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.
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Just Like Kentucky Fried Movie Movie 43 (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Way back in 1977, a little anthology movie called Kentucky Fried Movie hit the scene and appealed to the 12-year-old boy living in all our hearts. It featured such classic skits as "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble" and "A Fistful of Yen." Anthology movies are more likely to go direct-to-video, but for one brief shining moment in 1977 this tasteless little gem won the hearts and minds of the people. If you have fond memories of Kentucky Fried Movie, or your sense of humor is that of a 12-year-old boy, you'll probably love Movie 43 (90 minutes). It is completely and utterly without redemption, hitting all the envelope-pushing buttons imaginable. Now, I admit I wasn't totally in love with it but I am willing to bet there are a ton of people who will snort soda out their noses at least once or twice during the movie. In total, the American release includes 14 skits, each with its own director and writers (too many to list here). "The Pitch" is the bookend skit that ties everything together, with a guy named Charlie Wessler (Dennis Quaid) pitching a variety of offensive plots to a movie executive named Griffen Schraeder (Greg Kinnear). First up is "The Catch," with Kate Winslet on a blind date with Hugh Jackman. She is enchanted by his every word and gesture until she figures out why he is still single. It is a pretty disgusting joke that might work in a five-minute-long SNL sketch, but was already done to much better effect on the "Freak Strike" episode of South Park. Next, "Homeschooled" features Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts trying to carry a sketch while Jeremy Allen White does his best to suck the life from it. All in all, one of the weaker entries, and the one that follows isn't much better. Anna Faris is a coprophiliac and Chris Pratt is her reluctant partner. They are married in real life, but have zero chemistry onscreen. Next, Kieran Culkin plays opposite Emma Stone in a wanna-be Lynchian piece, "Veronica," that was at its funniest when the actors were making the least amount of sense. Trying to tie it together with a classic romantic ending detracted from all the beautiful absurdity. "iBabe" goes for cheap laughs (in a movie admittedly full of them). I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it was sexist on purpose, but poor directing took away the satire and flattened any social commentary into pancakes. "Superhero Speed Dating," featuring Kristen Bell, Jason Sudeikis and Justin Long, was probably my favorite entry. It wasn't that great, but superheroes trying to live real lives are always good for a laugh and I really like Kristen Bell. The skits got weaker as the film progressed, although "MiddleSchool Date" was good enough that I wouldn't object to seeing Elizabeth Banks direct a feature film. Objectively speaking, Terrence Howard in "Victory's Glory," was the sharpest tool in the shed, but it went on a bit too long. Just when it seemed the movie was over, a final skit aired, "Beezel." If you leave when the first set of credits roll you won't miss much. Overall, with so many big name stars this is worth checking out, even if it has been called the worse movie of the decade. Yes, it is not great — but that is because the writers held back. They danced along the edges of taboo, but never quite manage to hit the nerves they're aiming for. Perhaps if they had left in the skit featuring the necrophiliac morgue attendant, we would have seen the magical moment of complete repulsion that would have redeemed the whole thing. Maybe if the skits had been tied together (as they were in the British release) by the three teenagers searching for a film so offensive it would end civilization, more Americans would like it. But then again, perhaps not. Now showing at Wynnsong 7, HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandFair 15. comingweekly.com. Watch if You Dare Cult wants to kidnap and brainwash you TV by DEAN ROBBINS Cult (Tuesday, 9 p.m., CW) offers one of the 2012-13 season's most intriguing concepts. It's about a TV series, itself named "Cult." The showwithin-the-show portrays a creepy cult run by a psycho who kidnaps and brainwashes his followers. "Cult" has inspired a legion of fans, some of whom go off the deep end in their obsession with clues and code words they detect in each episode. Is the cult depicted in "Cult" the real deal, finding new members among the show's fans? It sounds crazy to a reporter named Jeff (Matt Davis) until his brother — one of those obsessed fans — disappears after becoming a raging paranoiac. Jeff sets out to investigate along with a "Cult" crew member (Jessica Lucas), who wonders why the show's producer is a mystery man never seen in public. Cult is a wonderfully eerie creation, from the script to the score to the acting. To its credit, it gets under your skin with ideas and atmosphere rather than with shock effects and gore. I can imagine real viewers becoming obsessed with Cult in the same way that the fictional viewers become obsessed with "Cult." Uh-oh…. Zero Hour Thursday, 8 pm (ABC) I'm an aficionado of TV series that take their own mystical mumbo-jumbo seriously. Zero Hour is a classic of the genre, throwing in Rosicrucians, Nazis, the devil, ancient Christian symbols and treasure maps in a deliriously misguided attempt to be profound. Hank (Anthony Edwards) publishes a magazine that debunks supernatural phenomena, but wouldn't you know that he's plunged into the supernatural himself after his wife is kidnapped from her clock-repair shop by an evildoer seeking to end mankind. And what better way to set off the apocalypse than by stealing a clock creWWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM ated for one of Jesus' apostles by an old Bavarian dude? Zero Hour provides so much wonderful nonsense that I barely know where to start. Hank, his two scruffy young assistants and an FBI agent with supermodel cheekbones engage in jaunty banter even with Hank's wife missing and the Earth in peril. At the drop of a hat, the Bavarian clockmaker spills shocking Christian secrets to the scruffy young assistants, making you wonder how this stuff supposedly stayed under wraps for 2,000 years. "These are matters you don't vant to be involved vith!" he warns. Speak for yourself, old man. I vant to be involved vith these matters as long as Zero Hour lasts. But I'm guessing its end will come well before mankind's. Killing Lincoln Sunday, 8 pm (National Geographic Channel) Steven Spielberg's Lincoln drew a curtain over the president's assassination, opting to take a different perspective on his final days. With diligent attention to detail, Killing Lincoln fills in that part of the story for those with the stomach for it. Based on Bill O'Reilly's book, the production strikes the perfect balance between documentary and drama. Tom Hanks narrates onscreen while actors capably render scenes from April 1865. The filmmakers put us right there in the White House, Ford's Theater and the chaotic streets of Washington, D.C., sticking closely to the historical record. We feel Lincoln's vulnerability in the days leading up to the assassination, as Confederates freely roam the streets with vengeance in their hearts. It's a thankless job following Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln, but Billy Campbell does a good job of communicating Old Abe's intelligence and humanity. Too good, actually — his character's brutal death is liable to haunt you for days. FEBRUARY 13-19, 2013 UCW 17