COUCH THEATER

Seth Rogan and James Franco from "Pineapple Express" PICK OF THE WEEK

. "Pineapple Express" - I'm usually not a fan of stoner movies. I liked Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke" and "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie," and more recently "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," but that's about it.

I think the reason I don't go for the stoner humor is because most stoner movies are funny only to audiences who are already stoned. And let's face it; it doesn't take much to make a stoner laugh. A french fry can provide hours of hilarity.

"Pineapple Express" is one of those rare pot pictures that is funny to audiences who aren't ripped on the wacky tabacky. It stars Seth Rogan and James Franco as two lovable potheads who get mixed up in a mob war after Mr. Rogan's character witnesses a murder of an Asian gangster by a mobster and a crooked cop (Gary Cole and Rosie Perez).

The script is hilarious, the acting is better than you'd expect from a movie like this, and the action scenes are wellexecuted.

Definitely worth a look.

DOG OF THE WEEK

. "Babylon A.D." - This is perhaps the worst science-fiction movie ever made that doesn't have Uwe Boll's name attached to it. French director Mathieu Kassovitz's dystopian tale of a genetically manipulated "messiah" is a convoluted, plodding mishmash of "Blade Runner" and "Children of Men." This movie was hacked up so badly in the editing room by the studio that Mr. Kassovitz publicly denounced the film. What was intended to be a commentary on organized religion and commerce and corruption became, instead, a bunch of action scenes strung together and no context. This isn't even one of those movies that's so bad it's good. It's just plain awful.

"Righteous Kill" - The big hoo-hah hype about this movie was that it was the Robert De Niro/Al Pacino movie that fans have been awaiting for some 30 years. Sadly, it should have been made 30 years ago. After more than a decade of phoning it in, Mr. De Niro and Mr. Pacino look old, tired and bored — just like the audiences who got suckered into seeing this stinker in the theaters. TV SERIES "Battlestar Galactica" Season 4.0 "The Tudors" Season 2 "Duckman" Four-Season Pack "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" Collection 3 "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" "The Waltons" The Complete Eighth Season "Frisky Dingo" Season 2 "Mannix" The Second Season "Transformers" Season Two