BuzzSugar

Pineapple Express Folks Reteam For Your Highness

BuzzSugar — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:30:58 -0700

Actor Danny McBride has been getting more and more recognition in recent years by starring in things like Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, Superbad, and now the HBO series Eastbound and Down, which he also helped create. Now he's written a comedy script and gotten a studio (Universal), a director (Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green), and a star (James Franco) to play a lead role alongside him.

Titled Your Highness, the comedy "follows two spoiled and arrogant princes in a medieval fantasy setting. When an evil wizard casts a spell on their father and kidnaps the older prince's fiance, they're forced to go on a quest to save their family and the kingdom."

I can't wait to see these two together again onscreen, and I'm glad McBride keeps getting more work because he's such a funny addition to any comedic lineup. And we know Franco rarely fails to delight!

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 10/1

BuzzSugar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:31:07 -0700

Showtime has set January premiere dates for the final season of The L Word and the Diablo Cody series The United States of Tara. - Zap2it
Michael Sheen is the latest to join Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie. - Variety
Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green is writing an animated comedy pilot for Fox. - TV Week
Hilary Swank is set to star in the dramatic film Betty Anne Waters. - ComingSoon
After four years apart, Phish has reunited. - AP

TV legend Norman Lear is working on a pro-wrestling drama for HBO. - TV Guide

Red Tails, the WWII action adventure about the Tuskegee Airmen which George Lucas will produce, has found a director in Anthony Hemingway. - Variety

The CW is developing a series based on Batman's sidekick Robin titled The Graysons. - ComingSoon

Oh yeah, actors could still go on strike. - Hollywood Reporter

Photos courtesy of Showtime

Pineapple Express: More Than Just a Stoner Movie

BuzzSugar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:30:48 -0700

How much you enjoy Pineapple Express may depend more on how charmed you are by the chemistry between James Franco and Seth Rogen and less on how funny you find pot jokes. Don't get me wrong, marijuana jokes abound in this comedy written by Rogen and his frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg, and they are funny. But I was surprised by how much more Pineapple Express falls into the category of buddy movies like Lethal Weapon, rather than the stoner category like Half Baked. I guess I'll put it this way: You don't have to be high to be entertained by this.

I've been feeling fatigued by some of cinema's leading funny men these days who keep pumping out the same old comedies left and right, and Rogen's shtick is definitely pushing it for me. But I was pleasantly surprised to see how well he plays the straight man (no pun intended) to Franco's snuggly drug dealer. They strike a hilariously delightful chemistry together, which I kind of didn't want to end. But there's more going on here besides the two lead actors. To see why I think the director of this movie was a cool choice and which scene-stealer I think earns himself a place in the Apatow kingdom, read more.

The term "Pineapple Express" is what the drug dealers in the movie have named the most powerful pot in all the world (Franco's character thinks this pot is so precious that every time he smokes it he feels like he's killing a unicorn). That's just a funny little side note, though, because how strong the pot is has nothing to do with how much trouble the two main characters get themselves into. Rogen plays Dale Denton, a childish loser in his twenties whose job consists of creatively hunting people down to serve them legal documents, like subpoenas. He's also dating a high-school girl and is threatened by the cooler, younger boys at her school.

Dale's dealer is Saul Silver (Franco), a dim but good-natured guy who spends most days in his pajamas, and cares deeply for his "bubby" (Yiddish for grandmother). He charms Dale into hanging around with him during their transactions, which annoys Dale because he just wants to pick up his marijuana and skidaddle. It's kind of like the pothead's version of making small talk on the sidewalk: a little awkward, forced, not something you look forward to.

After a bonding session, Dale goes to serve some papers, but then happens to witness a murder committed by the drug lord who supplies Saul. This is when the entire movie becomes as funny as it is gruesomely violent, not to mention action packed (I never thought I'd say that about a Judd Apatow production, much less a Seth Rogen movie). People are dismembered, characters you care about are brutally shot, etc. Right when you're dying of laughter because of Franco's facial expression, someone actually gets a bullet in the stomach, or head, or ear and you know, it's a bit of buzz kill. Also, I just have to mention Saul's middleman supplier Red, played by Danny R. McBride because this actor steals every scene he's in, including a fight scene with Rogen and Franco that is one for the books.

Director David Gordon Green is known mostly to film geeks and art house fans for his smaller, poetic films (All the Real Girls, Snow Angels) so it's kind of amazing to see weird little scenes of his scattered throughout the film. These scenes are practically meditative, even though they basically feature just a couple stoners twirling around by a stream. Those strange and funny touches on this movie have endeared it to me. All in all it's a funny - if brutally violent - Summer comedy experience.