DavidGordonGreen Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I really enjoy Natalie Portman when she cuts loose and has some fun (albeit not in that Manic Pixie Dream Girl sort of way) outside of her dramatic indie fare. So color me happy that she's just signed onto a comedy. It's not just any comedy either, as Variety reports that she's joined Your Highness, the medieval farce starring James Franco and Danny McBride.

As you might remember, Your Highness teams McBride and Franco back up with their Pinapple Express director, David Gordon Green. McBride (who penned the script with Ben Best) plays an arrogant, lazy prince who teams up with his brother (played by Franco) to complete a quest, save the kingdom, and Franco's fiancee. Portman will play "a warrior princess" that McBride's prince falls in love with. So, you know what this means -- Portman will be clad in strategically placed leather and chainmail, and that sound you heard was the lustful groan of a million fanboys imagining her doing high kicks. Well played, McBride. Well played.

The film begins shooting this July in Ireland. As you wait for the first photos to emerge from production, you can start Photoshopping Xena: Warrior Princess and Red Sonja outfits on Portman, and see how close fantasy matches reality.

It looks like David Gordon Green has added another actor to his oft-used cast list, which already boasts the likes of Danny McBride, and it's one super-sweet addition. According to Variety, James Franco is re-teaming with Green and McBride for Universal's upcoming comedy Your Highness -- the film that kicked into gear almost a year ago.

While the project might be just one Seth Rogen away from a complete Pineapple Express re-team, this idea is quite different than killer pot and killer pot dealers -- even if the title can be interpreted in a Mary Jane sort of way. Believe it or not, Your Highness will follow "two spoiled and arrogant princes" living in a fantastical medieval setting when some evil wizard comes along, steals the older prince's fiance, and puts a spell on their dad, spurring them to go out on a quest to save their family and kingdom. Oh yes, McBride and Franco as brothers, princes, and possibly, heroes.

As a fan of Franco in anything other than Spider-Man (nothing against the guy -- the character is just too annoying to enjoy), this sounds insane enough to be fun. And while it's still a bit more mainstream than the direction Green's mentality seems to sway, at least this project has some original promise.

The answer to that question appears to be everything! In a piece entitled Danny McBride, We Don't Get You!, writer Christopher Rosen takes the comedian to task for everything from his "ugly and unredeemable characters" to a more general complaint that the man is just plain unfunny. Rosen goes on to describe McBride as "...Will Ferrell, only without the charm or talent." Ouch, did McBride run over this guy's dog with a piece of Kenny F**king Powers Awesomeness, or what?

But Rosen has plenty of venom to go around, and he also tears a strip off McBride's latest comedy partner, David Gordon Green. The two worked together on the HBO series East Bound and Down and announced last year that they would be working together again on the medieval comedy, Your Highness. But according to Rosen, Green's choice to work with McBride is the equivalent of getting career advice from Tommy Chong.

McBride first appeared in the low-budget comedy The Foot Fist Way, but all I needed was a little Hot Rod and I was hooked (between McBride and Bill Hader, I wasn't quite sure who'd become my new comedy boyfriend). Since then McBride has taken small throwaway background parts and turned them into great works of scene-stealing hilarity. Okay, maybe his particular brand of humor isn't for everyone -- but comedy is by far the most subjective genre out there, since in the end everyone's sense of humor is a little different. But is it really fair to proclaim that someone is without talent, charm, or frankly any redeemable qualities just because their style isn't your thing?

So even though Mr. Rosen won't be lining up for any Danny McBride in the near future, the real question is ... will you?

You probably won't be terribly surprised to discover there's an alternate ending to Pineapple Express -- but you might be surprised to find out how bleak it was. I think we're all glad it didn't end this way, particularly since this scene feels less like an ending and ... well, more like a random DVD extra. I mean, where is Seth Rogen's left hand? Why doesn't he move it? Is it missing? Why does the dialogue feel so inorganic?

This comes courtesy of Empire, whose gotten so cool about handing out embed codes that we can post it here for your viewing pleasure. If you haven't seen the film, you can still watch it. It is spoiler free in all respects, as the real ending is miles away from this one. Watch, enjoy, and be grateful for what might have been.

Color me not surprised, but still disappointed -- after raising the hopes of Ash fans everywhere at Comic Con, Sam Raimi is throwing his best hero back to that damned back burner with regards to an Evil Dead 4. In a discussion with MTV, he said that there was too much work needed for Drag Me to Hell, so "we never did it," and it's back on hold. Raimi swears he'll still do it, but at this rate, it'll just end up being Bubba Ho-Tep with Ash instead of Elvis. Someone needs to point a boom stick at Raimi's back side and get his arse in gear.

According to Variety, 50 Cent, Mickey Rourke and Jason Statham (there's a trio that could kick anyone's ass) have signed on to star opposite Sam Riley in the English-language remake of 13 Tzameti. Film tells of a man who steals a mysterious package then watches it lead to all sorts of craziness. The film is currently shooting in and around NYC.

There is another face, however, that is heading for the shadows -- Rob Reiner. After picking up some Travel Writing, The Hollywood Reporter posts that he will direct a new film from Zoe Green called Book of Shadows. But the twist is -- this ain't no Charmed. Instead, it's pretty much a new Indiana Jones with adventure done romance-style. I'm not quite sure how this works, but a young man is on a quest to find this book to save the world, and "must embark on the perilous journey of first love and face many trials of maturity" to do so. ... Your guess is as good as mine!

David Gordon Green became an indie darling with contemplative films like George Washington and All the Real Girls, then proved his diversity in 2008 by directing another quiet drama, Snow Angels, as well as the raucous stoner adventure Pineapple Express. People have gone from asking "What can Green do?" to "What can't Green do?," and we're about to get some more data to help us find an answer. Next up: a horror thriller based on a comic book miniseries.

It's called Freaks of the Heartland, and it's a six-part story published in 2004 by Dark Horse Comics (Portland represent!) about a boy in a small town who must protect his younger brother from people who view him as a monster. There's a good chance the townsfolk are right about the monster thing, however, and it apparently applies to some other local children, too. It's not what I first thought of when I saw the title Freaks of the Heartland (this was), but it sounds pretty cool.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Overture Films has hired Green to direct, with a screenplay adaptation by Peter Sattler and Geoff Davey, both of whom, like Green, are alumni of the North Carolina School of the Arts. The comic was written by Steve Niles (who also wrote 30 Days of Night), and he will be executive producer. Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson and Green will produce.

But hey! What about the fantasy comedy, Your Highness, that Green was supposed to make with his buddy Danny McBride? Is that still happening? That's a good question, and the answer is I dunno. I can't find any updates on that project since the original announcement in May. If Mr. Green is reading this and would like to contact me to clear things up, and also to listen to me gush about how brilliant I think he is, he is welcome to do so.

Well, since it seems that the very few out there who still respect what I have to say about movies, and horror movies in particular, either didn't read or didn't mind my mild admission that I only like Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, I feel a little bolder about bringing another piece of quasi-blasphemy to light: at this time last year, I hadn't seen Dario Argento's treasured Suspiria, and when I eventually did, I was distinctly underwhelmed. Perhaps it was too dated, perhaps I was too jaded, but I was relegated to sitting back and just plain 'respecting' another classic of the genre.

That makes me no more oblivious to the fact that it's sacred enough that a remake announcement is cause for cringing. Making matters a little less cringe-inducing, though (in my opinion), is Bloody Disgusting's confirmation that Natalie Portman is to star in the 2010 incarnation. She's smart, she's sexy... in short, this Oscar nominee could wander curiously around the halls of my eerie ballet academy any day.

However, I still find the reports that David Gordon Green is attached to direct a little hard to swallow; I'm still coping with the fact that he directed the very funny and relatively mainstream Pineapple Express. Maybe a why-not stance would be most fitting at the moment.

Suspiria remake? Portman starring? What do you think?

(No, I'm not stoned. It's just that Pineapple Express opens today (8/6), but my review was published over a week ago. This reprint is brought to you by Cinematical's Recycling Division. We care about wasted bandwidth.)

I won't get into the precise reasons, but my friends always seem to think I'm going to LOVE the next big "pot comedy." They chuckle and assume such silly things despite the fact that the only real pothead comedies that I truly enjoy are Up in Smoke, Next Movie, and a large portion of the Harold & Kumar misadventures. Frankly I'm of the opinion that most pot comedies feel like they were written by someone very stoned, and let's just say that writers don't always do their best work when they're extra-baked. (They might THINK their stuff is hilarious, but usually it's not. That's just the weed talking.) Oh, you'll definitely find a few cannabis-caked giggles in Half-Baked, Grandma's Boy, and Smiley Face -- just not enough to sustain a whole movie, if it's me you're asking.

So it is with much pleasure, enthusiasm, and recently-applied Visine that I offer you Pineapple Express, which just may be the Casablanca of Pot Comedies. Or perhaps it's more like When Ultra-High Harry Met Super-Stoned Sally, but either way Pineapple Express showcases some of the funniest "weed culture" insights since the arrival of Richard Linklater's fantastic Dazed & Confused -- which I wouldn't call a full-bore "pot comedy," but it sure isn't shy about passing those joints around. Best of all, while Pineapple Express will absolutely appeal to both the casual and committed pot-smokers, it's also just a very funny buddy comedy / action flick parody that comes bearing the very unique stamp of director David Gordon Green.

I won't get into the precise reasons, but my friends always seem to think I'm going to LOVE the next big "pot comedy." They chuckle and assume such silly things despite the fact that the only real pothead comedies that I truly enjoy are Up in Smoke, Next Movie, and a large portion of the Harold & Kumar misadventures. Frankly I'm of the opinion that most pot comedies feel like they were written by someone very stoned, and let's just say that writers don't always do their best work when they're extra-baked. (They might THINK their stuff is hilarious, but usually it's not. That's just the weed talking.) Oh, you'll definitely find a few cannabis-caked giggles in Half-Baked, Grandma's Boy, and Smiley Face -- just not enough to sustain a whole movie, if it's me you're asking.

So it is with much pleasure, enthusiasm, and recently-applied Visine that I offer you Pineapple Express, which just may be the Casablanca of Pot Comedies. Or perhaps it's more like When Ultra-High Harry Met Super-Stoned Sally, but either way Pineapple Express showcases some of the funniest "weed culture" insights since the arrival of Richard Linklater's fantastic Dazed & Confused -- which I wouldn't call a full-bore "pot comedy," but it sure isn't shy about passing those joints around. Best of all, while Pineapple Express will absolutely appeal to both the casual and committed pot-smokers, it's also just a very funny buddy comedy / action flick parody that comes bearing the very unique stamp of director David Gordon Green.

For quite a while now, the rumor that Huey Lewis would be performing the theme song for the expectedly hilarious Pineapple Express has been making the rounds, and today... oh, today, it has come to sweet fruition, as the theme song hits first the soundtrack's MySpace profile and then my beating heart.

I can't tell you how much it tickles me to have the sax of the News accompanied by the sound of Huey uttering the word 'chronic'. Then again, I can't tell you how much I'm tickled that we're actually facing a summer movie season that will cap itself off with Huey Lewis doing the theme song for a Judd Apatow-produced, David Gordon Green-directed stoner-buddy action-comedy, followed the week after by Robert Downey Jr. in blackface. Seriously, could you have called that this time last year?

If you don't know why I'm so psyched, I've included the NSFW red-band trailer after the jump, and for those of you who are right there with me, Pineapple Express hits (snicker) on August 8th.

[God bless Spout Blog for bringing this to our attention. I'm tempted to send you guys over a basket full of pineapples just out of principle.]