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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So That's What It's About! Hugo (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS For some reason I was convinced that Hugo (127 minutes) was a cartoon of some kind. Also, I had no idea about the plot or central conflict. This is very weird because it is based on an award winning children's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I usually have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen in based-on-a-book movies because I have gener- ally read the book prior to the film being made, or I read the book as soon as I found out it was good enough to make a movie out of it. In this case, I went into the theater with no idea what was going to happen, which was a nice change. I hoped for some fantasy elements, and I was very surprised to find the story telling a real-life tale. While this was not an obvious Martin Scorsese film, he did inter- esting things with the material. I am not sure if he added all the borderline child abuse, or if that was part of the original story, but I did have a bit of a problem with the fact that the supposed "good" characters were so ready to ignore a skinny kid running around a train station in winter without warm clothes. The story opens in a 1930s Paris railway station. Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) wanders around the enormous clock system, where he has made a home among the gears. A security guard (Sacha Baron Cohen) with a vendetta against orphans chases Hugo while working on his own little romantic subplot. Little by little, we find that Hugo was living with his father (Jude Law), a clockmaker, after the death of his mother. His father was killed in a bizarre museum fire, and his evil uncle (Ray Winstone channeling Bob Hoskins) becomes his legal guardian. I kept wait- ing for a subplot where the father wasn't really dead and Evil Uncle had kidnapped Hugo, but it never materialized. In between these snippets of backstory, Hugo (apparently now alone in the train Playing the Fool TV by DEAN ROBBINS Impractical Jokers (Thursday, 10 p.m., truTV) begins with these words: "This program includes scenes of graphic stupidity among four friends who compete to embarrass each other." Don't say they didn't warn you. The friends put themselves in public situations where they dare each other to say or do preposterous things in front of strangers. For example, they take turns as counter workers at a burger joint, wear- ing an earpiece so the guy on the spot can get directions from the other three. They order him to speak to the customer at ridiculously high volume, or freeze for a solid minute, or use Old English. What cracks them up the most is the command to rhyme everything. So instead of saying "one order onion rings, seven cheese- burgers, one five-piece cheese sticks," the guy says, "One order funion smings, seven schneezeburgers, one five-piece bleez blicks." God help me, but I laughed out loud. In fact, I laughed for the entire half- hour, no matter how puerile the gags. It probably helps that the friends are jo- vial rather than Jackass-obnoxious, even rejecting some dares as too offensive. It also helps that they are the butt of the jokes, not the innocent bystanders — who often end up laughing themselves. So I guess I'll have to swallow my dignity and recommend Impractical Jokers. I mean, sleckommend Kimlactical Schmokers. Christmas in Washington Friday, 8 pm (TNT) Every year this TNT special tries to bring together warring factions in Washington, D.C., for a peaceful night of entertainment. And every year, the challenge seems more difficult in the midst of partisan rancor. Tonight, top 18 UCW DECEMBER 14-20, 2011 Republicans and Democrats will sit side by side to watch Justin Bieber, Cee Lo Green, Jennifer Hudson, Victoria Justice and the Band Perry. The lineup sounds pretty safe, except for Justin Bieber. Given the tensions involved in this event, why would the producers introduce a controversial element like Bieber's haircut, which has long polarized the nation? It's like throwing a match onto a powder keg. Yeah, good luck with that, guys. Kendall's Sweet 16 Monday, 9 pm (E!) The Kardashian family stirred up national revulsion after Kim made a fortune off her televised wedding, then immediately filed for divorce. If I were a Kardashian, I would lie low after such flim-flammery, but the family members have instead doubled down on shamelessness. They premiered Kourtney and Kim Take New York mere days after the divorce announcement, and now comes Kendall's Sweet 16. Yes, folks, we're going to be asked to celebrate every milestone with every member of this tawdry clan, even the teenage birthday parties. The Kardashians have been offering up Kendall as an underage sex object ever since she was 12. Now they allow E!'s cameras to swarm her Sweet 16 birthday bash for the delectation of the TV audience. In this kind of environ- ment, it seems unlikely that the kid will grow up to be happy and healthy; the Lindsay Lohan route is more likely. It's not often you can save a life by turning off your television, but this might be one of those times. If Kendall's Sweet 16 flops, and Kendall is forced to leave the TV spotlight, she might have a shot at being a well-adjusted adult. If the program is a hit, she's doomed. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM station) steals food and tools to work on an automaton his father was restoring. Early in the film, he is caught by a toy-stall owner named Georges (Ben Kingsley), and the notebook he is using to guide the restoration of the automaton is taken. While events later in the film try to put this seemingly cruel action into context, as a whole the film does not sell Georges as a sympathetic character filled with righteous, inconsolable tragedy. From start to finish, I was left with the sense that I wanted to hit him repeatedly upside the head until he could develop a sense of propor- tion. I kept thinking there would be a good reason that a toy seller raising a child of his own (Isabelle, played by Kick-Ass cutie Chloe Grace Moretz) would ignore another child so clearly filled with misery, but nope. The character really comes off like a self-centered jerk. Anyway, at least Isabelle is willing to inquire about where this kid is sleeping at night, and to attempt to undo the hideous emotional scars her guardian inflicts with his callousness. The two manage to uncover some family secrets related to the automaton, and this sends the film into a new direction. Hugo is an adventure tale with a touch of historical fiction. Overall, it tells a nice family story with intergenerational appeal, more or less likeable characters, and a satisfying ending that avoids too much sentimentality. For those of you who care, there are some fairly obscure cameos worth looking out for. And FYI, according to IMDB.com Butterfield is going to play Ender Wiggins in the Ender's Game adaptation! Look that up now if you don't al- ready know about it! Now showing at Wynnsong 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Fair 15. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upand- comingweekly.com Impractical Jokers wallows in embarrassment