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.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/765699
DECEMBER 21-27, 2016 UCW 19 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Thoroughly Average Allied(Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Allied (124 minutes) aspires to be the next Casablanca. It is not. I also noted more than a passing similarity to another Brad Pitt romantic thriller, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. That one didn't knock my socks off either. I think I used to like some Brad Pitt movies, but I really can't think of a single one right now. Funny how serial adultery makes someone less attractive, less interesting, and less skilled at their job, isn't it? I also couldn't help noticing that the age of Pitt's neck is more accurate than the age of his face, so it looks like he can cross "get a ton of Botox" off his bucket list. But enough bashing Brad Pitt. Let's move on to bashing his movie. It is 1942. Robert Zemekis drops Brad Pitt's stunt double out of a plane, and the audience is treated to a bizarre close up of the poor guy's boots hitting the desert floor because it is going to be one of "those" Zemekis movies. In order to further confuse the already complicated plot, Pitt is playing Max Vatan, a Canadian intelligence officer playing a French phosphate miner in French Morocco. That's like, three different kinds of French, and he plays them all with the same "accent" he employed as Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds, an accent even more pronounced when he is speaking English. If he was going to slip an existing character into a new role, why couldn't it have been Jeffrey Goines from Twelve Monkeys? While in French Morocco, his cover story is that he is married to undercover French Resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard), even though they have never met. He enters a club, armed only with the knowledge that his partner is wearing a purple dress. Unfortunately, there was no hilarious sequence of him approaching a variety of sexy ladies in purple to ask them if he was their husband. I feel at least one or two wacky misunderstandings could have only improved my moviewatching experience. With the preliminaries aside, Max and Marianne attempt to inveigle an invitation to the Nazi ball so they can machine gun some Nazis. In a scene positively dripping with suspense, Standard Issue Nazi Character #451 plays card games with Max and then agrees to give him a ticket to the Nazi ball. But then! Just as Max is about to leave, a final challenge! Can Max write down the chemical formula for phosphate? Or did his handler do a crappy job of ensuring that Max had a basic working knowledge of his own backstory? Ugh. It's like the Nazis aren't even trying to keep spies out of their Nazi ball. As the two prepare for their mission, they find themselves sitting in a sand dune, making schmoopy faces at each other, even though falling in love might be bad for their mission. They run back to their car covered in sand, with a sandstorm blowing particulate matter through every crevice, and start doing the exact thing you should not do when covered in sand. It might sound romantic, but just imagine the chafing. At the end of the day, this was a pretty run-of-the-mill film that at least managed to subvert my worst expectations of where the plot was going. However, I am pretty sure the final product wasn't good enough to justify breaking up a marriage, Brad and Marion. Now showing at Patriot 14 + IMAX. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910 484-6200. Fayetteville's CONCERT CONNECTION ANSTEAD'S TOBACCO CO. 320 N McPherson Church Rd 864-5705 • ansteads.com HUSKE HARDWARE HOUSE 405 Hay Street • 437-9905 www.huskehardware.com Dec. 23 Tommy King Dec. 24 Tommy King LUIGI'S 528 N McPherson Church Rd. 864-1810 • www.luigisnc.com Dec. 23 Live Entertainment Dec. 24 Live Entertainment KICK BACK JACKS 5081 Morganton Rd. • 223-7676 Friday Live Music Paul's Place 719 Starling St. • 910 779-2898 Dec. 31 Reflections 2 THE CROWN COMPLEX 1960 Coliseum Dr. • 438-4100 www.crowncomplexnc.com Jan. 14 An Evening with Jaheim Jan. 20 Beach Boys Feb. 21 Brain Candy Live! March 4 Ron "Tater Salad" White ROCK SHOP 128 S. King St. • 321-ROCK www.therockshoplive.com Dec 23 Art Attack w/ Breathe New Life, Sliver Nixon Dec 24 Christmas Eve Get- Together Christian Albums • WCLN 107.3 Christian Listening Network • Visit us online at www.christian107.com 1 CASTING CROWNS One Step Away 2 ZACH WILLIAMS Chain Breaker 3 CHRIS TOMLIN Jesus 4 WE ARE MESSENGERS Magnify 5 FOR KING & COUNTRY Priceless 6 MERCYME Dear Younger Me 7 HILLARY SCOTT & THE SCOTT FAMILY Thy Will 8 AFTERS (THE) Battles 9 MICAH TYLER Never Been A Moment 10 LOVE & THE OUTCOME The God I Know Expires 1/31/17 $i. 50 Drinks. $i. 50 Drinks. $i. 50 Drinks. $2.00 before 6:00 p.m. $3.00 after 6:00 p.m. $1.00 extra for 3D MOVIES Movie Monday: $1.50 All Day(Holiday or 3D movies excluded) Buy one get one free! Buy one get one free!