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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Hit or Miss Bliss TV by DEAN ROBBINS Laura Dern joins the list of brilliant actresses (Edie Falco, Laura Linney, Toni Collette) who have made cable TV an ex- citing place to be. Dern created and produced Enlightened (Monday, 9:30 p.m., HBO), a new drama about — sorry, there's no other way to put this — life. She stars as Amy, a corporate executive who spectacularly loses it in the office after her affair with a married coworker goes bad. Amy has makeup- melting intensity, but also a thirst for serenity. That's why she heads off to a Hawaiian retreat that teaches unhappy people to "Flow Through Your Rage." Amy returns home blissed out, flashing a beatific smile at her skeptical mother (Diane Ladd) and drug-using ex-husband (Luke Wilson). But clearly, the makeup-melting intensity hasn't gone away. It's bubbling right below the placid surface as Amy desperately tries to get control of her life. Dern puts a real human being on the screen — a woman who exists somewhere between the comic and the tragic, like a lot of us. Amy is not terribly bright, not terribly perceptive about her problems. But her search for enlightenment can't help but endear her to us. "You can walk out of hell into the light," she says in meditation mode. "You can wake up to your inner self." I don't think Amy's going to wake up to her inner self anytime soon. But her hit-or-miss attempt to do so will keep me glued to Enlightened. Free Agents Wednesday, 8:30 pm (NBC) Hank Azaria is renowned for creating many memorable characters on The Simpsons, from Apu to Moe to Chief Wiggum. So I'm surprised he has so much trouble creating a single memorable character on his new sitcom. Alex is a cor- porate public-relations guy, a divorced dad, and a sad sack. But Azaria plays him so blandly that he makes no impression at all. The Title Is Still Stupid Straw Dogs (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Straw Dogs (110 minutes) is a remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 film, which was itself based on a novel, The Siege of Trencher's Farm. Thankfully, they kept the übercool poster art. Too bad they also kept the completely unnecessary sexual violence (not original to the novel, FYI). Now, I suspect I am in the feminist minority when I say the 1971 original cut used the violence in such a specific way that I am not ready to dismiss the entire scene as a misogynistic waste of the viewer's time. Of course, much of that sort of criticism is due to the studio's foolish decision to edit the cut originally released in the U.S. The studio edit was intended to reduce the overall amount of sexual violence, but it tended to reinforce the mistaken idea that "No" means "Yes" by removing crucial scenes. The uncut original film showed far more violence towards women, but actually did a better job of demonstrating the female lead's lack of consent. As far as the remake is concerned though, I don't think the rape scene served any purpose besides Rob Lurie wanting to be Sam Peckinpah. And this should go without saying, but Lurie is no Peckinpah. Having said that, I wasn't a fan of the original, and I am not a fan of the remake. I will totally give Kate Bosworth credit for doing a much bet- ter job with the complex material than Susan George. I will even say I didn't hate James Marsden as much as I usually do, what with his Hollywood cheek bones and stupid bouncy hair. If you measure a movie by the amount of conversation it in- spires, than this one isn't bad. The action is moved from the UK to Mississippi, which adds another layer of complexity to already weighty material, adding a commentary on class warfare and hinting at deep seated racial tension. One scene in particular points to a painful lack of beer variety in small southern towns. Passive Aggressive Fancy Pants David Sumner (Marsden) and his wife Amy WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM (Bosworth) are taking a vacation from stardom to enjoy some bucolic scenery in Amy's hometown. They need to hire some contractors to repair the barn roof, so naturally David hires the one guy in town who has a history with his wife. Because David has a pathological need to be liked. First, David is angry that Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård) starts too early. Then he is angry that Charlie starts too late. David is super hard to please. Also superhard to please? Coach Tom Heddon (James Woods), who is the violent angry kind of drunk who won't leave the bar when asked. He spends most of the film starting fights with everyone who is not his daughter, but espe- cially with Jeremy Niles (Dominic "PrisonBreak" Purcell). Jeremy is giving off a bit of a "Lenny" vibe, and I keep waiting for him to ask George about the rabbits. After establishing that Amy is not thrilled with David's plan to move to smalltown America and that Skarsgård is the tallest man on the planet, the contractors promptly begin their work by taking a break to ogle Amy. David engages in some victim blaming, and Amy responds by performing a strip tease for the contractors. Despite Amy's anger, David continues to sing the "Three Best Friends" song from The Hangover, even though the constructions guys are clearly not his friends. As the violent climax approaches, the tension ratchets up, perhaps a bit too quickly. Is the director leaving certain events unknown to lend the inci- dents a certain real life ambiguity? Or is the director moving so quickly in order to emphasize that spur of the moment decisions lead to tragedy? Now showing at Wynnsong 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Fair 15. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upand- comingweekly.com OCTOBER 5-11, 2011 UCW 17 "Dude, it's official, you're hopeless," says a coworker, sav- ing me the trouble of thinking up my own critique. Living in the Material World: George Harrison Wednesday & Thursday, 9 pm (HBO) When you tick off George Harrison's achievements, he sounds like a titanic figure in rock history: the Beatles' bril- liant lead guitarist, the writer of classic songs like "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun," the creator of the big rock char- ity concert, the man who popularized Eastern music in the West and brought spirituality to pop. And yet Harrison was overshadowed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney during the Beatles' 1960s heyday, just as he has been since. That makes him a ripe subject for a two-part documentary treat- ment by Martin Scorsese, who is able to tell us all sorts of things we didn't know about one of the 20th century's most famous people. We learn, among other things, that Harrison experienced extremes of anger and serenity; that he overindulged in drugs even as he sought enlightenment through Eastern mysticism; and that he had a weakness for women, even during his long, happy second marriage. For the first time, we see Beatlemania from a George-eye view, with film footage and photographs that will be unfamiliar to the most devoted Beatles fans. What those fans will really enjoy, however, is discovering that Harrison embodied Beatle virtues to the end of his life, through all his changes in beard length and hairstyle. He thought through his confusing experiences and tried to makes sense of them; he strove to evolve as an artist and a person; and he main- tained a child-like sense of the absurd in even the most solemn situations. Ringo Starr recalls that George's last words to him, uttered just before dying of cancer, were a typically dry joke. Ringo both laughs and cries as he recalls the scene. I predict you will, too. Laura Dern finds intermittent serenity in Enlightened