From the Blogs

THE BIG PICTURE

Apatow’s indie auteur gets stoned

You would only know David Gordon Green’s name if you were a hard-core indie film fanatic. Full of lost love and wonderful characters who make bad choices with tragic consequences, his movies are beloved by critics but hardly seen by anyone outside the art-house circuit. Green’s most recent film, “Snow Angels,” grossed $400,000, a small tick down from his most accessible film, 2003’s “All the Real Girls,” which earned rave reviews and made $549,000.

But that’s all about to change. Green’s new film is “Pineapple Express,” the latest comedy from the Judd Apatow assembly line. Due out on Aug. 8 on several thousand screens across America and full of stoner high jinks from James Franco and Seth Rogen, it should outgross all of Green’s previous films by sometime early afternoon of its first day.

In the past, Apatow’s comedies have been helmed by guys like Greg Mottola (“Superbad”), Jake Kasdan (“Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”) and Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), who became Apatow pals while working on “Undeclared” or “Freaks and Geeks,” his under-appreciated TV series.

The notion of David Gordon Green pulling off an action stoner comedy is about as logical -- at least at first blush -- as a fish riding a bicycle.

Turns out Green was an inspired if not altogether obvious choice. He more than capably pulls off the kind of improv-heavy, zeitgeisty, male bonding comedy for which Apatow productions have come to be known. At a screening packed with teenagers I attended earlier this summer, “Pineapple Express’ ” bong-hit humor and bloody, surrealistically funny action sequences were killing.

I admitted how surprised I was to Green in a phone conversation earlier this month.

“I go out to make and produce stories I’m obligated to,” Green said. “It got to a point where I have money and a cool girlfriend. I said, ‘Let’s blow up stuff and have a car chase!’ Seriously, for a number of years I’ve been trying to make a comedy.”

“Pineapple Express” costar Franco admitted that Green was “an unusual choice” for the job but praised the writer-director’s “improvisational approach.”

-- Patrick Goldstein

From The Big Picture: Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture

For more, go to latimes.com/the_big_picture

HERO COMPLEX

The real meaning of ‘The X-Files’

These days, every major genre film and hit show has a significant presence on the Internet, but that wasn’t the case when “The X-Files” became a spooky sensation in the 1990s. David Duchovny said that, like his character Fox Mulder, the relentless faith of true believers was astounding to behold.

“ ‘The X-Files’ was said to be the first Internet show,” Duchovny said over coffee on a recent morning. “We had chat rooms and fan sites and all that. Look, I’m usually five or six years behind whatever is hip. So it was around 2000 that I started doing e-mail and finally started understanding what all that was about.”

And what was it about? The answer is religion, apparently.

“My initial response -- and I still hold this to be true -- is that it takes the place of some of the functions of a church in a small town: A place where people come together, ostensibly to worship something. But really what’s happening is you’re forming a community. It’s less about what you’re worshiping and more about, ‘We have these interests in common.’ Someone has a sick aunt and suddenly it’s about that, raising money to help her or sharing resources to make her life easier. That’s what it was about with ‘The X-Files’ on the Internet.”

Duchovny and co-star Gillian Anderson are back on autopsy and trench-coat duty on July 25 as “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” pulls the FBI tandem away from the complicated conspiracy plots of the old series and puts them in the “monster of the week” mode of investigating an isolated supernatural threat.

Duchovny said that he had come to view the most loyal fans of the show as celebrants of self, not of celebrity.

“When I was at Comic-Con, it felt the same as the small-town church thing. I’m not denigrating ‘The X-Files,’ but that fellowship isn’t essentially about the show. The fans came to Comic-Con to honor us but I think they’re honoring us because we inspire them to have a certain kind of fellowship. Now, I’m not saying we’re not worthy of that kind of honor. I want to be clear about that.”

Oh, that’s very clear; essentially, his point is that “The X-Files” is bigger than God and religion, right? “No, no! You’re going to get me in trouble. I didn’t say bigger than God. I said ‘The X-Files’ is equal to God.”

-- Geoff Boucher

From the new blog Hero Complex: News on genre films, graphic novels and science fiction

For more, go to latimes.com/herocomplex

TICKET TO BEIJING

Yao is back -- for 12 minutes

Yao Ming scored 11 points during 12 minutes of play Thursday, giving his fans evidence that he’s all the way back from an injury. The Houston Rockets center played for the Chinese national team, which beat a Serbian squad, 96-72.

Yao entered the game six minutes into the first quarter, the Associated Press reported, drawing a huge ovation from a crowd in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. AP described Yao’s play in the four-team Stankovic Cup tournament as “a little rusty.”

The game marked Yao’s first game appearance since February, when a stress fracture in his left foot ended his NBA season. The injury had threatened to keep Yao from playing for the Chinese team during the Olympics.

There are rumors that Yao is a candidate for the honor of carrying the Olympic Torch during the final leg into Beijing’s new National Stadium.

Yao shot 70% from the free-throw line, where he scored seven of his points, and grabbed four rebounds.

Xue Zhen, basketball editor for China’s Titan Sports newspaper, told AP that Yao’s appearance at the Stankovic Cup was a massive confidence booster for his fans and Games organizers.

“This is Yao’s Olympic mission,” Xue said. “His presence is extraordinarily powerful, and the team is built around him.” It is uncertain how much playing time Yao will get during upcoming games against Angola and Russia.

-- Greg Johnson

From Olympics: Ticket to Beijing

For more, go to latimes.com/olympics_blog