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The Judd Apatow factory refreshes the stoner comedy in this
hilarious and unexpectedly visceral hybrid road movie/action thriller. Seth
Rogen is a wisecracking process server, and James Franco is his friendly
neighborhood dope dealer, a sweet, stupid, emotionally ebullient guy with the
innocence of a child (albeit one who is baked to the gills), amiable stoners who
witness a cop killing and flee a murderous drug lord (Gary Cole, perfect as
always) and his hired assassins. The screenplay by Rogen and Evan Goldberg (from
a story co-written with producer Apatow) doesn't really take us anywhere we
haven't been before, but it offers a sly take on stoner culture and an
accidental buddy film that works, thanks to the terrific rapport between Rogen
and Franco, and director David Gordon Green's affection for his characters.
Danny McBride turns a third-wheel role into a foggy moral journey, and Rosie
Perez co-stars. The DVD commentary is more like a party than a
production track; you get a lot of background information, but only the funny
stuff. Rogen dominates (he's the loudest and the funniest guy in the room), but
practically everyone involved in the shoot drops in at one point or another.
Also features "The Making of Pineapple Express" and extended and alternate
scenes. The "2-Disc Unrated Special Edition" and the Blu-ray edition feature an
extended version (about six minutes longer, mostly with comic exposition), bonus
deleted scenes and scenes from what appears to be an alternate universe version
of the film (see "Item 9" and "Saul's Apartment"), more featurettes, plenty of
behind-the-scenes footage (including the first table read) and a digital copy of
the film. These are fun, substantial supplements in the spirit of the film
experience.
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| The Duchess |
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Keira Knightley stars as Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of
Devonshire and the original social celebrity of late-18th century Britain.
Bartered off to a powerful aristocrat (Ralph Fiennes, all chilly apathy) as a
teenage girl, it would seem she hit it big. But he only thinks of her as a
social ornament and breeder of heirs, oblivious to her talents, her smarts and
her social savvy, and mystified by her issues with his numerous affairs. Echoes
of Lady Diana cannot be avoided in this story of her ancestor, but the film is
all gorgeous surfaces (the pomp of high society, grand mansions and marvelous
finery) with no depth, and Knightley is girlish and radiant instead of poised
and practiced. Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell co-star, and Saul Dibb directs.
Includes featurettes on the making of the film, on the historical background of
Georgiana Spencer, and on the film's costumes.
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| Ghost Town |
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Ricky Gervais plays a man who sees dead people and is really
annoyed by them in David Koepp's comic take on "Ghost." Self-absorbed dentist
Bertram Pincus is a sarcastic seer who has to overcome his aversion to emotional
contact and woo Tea Leoni (criminally underused in the film) to get a pushy
ghost (a perfectly glib Greg Kinnear) off his back. Gervais carries the film
with his snide persona as director/co-writer Koepp straddles snarky humor and
sentimental gush, keeping the film from getting too sticky in the inevitable
redemptive makeover. Kristen Wiig almost steals the film in a couple of brief
scenes as a double-talking doctor. Features commentary by Koepp and Gervais, and
three featurettes.
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| The Wackness |
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Jonathan Levine's coming-of-age drama of an isolated,
introspective high school dope peddler (Josh Peck) in 1994 New York is a modest
but well-observed respite from the clichés of the genre. Ben Kingsley plays the
pothead psychiatrist who trades sessions for weed, but Peck holds his own
against Kingsley's colorful performance, and the film rings with the
authenticity of lived experience and earned life lessons. Winner of the Audience
Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Features commentary by director Levine
and star Peck, and three featurettes. Also available in Blu-ray.
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| Baghead |
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Romantic comedy, indie character drama and horror movie are
mixed and matched and cleverly spoofed in the witty micro-budget comedy from Jay
and Mark Duplass ("The Puffy Chair"). They transform a potentially sophomoric
idea (two sort-of couples writing a horror movie script in an isolated cabin in
the woods where the fiction starts to become reality) into a cheeky little indie
comedy that creatively straddles the very genres it spoofs. Features commentary
by creators Jay and Mark Duplass and the featurette "Mark and Jay Duplass Answer
Questions They've Already Answered."
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Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a DVD
columnist for MSN Entertainment and a contributing writer for GreenCine.com,
Turner Classic Movies Online, Parallax View and Asian Cult Cinema, among other
publications. Find links to all of this and more on his shamelessly
self-promoting blog.
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Black KnightsHas pop culture paved the way for
Barack Obama to become our next president? | |
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