[[image:vs090106_header.jpg:Add to Queue 72:center:0]]Media | A2Q Archives | A2Q #72 | January 6, 2009
Featured Title: Pineapple Express
Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, the pair behind Superbad, wrote The Pineapple Express; additionally, the movie was produced by America’s current comedy it-guy, Judd Apatow. It’s no secret than I’m an Apatow fan (even if I don’t love everything he’s put his name on), and while I didn’t think Pineapple Express was quite as good as Superbad, I still enjoyed it. It was a treat for a long-time Apatow fan like me to see James Franco, so effective in Apatow’s seminal comedy television series Freaks and Geeks, returning to a comedic role. Overall, though, this movie didn’t resonate with me as much as Superbad did — while I can relate to the awkward teens in the earlier film, I don’t have much in common with the lovable stoners in this movie. You might like it more than I did, especially if you’re not a teetotaler like me, but either way it’s still a fine film that’s well worth the time it takes to watch it.
Also Out This Week
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Apparently the first week after the holidays was designated the official dumping ground for disappointing studio films. Babylon AD, Bangkok Dangerous, and Righteous Kill were all released to critical animosity and audience indifference. The Wackness looks to be one of the first movies to come out hoping to exploit ’90s nostalgia. I think I’d rather not watch VH1’s “I Love the ’90s!” instead. Dexter: Season One, Friday Night Lights and especially the Criterion Collection’s The Last Emperor are the real gems hitting Blu-ray this week.
Thanks for reading Add to Queue, a weekly round-up of US Blu-ray release highlights written for Gamespite by Levi Tinney. Sorry, rest of the world; region locks are the industry’s way of saying they still don’t understand the Internet. Cover art courtesy of Amazon. There are few things as fetching as a bruised ego on a beautiful angel. . Follow Levi on Twitter. Add Levi to your PSN or XBL friends list: VsRobot. You can also contact him via e-mail via levivsrobot [at] gmail [dot] com.
Apparently about the only people who were happy with Babylon A.D. were the producers and executives.
Pineapple Express captures the paranoia that smokers would probably feel in that situation perfectly. Or at least how I’d imagine they are; I don’t smoke personally.
Bangkok Dangerous wasn’t horrible, just mediocre. It’s worth a rental if there’s a week coming up with no new releases.
I bought the original Bangkok Dangerous about a month ago without realising it had been remade.. Glad to know I have the better version. Well, I guess I do… I should watch it one of these days. Gotta love bargain bins.
Michael Cera alone keeps me from liking Pineapple Express more than Superbad. I dunno if I can say that PE was necessarily a fantastic movie, per se, and I’m not usually huge on pot humor but something about a gangster/heist/chase movie where everyone involved is completely stoned throughout the entire shebang is oddly appealing.
Pineapple Express started off pretty funny but became really interminable in the last hour or so (especially the final action sequence). I thought the original Harold & Kumar did a much better job of capturing fast-paced stoner paranoia. Not that these movies really invite serious scrunity.
“I don’t like the two image bars at the top, looks busy. Is it just me?”
I don’t find anything lovable about stoners… I can’t watch movies about it as I think it’s stupid. Sorry if anyone here is a stoner, I just don’t get it.
The one thing I’ll always remember about ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ is the way the entire theater audience burst out into hysterical laughter the moment the title was revealed at the end of its trailer.
Sorry Balrog, need to have a header and need to have an image for my featured selection. If I wrote two paragraphs I would have put the image further down the page, but Pineapple Express doesn’t really merit that much coverage.
Ujn, I am more or a less a teetotaler (don’t drink, do drugs, gamble, etc.) but I can find the humor in some “stoner” movies.
You know, and I really hate to say this, but I got baked out of my mind on some pretty good stuff and tried to watch Pineapple Express in its own element and it just wasn’t that great. The parts where it was trying to be a Judd Apatow film instead of a buddy/action flick were superb. Everything else just felt like a third-class crime film.
And I wanted to like this movie! That’s the part that tears me up. It’s like The Dark Knight all over again. I’m going to see it once more to ensure that I wasn’t too harsh on it in theaters, then make my final call.