusing comedic high.
In the film, McBride (“Due Date”) stars as Prince Thadeous, a spoiled loser, second in line to the thrown. With his brother Fabious (James Franco, “127 Hours”) fills the role of the gallant and bold king-to-be, Thadeous makes a living off smoking the finest herbs, harassing his girlish servant Courtney (feature film newcomer, Rasmus Hardiker), and mastering an alternate form of sword play. When Fabious’ bride-to-be (Zooey Deschanel, “(500) Days of Summer”) is kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Leezar (Justin Theroux, “Megamind”), Thadeous is forced to accompany his brother on the quest to save the virginal princess before Leezar deflowers not only her, but their entire kingdom.
Enthusiasts of cinematic toker tales rejoice: director David Gordon Green’s second drug-filled effort is built specifically to entertain those who are easily pleased. Bringing little to no depth to a plot that can best be described as “Merlin: Up in Smoke,” “Your Highness” contradicts its impressive special effects budget with the shallowest dialogue imaginable.
Ben Best’s and McBride’s script is your everyday Old English jargon, highlighted by profanity at the end of each sentence. If someone isn’t proclaiming “shit” at the end of a dialogue, it’s most likely because he or she had already discussed sodomy or burning beavers a few moments earlier. As entertaining as this may be – especially conversations about Leezar’s commencement of “The Fuckening” – repetition does not work in this film’s favor.
Quite comfortable in their roles, Franco and McBride play the pretty-boy and deadbeat with honor. With every swoosh of his hair, the failed Oscar host dashingly slays every foe and cheeses up lines with that shit-eating grin. Then there’s the whiny McBride, who clumsily find his way through fights with giant hydras, elaborate labyrinths and awkward moments with traveling companion/warrior Isabel (Natalie Portman, “No Strings Attached”). That doesn’t mean his ego isn’t the size of the Minotaur’s penis (disturbingly large), he castrates along the quest’s way.
The supporting cast induces plenty of laughs through ridiculous one-liners, but fails to leave any impression along the way. Portman and Deschanel do sexy and cute, respectively, as well as any actresses out there and Theroux’s turn as the stubbornly villainous Leezar, is as entertainingly clichéd as they come.
Never-the-less, “Your Highness” delivers on the lowest of expectations by stoner genre standards. The plot-twists and jokes are by the numbers and the obvious effort to create comedic adventure of such grandeur scale is admirable… kinda. In the end, the film, like the act of dope-smoking itself, is more than likely to leave you giddily craving something more.
C+
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Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:57 pm |
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movies35
Forum General
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:53 pm Posts: 8626 Location: Syracuse, NY
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Re: Your Highness
My best friend, my boyfriend and I all walked out of this Friday night. It was absolutely awful.
_________________ Top 10 Films of 2016
1. La La Land 2. Other People 3. Nocturnal Animals 4. Swiss Army Man 5. Manchester by the Sea 6. The Edge of Seventeen 7. Sing Street 8. Indignation 9. The Lobster 10. Hell or High Water
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Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:09 pm |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm Posts: 11019
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Re: Your Highness
two thumbs up
_________________ k
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Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:31 pm |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm Posts: 15197 Location: Planet Xatar
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Re: Your Highness
What a royal treat! This April, I've been fortunate enough to see two exemplary examples of the comedy with a heart of gold genre that is so rarely done as well as this pair. First, there was the supreme Paul, and now it is the equally supreme Your Highness. Both told with a sincerity of tone that has sadly grown out of fashion in the snide world of today. They both feature many outrageously out-there comedy moments courtesy of their genre busting hybrid heritage. Both are exquisite stars in the glorious humorverse. Naturally, this movie is custom made for James Franco's talents! Nobody goes "full stupid" like Jimmy do! But of course, the true star is Danny McBride - - comedy master - - he has gone from strength to strength to strength. Here he once again shows the range of his copious talents. And Natalie Portman plays along with the boys in a most enjoyable manner - - her winks at her own filmography are deliciously layered into the tale. Zooey Deschanel, in her own smaller way this time out, adds her own charms. Best of all, director David Gordon Green seems to have reigned in the excess that killed the conclusion of Pineapple Express. Here in Your Highness he seems to trust the tale, and the surprisingly, good yet cheesy FX that anchor many of the most hilarious sequences in this very funny film. This is a well crafted movie that will stand up to repeated viewings over the decades to come and be sure to turn up on TCM on more than one Saturday night in the 2070's. Your Highness is top five material. ²/₂₀₀₀₀₀₀
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 12:33 am |
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Shack
Devil's Advocate
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:30 am Posts: 38011
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Re: Your Highness
Fucking loved it. Every bit as good as the excellent Pineapple Express.
I think the key is that amidst all the crazyness, the characters still come off as genuine. In a weird way the McBride character is played straight for long periods. A worse director would've turned him into the medeival Ron Burgandy and turned Courtney into a walking perv joke and it would've been a generic slapstick dumb guy/ass comedy. I mean McBride wears a minotaur's penis for a necklace and then gives it Natalie Portman as a parting gift, and you buy it 100%. How awesome is that? And I mean, the plot actually matters here. It's not why the film is good, but it's not 'we'll just come up with something to put them in ridiculous situations'. DGG knows that a strong foundation of plot and believable characters can make comedies much better just as much as it does in dramas
His directorial transformation has been AWESOME. Who would've thought? I don't think he took Pineapple Express, Eastbound and Down and Your Highness for the money. I think he just woke up one day and realized decided to go the complete other direction
_________________Shack’s top 50 tv shows - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=90227
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:16 pm |
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baumer
Star Trek XI
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:48 pm Posts: 343
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Re: Your Highness
Fucking hated it.
1/10
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Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:48 am |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm Posts: 15197 Location: Planet Xatar
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Re: Your Highness
He may still have the most inconsistent taste this side of sourdough, but at least baumer dropped by for a visit!
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Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:53 am |
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baumer
Star Trek XI
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:48 pm Posts: 343
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Re: Your Highness
How is my taste incosistent? I'd say it's very consistent.
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Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:38 pm |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm Posts: 15197 Location: Planet Xatar
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Re: Your Highness
baumer wrote: How is my taste incosistent? I'd say it's very consistent. Your taste in film is almost as consistent as your spelling - - though it's undeniably baumeresque.
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Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:38 pm |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm Posts: 15197 Location: Planet Xatar
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Re: Your Highness
It's not too late to have the privilege of catching this great movie in first run!
(Watch for the DVD reviews to start coming in over the next few years - - eg: "Why didn't anybody tell me how good this was?", "An undiscovered comedy treasure!", "An actual good medieval tale underpins the humor in this unexpectedly fine film.", "I was looking back at the early movies of comedy superstar Danny McBride, and can't believe people didn't bust down the theatre doors to catch this hilarious masterpiece back in 2011!?!"...)
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Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:35 pm |
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MovieDude
Where will you be?
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:50 am Posts: 11675
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Re: Your Highness
A royal misfire. I had high hopes for David Gordon Green's follow up to Pineapple Express, my personal favorite Apatow comedy. But as Libs said, it seems like someone shit in the pie during post-production. That's not to say the visual effects and production design are bad. Actually, the world they create is full of inventive creatures and towns. I seriously doubt Universal's claim of a 50 million budget - this looked way better than Stardust, among comparable titles. Unfortunately, all the fancy special effects and big action scenes can't keep one from noticing the film is a comedic misfire. The cast seems game, but for every funny joke, and there are a few, at least three are absolutely dead-on arrival. A part of me wanted to assume that some evil producer had purposely slipped into the editing room to make as many seemingly good lines fall flat. But without an after-credits gag reel to suggest there's a much funnier movie left on the cutting room floor, I've got to assume that they really just thought that profanity and endless rape jokes were going to suffice. I'm all for vulgarity when used right, but here the molestation jokes and rampant profanity came off as profoundly lazy. I had heard that this was supposed to be a spoof of 1980s midevil movies, and the robotic bird and goofy post credits music support that concept. I'd have liked to have seen that movie, but instead we get a schizophrenic would-be comedy that works best when it forgets to try and entertain with low, low comedy. That's a bit harsh - there's about a dozen really funny moments peppered throughout. But overall the whole thing felt terribly schizophrenic, and is my personal biggest dissapointment of 2011 to date.
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Thu May 05, 2011 7:53 am |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm Posts: 11019
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Re: Your Highness
handle your shit fabious
_________________ k
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Mon May 09, 2011 6:08 pm |
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Libs
Sbil
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:38 pm Posts: 48626 Location: Arlington, VA
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Re: Your Highness
This is such a randomly mediocre movie to champion, yoshue. Truly don't get it. This feels like if you were arguing Ready to Rumble is a classic of our time.
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Mon May 09, 2011 6:14 pm |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm Posts: 11019
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Re: Your Highness
Not at all. When y'all are extolling its virtues ten years from now, remember I told you so.
_________________ k
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Mon May 09, 2011 6:53 pm |
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movies35
Forum General
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:53 pm Posts: 8626 Location: Syracuse, NY
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Re: Your Highness
No way. This is the only movie I have ever walked out of in all my movie going years.
_________________ Top 10 Films of 2016
1. La La Land 2. Other People 3. Nocturnal Animals 4. Swiss Army Man 5. Manchester by the Sea 6. The Edge of Seventeen 7. Sing Street 8. Indignation 9. The Lobster 10. Hell or High Water
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Mon May 09, 2011 8:24 pm |
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MovieDude
Where will you be?
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:50 am Posts: 11675
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Re: Your Highness
That was a funny line... But while this movie has its moments, so many more fell flat. Compared to Pineapple Express, it is hugely hit or miss.
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Sun May 15, 2011 10:58 am |
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David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
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Re: Your Highness
Not quite as awful as the reviews suggest, but certainly not good either. It's the least interesting David Gordon Green film to date, to be sure. When Pineapple Express came out, it was compelling to watch a wistful art-house director known for his visual adroitness transition into mainstream, relatively broad comedy. In addition to being hilarious, the film had heart and integrity. It felt at ease with itself, its purpose, and its audience. Your Highness does not. Green's approach here is more exhausting than inspired. A film such as this should be swift and light, defined by a certain zany effortlessness, not laborious, yet laborious is exactly what Your Highness is. I hate to sound prudish, but the over-reliance on profanity, gore, and scatology becomes numbing. The profanity in particular. "Oh, he just dropped the f bomb for the 50th time in a medieval setting. Ha." The third-act sight of Danny McBride's character wearing a severed minotaur penis is, in this trying-too-hard film, merely shrug-worthy.
What partly redeems Your Highness is its A-list ensemble cast. James Franco, for example, is endearing as hopelessly dashing, perfectly coiffed Fabious, and Zooey Deschanel, though deeply underutilized, is as elegant and easy to watch as ever as the damsel-in-distress. These individuals are compelling on screen and have a natural comic appeal, even as their director and script underwhelm again and again.
C
_________________1. The Lost City of Z - 2. A Cure for Wellness - 3. Phantom Thread - 4. T2 Trainspotting - 5. Detroit - 6. Good Time - 7. The Beguiled - 8. The Florida Project - 9. Logan and 10. Molly's Game
Last edited by David on Sun Apr 13, 2014 12:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Fri May 27, 2011 11:47 pm |
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David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
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Re: Your Highness
The best/funniest/most inspired scene is definitely the visit to the perverted wise man.
Oh, and the shots of McBride drunkenly chasing the sheep outside the castle were nice.
_________________1. The Lost City of Z - 2. A Cure for Wellness - 3. Phantom Thread - 4. T2 Trainspotting - 5. Detroit - 6. Good Time - 7. The Beguiled - 8. The Florida Project - 9. Logan and 10. Molly's Game
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Fri May 27, 2011 11:51 pm |
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trixster
loyalfromlondon
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:31 pm Posts: 19697 Location: ville-marie
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Re: Your Highness
Some funny stuff here, but it's mostly a big miss. Danny McBride is just a total fucking asshole. David Gordon Green's career trajectory is dejecting and unfortunate.
_________________Magic Mike wrote: zwackerm wrote: If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes. Same. Algren wrote: I don't think. I predict.
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Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:45 am |
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BK
Forum General
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:30 am Posts: 7041
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Re: Your Highness
I found this pretty bloody entertaining.
It's thoroughly B-grade, relies on a lot of profanity, sex and gutter humour for laughs and has characters so thin I wouldn't term them one-dimensional yet it achieved what it set out to do, which was basically being a medieval stoner comedy with profanity.
I think it could be rewatchable and I wouldn't say I wouldn't watch it again, but, McBride's character really is an asshole throughout. Makes me think of the Green Hornet which was also enjoyable but had Rogen the dick throughout and thus it really weighed on the film. At least this movie was basically for shits and giggles whereas TGH was trying to tell a story and make you care.
There's nothing spectacular here (effects, direction, acting, cinematography, editing is all shit for example), just a pretty good time.
B
_________________ Calls Ghost Rider + Clash of the Titans = 2x Wrath of the Titans + Ghost Rider 2 Lorax over Despicable Me Men in Black 3 Under 100m Madagascar 3 Under 100m Rise of the Guardians over 250m
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Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:18 am |
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thompsoncory
Rachel McAdams Fan
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:13 am Posts: 14544 Location: LA / NYC
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Re: Your Highness
This movie was really, really stupid, but I still found myself laughing a lot more than I was expecting to. It kind of works on a campy level and some of the dialogue is just so bizarrely hilarious. Natalie Portman is definitely the highlight, though she is unfortunately underused. B-
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Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:40 am |
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BK
Forum General
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:30 am Posts: 7041
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Re: Your Highness
The sole purpose of this movie is to see high, I presume. It would have made every single thing hilarious.
Because actually, if you start to think about it, the movie is hard to like. The plot is an evil wizard wants to rape a prince's bride to spawn a devil dragon. All the characters either than Portman are some sort of idiot, asshole or weird and then you've got a paedophile alien, minotaur's dick and whatnot else.
I might bump it down a slight grade.
_________________ Calls Ghost Rider + Clash of the Titans = 2x Wrath of the Titans + Ghost Rider 2 Lorax over Despicable Me Men in Black 3 Under 100m Madagascar 3 Under 100m Rise of the Guardians over 250m
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Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:27 am |
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