andymcc_80

After seeing the trailer for this film a few months ago I was really looking forward to the films release, I enjoyed Pineapple Express and was hoping for more of the same from Your Highness. There are plenty of good actors in the film and the premise and setting all had potential, setting it during the medieval period inevitably makes you think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and unfortunately this film never comes remotely close to the brilliance of Python's medieval comic masterpiece. Danny McBride plays the same character he always plays, only this time with a bad English accent, the character doesn't work in this film at all and for me McBride has worn the character out, he brings nothing new and didn't once make me laugh during the film. James Franco isn't bad but he isn't great either and Natalie Portman's role could have been played by any actress, she add nothing to the role other than a nice backside in her very brief semi nude scene. I can't recall the last time I fell asleep during a film but around the 60 minute mark I think I dropped off for a couple of minutes, not a good sign when watching any film let alone a comedy. The bulk of the jokes weren't so much jokes as merely swear words, in medieval epics of years gone by swearing doesn't really feature and so the the screenwriters(McBride) seem to think that by simply swearing the audience will find it funny, the first time they do this it raises a smile but after 10mins it becomes more annoying than funny and just feels lazy. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone, if anyone asks I'll tell them to re-watch The Holy Grail, at least they'll get a laugh out of that.

I watch quite a few foreign language films(from all over the world), and find that many of the most original and entertaining films being made today are not coming from Hollywood. Korea is producing some astounding drama/action films and Vietnam and Thailand are making some of the best out and out action films of the last few years. Tony Jaa opened the worlds eyes to the type of films that haven't been made since the early days of Jackie Chan, Chocolate showed that female leads can match or outdo many male stars in the genre. I say all this because going into Bay Rong I had hoped the film would be a combination of the best bits of Asian cinema, sadly I was disappointed. The acting is not really all that bad but as someone else has mentioned feels like it belongs in a soap opera at times. If the action is good I can overlook some bad acting, I'm thinking of the Warrior King and the brutal fight scenes it had but dire acting. This film never seems to reach the heights(or depths) that would make it stand out, the action isn't bad but it isn't great either, the fights felt very choreographed and didn't have the brutal and dangerous feel of films like Ong Bak or Merantau. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone but at the same time there are far worse films out there. If you like Asian cinema and can see it cheaply it might be worth seeing, I gave it 5 out of 10, I didn't hate it but didn't love it either.

This documentary was awful, it was boring, contained no information about Giger or his working methods and showed nothing of his life or inspirations. The entire film seemed to be made up of fan interviews each explaining why Giger is a genius but showing very little proof of the claims, Gigers work was shown only in short clips and the man himself appears for no more than 5 minutes of the film. Like many people my main knowledge of Gigers work is from the Alien films so I was hoping this documentary would expand and broaden my knowledge of his work and influences but sadly this wasn't the case, save your time and money and buy a book of the mans work instead.