'Pineapple Express' Can't Derail The Unstoppable 'Dark Knight', But It Would Have Been No.1 If...

"The Dark Knight' juggernaut keeps rolling along. Judd Apatow and David Gordon Green's "Pineapple Express" couldn't unseat 'TDK in its fourth week of release as the comic-book hero sequel raked in $26 million making it the third-biggest movie of all time box-office wise in North America. (TDK sits currently at #34 on the all-time world-record box-office list).

And for perspective: ranked for inflation on the North American all-time b.o. charts, 'The Dark Knight' comes in at a more modest #49.

Nevertheless, 'TDK' has taken in a massive $441.5 million after just 24 days. The stoner comedy "Pineapple Express" took in $22.4 million which is the best Apatow-movie box-office opening numbers this year, but seems like a far cry from the $100 million plus overall haul that was "Superbad" and "Knocked Up," right? Is Apatow's shine starting to fade?

Not necessarily. "Pineapple Express" released itself early on Wednesday and Reuters said if it had waited for a regular weekend release it would have been undoubtedly #1. And that basically makes sense as 'Express' has already grossed $40 million domestically since it's release Wednesday. Basically they took some juice out of their weekend numbers and won't have the bragging rights, but still have taken a strong haul for an R-Rated comedy that presumably will only grow (you'll recall they set a record for Wednesday openings in August).

'The Mummy 3' came in at number 3 with $16 million and the other major debut this week, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" took the number four position with a $10 million dollar total.
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'Pineapple Express' Burnin' Up The Box-Office Already

Maybe the studios will really want a "Pineapple Express" sequel and unlike "Superbad" which they also wanted. Maybe Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will decide to write another one.

We honestly hope not, but regardless, David Gordon Green's directorial effort for the Judd Apatow crew is burning up the box-office already and it's not even Friday yet. It set the record for the best August Wednesday opening ever taking in 12.1 million from 3,072 theaters (honestly we didn't even know it was opening up two days early; this seems like a trend, see "Tropic Thunder" which is following that Wednesday model).

Meanwhile, CHUD, who we actually like, went out on an unfortunate limb, gave the movie a 9.2 rating and said James Franco should get an Oscar nomination. Umm, yeah, bloggers. It's fine, but god, it's not that good trust us.
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'Pineapple Express 2' Could Mesh Apatow Worlds, Include 'Superbad' Gang?

If they made a "Pineapple Express 2" or a "Superbad 2" for that matter would we see a Judd Apatow world crossover? Probably not, but actors like to talk wacky ideas when they're bored on press junkets and James Franco did exactly that.

"Even before ‘Superbad’ came out, I think the studio was trying to get [Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg] to write a sequel, but they really didn’t want to write a sequel. I guess the kids would go to college or something like that [that was the studio's idea],” Franco told MTV News. “And so, an answer to that was to do a ‘Superbad’/'Pineapple Express’ crossover, an unprecedented crossover movie with two directors, Greg Motolla and David Gordon Green, each directing half of the movie and somehow these characters get together, which doesn’t make sense at all, but could work.”

How would this silly meta-ness work if it were to ever happen? “I could sell them [the characters from 'Superbad'] something, but I think we’d want some action, so you know, somehow the kids get in trouble somehow and we have to get them out of it,” Franco said. “And Seth plays characters in both movies, so somehow we’d have to kill one of them off.”

Yeah, it's fun to talk and it's a fun "idea", but remember guys, sequels are gateway drugs to totally shit careers.
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Natalie Portman For David Gordon Green's 'Suspiria' Remake?

Yesterday we reported that David Gordon Green's John Grisham non-fiction adaptation had been put on indefinite hold. We made reference to his reported remake of horrormeister Dario Argento's "Suspiria" and today comes a rumor from Bloody Disgusting, that flaky horror site that's hit and miss with their reporting, that Natalie Portman's company is going to produce it and she is hoping to star. Considering all the other shitty casting ideas we've heard today, this one's not so bad.

The once lyrical and poetic Green is now becoming the master of all genres. He does cite the electic careers of Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater and Gus Van Sant as the model he'd like to follow. “I’m trying to channel as diverse a career as possible," he told the New York Times, this past weekend. " It’s good for me to switch gears. I don’t like the idea of someone looking at me funny when I say I want to do something. I like the idea of them saying, ‘That’s interesting.’ ”

Update: AICN is hearing this is not happening, or at least, not with Portman and hey, it surely wouldn't be the first time BloodyDisgusting was dead wrong (lol).
Scene: "Suspiria"
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David Gordon Green's John Grisham Adaptation Project 'The Innocent Man' Goes Into Limbo

Finally reading this weekend's NYTimes article about "Pineapple Express" director David Gordon Green. It follows the same old line everyone's towing basically: Why did an indie director go pop, into the mainstream, take on a comedy? etc. etc.

Green's pretty adamant and unrepentant about some of his bad taste in movies (he does love "Tango & Cash," and once told me he adored Michael Bay's "Bad Boys II" about 3-4 years ago much to my shock). “I was into some trash. It wasn’t even prestigious trash, like the taste that Tarantino has. I mean trash.”

However, one instance of hard news in the piece: Green's planned adaptation of John Grisham’s nonfiction book “The Innocent Man” has gone into limbo. After Warner Independent Pictures was shut down earlier this year in May the project seemed to get lost in the shuffle. If it's happening at all anymore remains to be seen, but maybe that's for the best considering all the number of projects on his plate in the last few years (not to mention all the Danny R. McBride projects that have popped up since). Hey, there's always the "Suspriria" remake, right?

Plus David Gordon Green doing John Grisham? Wouldn't that mean two-threee weeks before the film's release of: why??? questions posited about forty thousand times? It would be far too much. Three cheers for shut-down projects that save us from press regurgitation!
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'Pineapple Express' Hits Brooklyn Early

Last night we caught the New York/Brooklyn premiere of the Judd Apatow stoner action comedy, "Pineapple Express" directed by David Gordon Green and starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that was all part of DGG film fest week at BAM.

Like many other movie fans, it was probably one of our most highly anticipated films of the summer (if not the most) and high expectations can sometimes be problematic. To be an apologist about it, we didn't love it like everyone else seemed to, including our big group of friends (surprise, we have "friends"!), but we did enjoy it a lot and we laughed hard most of the time. Mr. Snruff's preview of the film that we posted in mid May prepped us for the fact that there would be a lot of violence in the film so we weren't as shocked as everyone else seemed to be (not because it was shocking, more because it was unexpected), but two things about the violence: one it shifted the tone from the usual Apatow milieu slightly (though it was still similar) and two, a lot of the violence was actually some of the funniest moments in the movie (for better or worse, you'd think smart-funny lines of dialogue would be funnier than a titty-twist mid fight).
As Mr. Snruff noted, Danny R. McBride as the drug dealer Red, stole most of the show and almost every scene he was in. He might not be able to carry an entire film like, "Fist Foot Way" (though that was sort of just the writing - it shoulda been just a short film). but as a side player he's amazing comic relief that's obviously don't on the fly in incredibly assured improv style. Bit part performances by Rosie Perez, Kevin Corrigan were great and Gary Cole was particularly excellent (he's Will Ferrell's deadbeat dad in "Talladega Nights"), but man, we've said it once, we'll say it again, Craig Robinson is funny as shit and could be a star given the right role (he's the doorman in "Knocked Up" that won't give Katherine Heigl and Leslie Mann access to the club - "I would love to tear that ass up, but you too damn old for this club.").
Though it's not quite the bonding bromance that "Superbad" is ultimately, there are similar moments of tender male friendship issues emblematic of all the Apatow films (and even though there wasn't a lot of bonding tenderness in "Superbad" it felt slightly more poignant that what's offered in 'Pineapple'). Franco definitely shined as the stoner of the duo , but Amber Heard? Eh, we woulda much rather seen a richer character and maybe Oliver Thirlby, originally cast in this role, could have provided some more depth, though the role was rather thin.

There's a few almost-lyrical moments in the movie in the woods that almost seemed like David Gordon Green was trying to mock and send-up his old style. His cinematographer Tim Orr was still on board for this one and there were a few nods and shots to the pastoral prettiness he's so fond of, but yeah, otherwise this wasn't anything like his old work. Much like Christopher Nolan in "The Dark Knight," a lot of Green's action sequences need some work, but generally they were so amusing, you probably wouldn't notice.
Surprisingly, there weren't that many musical moments in the film considering all the music in the film and when they were there they were subtle (we don't even remember where the Spiritualized song was in the film, but we suspect it was in the friendship, come-to-jesus scene). We were sort of warned that there were too many musical montages in the film and there were maybe three and they were short and never overstayed their welcome (our favorite was the driving sequence to Public Enemy's "Lost At Birth")
There were definitely some choice moments though. The selling weeds to the kids scene was a riot and the final scene in the movie (without spoiling anything major is simply just a bro-ing down scene in a restaurant that Green said was completely improvised and not in the script. They set up a camera for three hours (!) and just let 'er rip. This does speak to the comedy improv of the Apatow crew cause this scene was utterly hilarious. Is this our "review"? Kinda slovenly, no? Oh well. [B].

[full disclosure: we had a loud, talking jackass sitting behind us the whole time - dude, we literally wanted to turn around and stab you multiple times until you shut the fuck up forever - but the same thing happened to us at "Hamlet 2" and that didn't deter our enjoyment of the film, so it's debatable whether it tainted our impression or not, but we figured we'd put that out there. Generally we let that that stuff slide. BUT...Fuck it, the guy was a portly round British dude and he must live in Brooklyn we assume. Dude, if your friends somehow read this and send this to you: Do us all a fucking favor and never go see a movie in a theater again or prepare to be murdered :) Fair warning]

Download: Public Enemy - "Lost At Birth"
Watch: "Pineapple Express" Scene: "I Made A Mistake"

Watch: "Pineapple Express" Scene: "Car Chase"

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'I Made A Mistake': New 'Pineapple Express' International Trailer, David Gordon Green "Goes Pop"?

A lot of the chatter in the indie-world film this week is whether indie-auteur David Gordon Green has "gone pop," now that his Judd Apatow-produced action comedy, "Pineapple Express" is hitting theaters in two weeks (August 6). In fact, this talk is growing louder in New York given 'Express' is having its Brooklyn premiere early this Thursday at BAM's cinematek in honor of the David Gordon Green curated film festival that's running this week (we saw Peter Weir's 1975 dreamy mystery "Picnic At Hanging Rock" this weekend and its strange tones can be vaguely seen in things like Green's "Undertow."). The influence of Green's "new direction," can be seen in some of his curated picks like "Tango & Cash," but anyone who's paid attention to his career, knows he's wanted to do comedies as far back as 2003 and has always had an eclectic palette (in an interview in 2004, he told us/me how much he loved the absurdity of "Bad Boys II," a film not far off the mark here).

Is 'Express' Tarantino with a sense of humor or more Apatow with a bit more violence? We'll all find out soon enough, and meanwhile here's the international trailer for the film which features more Amber Heard (Seth Rogen's girlfriend in the film) and a line about marriage that made us practically spit-take on our computer. Good stuff. Oh and big DGG fans will want to note, Vulture has got their mitts on a copy of one of the filmmaker's first shorts called, "Physical Pinball," which features Eddie Rouse and Candace Evanofski, two of the main characters in his 2000 feature-length debut, "George Washington."
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Rant: Huey Lewis' 'Pineapple Express' Song Sucks

You can't call us haters here because we've been of the utmost supporters of "Pineapple Express," having blogged incessantly about its every move and are genuinely excited to see the film (we generally love David Gordon Green and Judd Apatow, so it's like a two-birds with one stone kind of sweet deal).

However, we really loathe this original Huey Lewis & The News song, "Pineapple Express" we must admit (with apologies to all the soundtrack people; we're surely not going to change the legion of people who already adore it). The track sounds like a bad parody of Huey Lewis, intentional or not. It makes us sea-sick, but then we're predisposed to get ill every time a smooth saxophone stars playing on the unswabbed decks of anything vaguely resembling yacht rock.

No amount of retroactive irony is going to change this. And we admit the whole, "hey dude, high five, it's Huey Lewis!," blinding frat-like nostalgia that everyone is espousing over this track is herdist, annoying and just delusional. No hate on the film, and the soundtrack itself (which is very decent and you should buy it and all), but seriously? Those sick, insipid horns and guitar slides at the beginning? At least, classic Huey Lewis still stands up (even though we generally don't like that sort of thing), this song sounds incredibly corny and cheesy and not in a good way. Maybe it's further evidence that the track is purposely banal, but that's missing the point. "The Power Of Love" from "Back To The Future" was a good song because it was a good song, not because it intentionally tried to be bad...in a good way? We don't get that ideology at all and frankly, we don't want to. Listen to "Paper Planes" and wash the bad taste out of your brain instead. The film's first misstep in an otherwise unimpeachable campaign.


Download: M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" Read more...

Exclusive First Listen: Huey Lewis' Title Track From The 'Pineapple Express' Soundtrack Due August 5

There haven't been a ton of soundtracks this year so far that fall into our raison d'etre ("that sweet spot where movies and music meet"™), but the Judd Apatow-produced, David Gordon Green-directed stoner comedy, "Pineapple Express," finally has some musical reprieve for us.

Due August 5 on Lakeshore records, the 15 track disc features the much-touted return of Huey Lewis And The News, ala "The Power Of Love" from Back To The Future, doing their updated, cheesy take on the title track. It's good fun. The rest of the disc, is naturally filled, with stoner delights from Cypress Hill, Peter Tosh, Public Enemy and tracks by Eddy Grant and friggin' Moondog of all people! (how obscurist is that!?). The disc also has two cuts of Graeme Revell's score, a gentle Spiritualized track (they like to get high in the sun, right?) and a sermonizing Bone Thugs & Harmony song.

Oh and those sad that M.I.A's "Paper Planes" ain't featured on the disc, take some solace in knowing it isn't featured in the movie at all and in the trailer. Alas.

After the tracklist, we've got an exclusive audio peak of Lewis' "Pineapple Express," in full. Sample lyric: We got trouble, we got to get out of here. I’ve got you, you’ve got me. We are as high as we can be. That’s all right. How did we get into this mess? Pineapple Express!"

"Pineapple Express" soundtrack tracklisting.
01. Pineapple Express - Huey Lewis And The News
02. Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
03. Dr. Greenthumb - Cypress Hill
04. Lost At Birth - Public Enemy
05. Poison - Bell Biv Devoe
06. Wanted Dread Or Alive - Peter Tosh
07. Don't Look Around - Mountain
o8. Pineapple Chase (aka The Reprise of The Phoenix - Graeme Revell
09. Bird's Lament - Moondog & The London Saxophonic
10. Coconut Girl - Brother Nolan
11. Hiilawe - Arthur Lyman
12. Tha Crossroads - Bone Thugs & Harmony
13. Pineapple Fight (aka The Nemesis Proclaimed) - Graeme Revell
14. I Didn't Mean To Hurt You - Spiritualized
15. Woke Up Laughing - Robert Palmer

Download: M.I.A. - "Paper Planes"
What's in the movie not featured on the soundtrack? Our 'Pineapple' film preview denotes a few cuts, plus David Gordon Green said basketball star/rap moonlighter Shaq would have a track in the movie. “The soundtrack is so amazing,” Green told Filmschool rejects. “It is. I mean, there’s Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. It is pretty wonderful and eclectic, very 80s influenced [mix]. There is a Shaquille O’Neal rap song in it. There is a little something for everybody. And it will all end with the Huey Lewis theme song at the end. I can’t even think about it without smiling. It gets stuck in your head for days.”

Updates made to this piece as the tracklist that was delivered was incomplete. Read more...

Soon To Be Indie It-Girl Olivia Thirlby Was Replaced On Soon-To-Be It-Comedy Of Summer 2008, 'Pineapple Express'

There's been about 8,000 pieces on the up-and-coming indie actress Olivia Thirlby and what appears to be her soon-to-be cemented status as the new It-Girl of 2008. There was a spate of these articles around the release of "Snow Angels," (Time OutNY) and now that she'll get another starring turn in coming-of-age stoner dramedy, "The Wackness," everyone (Entertainment Weekly, New York) is regurgitating this thesis once more. Thirlby first turned head's as Ellen Page's bff in "Juno," as she got all the choice bon mots of dialogue (Honest to blog? ).

But apparently not everyone's all about her. According to New York magazine's profile on the actress, Thirlby was originally cast as Seth Rogen's girlfriend in "Pineapple Express," but then someone changed their mind.

“I don’t know if I’m going to see it,” she said. “I got cast as Seth [Rogen]’s girlfriend. And I’d been rehearsing with them for a little while and they called me up and were like, ‘Actually, we’re going to recast your role.’ So I’m minorly, minorly ticked off.”

Damn, that seems cold. Minor beef in the indie world? Is this emblematic of 'Pineapple' director David Gordon Green's move into the mainstream and having to be a bit more ruthless? Green afterall cast Thirlby in "Snow Angels," and the two hit it off rather well.

Or was it studio interference strongly suggesting they use the blonder, more traditional sexy Amber Heard who eventually took the role? Could be.

Ah well, next up? Brett Ratner will direct her in a segment of "New York, I Love You," and 2009's "Safety Glass," starring Hilary Duff and Steve Coogan. According to NY mag, "Jack and Diane," her werewolf-lesbian flick that was to be made with Ellen Page hasn't been greenlit and still is is limbo. “I mean, it’s half-animated and nonlinear and Ellen’s in a very high place right now and there’s just too much focus on her and her career for her to be able to go off and do some super-experimental flick.” Read more...

'Mr. Machine': A Modern Short Circuit? David Gordon Green And Danny R. McBride Doing Another Film?

Jesus, can we get a hit in Hollywood that's not even been released so we can dig through our drawers and pull out every single script idea we ever had and make it into a full-blown movie?

That appears to be what's happening to lucky bastards director David Gordon Green and funnyman Danny McBride ala the Judd Apatow school of having every friggin' project you're working on green lit.

Strike while the iron is hot we suppose. Normally an idyllic indie auteur, Green has obviously hit the bigtime with the not-yet-released Apatow comedy "Pineapple Express," that features McBride in a supporting role. Everyone in Hollywood apparently has seen 'Express' and loved it. The duo of Green and McBride (who go way back to their college years and the film "All The Real Girls") have already gotten the green light for the medieval stoner comedy, "Her Highness," and now the pair are turning in another script to Universal called, "Mr. Machine."

"It's our take on those old Amblin films - it follows around these science fair geeks that construct this robot that gets a life of its own. It's like... I don't know, a 'Short Circuit' zombie movie," McBride recently told CHUD.

Co-written by Green, it's unclear whether he will direct, but he sounds interested. [It's] something we wrote before all of this happened, and we went back and dug it out and reinvented it. David originally had no interest in directing it, but now after where we've gotten this puppy, he [does]."

But before that can even happen, "Her Highness," is on tap first. What's that going to be like? "We want to do our take on a movie like 'Krull' or 'Dragonslayer'," he said. "We're making a movie that looks and feels like that, and uses those old special effects. David is great about hitting tones like that. He embraces the tone on another level. I think it would be funny for him to make his Clash of the Titans. It would probably be the dumbest movie ever made."

Umm, yeah. While it's not green-lit yet, these jackasses are making us even more jealous now that every cockamamie idea that pops into their head gets made into a movie. We made the wrong friends in college.
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Roundhouse To The Face! 'The Foot Fist Way' Gets A Soundtrack

Self-control, perseverance, integrity, indomitable spirit--that's what it's supposed to be all about!

No one tells us anything. Despite the fact that we were the only fuckers on planet earth who cared to even bother discussing the music and soundtrack to the tae kwon do comedy, "The Foot Fist Way," somehow, the promotion of that disc was a blatant failure pile and no one notified us of shit.

Anywhooo, last time we wrote about this, we had talked to members of Pyramid, the North Carolina collective that had composed most of the film's score, a mix of purposefully dated music or what they called, "Iron Eagle II' meets 'Karate Kid II' meets 'Flash Gordon.' "

Last we heard a digital-only release was coming later this summer, but it looks like it was released at the end of May and is available now. soundtrack also features tracks by other locals, North Carolina rockers Dynamite Brothers, Kung Flude, Birds of Avalon, Sexual Warriors and trip-hop act Uno Dose who were recently featured in David Gordon Green's "Snow Angels" (another local boy).

To recap if you haven't read about the film we've written a shit-ton about, Danny R. McBride is essentially Hollywood's favorite new comedian and this cult film is so adored that Will Ferrell and Adam Mckay (the pair behind "Anchorman" and "Talladega Nights") snatched it up and made Paramount Vantage distribute the film. McBride plays a doughy, buffoon strip-mall tae-kwon doe instructor who belittles his students while simultaneously trying to teach them the tenets of the martial art. The film was shot three years ago on a shoestring budget, and much of the crew comes from the extended-David Gordon Green family from North Carolina (McBride got his start in "All The Real Girls"). We didn't love it frankly, but our bet is that it will become a cult comedy flick regardless and probably age a little better on video.

"The Foot Fist Way" soundtrack tracklist
1. Put To The Test - Pyramid
2. Dog Wild Heaven - Pyramid
3. That's What They Call Them - Pyramid
4. Hi Ya - Kung Flude
5. The Handjob Lament - Pyramid
6. Sex Prowl - Pyramid
7. Sad Ferrari - Pyramid
8. Mike's Theme - Pyramid
9. Mother's Day - Sexual Warriors
10. Ode To Ude - Pyramid
11. I Control Your Rock N' Roll Kung - Flude
12. Elevate - Pyramid
13. Walkin On Birds Of - Avalon
14. Not Really Feeling This Party - Uno Dose
15. Sea Lung - Dynamite Brothers
16. Flesh Tiger - Dynamite Brothers & Pyramid
17. The Ballad Of The Blow Job Dynamite Brothers
18. Seven Rings Of Pain - Pyramid
19. Guts - Pyramid
20. Anthem - Dynamite Brothers
21. Confidence - Pyramid
22. Sleep Walkin Again - Dynamite Brothers
23. Trendels - Pyramid
24. Sack O' Locks - Dynamite Brothers
25. Drunk Bed Dance - Pyramid
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David Gordon Green's 'Highness' Gets Green Lit By Universal

Remember the David Gordon Green/Danny McBride medieval comedy project called "Your Highness" that we'd been tracking?

Well, "Pineapple Express" and "The Foot Fist Way" aren't even in theaters yet, but the buzz that both films are generating have already paid off as Universal has just green lit the project. McBride in particular is the comedic talk of the town with upcoming summer appearances yet to be seen by the public in 'Pineapple,' Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" and the adaptation of ""Land of the Lost" with Will Ferrell in 2009.

Green's first-foray into big-budget, mainstream comedy with 'Pineapple' (produced by Judd Apatow) has also generated a ton of pre-release praise so it's kind of no wonder studios are giving him the go-ahead. After struggling to make tons of little indies that populist audiences generally ignored (see "Undertow"), it's nice to finally see the studios come knocking and these guys getting relative carte blanche.

McBride wrote the script with Ben Best, the actor/writer of "The Foot Fist Way" (and one of the musicians in the band Pyramid who scored the kung-fu comedy) and the wacky concept chronicles an arrogant, lazy prince who must complete a quest to save his father's kingdom (played by McBride of course who specializes in playing cocky, bloviated buffoons).

"This is such an original idea for a comedy that takes place in a kingdom with dragons and wizards, with Danny at the center as the outcast brother who gets an opportunity to prove himself," the producer of the project Scott Struber said.

We're starting to think Peter Dinklage may not have anything to do with this project like we initially surmised. We'll see we guess. Now that Green and company are getting their way, how about digging up one of the myriad old school scripts out of a drawer and helping out old buddy Paul Schneider? He's due for a break-out role, don't you think? Either way, good on all y'all (even if 'Foot Fist Way' wasn't that funny).

BTW, there's an interesting article in the New York Sun about how 'Foot Fist Way' was ignored at Sundance 2006 and sat on the shelf for two years before people came around to it. That's an incredible turn-around success story that's rather unheard of and they contextualize that well.
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Pineapple Express: The P-Review - Much Like 'Tango & Cash': Funny And Violent

Last night our infrequent deep-throat contributor Mr. Snruff snuck into a screening of the Judd Apatow-produced, David Gordon Green-directed action comedy, "Pineapple Express."

It's probably one of our most anticipated films of the summer (where the hell's the summer preview piece already?), but we wanted to keep our expectations low just so we weren't disappointed.

But our contributor whole-heatedly loved it and kept pinging us with effusive and glowing emails about it late last night. Some small spoilers ahead, but nothing major.

The Music
- M.I.A.'s Paper Planes (featured in the trailer) was NOT in the movie.
- Eddie Grant - "Electric Avenue" (this is one of the first songs you hear)
- Falco - Der Kommissar
- Bone Thugs & Harmony - 1st of the Month
- Bel Biv Devoe - Poison
- Huey Lewis and the News - Pineapple Express (song is about getting high - pretty amazing)
- Others: Shaq, Bob Marley, Public Enemy (pretty sure it was PE #1, not 100% tho), Mountain (I think it was "Southbound Train," but not 100% on this)
-Seth Rogan's character DEFINITELY had a Cypress Hill ringtone [ed. niiice]
One awesome musical reference: Seth Rogen tells his gf that she's going to go away to college and 'start listening to Godspeed You Black Emperor or the Shins or something and start hating men and become a lesbian' (paraphrasing here)

There's been a few reports out there that 'Pineapple' is a lot more violent then people are expecting and Snruff echoed that sentiment. "The movie was bloody and hysterical. It was definitely like no other movie I've ever seen," he/she wrote seemingly out of breath. " [There's] lots of killing, at least 12 on camera deaths, and lots of blood. Insane. PS Danny R. McBride is a scene stealer."

"Did you read the comparison to 'Tango and Cash'? After I read that I was like 'EXACTLY!' Funny and violent."

Color us psyched. Read more...

David Gordon Green Talks Stoner Medieval Movie 'Your Highness'

With "Pineapple Express" right around the corner, everyone's saying indie movie fans should prepare to say goodbye to director David Gordon Green who's likely going to take a leap into the major leagues with this mainstream, Judd Apatow-produced comedy.

However, maybe its surefire success will give DGG the juice to put some of his eclectic and myriad projects into fruition. Like the medieval stoner movie he's working on right now with his longtime buddy Danny R. McBride called "Your Highness."

"It's a medieval movie, so we want a bunch of Ray Harryhausen 'Clash of the Titans' effects. We've been watching 'Beastmaster' and 'Yor, the Hunter From the Future.' We want to make a movie on a big scale, but utilizing pre-CGI effects like matte painting, animatronics, and puppets. It's about a prince who smokes weed and fights dragons."

Green mentioned the project briefly in various interviews promoting "Snow Angels," but this is the first time he's really spilled the beans on the project. McBride who will be seen later this summer in his kung-fu comedy, "The Foot Fist Way," and Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder," got his acting start in DGG's relationship drama, "All The Real Girls."

Wait, is this the same medieval movie Green wants to make with dwarves and Peter Dinklage? Sure sounds like it. McBride is being called one of Hollywood's fastest rising comedians, so we'll see, but a little preview: "The Foot Fist Way," was unfortunatley not very good at all aside from a few very funny, but scattered laughs.

As for "Pineapple Express"? Green hopes it plays out a lot like 1980's action film, "Tango & Cash," no really.
"It was the perfect '80s buddy/action movie: It took all the clichés that had come before it and put it all into one movie," he told the Village Voice. "When we were going into productionon Pineapple Express, [co-writer/star Seth Rogen] and I wanted that kind of tone, where [the movie] was taking itself seriously but mocking itself also."

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Listen: David Wingo Score Tracks From 'Guatemalan Handshake'

So we just wrote about "The Guatemalan Handshake," the Todd Rohal indie film starring Bonnie Prince Billy's Will Oldham, scored by Ola Podrida's David Wingo and championed by indie darling David Gordon Green.

We had lamented the fact that we had missed it in theaters, but were excited now that it's on DVD.

So far there's no soundtrack disc yet (but their might be), but we emailed Wingo and he was kind enough to share two exclusive tracks from the score that have never been officially released yet.

They're short little cues, but they're great. Hopefully this little film finds a following on DVD. We suspect it will. Wingo/DGG's buddies in the North Carolina band Pyramid did the score to an upcoming indie comedy. More on that soon (they did some music for "All the Real Girls" and "Undertow," and Wingo scored them both).

Download: David Wingo - "Opening" (from "The Guatemalan Handshake")
Download: David Wingo - "Dinner Montage" (from "The Guatemalan Handshake")
Watch: "Guatemalan Handshake" trailer
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'Guatemalan Handshake' Arrives On DVD; Will Oldham, David Gordon Green & David Wingo? We're There

Despite being championed by David Gordon Green and scored by our pal Ola Podrida's David Wingo and starring semi-hirsute indie-rocker Will Oldman (of the lovely "Old Joy" film and Bonnie Prince Billy), we somehow missed Todd Rohal's "Guatemalan Handshake" when it was in theaters (probably because it played the rinky-dinky *IFC center for like half a week).

Our friends at Spoutblog remind us that it came out on DVD yesterday and that we should all see it (top of the netflix queue right now; if you order it on the Handshake site you get a bonus disc of Rohal's shortfilms).

The synopsis:

In the confusion following a massive power outage, an awkward demolition derby driver vanishes, setting in motion a series of events affecting his pregnant girlfriend, his helplessly car-less father, a pack of wild boy scouts, a lactose intolerant roller rink employee, an elderly woman in search of her lost dog, and his best friend – a ten-year-old girl named Turkeylegs.

Pieces of the mystery begin to come together as Turkeylegs sets out to find her missing friend. Cars drive circles in the dirt, a woman attends her own funeral, the sun rises sideways and an orange vehicle trades hands again and again. Everything eventually culminates in a massive demolition derby that throws all of the characters into different directions.

DGG did want to make a demolition derby film once, so it stands to reason why he liked it so much (and reviews say it has a very similar tone to the atmospheric "George Washington").

The ghostly-like song in the trailer (or at least ghostly in this context) is "Inchworm", a song originally performed by Danny Kaye in the 1952 film "Hans Christian Andersen."

In an interview with David Wingo, the 'Handshake' composer (who's also scored all of Green's previous films) said that Green championed the film even before he was tapped to write the music for it. "David had really hyped it up, so... I was almost expecting a letdown.. but I was not let down. Todd wanted to emphasize the melancholy under the surface. I always get excited when I can do music that's not necessarily what's happening onscreen. I like the challenge of finding the subtext of a scene."

DGG isn't the only one to champion the small, indie film, Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite," "Nacho Libre") said it was "a revelation...[it] holds a place in my heart that is normally reserved for Easter candy."
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*We like the IFC Center a lot actually, they play and endorse a lot of great, smaller films, but the problem is they only play there and sometimes it's not the easiest place for us to get to [ed. waaah]

Watch: "Guatemalan Handshake" trailer