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  August '08

   
At the Apatow Express
 
By Bob 8/11/08
 
Last summer Judd Apatow and his comedic team burst onto the screen with instant classics Knocked Up and Superbad. This month, the Apatow brand is seeking to continue its dominance of comedy with the stoner action-comedy Pineapple Express. While last summer's hits created a new voice in comedy, this summer’s film failed to live up to the ridiculously high expectations that were created for it.
 
The film stars Seth Rogen as a pot smoking process server and James Franco as his clueless drug dealer who must go on the run after Dale (Rogen) witnesses a drug kingpin (Gary Cole) commit murder. Supposed highjinks ensue when the mob leader sends hitmen after the two stoners on the run. 
 
While I was pretty skeptical of this premise to begin with, I had big expectations for the film simply based on the pedigree of its creators. Judd Apatow came up with the story idea for this film and had Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the writers of Superbad, develop the script. Their involvement, combined with the solid cast and the hilarity of last summer’s films gave me high hopes for this one.
 
This film, however, really does not deliver. 
 
Despite the fact that many of the action scenes were pretty funny, I felt bored at times between them and the talking that was so hilarious in Superbad and Knocked Up was simply not funny at all. Even if I wasn’t comparing this film to last summer's classics, it still wasn’t even as funny as previous stoner comedies such as Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. 
 
The cast does a decent job throughout the film, but they really do not have much to work with here. Rogen and Franco are solid in their roles, as are Craig Robinson and Kevin Corrigan as the hitmen who are going after them. Gary Cole is excellent as the drug lord going after the guys, and Danny McBride has some funny scenes as another drug dealer named Red, but that is about it. The cast basically did what they could with very little material.
 
Not only was the film not very funny, but it also failed to meet expectations with its plot and characters. Part of the reason why Knocked Up and Superbad were so good was because they had great characters and themes. Pineapple Express doesn’t have any of this. During parts of the film it seemed like they filmmakers were trying to inject some heart into the project, but it never really worked well at all. 
 
All in all, Pinapple Express is what it is, the express or lite version of the Apatow brand. Like a McDonald’s or Pizza Hut express, it looks the same on the outside, but once you actually see it, you realize that it has much less to offer than the real thing. This film was desperately missing some humor, and I didn’t care about the characters like I did in previous films. Overall, I give it 5/10 saltystix, and recommend audiences to pop in their Superbad or Knocked Up DVDs instead of checking this out. 

   

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.

   

   


   


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