The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 2, Ed. 1 Friday, August 29, 2008 Page: 13 of 24
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Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and lames Franco (Spider-Man) star in Judd Apatow's stoner action flick, Pineapple Express
byFaheem Ahmed
fortheThresher
Just a few years ago, the comedic
stage belonged to the super-duo of di-
rector Adam Mackay (Anchorman) and
chubby funnyman Wili Ferrell (Talla-
dega Nights). Since then, they have had
to make way for the hilarious antics of
Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), another fat
white guy, and director-producer ex-
traordinaire Judd Apatow (Step Broth-
ers), yet another out-of-shape white
guy. Hmm, I wonder why the target au-
dience for this genre is so huge.
The last leg of the journey is where
Pineapple Express falls on its face.
The film loses its levity and degener-
ates into gratuitous and pointless vio-
lence, as Apatow showers the screen
with bad explosions and cheesy blood
splatters. Also, I don't understand why
these guys think Danny McBride (The
Heartbreak Kid) is funny. He fulfills
the criteria of a fat, white guy, but he
fails to make me laugh.
Overall, Apatow's signature has
been the endings of his movies. His
previous films make us laugh hysteri-
cally at the absurd events that lead to
an ending steeped in poignancy and
realism. Pineapple Express burns
brightly for the first hit, but is just
straight ash for the second.
him across town to attack his family.
Although director Alexandra Aja
(High Tension) manages to elevate the
suspense and induce a few startles, the
film ultimately ends in shambles with
an over-dramatic ending that isn't at
all scary. One of the film's best aspects
is its sprawling set design by Joseph
Nemec 111 (The Hills Have Eyes). The
building is definitely dark and exudes
evil and malevolence.
Pineapple Express
★
Starring: Seth Rogen,
James Franco
The Forty-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked
Up and Superbad have become instant
classics of our generation; cinematic
flicks in which Apatow makes us not
only root for the nerds, losers and un-
derdogs, but also envy them. After I saw
the first trailer for Pineapple Express,
my mouth literally salivated, and not
due to the munchies.
Also, is it just me or could you not
get M.I.A's "Paper Planes" out of your
head? Pump that song and everyone
will start dancing. I played it so loudly
in my car the other day that the old lady
at the bus stop started grinding with a
trash can. But then again, she might
have just been senile.
This action-comedy follows the ad-
ventures of Rogen, a subpoena server,
and James Franco (SpiderMan), his
nutty and lonely pot dealer. My favorite
part of the movie is Franco's description
of the origins of Pineapple Express, re-
portedly one of the most potent strains
of marijuana on the planet. Surprising-
ly, Franco turns in an impressive and
hilarious performance, whereas Ro-
gen's character seems like ... well, like
Seth Rogen in every movie he's been in.
Mirrors
★ ★
Starring: Kiefer
Sutherland, Pauta Patton
I'm a huge sucker for horror movies.
I can't get enough of them! The thrill,
the chill, the suspense, the rising ac-
tion ... Okay, fine, so I only watch horror
movies so that girls will grab me during
the scary parts. With that said, it's been
a long time since Hollywood has re-
leased an original honor film that isn't
a diced-up Japanese remake. The keys
to a great horror movie lie in subtlety
(don't reveal the actual monster, just
elude to the idea of the monster), excel-
lent acting and a strong plot. Favorite
examples include The Ring, The De-
scent and the original Halloween. Does
Mirrors fit the bill?
Jack Bauer — er, I mean Kiefer
Sutherland (24) — plays an alcohol-
ic former police officer, fallen from
grace, who now works the night
shift as a security guard. His work-
place is an abandoned department
store, destroyed by a fire. After the
lurking images in the store's mirrors
have attacked him, the evil follows
Not a sports page, not a
magazine, but a book
Summer is a time of endless pos-
sibilities. Everyone I know found
a different way to stay busy after
school ended, and a way to stay
entertained away from work. Some
of my friends watched television or
held movie marathons; everybody
went to see The Dark Knight. We ar-
gued about Heath Ledger and wor-
shipped Michael Phelps. A couple
of people I know even read books.
reading, at least, and to a surpris-
ing degree it is true. I even had a
brief e-mail correspondence with
one author, A.J. Jacobs, after read-
ing his essay about the time he
stoned an adulterer in accordance
with Biblical law.
Books are works of mutual imagi-
nation. A movie is awe-inspiring be-
cause of the world it creates and the
inventiveness of its actors, writers
and producers. A good novel or trav-
elogue inspires because it demands
that inventiveness of both writer and
reader. A well-told story takes shape
not in the words of the storyteller but
in the mind of the listener.
Books can be companions. Some-
Tropic Thunder
* ★ ★ 1/2
Starring: Robert Downey,
Jr., Ben Stiller, Tom
Cruise, Jack Black
The opening of this film is one of
the most original and hilarious con-
cepts I've witnessed, poking fun at the
endless stream of commercials and
previews that precede a movie in the
theater. Since when did 1 need to buy
herpes medicine for my dog? Those
stupid commercials. Following the bril-
liant introduction of the movie's stars,
we enter the set of a typical action film.
The action begins after a group of
over-pampered, egomaniacal actors
threatens to tank the production of
Tropic Thunder, a story inspired by
Vietnam vet Tayback (Cape Fear's
Nick Nolte). The director puts the
spoiled Hollywood stars in a helicop-
ter and drops them in the middle of
the Myanmar jungle.
Tugg Speedman (The Heartbreak
Kid's Ben Stiller) is the fading star of the
Scorcher films, a blatant satire of the
ridiculous sequels churned out by Hol-
lywood. Jack Black (King Kong) plays
Jeff Portnoy, an obnoxious comedian
famous for farting and double-acting,
who claims Eddie Murphy is a hack.
Finally, Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man)
plays Kirk Lazarus, an Australian ac-
tor who has won numerous Oscars and
takes method acting way too far. While
the action in this movie is over-the-top,
Brian Reinhart
Not many, of course. Reading is
a lost art, a means of entertainment
going extinct in the electronic age.
The average American reads some-
thing like four books a year, all of
them written by Stephenie Meyer. A
quick search of the Thresher online
archives reveals a grand total of one
book review. In other words, the
number of book reviews ever pub-
lished by the Thresher is probably
lower than the number of freshmen
who didn't even open this year's
summer reading.
I decided to buck the trend. I
decided to avoid the boredom and
loneliness of summer by plunging
myself into an ocean of the printed
word. On the day summer break
ended, I finished book number 41.
Now that my long and wordy
quest is over, I can ask and an-
swer a lot of questions about read-
ing. Some are serious: Why do we
read? What benefit do we derive
from looking at the words other
people put together? How can it be
that blobs of ink have the power to
transport us and teach us? Some of
the questions are even more seri-
ous: Am I going crazy?
This summer, I read for many
different reasons. I read some books
for pure pleasure, including novels
by Kinky Friedman, a Jewish cow-
boy, Texan politician and musician
who writes murder mysteries. I read
some works in order to learn, and
thus can now tell you from author
Bill Bryson that breakfast cereal
was invented at an insane asylum to
keep the patients timid and docile.
Other books were on my list to de-
press me, some to make me think,
quite a few to make me laugh.
Many people appreciate this
ability of reading to inspire in us
feelings of pleasure and pathos,
but there are other reasons we
keep turning the pages. Books
can inspire conversations. That
is the idea behind Rice's common
ti
The average
American reads
something like four
books a year; all of
them written by
Stephenie Meyer.
99
times it is difficult not to imagine the
characters jumping off the page and
into real life. And the author is al-
ways there to console us or tease us,
to rebuke or to reassure. As Groucho
Marx once said, "Outside of a dog, a
book is man's best friend. Inside of a
dog, it's too dark to read."
All of this doesn't exactly ex-
plain why I read 41 books over the
summer. I had a compulsive desire
to turn more pages, partly because
by doing so I could transport my-
self out of my tiny, dull Texas town
and into centuries past, fictional
worlds or the frontiers of modern
science and psychology. Partly, I
simply wanted to learn, laugh, cry,
smile and be engaged by the writ-
ten thoughts of great minds.
There is, though, another reason
we read, which we probably don't
talk about as much as we should.
It might have something to do with
my bizarre quest this summer, too.
We read books to learn about our-
selves. At first the concept may
seem odd; shouldn't we be writing
our own books to figure that out? I
am not so sure. To browse the pag-
es a fellow human has written is
to enter that person's soul, to look
around and, while gazing upon the
thoughts and feelings of another, to
search for shadows of ourselves.
The search is never easy, of
course. Often it can be very dark
inside the soul of a writer, or in the
mind of a struggling artist. It's al-
most like being inside of a dog.
S3 see MOVIES, page 14
Brian Reinhart is a sophomore at
Mess College.
THE
WEEKLY I —;
SCENE
Editors' picks for events
outside the hedges, both
around Rice and in the
Houston area-
Next Friday at the Angeiika, ex-
perience the sobering majesty
of Chinese-Canadian director
Yung Chang's documentary on
the making of China's Three
Gorges Dam, Up The Yangtze.
Film times and ticket informa-
tion available online.
Angeiika Houston
510 Texas Avenue
ANGEUKAFHMCENTER.COM
RIVER
Monday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
is the last d«iy the Space Center
shows its Clone Wars exhibit,
which may be more rewarding
than the movie. Tickets to this
kid-friendly memorabilia col-
lection are and include
admission to the rest of the mu-
seum.
Space Center Houston
1601 NASA Parkway
WWW. SPACECENTER. ORG
STAR WARS
If you don't go to the game this
Friday, you can go to hell, but
you can also go to see Austin's
indietronic sweethearts The
Octopus Project play at Ware-
house Live. Expect balloons,
masks, sweat stains and the
1 of your festival-
going friends. Doors open at
• p.m., and tickets are TO."
available online. '
Warehouse Live
813 St. Emanuel Street
WWW. WAREHOUSEUVE. COM
CONCERT
The Houston Ballet opens
this year's season on Thurs-
day at 7:30 p.m. with john
Cranko's passionate Onegin
(pronounced "own-yay-ghin"),
featuring music by Tchaik-
ovsky and based on a Gothic
verse-novel by Pushkin. Tick-
ets begin at $17, available
online, by phone or at the
Wortham Center box office,—
Brown Theater
Wortham Theater Center
5qi Texas Avenue
WWW.HOUSTONBALLET.ORG
BALLET
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Chun, Lily & Farmer, Dylan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 2, Ed. 1 Friday, August 29, 2008, newspaper, August 29, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443032/m1/13/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.