Pineapple Express, released 12 September 2008

Pineapple Express is the latest film from the folk who brought you Knocked Up and Superbad. It is a stoner-action-comedy in the tradition of the Cheech and Chong films you may have watched as a student, with less than your full faculties at hand. Seth Rogen (who put the bun in the oven in Knocked Up) plays Dale Denton, another character short on career prospects and motivation. He’s a 'process server', delivering subpoenas in a variety of bad disguises —when he is not smoking dope supplied by dealer Saul (James Franco).

When Dale witnesses a murder, involving a corrupt police officer (Rosie Perez) and lounge-lizard style mobster (Gary Cole), he gets himself and Saul on a hit-list; connected to the scene of the crime by a certain form of marijuana, the Pineapple express of the title.

Danny R McBride plays Red, a small time drug-dealer and double crossing fall guy the leads get entangled with. The actor has exploded on the movie scene this season doing his low-level red neck shtick in this, The Foot fist Way and Tropic Thunder.

Now, as a very silly comedy, the Express works in parts though, as ever, one of the best sight-gags, involving Saul trying to punch his windscreen out in a chase sequence, was already in the trailer. Judd Apatow, (who produces and heads a raft of American comedies including Forgetting Sarah Marshall) seems to be repeating himself here. Once again the main, male, character lives in a kind of fantasy world, in his late 20’s in a druggie haze, yet somehow able to date a high school girl who looks like Scarlett Johansson. You could say he’s playing to his audience, but you have to wonder when his material is going to run out.

As in Superbad (and maybe even Knocked Up) the real story is all about the guys, no relationship is more important that the one between Dale has with his buddy Saul. The problem is, the jokes start to wear thin and their double act seems more than a little underdeveloped. So you get scenes where the characters don’t seem to know where they are or what they are doing, not so amusing without good one-liners and when you need to story to shift. The makers have compared their film to the DeNiro/Charles Grodin action comedy, Midnight Run. Best not to dwell on that comparison.

Pineapple Express is also pretty violent, they have deliberately tried to up the action-quotient and it doesn’t always work. One over the top scrap scene: fine. By the second or third sequence the novelty wears off. What you get is a script where eventually everyone starts shooting everyone else and kicking people randomly in the crotch. Side note: I don’t think I can remember another mainstream movie where a female character is very clearly kicked in that area, as part of a light-hearted sequence: necessary?

Ultimately, you do get laughs along the way, but as with other - better - stoner flicks: it often seems like everyone —including the writers— was on the ‘wacky backy.’

No Sex in the City (Thanet Extra, May 2008)

How many men will be coerced into watching Sex and the City at the pictures this weekend? Published in another newspaper were some coupons excepting individual blokes from this particular chore — in return for a lot of washing up, ironing and baby burping obviously. In the spirit of Carrie Bradshaw, “It got me thinking, what do we expect of our TV shows when they cross over from just being friends on the google-box to full-blown, going-all-the-way, flicks at the cinema?” What if they don’t measure up (like Tom Cruise) and leave us, you know, unsatisfied?

Take Miami Vice, as one example. Effortlessly cool in the 80s, the show defined a certain period with its music, clothes and nonchalant Crockett and Tubbs. In 2006 however, the movie nearly gave itself a hernia, it was trying so hard to be hip. And what was the plot about? The fact that there were some sleek action scenes and beautiful shots crafted by director Michael Mann, just reminded us: there was no reason for this to be called “Miami Vice”, other than nostalgia.

The X-Files movie in 1998 served a purpose for fans of the TV show. It continued the long-running story arc about Alien invasion (that was already starting to get tiresome) and was pretty passable as a science-fiction actioner for newcomers watching at the multiplex. How the new movie, X-Files: I want to Believe will fare this August, we’ll have to wait and see, but as always the hard part will be how they spin out a format that works well in 42 minute chunks, to something twice the size. Not easy.

Back with the girls in New York, for their full-length outing it’s not like the Producers can just throw in more special effects—to do what? Enhance Samantha’s libido so she becomes Godzilla in the bedroom; from Karl Lagerfeld to Cloverfield? They'll be upping the emotion no doubt. Does someone get married? Does someone die? I don’t know, I haven’t seen Sex and the City: The Movie. I printed my coupon, of course.