FILM: New in Theaters - 8/08/08

Who knew that the most ambitious comedian of this generation would be an avid pot smoker? In the spirit of Cheech and Chong film, Seth Rogen brings you a new adventure, where frequently fawned over James Franco plays the drug dealer who bestows upon him a special treat known as The Pineapple Express. It's so potent and epically mind-blowing that it heightens the terror they're already feeling after Rogen witnesses a murder and goes on the run. Filling out the cast are Danny McBride (Drillbit Taylor), Kevin Corrigan ("Grounded for Life"), Bill Hader (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Amber Heard (Never Back Down), and Rosie Perez.


Meanwhile, the girls who don't find a red-eyed, disshelved Franco attractive or pot-smoking shennanigans amusing will be watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. In the sequel to the 2005 chick flick, Tibby's (Amber Tamblyn) busy pursuing her directing ambitions with an actual crew, while falling for an Asian guy; Bridget (Blake Lively) reunites with her estranged grandmother after a fallout with her secretive dad and copes with her feelings about her mother's death; Carmen (America Ferrara) falls for a cute guy while nervously starring in a play and helping her mom through her pregnancy; and Lena (Alexis Bledel) gets sucker-punched by Kostos' pending nuptials to somebody else, tempted by a nude model in one of her art classes, and faced with a repenting, newly single Kostos. And while all of this is going down, the girls lose touch and even the pants get lost. In the last movie, they reconnected because of the urgent Carmen situation, and this time it looks like Lena's going to need the reunion-boost.

I haven't been to the movies in 21 days, which for this summer is a record, so I'll be seeing both of those flicks. But for those of you looking for something a little more low key, there are two options. Bottle Shock is a dramedy about two wine lovers in 1976 from opposite sides of the world, who both have a passion for wine that could change the industry forever. It's literally a love letter to wine and a dramatic examination of ambition and passion. Chris Pine, Alan Rickman and Eliza Dushku star.


And then there's the Spaniard adaptation of Philip Roth's novel Elegy where an eternal bachelor (Ben Kingsley) turns over a new leaf once he falls for his mysterious student (Penelope Cruz) and becomes obsessed.