These two movies, Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express, are the last of the big popular summer comidies and contrary to my expectations, the victor has to be Tropic Thunder. The stoner crowd might disagree with me, but they were probably to lazy to get up and go see both movies so we'll just go ahead and ignore their opinion for a few more months till they can snag it on DVD and watch it. I've been on a bit of a hiatus, backpacking through Central America, hence my lack of a Dark Knight review which is odd as I praised that movie from dusk till dawn every night since November of last year. To make up for this I'll dish out a double dose on these movies at once as there really is nothing else in theaters worth seeing at this moment, but I'll probably do a Hub on that very fact in 20 minutes....so stay tuned!!!

Pineapple Express:

I caught a trailer for this movie a few months ago and had high hopes for it being on par with Superbad and Knocked up, a staggering contradiction to some of the crap Hollywood has been pumping out under the genre of 'comedy'. Unfortunately it was really as good as I could see it being, and I was still dissapointed. It was slightly short on the big laughs, and ran a few minutes long, it felt, in the middle (rare comment as I'm all about long movies). The only thing I can really put my finger on that was wrong was the extreme lack of a soundtrack in many scenes. Something was missing in the editing, there was a lack of a soundtrack and things played out at full speed that could have been funnier in slowmo or something...it was just not as good as it could have been. Seth Rogen was pretty funny as usual, and James Franco was ok, played the character really well, but was truly overshadowed by Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson chasing them with constant hilarity, the seemingly adlibbed romance between Gary Cole and Rosie Perez. It would be rude to leave out the constantly shifting alliance of Danny McBride's character.

This movie really does leave me for a loss of words. Dissapointing is all I can come up with really. it wasn't bad, or horrific or unfunny, it just didnt' live up to my expectations and truly, to its own. The possibility was there, but just wasn't realized by the movie as a whole. I'd wait till DVD for this one, its, well if you have some help will probably be all the more funny! I don't advocate anything against the law....cause thats against the rules here isn't it ;).

Tropic Thunder:

The victor of the late summer comedies and succesfully closed the big summer season. Ben Still is back to the form of Zoolander and his directing capabilities The Cable Guy. This movie is just freakin hilarious! Robert Downey Jr. is amazing, he runs through a number of accents and facial expressions and characters throughout the movie. Its hard to keep up with him frankly, that and Jack Black in the background going through detox. The other two main guys I hadn't really heard of, but they delivered some of the more memorable lines in the movie, while everyone else was in the middle of a personal identity crisis. There is a bit of a drag about 1/3 of the way in, but that is short and isn't boring but there aren't a lot of laughs to be had, a little break for you I guess. But keeps your eyes out for a few very famous people playing varying roles, minor and major. Some increasing the speculation of just how hippie-esk they are, to revitilizing themselves in the eyes of America after jumping on a couch.

This is a really good all around comedy, and it is rated R, but I wouldn't call it a hard R rating. A chunk of violence, some course language and a few hilarious but questionable scenes, so if your in possession of some 16 year olds, go ahead and take them, it doesn't dable in the realm of Knocked Up, but more in the typical violent comedy genre so it can get a little weird for the younger crowd. Basically, let them see this it will give it a cult status in a few years and DVD sales will be great. Finally, Ben Stiller got back up there so we don't all laugh at him for hanging out with a girl named Polly and such shit he's been pumping out over the past few years.