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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How Did Voldemort Get to Feudal Japan 47 Ronin (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Yikes! 47 Ronin (118 minutes) is the quintessential Japanese narrative, focused on bushido and samurai and seppuku, and it really should have been much better. Imagine with me, if you will, the series of creative encounters that led to the colonial bastardization of a classic tale. The original story, with its roots in historical fact, was a tale of Ronin who avenged the death of their daimyo against the instructions of the shogun. They followed the code of honor by avenging the death, but since they had disobeyed the nobility in order to do so, they could not go unpunished. As a compromise, instead of being hanged as common criminals they were allowed to commit seppuku, ritually disemboweling themselves. Now, we come to a real problem. At some point, some studio guy (that's not sexism, that's a statistical probability) read the relatively simple story of the 47 Ronin and decided to un-simplify it. The number one concern when making a bigbudget action flick is usually finding a bankable star. Given the lack of bankable Japanese action heroes (imagine that written in sarcasm font, then take a minute to check out the filmographies of Hiroyuki Sanada, Ken Watanabe and Tadanobu Asano), they tried to cast the closest thing they could find, which for some reason turned out to be Keanu Reeves. But wait, you might be saying, Keanu Reeves has Asian ancestry! And then I bang my head down on the table and explain a few things. Yes, Reeves has a Chinese grandmother. However, Chinese and Japanese are not indistinguishable, interchangeable cultures. This is not the equivalent of casting a Canadian actor in an American role. This is more like casting a person of Mexican ancestry as a Cherokee, or casting Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Imagine the hoops the screenwriter, Chris Morgan, had to jump through in order to make a narrative about Japanese loyalty to daimyo incorporate a random white guy world saver. Then, let's toss in a scantily clad, scenery-chewing, shape-changing witch (Rinko Kinkuchi), some forest demons, and a few random CGI trolls/unnamable monsters, because, why not? Not to mention the utterly forgettable romantic subplot between Kai (Reeves) and Mika (Ko Shibasake). Bored yet? I know I was after about 10 minutes of watching crouch like a tiger and hide like a dragon. In nearly two hours of footage the only thing that really caught my eye was a scene in the beginning where the nobility of various houses gathered, all wearing different, color-coordinated, jeweltoned, ceremonial outfits. So pretty! To be fair, when the ronin wander off into the demon forest to ask Voldemort's twin brother for some swords to fight Lord Kira (Asano), Ôishi (Sanada) manages to do good work standing around and looking conflicted while a battle rages around him. If you're keeping track, he manages to project more emotional conflict in this one five-minute scene than Reeves manages during the rest of the entire movie. I guess what I'm trying to say is this; don't bother to go see the movie. It really wasn't that good. The dialogue was wooden, the casting forced Sanada and Asano to play second fiddle to Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and there were plot holes galore. A simple but authentic story was junked up with overactors, HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing extraneous fantasy elements Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandand bad CGI. comingweekly.com. DON'T MISS THESE UPCOMING GPAC SHOWS! – Dinners – Russian National Ballet All dinners come with a choice of a cup of soup or side salad and Theatre presents bread. Sauces are made per order, so please allow more time. GISELLE Veal Parmigiana .......................................................................$15.95 L restaurant y y Peter Nero with a Side of Spaghetti Chicken Parmigiana ...............................................................$14.95 Vienna with a Side of Spaghetti Concert-Verein Eggplant Parmigiana (*) .........................................................$13.95 Orchestra with a Side of Spaghetti Veal Saltenboca........................................................................$16.95 TUE, APRIL 1 FRI, FEB. 21 TUE, JAN. 28 Over a Bed of Spinach with a Side of Penne Pasta Veal Sorrentino ........................................................................$17.95 Over Penne Pasta with Side of Spinach Chicken Sorrentino .................................................................$15.95 Over Penne Pasta with a Side of Spinach Chicken French ........................................................................$15.95 Over Penne Pasta with a Side of Spinach Chicken Marsala......................................................................$15.95 Over Penne Pasta with a Side of Spinach Chicken Scallopini..................................................................$14.95 the groundbreaking BROADWAY musical Over Penne Pasta Chicken Bianco ........................................................................$14.95 FRI, APRIL 15 FRI, APRIL 4 Breaded Chicken Cutlet with Fresh Mushrooms and Alfredo Sauce Over Spaghetti For 39 years, GPAC has brought great 2013-14 Season le I tizzeriatal it p & "THE FIRST GREAT MUSICAL OF THE 21ST CENTURY!" – Fresh Seafood – entertainment to southeastern North Carolina. From Broadway musicals to popular musical acts, Seafood Fradiavolo .................................................................$21.95 each of the Day ......................................................... Market Price Catchseason GPAC offers diverse Performing Arts Center performances at affordable prices. – Family Platters for 4 – For ticket info, 910.521.6361 Platters Include Bread (For To-Go www.uncp.edu/gpac or Delivery Orders Only) Spaghetti with Red Sauce......................................................$21.95 Add Meat Sauce ..........................................................................$3.95 20 UCW JANUARY 22-28, 2014 Where We Eat & Speak Italian 910.867.8700 1400 Walter Reed Road, Suite 130 Fayetteville, NC 28304 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM