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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Hipsters, Sexual Politics and Video Games Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Michael Cera was super in Arrested Development. Then he grew up and embodied everything I hate about every ir- ritating little poser hipster I ever knew. I get the sense that he is not really acting in any of his recent films; that he pretty much walks around pretending not to care about anything while citing obscure bands to make himself feel better about his low self esteem. So, note to Michael Cera: You are not likeable and you make me want to punch you in the face. The characters you play are weak-willed, annoying, narcissistic and whiny. Anyway, the story is set in Toronto. Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is a 22 year-old guitarist for Sex Bob-omb, a crappy band that people pretend to like so they can seem cool and make the rest of us feel like outsiders to their happy little circle of awe- some. He is dating Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), who is way too good for him in almost every imaginable way, even at 17. He begins to have bizarre dreams about a mysterious American girl, Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Ramona is not nearly as cute as she thinks she is, but she does have fabulous hair. He manages to trick her into a pseudo-date, completely ignoring his preexisting relationship with the cute as a button Knives, confirming his toolishness. During a concert, Scott is attacked by one of Ramona’s evil exes, Mathew Patel (Satya Bhabha). He explains that he is a member of the League of Evil Exes and that Pilgrim must defeat each of them in order to continue dating Ramona. Scott immediately declares to the world that women are not possessions and cannot be won with a fight. Just kidding. He slips into duel mode pretty quickly, All Pain, No Gain Losing weight hurts in Thintervention TV by DEAN ROBBINS Jackie Warner is a workout guru, shameless self-promoter and reality-series repeat offender. In Thintervention with Jackie Warner (Monday, 10 p.m., Bravo), she oversees a group of overweight people inter- ested in losing weight. “Workouts are not painful,” she assures them. “They are pleasure!” Coming from Jackie, this is a bald-faced lie. She de- lights in pushing her charges past the breaking point. She shames one poor guy by forcing him to run up and down stairs holding a couple of the cookies he wanted to eat. “You should feel burning right now!” she shouts during workouts. “Are you burning? Are you burning?” If you think Jackie is hard to like, wait till you meet some of the contestants. “I’m dreading sitting there lis- tening to these fat-asses talking about their problems,” says a man named Joe, who has no basis for condescension, ass-wise. I hope he’s burning. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam Friday, 8 pm (Disney) The sub-High School Musical returns as the cool singer-campers at Camp Rock battle their evil competitors at neighboring Camp Star. Expect creaky com- edy and rock-star posing from Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, who belt out would-be rousing lyrics: “If you can jump like David Lee Roth/And pump your fist like you’re Bruce the Boss/If you’ve got heart and soul/You can rock and roll!” I’m taking the subtitle, “The Final Jam,” as a promise. If Disney later comes out with Just Kidding: Camp Rock 3, I’m going to want some answers. My Trip to Al Qaeda Tuesday, 9 pm (HBO) Lawrence Wright has provided insight into the roots of Islamist terrorism in New Yorker articles and books like The Looming Tower. In this filmed version of his one-man play, he offers an audiovisual primer on his ideas, and I guarantee you will come away with a new understanding of both radical Islam and the U.S. war on terror. 20 UCW SEPTEMBER 1-7, 2010 Wright begins with his own journey through the Muslim world as a teacher and journalist, offering a glimpse of the hopelessness that pushes young men toward terrorism. He raises the hair on the back of your neck with his take on their reaction to the U.S. invasion of Iraq: “Behind their anger there was, it seems to me, a sense of relief, of exhilaration, because history has finally been unveiled for what it truly is — an endless religious war that can never end until God restores his blessing on the Muslims and leads them to crush the infidels. Suddenly I have the dark realization that we are following a script that has been written by Osama Bin Laden. This is the role he’s been longing for us to play.” Wright fears that our response to 9/11 — from the invasion of Iraq to the torture of Muslim prisoners to the curtailment of our own civil liberties — has played right into Bin Laden’s hands. His final thought is at once reassuring and terrifying: “Al Qaeda can’t destroy America. Only we can do that to ourselves.” Sons of Anarchy Tuesday, 10 pm (FX) I don’t know how FX does it, but the network is getting me to sympathize with stringy-haired, violent motorcycle thugs in Sons of Anarchy. As the new season begins, the leather-jacketed gang and its leader, Clay (Ron Perlman), are in crisis mode after their archenemy kidnaps Jax’s baby. They spend the episode searching for the child, and that leads them to shoot at people and drive their motorcycles re- ally fast. (Well, to be honest, almost everything leads them to do that.) The sick thing is, you root for them, no matter how foul they get. These creeps have a soulful quality, even when threatening law-enforcement agents. “Anything happens to my grandson,” Clay hisses at an FBI woman, “and I promise you I’m gonna shove a gun up that bony ass of yours, and I’m gonna blow your black heart out!” God help me, but I responded to this speech by muttering “damn straight.” I’m even starting to think stringy hair looks good. FX, what are you doing to me? WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM which leads into a fun song and dance number that everyone can enjoy. After defeating evil ex number one, Scott finally admits he is a terrible person and begs Knives to forgive him for breaking her pure and innocent heart. Actually, he dumps her like rancid meat and moves onto fighting evil ex number two, Lucas Lee (Chris Evans). In an attempt to round out the character of Scott, his ex- girlfriend Envy (Brie Larson) is introduced. Coincidentally, her new boyfriend is Ramona’s third (or fourth, it gets a little confus- ing around this point) evil ex, Todd (Brandon Routh). Todd has psychic vegan powers, which handily defeat Scott’s hipster doofus powers. But then ... the Vegan Police (Thomas Jane and Clifton Collins Jr.) intervene, and the hipster doofus lives to beat up on a few more of the evil exes. While the whole film is visual tribute to comic books and classic video games, and the soundtrack is passable, there is no attempt to insert any kind of consistent logic into the story. The hero is unlikable, the heroine wanders around with dead eyes, and Jason Schwartzman (as G-Man) needed a much bigger part. The sexual politics of the film are interesting on one hand (Kieran Culkin is surpris- ingly awesome when sharing a room and a bed with Michael Cera) and hope- lessly outdated on the other (Ramona makes bad decisions because she is under the control of a microchip?). The movie is ex- hausting, but fun, and definitely worth a look. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com