Hollywire got front row seats at the HOWL premiere with the film’s star James Franco at this year’s Sundance Twenty Ten.
The video below features James talking about his connection to the character of Allen Ginsberg in his real life, as well as the directors of the film Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman discussing how the beautiful animation for the film was produced:
The video below starts just after James was asked “How important was marijuana to you in the portrayal of the character of Allen Ginsberg?”, after which James replies “Sounds like it’s pretty important to you…”
The directors also discuss the involvement of real audio recordings in the process of writing the script.
Check it out:
Howl is a dramatic recreation of Allen Ginsberg’s obscenity trial that resulted from his famous poem in1955.
While everyone is trying their best to do the whole green thing, these 50 celebrities listed below take “going green” to a whole other level!
Check out our Top 50 Celebs Who Go Green (in the form of marijuana) below!
50. Bob Marley
Some people see Bob Marley as the “founding father” of smoking marijuana. He publicized it through pictures, through his music, and his green-friendly lifestyle in general.
49. Nicole Richie
In December of 2006, Nicole Richie, Simple Life star and daughter of Lionel Richie, was arrested for driving the wrong way on a California highway and confessed to being high from Vicodin as well as marijuana.
Check out how tiny her pupils are in her mug shot!
48. Charlize Theron
Charlize is even greener than the other celebs on this list, she uses an apple to smoke her weed! (It’s mostly biodegradable and nutritious!!)
47. Michael Phelps
Following the 2008 Olympics in which Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals, a picture surfaced of Michael smoking marijuana out of a bong…extremely bad timing considering all of the endorsements he had recently gained. Phelps lost his Kellogg’s endorsement and was suspended from swimming for 3 months.
46. Travis McCoy
Pretty self-explanatory. Cleary Travis is a fan of the green!
45. Diddy
Diddy was photographed at an event smoking a joint, which isn’t too big of a surprise considering he’s wearing a Notorious BIG shirt, (Biggie was “notorious” for his love of marijuana before he died).
44. Orlando Bloom
Back when Orlando Bloom was dating Kate Bosworth, he was photographed literally being fed a joint by his then-girlfriend. Technically this could be considered two celebs who go green, but we’ll just narrow it down to Orlando for now!
43. Lo Bosworth
Laguna Beach and The Hills star Lo Bosworth exhales a mouthful of marijuana smoke. With the way she’s always giggling for no reason on The Hills, I expect nothing less from little old Lo!
42. Johnny Depp
In an interview with GQ magazine a few years ago Johnny talked about weed and about his children eventually experimenting with it. Says the interview, “Depp said that if they choose to try marijuana when they are older, he’d rather be their supplier, because with street pot you don’t know if you’re getting buds ‘laced with P*P.’”
Good call Johnny! You already know they’re going to take after their Dad!
41. Zach Braff
So maybe this is where all those weird random scenes in Scrubs come from? Marijuana can make a person very “creative!”
40. Travis Barker
I think musicians sometimes are the biggest fans of marijuana because it makes music sound 10 times more intense! Travis Barker clearly isn’t shy about his fondness for the green!
39. Frances McDormand
Possibly one of the most shocking on this list is Oscar nominated actress Frances McDormand, who was on the cover of High Times in 2003! She told the magazine: “I’m a recreational pot-smoker,” McDormand reveals without hesitation. “Because it’s not a constant in my life, I don’t say it should be made legal so it’s more available. But from a medical point of view—I have friends who need to use it—why should they have to look too hard for the thing that makes them better? So from that point of view, it’s like, ‘Please, what is the problem?’”
38. Brad Pitt
While filming Ocean’s Twelve in Amsterdam, Brad Pitt was apparently no stranger to one of the coffeeshops on location. High Times magazines reported, “The script and locations for Ocean’s Twelve had been carefully kept secret, but a key scene was recorded in the coffeeshop ” De Dampkring.” The owner, Paul Wilhelm, told media the lead characters are no strangers there. “We have Brad Pitt in our store a few times a year,” he said, “all incognito with a beanie and glasses. Just sitting there smoking some.”
37. Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan has been either accused of or caught doing just about every drug on the planet, and marijuana is no exception!
36. Barry Manilow
How does he hit those high notes? By taking lots of joint tokes!
35. David Arquette
The picture really speaks for itself…
34. Owen Wilson
Green celebrities unite! Owen Wilson has been photographed smoking weed with another celeb on our list Woody Harrelson, who as we all know is a serious marijuana advocate!
33. Charlie Sheen
When he was still in high school, Charlie Sheen was arrested for marijuana possession as well as credit card fraud!
32. Seth Rogen
Ever wonder why he plays a stoner in all of his movies? How about because he’s a stoner in REAL LIFE too!? Seth Rogen is one of those celebrities who doesn’t even attempt to hide his love for marijuana, and in fact he’s been able to make a career out of being a pothead!
31. Andy Milonakis
He may look like he’s only about 14 years old, but Andy Milonakis is a grown ass man who likes his weed! He even showed off his impressive bong collection to CelebStoner.com when they came to his house to interview him!
30. Redman
According to High Times magazine, Redman is their favorite of all of the “hip-hop stars who have embraced weed.” He has even had the honor of hosting multiple High Times award shows!
29. Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne has been arrested multiple times for marijuana posession, and from the looks of the picture below, doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with it!
28. Keith Richards
Keith Richards gave an interview in 2008 in which he said, “I smoke my head off. I smoke weed all the damn time. But that’s my benign weed. That’s all I take, that’s all I do. But I do smoke, and I’ve got some really good hash.”
27. Joe Rogan
Click HERE to watch comedian Joe Rogan talking about ‘the cure for life’, weed!
26. Cameron Diaz
In 2006 Cameron Diaz revealed in an interview that “her teenage years consisted of smoking marijuana and surfing in the beaches of sunny California.” No wonder she’s such a giggler!
25. DMX
DMX might hold a record for being arrested the greatest amount of times for marijuana possession. He has literally been arrested so many times that we can’t even keep track of it.
But the best part is his high-as-hell mugshot, check it out!
24. Woody Harrelson
When interviewed by the Washington Post about whether or not marijuana should be legalized, Woody responded that he does in fact think it should be legal saying, ” It seems logical that in a free country you should be able to do whatever you want to do as long as it’s not hurting anyone else. It’s unfortunate that when I started talking about all this — and partly through my own fault — the focus became totally about marijuana, and hemp got marginalized.”
23. Aaron Carter
It’s Aaron’s party! In 2008 Aaron Carter was pulled over and arrested for possession of marijuana.
22. David Faustino
In 2007 David Faustino was arrested after police found him arguing in the middle of an intersection with his ex-wife…with 20 grams of weed in his pocket.
21. Willie Nelson
In 2006 country stars Willie Nelson’s tour bus was stopped and searched, and what police found was TONS of marijuana, which you can see right HERE! Nelson was arrested for possession of marijuana, as well as mushrooms, among other things.
He’s an old man! Let Willie smoke in peace!
20. Amy Winehouse
Is this really a surprise at all? Amy Winehouse has done and will most likely continue to do every drug within a 12 mile radius, and this most certainly includes marijuana! Just stick with the green Amy!
19. Kimora Lee
After being pulled over for driving recklessly near her New Jersey home, Kimora Lee was charged with possession of marijuana, which led to the production of this sexy supermodel mugshot!
18. Andy Dick
Andy Dick was arrested in 2008 after pulling down a 17 year old’s top, and after he was searched the police found marijuana and xanax in his pockets, after which THIS lovely mugshot was produced.
(This is quite possibly the scariest mugshot I’ve ever seen in my entire life. No joke.)
17. Lily Allen
As you can see, weed makes her smileeee, it makes her smileeee, it makes her smileeee!
16. Queen Latifah
In 1996 Queen Latifah was pulled over in Southern California for speeding, when the cops found marijuana AND a loaded gun in the car! Aren’t those two things kind of conflicting? Lose the gun, smoke some green and chill out Queen!
15. Jason Castro
After being kicked off of American Idol in 2008, these pictures of top 10 contestant Jason Castro surfaced of him smoking what appears to be marijuana. But I mean, are we really surprised? The dude has longer dreads than Bob Marley!
14. Matthew McConaughey
If you’ve ever seen the video of Matthew McConaughey banging on the bongos shirtless on the beach, this definitely shouldn’t be a surprise. Back before he had a fiance and child, Matthew was a wild one. In 1999, Matthew was charged with possession of marijuana and other drug paraphenalia after the cops were called to his house and found him once again playing bongos shirtless!
14. Paris Hilton
We all know Paris Hilton isn’t exactly the princess she originally made herself out to be (*cough*sextape*cough*)…but no one had any idea she went green until these pictures surfaced from Paris’s trip to Amsterdam! Apparently she recently quit smoking because she was gaining weight from all the munchies!
13. Steve-O
Although Steve-O is sober now, he used to be REALLY into marijuana (check out his marijuana leaf tattoo on his wrist in the right-hand picture). In his recent documentary “Steve-O: Demise and Rise” he said that at one point he was TRYING to get arrested, and there were a few incidents where he smoked marijuana in front of the cops and they just laughed and wrote it off as Steve-O being Steve-O.
12. James Franco
No one has ever played a better stoner than James Franco in the movie Pineapple Express in which he plays a complete pothead/drug dealer (except for maybe Sean Penn as Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High). To promote the film James Franco and Seth Rogen smoked what appeared to be a serious joint onstage at the MTV Movie Awards last year. James clearly is a method actor!
11. Kristen Stewart
Maybe the reason Kristen Stewart always looks high is because she always IS high! Kristen has been photographed smoking pot on more than one occasion and we like that she doesnt even TRY to hide it! You go green gurl!
10. Mischa Barton
In 2007 Mischa Barton was arrested in LA for possession and being under the influence of marijuana while driving. She’s made it no secret in the past that she is a HUGE fan of the green, as you can see in these pictures of her publicly smoking her own joints!
9. Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore definitely wins the award on this list for smoking marijuana at the earliest age. She smoked weed for the first time when she was 10 years old! TEN! She’s pictured below smoking with fellow pot-smoker Cameron Diaz. Maybe the green is what ignited their close friendship?
8. Doug Benson
Doug Benson is a comedien/professional weed smoker, who is most commonly known for his stints on VH1’s Best Week Ever. Doug also made a documentary on the effects of smoking weed a few years ago called Super High Me, which was a take off on the award-winning documentary on fast food called Super Size Me. In the documentary Doug went 30 days without marijuana and monitored himself with various physicals and intellectual tests, after which he spent 30 days smoking as much marijuana as he physically could, and monitored himself with the same tests. The outcome was that smoking marijuana didn’t really make much of a difference in Doug’s mental ability or his health (other than his weight which increased by about 10 pounds over 30 days!)
7. Macaulay Culkin
In 2004, Macaulay Culkin was busted for marijuana possession following a traffic stop in Oklahoma while driving with a friend. Can we just make a mental note that in all of these mugshots where the people are supposedly high, they actually look like they don’t really mind that they’re having a mugshot taken?
6. Adrianne Curry
Adrianne is not one to hide her love for being green. She recently told CelebStoner.com, “As a semi-celeb, I am sick and f*cking tired of people coming down on me for being pro-marijuana. I’m the bad role model? Why has everyone seemed to miss the countless photographs of their favorite role models and celebs toking up? As long as as someone keeps it under wraps, or sits in denial when they are caught, then it’s ok? Well, not for me. I believe pot is MUCH safer than alcohol or anything else for that matter. I can only hope our government can find a way to make as much money off making it legal as they have making it illegal!
5. Cheech and Chong
The original potheads, Cheech and Chong, will always be known for their love of marijuana after their films about being stoners became extremely popular in the early 80s. They lost touch for a while after some disagreement between the two (hard to imagine them having a serious disagreement when they’re both so high all the time) but they have since reunited and started doing comedy tours once again!
4. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Being the Governator of California is a stressful job, which is all the more reason to advocate the legalization of marijuana! We can all see you’ve enjoyed it in the past Arnold, so why don’t you let us here in Cali enjoy it in the present and future? Pretty please? Thanks!
3. Whitney Houston
In 2000, Whitney was arrested in an airport after multiple baggies of marijuana were found in her luggage. At that point I think marijuana was the least of her worries (what with all the crack and cocaine usage ahead of her) but she’s supposedly sober now so we’ll see if any more of those little baggies turn up anywhere!
2. Snoop Dogg
The Dogg Father himself is one of the strongest advocates for marijuana use in the entertainment industry today. You can see marijuana in practically in every music video he shoots, it’s definitely talked about in every single song he records, and although he’s been arrested multiple times for marijuana possession, Snoop continues to support the green! Snoop! Snoop-a-loop!
1. President Barack Obama
He is our president, and he is pro marijuana! (well…kind of) Obama says he’s not pro-legalization, but he is pro-decriminalization because as we can see, he has experienced marijuana and knows first hand that it does not automatically make someone a “criminal,” Otherwise, our 44th President would be an ex-convict!!
Check out the video below of Obama talking about his feelings on marijuana!
Last night, November 14th, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie left the kids at home and enjoyed an evening out at the Museum of Contemporary Art 30th Anniversary Gala in Los Angeles, California.
The guest list for the special gala consisted of about 1000 guest which included, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Ellen Davidson, Michelle Stafford, Tracy Bregman, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka and many more.
The gala and auction of artwork will benefit the museum’s education and exhibition programs.
Actress Mila Kunis is on the September 2009 issue of Women’s Health magazine. In her interview she discusses her relationship with Macaulay Culkin, other famous men that have entered her life, Hollywood, and being a klutz.
On her relationship with
Macaulay Culkin: “I don’t know if I met him at 27 if it would have been a different relationship. We grew up together. You find a steady rock in your life and that’s all you need. We have our ups and downs, but work through them.”
On working with James Franco in ‘Date Night’, out 2010: “He’s incredibly smart, but he’s not obnoxious smart, like ‘I’m going to tell you every SAT world I know just to prove it to you.’ He’s naturally smart. He reads.”
On her ‘That 70’s Show’ male costars: “[Ashton] Kutcher used to help me with my science homework. Wilmer [Valderrama] taught me to drive. Topher [Grace] talked about movies all the time. And Danny [Masterson] took me to my first club and bought me my first drink. He was my prom date too.”
On Hollywood: “[The culture here] isn’t based on anything other than ‘Who got a boob job?’ That’s what I feel L.A. is about. A lot of people here want to be everyone but themselves.”
On her hidden talent: “I really, really kick ass at drums on Rock Band. I’m just sayin’.”
On her fantasy dinner party: “It would be crazy. I’d invite Thomas Jefferson, [Leo} Tolstoy, Barack Obama, Lucille Ball, and maybe Stalin, only because there are certain people in history I just can’t wrap my head around. I’d be like, ‘Explain it to me. Pretend that I’m a 4-year-old and explain what made you do that crazy shit you did.’”
On being a klutz: “Let’s see. I had a snowboarding accident. I fell off a horse. I’ve had a concussion, a fractured rib….I walk into walls. I’m always bruised up.”
Remember all that drama a few months ago over James Franco being appointed to speak at UCLA’s commencement? Students protested, and eventually he had to cancel his speech because of “prior commitments.” Well, now, thanks to FunnyorDie.com, we can see what he had in mind for that speech.
I totally agreed with all the UCLA students who were against him as a speaker (I mean, who wants to listen to some actor who was in your classes last year instead of someone awesome like a renowned politician?), but now I’m kind of sad he never spoke. And that I never made friends with him while he was at UCLA.
James Franco cancelled as commencement speaker--most likely due to UCLA students whininess.
Ok, you might have heard that James Franco cancelled on his commencement speech for UCLA’s College of Letters & Science. The official story is that Franco cancelled because he had to do pre-production on his new set, but I have a sneaky feeling that this conflict of timing is really just an easy way to pull out with an excuse, to which we come to the reason for this rant: a large portion of UCLA students are whiny, self-righteous pricks who feel that they are too good for James Franco, and started this Facebook group to let the world know just how many arrogant bastards go to UCLA. Now you may ask, “Jyl, why so much hostility and anger?” Because I am graduating at the College of Letters & Science and I wanted to see James Franco!
Now sure, it would have been better to be like some of the other universities that finagled really impressive speakers (I mean, come on–ASU got Obama??? UC Davis got Michelle? WTF??)–but James would have been a fun speaker, who really understands a lot of the UCLA experience, while also having a lot of real world experience. But no, people rejected him for being “unqualified” (because tell me, what do you have to do to be qualified enough to be a commencement speaker??), and now we are left with no one (which, coincidentally, happened last year; but at least the canceling party wasn’t snubbed for being unqualified).
And the funny thing is, there is now a support group to get Conan O’Brien to come to the commencement. Hey guys, guess what? If you were rude enough to make a UCLA alumnus so uncomfortable that he cancels, then my guess is that no one else is going to want to replace him. And usually, the selection only goes down in caliber. So suck it up, kids: you ruined our chances to have a decent, memorable speaker by being petty weiners. Congrats, Class of 2009.
If you haven’t been to the video store in the last couple weeks you have some serious catching up to do. Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro are together again and this time actually have some screen time together, Nicholas Cage is up to his old international assassin tricks, Seth Rogen and James Franco smoke it up good, Vin Diesel is a futuristic mercenary, and the guys that brought you such gems as Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and the Scary Movies return with another hour and a half of disappointment. And those are only last week’s DVDs. Bring on the microwave popcorn!
I saw a ten-year-old kid almost choke on an ice cube in the theater watching this movie because he was laughing so hard. I don’t know what exactly a ten-year-old was doing watching this thing anyway, but it’s definitely one of the funniest stoner movies I’ve ever seen.
The ’stoner movie’ is a pretty thin sub-genre, but when a good one comes along it’s always good for a few laughs, and Pineapple Express is certainly no exception.
Seth Rogen and James Franco each fit perfectly into the very different roles that they play, one a regular guy with a regular but thankless job, and the other a diligent weed dealer who provides the necessary, ah, escape. Both are equally aimless and unambitious until they become involved in an intricate web of danger involving the gangland underworld and corrupt cops.
Most importantly, they constantly find themselves in the most bizarre and outlandish situations imaginable. Keep the tissues handy because you’ll laugh yourself to tears!
It would be putting things pretty lightly to say that the highly anticipated reunion of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino was a little disappointing. The last time they appeared in a film together was in Heatin 1995, where they had almost no screen time together. Now, they have nothing but screen time together, but unfortunately that’s about all the movie has, too. For all the hype, there was not only nothing new about Righteous Kill, it was a routine, even boring by-the-numbers action thriller.
DeNiro and Pacino play two veteran NYPD detectives who have been friends and partners for about as long as either of them can remember. Their latest case is lifted right out of The Boondock Saints – a vigilante killer who is systematically killing off violent criminals who have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system.
Complicating matters are two other pesky detectives who have good reasons to believe that the two good guys might not be so good after all. It’s not a bad movie, but definitely a clear case of the whole being distantly less than the sum of its parts.
Ok, so I might like to take the time to suggest that you take the time to notice the discrepancy between the official running time of Babylon A.D. and the running time of the Director’s Cut. Evidently the studio cut out a whopping 71 minutes of Director Matthieu Kassovitz’s epic vision, which might be part of the reason that he publicly disowned the movie before it was released.
After having seen it, it’s not hard to see why. I don’t know that it’s bad enough for a professional filmmaker to make such a critical and decisive move as publicly abandoning the movie, but it was definitely a pretty good letdown.
In my review I mentioned that it might be worthwhile to wait and see if the entire original film would be released on DVD, but unfortunately I’m in China and all I have access to is massive quantities of dirt-cheap illegal DVDs, although I don’t know that I would have the interest to sit through three hours of Babylon anyway. But if I do you’ll be the first to know!
I love Nicholas Cage, but before you take that as a recommendation to watch his latest action cheesefest, I should also mention that I love Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van-Damme, and really, really bad horror movies. Cage is once again squeezed into a role that doesn’t remotely fit him – a high-level assassin (cleverly named Joe) with the greatest job. He gets to travel, the money is good, and he gets to ride around on cool BMW motorcycles. The only drawback seems to be that he is occastionally put into situations where he has to approach strangers in foreign countries while they’re in the middle of eating dinner and ask them to help him kill people.
here are a lot of roles that Nicholas Cage can do really well. He was perfect in The Rock, he inhabited his roles in Adaptation and Matchstick Men, and he even played a good investigator highly disturbed at his subject in 8mm, but here we’re expected to identify with this guy who is having conflictions about being given an assignment to kill a politician who happens to be a good man. It creates a confusing feeling when we’re expected to aspire to the moral high-ground of a contract killer.
Cage has done a lot worse, but he’s also done a lot better…
Ok, so if there is one movie that you should avoid watching for the rest of your life, this is probably it. It is a stupendously idiotic “comedy” without a thought in its head. It’s a sad, genuinely despressing representation of how deeply the spoof film has sunk since the times of the great comedies of Mel Brooks and Leslie Neilsen.
Not that we should be surprised. Film school dropouts Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg have been dropping these bombs in theaters for more than a decade.
I pride myself on my movie knowledge, but I am at a loss to explain how they’re still making a profit on these things. Will we ever catch on and stop paying to see them?
Alexadre Aja, the man behind the intensely creepy 2003 film High Tension and the intensely crappy 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes has now brought us something in between. Kiefer Sutherland adds credibility to the otherwise unoriginal horror film Mirrors, about an exiled New York City cop who soon finds himself battling a mysterious force hidden behind every reflective surface that is endangering his sanity, his life, and the lives of his family.
I understand people who feel that there is something inherently wrong with paying real money to watch Jack Bauer scream at his reflection for two hours, but as a creepy horror film it’s hard to say that Mirrors isn’t a success, It’s full of clever homages to old horror films, and the last five minutes are worth any other disappointments in the rest of the movie.
Ok, so I’m going to just go ahead and admit that I never managed to bring myself to watch this movie and I’ve felt a little guilty about that ever since, but it’s not until now that I feel a little sense of vindication about that. It was a popular disaster, with a whopping 2.8/10 user rating on the IMDb.
For those of you who are still interested, here’s what it’s about -
While paternity secrets, marital infidelity, greed and unsavory business dealings threaten to derail both families, Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin in “Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys.”
So the tagline for Appaloosa is “Feelings get you killed.” If there has ever been a statement made that appies to all westerns, that’s probably it. I have never been much of a western fan, and except for the occasional Eastwood fix or Back to the Future III I have generally avoided them until the highly impressive 3:10 to Yuma really changed my mind on the whole genre.
Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson star as two lawmen assigned to defend an lawless town in the 1880s from a brutal rancher named Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons). Soon their friendship and ability to protect the town are both challeged by the arrival of a young widow plays by Renee Zelwegger.
Ed Harris turns in a brilliant performance both in front of and behind the camera, and you can always count on Viggo Mortenson and Jeremy Irons to do something cool. See this one.
Jumping on the bandwagon with Matthieu Kassovitz about badmouthing your own movies, Dane Cook famously berated the poster for this movie as its release date approached. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with the poster, at least it’s honest because it doesn’t look anything different from any one of countless dozens of goofy romantic comedies that have come along over the years, and MY Best Friend’s Girl is certainly nothing new.
Dane Cook plays Tank, the best friend of Dustin (Jason Biggs), who is faced with the unenviable task of taking a girl on a date that is so catastrophically bad that she will decide that she should go back to Dustin after all. Needless to say, things don’t go quite as planned.
Let’s just hope she doesn’t figure out that her boyfriend was the star of Loseror all is lost!
Before you express your amazement that Kevin Costner is still coming out with almost unnoticed movies, you should also realize that Swing Vote also stars not only Dennis Hopper, George Lopez, Kelsey Grammer, and Stanley Tucci, but the great Judge Reinhold! That should be reason enough in itself to see it!
It’s not exactly a stretch of the imagination to come to the conclusion that the movie is a response to the tense political climate of our time. We have seen two of the most controversial presidential elections in American history twice in a row, so if anything it’s amazing that it has taken this long for someone to come out with a movie where all the madness comes down to just one guy’s decision.
It’s an entertaining exploration of the complexities and inadequacies of our electoral process, as well as a fantasy film in which the fate of the higest office in America could come down to the whim of a lovable, beer-slinging loser. Here’s hoping!
Ok, so I guess I may as well warn you that Brideshead Revisited is based on a British novel from 1945 and is nearly two and a half hours long. Sounds a bit like homework to me.
It is, however, a well-made and intelligent World War II drama about the loss of innocence and a unique look at the life of aristocratic British life in the 1940s. It’s interesting and meaningful but hardly a thrill ride. I recommend it if you happen to be in the mood for a little historical love story and maybe even a little cognitive activity in your weekend moviegoing. Enjoy!
I have to tell you an absolutely true story of something that happened today. I went to the theater to see Pineapple Express, and it was one of those rare experiences where the theater was packed even at 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon, and there were a lot of times during the movie that everyone in the theater was laughing so hard that you couldn’t hear the movie anymore.
But the unusual part is that, just after one of those bouts of hysterical laughter, someone started kicking the back of a chair a couple seats away from me, and it turned out to be a little kid that was laughing so hard that he almost choked on an ice cube. It was actually a little scary.
The movie starts out with a black and white scene that takes place back in the late 1940s, I believe, where the government is conducting experiments in an underground bunker on the effects of marijuana on the human mind. A lucky volunteer is locked in a room where he smokes weed constantly, periodically helped along by a guy in a foil suit, in case he needs a light. During simple psychological questioning, he doesn’t give the answers that the scientists and the government guys in suits want to hear, so they promptly illegalize it.
Personally it doesn’t make a lot of difference to me if weed is legal or not, but the movie makes a pretty strong statement. And it’s worth mentioning, by the way, the effect of making it an illegal drug. We Americans don’t have the greatest track record for successfully outlawing certain things that people are just going to get anyway. For example, we all know what gave rise to the mafia in America, right? Prohibition!!
Seth Rogen plays Dale Denton, a regular guy with a regular job who just wants to get a regular high. He works as a process server, and if you don’t know what that is, you’re in good shape, because process servers are those people that approach you out of nowhere and say your first and last name to you with a question mark at the end, and when you say yes, they hand you a piece of paper full of bad news and walk away saying “You’ve been served.” Needless to say, it’s a pretty thankless job, so he needs to spend most of his time stoned.
James Franco is incredibly effective in his role in this movie, which is almost a little disturbing. He plays Saul, Dale’s drug dealer, and he maintains an astonishing quantity and variety of quality weed. This is, by the way, the only interest that Dale has in him, until he unwittingly witnesses a gangland murder involving a corrupt cop (Rosie Perez) and her drug lord.
Soon Dale and Saul become involved in a full scale gang war and are running for their very lives, and get this, it’s all because the weed that Saul sold to Dale is so good. They become reluctant best friends, allowing for some of the funniest moments in the movie, such as a scene where they get into a fight with one of Saul’s friends, Red (Danny McBride, who nearly steals the show), in which they kick the crap out of each other and destroy Red’s apartment, alternately threatening and apologizing to each other because none of them is entirely sure why they’re fighting. This has to be one of the funniest movie brawls ever.
There’s a goofy romantic subplot involving Dale and his high school girlfriend that feels a little undeveloped. Like a lot of the rest of the movie, it was probably part of an effort to present as many bizarre and unbelievable situations imaginable, and the result is a genuinely odd contraption of a film that is amazing in how well-written and well-made it is, given the fact that there’s really no way that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg could have come up with this stuff unless they were stoned out of their minds.
The movie is incredibly violent and packed full of vicious profanity and so will make a terrible date movie for a lot of unsuspecting high school kids, but the rest of us will be glad that they didn’t cop out and shoot for the largest possible audience. It’s not often that a movie so saturated with weed can come along and be so much fun for an audience that smokes weed or doesn’t, but Pineapple Express moves at such a brisk pace and is full of good laughs and strangely amusing situations. Just don’t see it with your parents…
Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Danny McBride
Actress Mila Kunis is on the September 2009 issue of 
.jpg "James Franco as Commencement Speaker")
