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: https://www.epageflip.net/i/13895
It’s So Fluffy I’m Gonna Die Despicable Me (Rated PG) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Villain-as-hero movies aren’t exactly rare, but it is a nice twist to see such cute animation make a stereotypical dark clothed evildoer look cute. Despicable Me (95 min- utes) is right up there with How to Train Your Dragon in terms of both Geek and Kid appeal. In so many words, it truly is a family movie enjoyable on several different levels of sophistication. While some of the plot is a bit contrived, it is an animated movie, taking full advantage of the me- dium to lay out classic Wile-E-Coyote overkill moments. The film’s opening seems a bit detached from the rest of the movie, and I wish there had been an after credits scene to act as a callback to the weird little kid and his bizarrely wonderful parents. The Great Pyramid of Giza sets the film up, as above mentioned boy brats his way into danger, only to have the Pyramid revealed as a fake. Why a fake would even be necessary is a puzzler. I first assumed the villain was in the process of getting away and trying to cover up the theft, but the next scene is the report on the incident. Than I thought the Egyptian government had substituted the fake pyramid for the lost pyramid to avoid losing tourist dollars, but the narrative doesn’t explore that at all. So, summing up, the opening scene is an un- necessarily complicated, wholly diabolical ten minutes, existing solely be- cause it is funny to watch a little kid fall to certain death, but then live. I’m cool with that. The scene transitions to a house straight out of The Addam’s Family; a black house with a dead lawn in the middle of what I assume is suburban San Francisco. Here lurks Gru (Steve Carell, in a much better role than the one he had in Date Night). Gru’s hobbies include evildoing, avoiding long lines, and genetically altering Corn Pops into sweet cuddly Minions. If anyone has skills in the area, and would like to give me a super duper Christmas present, I would like three. As long as they don’t poop in the house. Anyway, once Gru discovers the megatheft he vows to complete the biggest heist ever … the moon! Wait … wasn’t that the plot of an Austin Powers movie? His only obstacles are Vector, AKA Victor (Jason Segel, doing some amazing voice work) and President of the local Bank of Evil (Will Arnett). This sets up the second act, in which Gru must steal a shrink ray in order to prove his profitability (or something similar, this bit was a little convoluted for someone focused on sucking down popcorn and cola). His failure to nab the shrink ray results in the introduction of the three not nearly as cute as they are supposed to be orphan girls. I mean, they’re cute, but I think they’re supposed to be cuter. Margo (Miranda Cosgrove) is the older, Edith (Dana Gaier) is the bizarre middle child, and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) is the even more bizarre youngest. The three orphans and Gru bond pretty quickly, which doesn’t sit very well with his assistant Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand). With a name like Dr. Nefario, you know he’s not going to simply smile and wish them well. This sets up the final act, in which Gru discovers that catching the moon and keeping the moon are two entirely different things. Overall, a little too cutesy for me to to- tally love, but enjoyable just the same. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com Stylist Stabbed in the Back! Rachel Zoe is, like, betrayed. TV by DEAN ROBBINS Rachel Zoe, a fashion stylist to the stars, finds yet another reason to feel vic- timized as The Rachel Zoe Project begins a new season (Tuesday, 10 p.m., Bravo). Rachel is shocked to discover that her ex- travagantly nasty assistant Taylor has acted extravagantly nasty — who’d have thought? — and screwed over the business. She re- acts to this betrayal the way she reacts to everything: like a petulant teenage valley girl. That’s pretty embarrassing for a middle-aged woman with high professional standards (at least, Rachel keeps telling us that she has high professional standards). “I feel, like, I’ve been knifed in the back so many times,” she whines. “Like, knifed over and over. I have, like, wounds.” Is she, like, kidding? Ultimate Air Jaws Sunday, 9 pm (Discovery) Discovery’s annual Shark Week begins with Ultimate Air Jaws, which focuses on a terrifying breed of great white shark that jumps out of the water to eat seals in midair. “To catch the elusive seal,” the narrator says, “the great white showed us a speed, power, and even intelligence we didn’t know it had.” Photographer Chris Fallows examines these scary creatures as they leave a seal island for shallow water near a South African beach, where people swim and surf. He wants to figure out what they seek there, as juicy humans frolic in the waves. Hmmm, what could it possibly be? After observing the sharks up close in a kayak, however, Fallows con- cludes that they are “non-aggressive and pose little threat to humans.” I’m sure that’s exactly what the sharks wanted him to believe. The narrator is 20 UCW JULY 28-AUGUST 3, 2010 right: These ravenous con artists are even more intelligent than we thought! 12th & Delaware Monday, 9 pm (HBO) This extraordinary documentary focuses on an explosive corner of Fort Pierce, Florida. The abortion clinic A Woman’s World sits on one side of the street, the pro-life Pregnancy Care Center on the other. Cameras take us into each place to meet the staffers and overhear counseling sessions with pregnant women. Out front, pro-life protesters harass women going into A Woman’s World, commanding them to obey Jesus. Inside the pro-life operation, it’s all about Jesus as well, with talk of the devil and the forces of evil — that is, when clients aren’t around. The Pregnancy Care Center’s official approach to counseling favors subterfuge. Anne, the director, is proud of luring in women who mistakenly think they’re at an abortion clinic. She feeds them dubious information and preys on their minds with psychological tricks. Fooling people for Jesus — did I miss a week of Bible class? Shaq vs. Tuesday, 9 pm (ABC) In the first season of Shaq vs., basketball star Shaquille O’Neal competed against champions from other sports: swimming against Michael Phelps, box- ing against Oscar De La Hoya, etc. He claimed to be the world’s greatest athlete, someone who could — with a reasonable handicap — beat anybody in any arena. In season two, Shaq makes even more extreme claims of greatness. Now he takes on anybody who does anything, including dancers, magicians and even spelling champs. I wonder if he can spell d-e-l-u-s-i-o-n-a-l. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM