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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16 UCW DECEMBER 23-29, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM When I was an adolescent I loved Archie comics. They were sexist but I was too young to care, and over time those comics evolved — they even did a version where zombies invaded Riverdale! I retain a nostalgic appreciation for those characters, but I hardly ever even glance at the classic Peanuts comics in the paper. Why? When I was a young kid I loved A Charlie Brown Christmas … there are few things more evocative of the Christmases of my childhood than that sad little tree and one of the kids (Linus, maybe?) reciting from the Gospel of Luke. But somehow, over time, the characters lost their appeal. Unlike Archie comics the Peanuts strip is arguably philosophically grounded, which makes it puzzling that my adult self has so little appreciation for it. Maybe I just spent too much time psychoanalyzing the characters in my college psychology classes. The film opens on a scene similar to A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the cast ice-skating. Soon after, the Little Red-Haired Girl (Francesca Capaldi) moves in across the street from Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp). Charlie crushes on her like nobody's business, but because he is Charlie Brown he speeds in the opposite directions and/or hides whenever there is a chance he might actually talk to her. He visits Lucy (Hadley Belle Miller), who tells him that he should try to be more confident. Charlie does his best to take her advice, trying to perform a magic show during the school talent show. Too bad his sister Sally's (Mariel Sheets) act goes horribly wrong, and he needs to step in and help her instead of performing his own show. It's really quite sweet. I, personally, was befuddled by a complete lack of severed limbs/samurai swords/scary clowns in this scene, but that's probably says more about my personal choices than any failure in the script. His second try involves having Snoopy (archival audio of original Snoopy/ Woodstock voice actor Bill Melendez) teach him dance moves to impress the Little Red-Haired Girl at the school dance. Speaking of which, why are 8-year-old kids participating in what seems to be a completely unchaperoned dance? That ain't right. The story shifts to the children picking out partners to complete a book report. Surprise, surprise, Charlie is paired up with the Little Red-Haired Girl, who is leaving town for a week to take care of her sick grandmother. Charlie Brown, having been trained all his life to value the grade over the experience by years of standardized testing, like most other 8-year-olds, immediately complains to his teacher about his absentee partner. Or, that's what would happen in the real world, assuming elementary school aged children were unlocked from the testing schedule enough to actually go out and select a book to write a report on. Here, Charlie decides to impress her by writing a book report on the novel War and Peace all by himself. He apparently does quite a good job, probably due to the intelligence-enhancing effect of growing up surrounded by a ton of nuclear waste, which is presumably also the cause of his bizarrely oversized head. Intercut with Charlie Brown's story is the story of Snoopy and the Red Baron, sadly lacking the fabulous Royal Guardsmen songs about their famous enmity playing in the background, but with the addition of a pink poodle named Fifi (Kristin Chenoweth). Overall, fans of the comic strip will love the movie, and it was a pleasant enough family film. Those looking for more existential faire would do well to stick to the comic strips— some of the philosophical insights are lost in translation. Now playing at Patriot 14 + IMAX. Charlie Brown is not a Quitter The Peanuts Movie (Rated G) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Pat McCrory, Roy Cooper, Richard Burr and many other confirmed or potential candidates for statewide office in North Carolina have plans. They have backers, and staffers, and plenty of ideas for how to win their elections next year. But there's a key variable required before determining how likely they are to succeed: the identity of the Republican nominee for president. The Democratic nominee will be Hillary Clinton. Everyone already knows that she will run a skilled, well-financed campaign that seeks to reassure the Democratic base and supporters of Barack Obama that she will protect the policy wins her party has enjoyed over the past seven years while also separating herself from the president on matters, such as national security, where he and most voters have clearly gone their separate ways. Clinton's GOP opponent, though, has yet to be determined. While I don't subscribe to the theory that the contest might last all the way to the Republican convention next summer, I do think it may take a while for GOP primary voters to settle on a victor. I further think that McCrory, Cooper and other candidates in North Carolina will alter their campaigns to adjust to that victor. If Donald Trump ends up with the GOP nomination, for example, I see Cooper and other Democrats as greeting the outcome with great joy. Perhaps they will be mistaken, but they'll assume that Trump will prove to be a disastrous candidate in the fall. They will spend a great deal of time and resources attaching Trump's face and name to every Republican candidate for every office in North Carolina — who will, in turn, put as much distance as they can between themselves and the national ticket. If Ted Cruz is the GOP victor, Republican won't be as fearful and Democrats won't be as gleeful. The Cruz strategy will be to focus on turnout among likely GOP voters, emphasizing both his positions and his outsider status to attempt to energize conservative voters who may not have cast ballots in 2008 and 2012. Although many electoral analysts don't think a weak GOP turnout is the correct explanation for Obama's victories, few discount the renewed importance of get-out-the-vote efforts in 21st century politics. Still, Democrats have a strong ground game of their own, and a belief that Cruz will not attract enough swing voters to prevail in battleground states. In my experience, North Carolina Democrats are most nervous about the prospect of a Marco Rubio nomination. They believe he has significant potential to attract independents and moderate Democrats, including young and non-white voters, thus pulling apart the Obama coalition that narrowly won the state in 2008 and narrowly lost it in 2012. Again, I concede the Democrats could be mistaken. If nominated, Rubio will need to move quickly to heal his party's primary wounds and invest sufficient resources in a grassroots operation to ensure strong Republican turnout. The opportunity to vote against Hillary Clinton, in other words, won't be enough for conservative voters who believe that previous Republican victories for Congress haven't resulted in enough progress on conservative priorities in Washington. I don't mean to be unkind to the other Republican candidates for president, but I doubt seriously that either major party's candidates in North Carolina are developing strategies for any other outcome. I really think the GOP race is down to Trump, Cruz, and Rubio at this point. Each has a scenario, although I view Trump's as improbable. North Carolina is now a highly competitive state. While Republicans have won most of the recent contests, Democrats retain significant political strengths, including talented campaign operatives, a motivated donor base that desperately wants to regain power in Raleigh, and an energized base of left-of-center voters who disagree with the conservative policies enacted over the past five years. The races for governor and most other statewide offices will be hard-fought. Many will be close. Both parties will be hoping their respective presidential standard-bearers will help get them over the top. Only one will be right. Nomination May Tip State Races by JOHN HOOD JOHN HOOD, President of the John Lock Foundation. Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. The election season brings speculation to local politics.