2008 August 12 « Entertainment Today and Beyond

This Week’s ETB At-the-Movies Radio Podcast

In this episode of Entertainment Today and Beyond Radio, Chuck Curry and Michael Cooper review Pineapple Express, have fun with the latest outrageous clip from Bill Maher’s Religulous and debate their top ten Super Hero movies of all time LISTEN HERE and let us know what you want to hear about. email Chuck

August 12, 2008 Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | Radio Shows | Leave a Comment

Does anyone care about THE CLONE WARS, TROPIC THUNDER feels like a must see, I still don’t get SETH ROGEN as THE GREEN HORNET and what about THE DARK KNIGHT as BEST PICTURE!

I have to admit I’m curious to see how the new STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS animated feature performs at the box-office when it opens on Friday. While I’m sure there will be some Star Wars fanatics that would pay to see a blank screen for two hours as long as the opening John Williams theme music is played I have absolutely no interest in this movie and have no plans whatsoever to see it.

I have a strong gut feeling that TROPIC THUNDER will have a very big five-day opening when it hits theaters this Wednesday. DreamWorks has done a great job marketing this edgy comedy that certainly feels original. Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr., hot off Iron Man, will make this one a must see movie among the masses thirsting for a good comedy!

Based on the reaction of the audience I saw PINEAPPLE EXPRESS with on Saturday night I’d say that word of mouth will be somewhat lukewarm. One-third of the people in attendance at my theater started walking out about five minutes before the film ended. Upon leaving, most of the crowd was saying it wasn’t funny enough and I have to agree. I’m starting to really wonder what SETH ROGEN is planning on doing with THE GREEN HORNET. He has written the script himself and will play the lead. Hey, I like Seth Rogen but I just don’t get his involvement in that project.

With 441.6 mill already under its utility belt in four weeks of release one has to wonder if THE DARK KNIGHT will get a best picture nomination. I say YES. Certainly it deserves to be on merit alone and I also think it’s bad for the industry as a whole if a film with this type of popularity among the general public is not recognized. I still believe if director Chris Nolan had cut 15 or 20 minutes out of the Two-Face storyline in the last half hour, leaving its wrap-up for the third film, he would have had a bonafide masterpiece on his hands. If it had been slightly trimmed down I feel it would have ensured not only a nomination but would have had a real punchers chance of actually winning. Still, if the Academy can give all three overrated LORD OF THE RINGS films best picture nods (with the 3rd entry, Return of the King, winning) they certainly can shine some love on the best superhero movie ever made. I’m starting to become more confident it will happen. If so, it will certainly boost the ratings of the award telecast since a strong rooting interest form the general public is always fun. This was the case in 1997 when TITANIC brought home ten golden statues and deservedly so! Ratings for that telecast went through the roof.

August 12, 2008 Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | And Beyond - Trailers & News | Leave a Comment

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS scores some laughs but NOT enough to sustain its paper thin premise

It’s getting a little harder to get excited about a comedy with the JUDD APATOW name attached as it seems he’s involved with a new film just about every other week. The latest from his comedy factor is Pineapple Expres, a strange mix of stoner comedy, chase movie and hard core violent action film. The result is a sometimes funny but ultimately disappointing effort. The plot is pretty simple. Seth Rogen plays Dale, a 25-year-old process server who lives to get high. One day, while attempting to serve a drug king pin (Gary Cole), he witnesses a messy murder that sets the film’s storyline in motion. James Franco (in a solid performance) plays Saul, his lovable, lonely and totally messed up drug dealer. He gets heavily involved in the melee when the joint Dale was smoking, an exclusive brand of marijuana called Pineapple Express, is found at the scene of the crime, causing some really bad people to come looking for them. From there the film features some very long and uninspired dialogue scenes between Rogen and Franco, a somewhat amusing but predictable car chase, and the violent and totally miscalculated third act which feels like a bad Lethal Weapon movie.

The F-Bombs and bullets to the stomach gags only go so far and, since there’s no real story to move things along, the whole proceedings start to wear really thin. The biggest laughs for me came from the subplot involving Dale’s 18-year-old high school girlfriend Angie, well played by Amber Heard. The opening scene where Dale has a confrontation with her school administrator is very funny and a later scene when he meets her parents, played by Ed Begley Jr. and Nora Dunn, is the movies very best sequence. Also worth noting is the performance of Danny McBride (Drill Bit Taylor) as Saul’s pot supplier, Red. He gets a lot of mileage out of his material and, for my money, steals the film away from both Rogen and Franco. Overall, Pineapple Express is stuck in OK-Ville. It’s not really bad but it’s just not really good either. To me this is a case of a good concept lacking the really good script that sustains a feature length movie. It’s a decent watch with a handful of inspired moments but nothing to get excited about. 2.5 Zombies out of 5.

August 12, 2008 Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | Reviews | Amber Heard, Danny McBride, Ed Begley Jr., Gary Cole, James Franco, Nora Dunn | 1 Comment

THE DARK KNIGHT stones its latest competition, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS!

For the fourth straight weekend Warner Bros latest Batman film, THE DARK KNIGHT, reigned supreme at the nations box-office as it pulled in another 26 mill in ticket sales, giving it an overall total of 441.5 mill. This makes it the third highest grossing picture in movie history behind TITANIC at 601mill and STAR WARS at 461mill. In a time where every new movie dissipates faster from the public’s conscience quicker than yesterday’s breakfast this is a pretty impressive feat! It’s also the first time this longevity has been seen since LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING held the top spot for four consecutive weekends back in 2003-2004.

Sony’s stoner action comedy, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, took in a very solid 22.4 over the weekend and 40 mill since opening on Wednesday. The studio has to be mighty pleased since the production budget was a very economical 27 mill. Personally, I don’t think the film will have legs as its short on laughs and way too niche to expand beyond its core first weekend audience. THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2 had a 10.7 mill weekend, for a solid 19.7 since it hit theaters Wednesday. Other box-office news of interest: Universal’s MUMMY: THE TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR dropped off 60% from its opening weekend, doing 16 mill in ticket sales, and giving the weakly reviewed third entry a 10 day total of 70.6 mill. Overseas, the film is performing well – doing 141 mill since it opened abroad last week. HERES A LOOK AT THE WEEKEND’S TOP 10.