Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/292263
20 UCW APRIL 9-15, 2014 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Fargo the Flop The movie's genius is lost in the translation to series by DEAN ROBBINS There's only one word for the Coen Brothers' 1996 movie Fargo: Genius. It creates a parallel universe where a desperate family man contracts with criminals and gets tripped up by a cop who's shrewder than she looks. The Coens keep comedy and carnage, satire and suspense, in perfect balance. As I said, genius. Joel and Ethan Coen executive produce the series-TV version of Fargo (Tuesday, 10 p.m., FX), but you can tell they had little to do with it creatively. The production adapts the movie's plot, with a doormat of a husband (Martin Freeman) relying on a bad guy (Billy Bob Thornton) to do his dirty work. We get the frozen landscape, the parade of dimwitted grotesques, and the regional patois, oh yah you betcha. What we don't get is a heightened reality that feels real. Or a mood. Or – the Coens' greatest achievement in their merciless movie – a bit of heart. Ultimately, it's hard to put your finger on why the original Fargo works and a close copy doesn't. You're simply left to ponder the nature of genius. Mad Dog: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi Friday, 9 pm (Showtime) This revealing portrait of the late Libyan leader portrays a madman who would kill anyone who got in his way. Once he even ordered that all the camels in Tripoli be assassinated. Witnesses describe their bloated bodies littering the streets. Along with its chilling account of Gaddafi's rise and fall, the documentary gets up close with the amoral people who associated with him, from poison dealers to bomb makers. Apparently, there's an underworld of creeps (many of them from the U.S. and Europe) who are more than happy to enable mass murder if the price is right. Mad Dog offers a heartbreaking account of man's inhumanity to man. Not to mention man's inhumanity to camels. Bermuda Tentacles Saturday, 9 pm (Syfy) When Air Force One blows up over the Bermuda Triangle, the president drops to the bottom of the ocean in a sealed pod. No problem, you say: Just send a Navy ship to rescue him, led by a steely-eyed admiral (Linda Hamilton). Ah, but what about the giant worms that begin surrounding the vessel? "Do they seem hostile?" the admiral asks, as if tentacles stretching hundreds of feet out of the water could be anything but hostile. While not in the league of the greatest giant-worm movie of all time, Tremors, Bermuda Tentacles offers plenty of attractions for creature-feature fans. A wild-eyed worm specialist who happens to be on board (always good to have one of those in the middle of the ocean) chalks up their extraordinary size to "bioelectrogenesis." And dozens of extras give up their lives, impaled by the pointy tentacles. But they do not die in vain. If you see one bioelectrogenesis movie all year, make it Bermuda Tentacles. Meet me at the VILLAGE! Group Space by Reservation. 3037 A Boone Trail Extension 910.484.4515 or 910.849.4454 Cake Tasting Saturday, May 3 • 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. $5 per person Whatever the theme, whatever the occasion, celebrate with our designer cake! OPEN MIC NIGHT Friday, April 18th, 7-11 p.m. Order Early The month books up quickly!