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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It Is Very British The World's End (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS The World's End (109 minutes) is the final film in what has been called both "The Blood and Ice Cream trilogy" and "The Cornetto Trilogy." Why you ask? First, this film features a split-second close-up of a Cornetto Ice Cream cone — just like its predecessors, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Also, each of the films is credited to the British Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright screenwriting duo and directed by Edgar Wright. While Pegg takes a starring role, Wright tends to focus on directing, appearing in minor cameos only. This film is more mature than the other two, but also has a stronger undercurrent of misogyny. I mean, I'm not saying Pegg and Wright hate women, just that they spent a lot of time showing devious women getting beat up and dismembered. Gary King (Pegg) is a man-child obsessed with having a good time. The film begins with his narration of the time he and his four friends attempted — and failed — to complete "The Golden Mile" pub crawl. He mentions each of the 12 pubs — and I'll list them here both because each one relates to the story in a significant way and because even imaginary British public houses have cool names. For example, the first pub they visit is called The First Post. Get it? The rest, in order of appearance are: The Old Familiar, The Famous Cock, The Cross Hands, The Good Companions, The Trusted Servant, The Two-Headed Dog, The Mermaid, The Beehive, The King's Head, The Hole in the Wall and The World's End. After this intro, Gary is revealed to be narrating to some kind of encounter session or AA meeting without the slightest remorse for his misspent youth. If you look closely at the girl sitting next to him you will recognize the backyard zombie girl from Shaun of the Dead. This part of the film felt like it lasted longer than it needed to because for every character Gary introduced he had a story about why they got a particular nickname. And this wasn't limited to the main characters — I lost track of the number of times I heard the phrase "We called him that because …" This was a bit of weak writing in an otherwise well-paced narrative. The next hour or so of the movie is Gary traveling around to get the band back together. First he persuades Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and Steven Prince (Paddy Consindine) to return to their home town to complete "The Golden Mile" by promising them that their friend Andrew Knightly (Nick Frost) is on board. Clearly there was some bad blood, although we don't get to find out what it is until much later in the movie. The guys arrive back home somewhat reluctantly, determined to make the best of the fact that they are once more, for reasons none of them really understand, doing exactly what Gary tells them to do. This sort of truth telling is a strength of the film, because all too often when we meet up with old friends we end up regressing to who we were when we knew them. This added a bitter sweetness as the audience is forced to identify with Gary's ineffectual attempt to recapture his glory days when faced with his friends' successes and his own failures. Overall, Shaun of the Dead is still their best film, but this one was good for a few laughs. Taking a page from the British science-fiction greats such as Grant Naylor and Doug Adams, The World's End uses comedy to take the audience to the brink of the apocalypse, and then push us over. This does seem to be one of the more characteristically British takes on the genre — an American film about the end of the world tends to be about how a few brave people avoided the end of the world, or looked pretty during the end of the world or ended up happily in the afterlife. This one teases the viewer so that we are convinced the apocalypse will be avoided up until the very second that (Spoiler Alert) we fail to avoid the apocalypse. Now showing at Wynnsong 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Market HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandFair 15. comingweekly.com. Good Morning Fayetteville R with Goldy & Jim W Weekday Mornings 6-10 a.m. First Mo n Rent FR th's Mention p EE! romo cod e NA001 to this o ffer. *restr icti redeem MILITARY ons may apply DISCOU AVAILABL NTS E! 1939 Skibo Road Fayetteville, NC 28314 3520 Bragg Boulevard Fayetteville, NC 28303 910-864-1151 910-867-1314 526 McArthur Road Fayetteville, NC 28311 1057 Rim Road Fayetteville, NC 28314 910-488-6250 910-860-0040 Talk Line: 910-864-6400 Local News, Weather, Traffic & Sports WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SEPTEMBER 4-10, 2013 UCW 21