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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Expletive Deleted TICKETS ON SALE NOW! Kick-Ass 2 (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS For some strange reason my husband is underwhelmed by the Kick-Ass movies. I really thought he would like Kick-Ass 2 (103 minutes) since it was slightly more involved than the first film, but nope. He has never read the source material, Millar's HitGirl and Kick-Ass 2 comic series, and he couldn't care less about the films. He doesn't love zombie movies either. Sometimes, I wonder why I married him. Following the events of Kick-Ass, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson — an English actor who paid attention in American accent class) has retired. He is in his senior year in high school, secret identity more or less intact, while other costumed characters roam the street. Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz, who I like a little bit more in every role she plays) has moved in with her father's partner, Marcus (Morris Chestnut) and attends the same high school. Dave mostly laments the rapidly approaching decisions he will have to make as an adult and hangs out with his buddies, Marty (Clark Duke) and Todd (Augustus Prew). When Dave finds out that Mindy has been ditching school every day and training to take on bad guys as Hit-Girl, he wants in. There is a real problem with the characterization of Dave when it comes to this part of the film. He spends quite a bit of time telling Mindy to ignore whichever parental figure inconveniences him. When he wants training he tells her to ignore her foster father, Marcus. When he wants to be normal, he tells her to ignore promises she made to her now dead bio-Dad. All in all, he comes off as more manipulative than I remember him being in the first film and the inconsistency demands further exploration. Supposedly, Kick-Ass 3 is in rapid development; maybe we get to see Dave become more of a villain? Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is back as the villain for this film with a brand new super-villain name that I am not going to mention here, because I am at the limits for expletives already. I actually didn't like the extreme misogyny of the character, although other aspects worked as a meta-commentary on the casual racism of some comic books names. Example: He finds a Black super villain to join his crew and dubs him Black Death — the racism of which Javier (John Leguizamo) promptly points out. Not that it does any good. An unusually restrained Jim Carrey rounds out the cast as Colonel Stars and Stripes. It's easy to forget that he can actually act when he puts out garbage like Yes Man, and I wish he had appeared in more scenes. One final note. This film is violent. Like, your children-probablyshouldn't-see-this-stuff violent. If you didn't know any better, watching the trailers with Jim Carrey you might think it's comic book/cartoon violence, which it most definitely is not. Stylistically, the director was going for a Quentin Tarantino/Sam Peckinpah vibe, and though he fell short, a lot of heads get busted and a lot of blood spills while he tries. Overall, I liked it. Gratuitous violence and all. I really wish they had focused the entire film on Hit-Girl and left Kick-Ass in the background, but all in all it was a better sequel than The Dark Knight Rises. Oh, and there is a post-credits scene. Now showing at Wynnsong HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Market Fair 15. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM the g roun dbre aking BROA DWAY musi cal T hree Dog Night 2013-14 Season Performing Arts Center Disney's Beauty and the Beast Thursday, October 3, 8 p.m. S.O.S. Band Friday, November 1, 8 p.m. Memphis, the musical Thursday, January 16, 8 p.m. The Vienna Concert-Verein Orchestra Tuesday, January 28, 8 p.m. Peter Nero Friday, February 21, 8 p.m. Russian National Ballet presents Giselle Tuesday, April 1, 8 p.m. Three Dog Night Friday, April 4, 8 p.m. Special Series Green Day's American Idiot Tuesday, April 15, 8 p.m. River People Music & Culture Fest, April 25-26 On Stage for Youth Skippyjon Jones October 31, 10 a.m. The Monster Who Ate My Peas January 13, 10 a.m. Dinosaur Train Live! February 25, 10 a.m. ADD US ON FACEBOOK FOR DISCOUNTS AND GIVEAWAYS! 910.521.6361 or 910.521.6287 uncp.edu/gpac facebook.com/givenspac SEPTEMBER 11-17, 2013 UCW 21