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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AFswwwDyvFwsEw Acting Like a Lady Young women struggle with adulthood in Girls TV by DEAN ROBBINS TP @8S U $ rr" rhqqvvhyvqr @Arrs7vxrTu SrtvrhTrpvhyPHr&)" () h 8vivryprq 6yyprrqirqhrq T6UVS96` 6QSDG!'u &)" 6H "QH Spxvt6Shpu Fvpxhqh )#$ 8uhqi I8 Fvpxhqh !) $ AqGvQhxvtG Gpuh ) $ GhqTrhsq 7hqhhur7rhpu Hyr7rhpu T8 Girls (Sunday, 10:30 p.m., HBO) is a new series about friends trying to get their adult lives started in New York City after college. That may sound old hat, but executive producer Judd Apatow and writer-director-star Lena Dunham have created something extraordinary. The characters, relation- ships and emotions feel instantly real. That means there's no sugarcoating as the characters treat each other terribly and screw up their lives. By the way, did I mention that Girls is a comedy? farcical situations. It's a low-key slice of life that finds humor in the way mod- ern 24-year-olds talk and behave. Take the main character, Hannah (Dunham), who has worked for two years as an unpaid publishing intern while fancying herself a memoirist. Her lifestyle — which consists of an aimless sexual rela- tionship and endless soul-searching talks with her best friend — is made pos- sible by her beleaguered parents. As the pilot begins, they decide to cut off the flow of money and thus make Hannah face reality. She tries to appeal to her father's sense of guilt and almost gets the job done before her mother screams at him: "Don't you realize you are getting played by a major player?" She's got that right. Hannah is a shameless con artist with a huge sense of entitle- www.HogsandRags.com (910) 818-0458 or online at: TO REGISTER CALL: PLEASE ARRIVE WITH A FULL TANK OF GAS. *All proceeds donated to Shriners Hospitals for Children, The American Cancer Society & Kidsville News!. Special Thanks to: UP & COMING WEEKLY 24 UCW APRIL 11-17, 2012 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM ment. Girls is brutally honest about her flaws, and yet we end up sympathizing with her anyway. I can't explain how Apatow and Dunham pull off this trick, except to ac- knowledge that they're major players themselves. Magic City Friday, 10 pm (Starz) This new series plunks us down in glamorous late-1950s Miami, a world of cigarettes and shades, sexy dames and smirking studs. Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) owns a luxury hotel and all the headaches that go along with it, from unions threatening to strike to mobsters threatening even worse. Ike has clawed his way to the top and will do just about anything to stay there. Like Michael Corleone — another denizen of 1950s Miami — he's a case study in the effect of corruption on a man's soul. Magic City is bursting with eye candy. It features gor- geous young actors in various states of undress (yowza), and the lush production design makes you believe that name-checked 1950s icons like the Kennedys and Frank Sinatra might really saunter across the set. Magic City also offers compelling drama, as Ike puts up an honorable façade while secretly dealing with the devil. This story is likely to unfold in interesting ways. Even if it doesn't, there should always be something to look at (see "yowza," above). Titanic Saturday, 8 pm; & Sunday, 10 pm (ABC) It's wonderful to see a broadcast network investing in an old-fashioned miniseries with a big subject and a big cast. Unfortunately, Titanic is — if you'll pardon the expression — a disaster. It's certainly not a comedy in the traditional sitcom style, with punchlines and ABC doesn't bring much to the familiar story of the ocean liner that sunk 100 years ago this week. There's unexciting romance, unconvincing class conflict and unearned pathos. Julian Fellowes, of Downton Abbey fame, wrote the awful script, endangering his reputation as the master of 1910s dialogue. The Titanic doesn't start going down until well into hour four, amid syr- upy strings and improbably noble speeches. But the movie itself has sunk long before then. 2009 ir h s C O RV E TTE C O R V E T T E u r uh pr @ w rqv hy 9 @ t v