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/97125
What a Stupid Villain Skyfall (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Generally speaking, Skyfall (143 minutes) is an enjoyable Bond flick. As you would expect from a classy director like Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) the focus is less on the action and more on the motives driving the action. We get some James Bond backstory, and a nice finale that speaks to the director's deftness at wringing balanced emotional intensity from his actors. There were some nice visuals during the opening song (by Adele), but they went on for longer than they needed to. That is not to say the action is nonexistent. The film begins with an amazing action sequence; loads of violence punctuates the film from beginning to end. There are car chases and fisticuffs and parkour galore! Basically, there are two things dragging the film down, hence the loss of a star. First, the villain sucked. I like Javier Bardem as an actor, but the blonde hair dye was distracting and his efforts to portray "into guys" ended up as mere effeminacy. Now maybe Bardem was going for sexually ambiguous and I was reading the character totally wrong, but I think he could have done without all of the gesticulation. Subtlety is the key to good acting and he missed the boat on this one. I mean, tying up the hero and fondling his clavicle telegraphed what needed telegraphing, the rest was just gilding the lily. Second, I expect a certain amount of sexism because it's inherent in the franchise. With Judi Dench playing M the most recent Bond movies have taken a step forward. But here she is portrayed as a British intelligence agent who can't shoot straight. In all others ways she is pretty bad ass, but the two Bond girls aren't quite cutting it. First there's Severine (Bérénice Lim Marlohe). She's wallpaper at best, a plaything to be used by Bond and then discarded from the script once her purpose is served. Then there's Eve (Naomie Harris) who was great in 28 Days, but isn't into her role here. She's lovely, but having her dump the prestige of fieldwork with its vastly superior promotion potential to serve as a personal assistant of some kind is a waste of a character. Plus, I had an easier time buying Silva's (Bardem) interest in Bond (Daniel Craig) than believing Eve had any interest. Bardem might have oversold it, but Harris didn't sell it at all. The film opens with a lengthy action sequence culminating in a hand-to-hand fight on top of a train going over a bridge. The opening act leads into a meeting between M and a higher up, Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes). M leaves the meeting in disgust just in time to see MI6 headquarters blown up. The good guys eventually figure out that the person responsible for the bombing has connections in Shanghai. Off to Shanghai! Bond has a fight in a high rise and gets a casino chip that's sends him to Macau. He has a fight in Macau that sends him to a boat. The boat takes him to an island where the Big Bad is finally introduced in a long tracking shot. After an elaborate Bond villain speech, Bond is untied and taken outside for some target practice. A whole bunch of helicopters show up, the villain gets captured, and it's onto the third act. At the new MI6 headquarters in underground London we get some M and villain backstory. It is boring. Then, to the shock of no one, the villain escapes so he can blow some stuff up during the finale. Which, in my opinion, lasted about 20 minutes longer than it needed to and did not include nearly enough MacGuyvering. Now showing at Wynnsong 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Fair 15. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Death, Rebirth and ... Death? Hunted comes to a stunning conclusion TV by DEAN ROBBINS While other critics were obsessing on Homeland, I urged you to watch Hunted, an even better spy series about a troubled female heroine. After this week's thrilling conclusion (Friday, 10 p.m., Cinemax), I know you will want to thank me in some way. Chocolates are always nice. Sam Hunter (Melissa George) is an operative for a private company specializing in espionage. She's gone undercover in the home of a ruthless tycoon, trying to undermine him right under his nose. Though Sam is a cold-blooded professional, her mission is complicated by human feelings — specifically, her concern for the tycoon's innocent young grandson, who might end up in the line of fire. This vulnerability could well be her undoing. Indeed, many things could be her undoing. Sam is haunted by memories of horrible events she can only dimly remember, threatening her effectiveness. She is in danger of being betrayed by her own company, which cares more about pleasing its client than about keeping her alive. After 45 minutes of bombs, gunfire, poison, betrayal, regrets, revelations and changes of heart, the series comes down to a heart-wrenching last few minutes, involving death, rebirth…and maybe death again. I'm dying to tell you what happens to Sam, but the bylaws of the TV Blurb Writers Association forbid it. All I'll say is that, when the credits rolled, I involuntarily whispered, "Wow." It's a SpongeBob Christmas! Thursday, 8 pm (Nickelodeon) SpongeBob SquarePants takes a turn for the tactile with this holiday special, which renders the cartoon characters as 3D via stop-motion animation. Luckily, WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM the series' inimitable combination of cynicism and innocence doesn't get lost in the translation. Set in the underwater community of Bikini Bottom, the story finds the villainous Plankton dosing fruitcakes with an element called jerktonium. It causes everyone to turn into a jerk, thus making Plankton look comparatively good to Santa (voiced by John Goodman). The transformations are hilarious, with the characters developing stubble and mean-looking eyes. Only SpongeBob is immune, due to his "small brain and pure heart." If you're not smiling by the final musical number, I suggest checking for jerktonium in your own system. The Mistle-Tones Sunday, 8 pm (ABC Family) Tori Spelling camps it up as a comic villain in this enjoyable Christmas movie. She's a larger-than-life mean girl named Marcy, in charge of a singing group that plays a holiday show at the mall every year. Sweet, talented Holly (Tia Mowry) really wants to join the group, affording Marcy the pleasure of turning her down. But Holly goes on to form her own singing group, the Mistle-Tones, which might just take the mall by storm. I know this plot sounds dumb, but The Mistle-Tones knows it, too. It makes fun of the holiday-movie genre while also delivering a perfect specimen. Mowry is an appealing presence, and the musical numbers put some funk in the fa-la-la. Then there's Spelling. Anyone who can upstage Scrooge at this time of year deserves our respect. If you're not smiling by the final musical number, I suggest checking for jerktonium in your own system. DECEMBER 5-11, 2012 UCW 17