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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Hermione Gets an Axe This Is the End (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Much of the dialogue in Your Highness, the Danny McBride/James Franco medieval comedy, was improvisational. From the organic way that the all-star comedic cast of This is the End relates to each other, I can't help but wonder how much of the dialogue was spur-of-the-moment and how much was written in advance. Internet rumor suggests that about 50 percent of the movie was ad-libbed, and that number is as good as any other. The set-up is that these actors are playing themselves, but alternative versions of themselves. It's all very meta. The thing is, clearly there is some real life in the actor's portrayal. This is a group of Seth Rogen's friends, some of whom have bigger careers than others. So when his old friend doesn't want to hang out with his new, more famous friends there is probably more than a little bit of truth to the group dynamic. Jay Baruchel arrives in LA for a visit with Seth Rogen. Seth lays out the plan for Jay's party weekend, and then slips in a mention of a housewarming party for James Franco. Jay doesn't want to go, but finally agrees in order to please his host. He is a bit whiny about it, but as far as I can tell the hipster whine is Baruchel's go-to acting choice. They arrive at the party and meet a whole bunch of cameos, which actually represent only a small fraction of the potential cameos — at one point or another, Mila Kunis, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Radcliffe (among others) were all in talks to appear. There is reportedly a secret split-second celebrity cameo that has gone unpublicized, but your guess is as a good as mine as to who that might be. I would swear that I saw Katherine Heigl but I can't prove it and her name does not appear in the credits. Anyway, the party at Franco's is a great excuse to show celebrities goofing around. Jay gets uncomfortable after several awkward conversations and heads out with Seth to buy cigarettes. Since there were no PSAs in the film, I'll provide one here. Smoking is bad. Celebrities smoking set a bad example. End PSA. The apocalypse begins with a bunch of people getting raptured up into Heaven while Jay and Seth remain earthbound. They make it back to Franco's house despite the beginning rain of fire and brimstone, and then realize that none of the partygoers have noticed a thing. If only the celebrities had access to the Left Behind series they would figure out pretty quickly what happened. I would suggest that they call Kirk Cameron and get him to explain it, but cellphones, Internet and cable all go out soon after a big sinkhole opens up and swallows fan favorites such as Aziz Ansari. When the dust has mostly settled, Seth, Jay, Franco, Craig Robinson and Jonah Hill barricade themselves in the house. The next morning, they find that Danny McBride crashed the party and spent the night in the bathroom, leaving six men in the house. After some back and forth the boys have playtime. They make a home-movie version of a sequel to Pineapple Express, which, according to Seth Rogen, follows the plot of the actual planned sequel. Then Emma Watson shows up with an axe and takes all their supplies. After that, the main cast gets picked off one at a time as they frantically try to figure out how to become rapture-worthy. Overall, the movie was funny enough to justify the casting of Seth Rogen's apparently wide circle of friends, with the Michael Cera character the best example of an actor playing against type I've seen in a good long while. Not every scene hit the right comedic notes, but enough did that I was surprised into laughing more than once. Pair it with World War Z for an apocaliscious movie evening. Now showing at Wynnsong 7, HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandFair 15. comingweekly.com. Your Community Handbook (9 1 0) 829-9 1 71 www.fascinate-u.com 1 1 6 Green Street E 16 ISSUE 06 VOLUM FEBRUARY 9-15, 2011 Ne News, Views, Arts and Entertainment. En Fayetteville's Community Fa Newspaper providing useful Ne information for you every week. in w www.upandcomingweekly.com e Fayettevillp Quacks U ted Duck Derby Sla INSIDE da UP te Fo Focus On Fayett Up Th The Night nted Th They Invented ne Ch Champagne En Entertains In &8 DATd si 0 EeIN 0 %( SIDE $7 5 7( /$ 56 1' ove I Lntown Dow Sat., July 13: 11 - 1 "Make It Take It" - Flower Picture Frames* Sat., July 20: 11 - 1 "Super Science" - Ice Cream in a Bag* Fri., July 26: 7-9 p.m. "Fourth Friday" - Christmas in July: Candle Ornament free admission during Fourth Friday Sat., July 6 & 20: 12-4 Come see the Trains. Cape Fear Model Railroad Club (free admission to the 3rd floor) *Free with museum admission or membership eville ing Bring ur Your ve Love wn owntow Downtown JULY EVENTS 910.484.6200 UP & COMING WEEKLY'S Local Classifieds Stedman • Eastover • Spring Lake • Hope Mills • Fort Bragg 4 lines / 7 days = $11.95 All ads online! WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM General Admission: $4/child and $3/adult. Wednesday from 1-7 Free with donations accepted. Ask us about Free Ads and Yard Sale Kits! • Contact Christina Edge • classifieds@upandcomingweekly.com 484-1009 www.upandcomingweekly.com JULY 3-9, 2013 UCW 17