This Wednesday’s release of Pineapple Express, which I’m hoping will reinvigorate the stoner genre more than Harold and Kumar, is timed nicely with Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong reuniting. Or the other way around, I mean.

The pair can tour all they want, but Cheech gave up all stoner cred around the fourth episode of Nash Bridges.

Best Actor frontrunner?

We’ve heard the Heath Ledger Oscar buzz. Duly noted. Time to launch a new (super early) campaign.

James Franco. Pineapple Express. Genius.

Awards worthy? Why not? It’s unlike anything he has done before, and he nails it. People have won for less.[/SARCASM]

In all seriousness, Franco’s the best part of a very funny movie. I didn’t know he had it in him.

Now that The Dark Knight has reached theaters, Hollywood can close up shop for a few months and catch its breath, right?

Hardly. We have new movies to hype! And a few of them have trailers.

First up, James Marsh’s brilliant documentary Man On Wire (a movie that’s actually better than TDK … heresy!!)

Then there’s this amusing trailer for Pineapple Express, a comedy from uber-serious David Gordon Green. Seth Rogen’s overexposed at this point, but James Franco’s lazy laugh at the “227″ rerun makes me smile every time I see this. Plus, Gary Cole plays a stone-cold killer. Good trailer.

Finally — and this is big — we have early footage of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation. Snyder pulled Frank Miller’s 300 off the graphic-novel page, and fanboys are eager to see how Ala Moore’s story translates. Looks a little low-budget for my tastes. Guess they’re going for the “indie” cred.