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May 2 2018 The Skanner Page 7 Arts & Entertainment FILM REVIEW: Hollywood Has-Beens Exact Revenge ‘Kings’ on Crooked Promoter in ‘Supercon’ cont’d from pg 6 By Kam Williams For The Skanner News B ack in the ‘80s, Keith Mahar (Rus- sell Peters) was a child actor who found fame playing the young sidekick to charismatic Adam King (Clancy Brown) on a hit TV series. But aft er the show was canceled, Keith’s career collapsed and his parents frittered away his pay by the time he became an adult. Consequently, he’s been reduced to eking out a living on one of the lowest rungs of the “ of their favorite charac- ters. Keith and his fellow has-beens have no idea that Adam has been skimming money off the top of the purse with the help of his trash- talking assistant, Gil (Mike Epps). But when evidence of the scam surfaces, he and a few other fading stars hatch an elaborate plan to rob the crooked promoter rather than report the theft of services to the authorities. That is the improbable point of departure of “Supercon,” a campy ac- Provided you’re willing to buy into the picture’s wacky premise, you’re like- ly to fi nd the ensuing turn of events entertaining showbiz ladder. Namely, he spends his weekends signing autographs and posing for pictures at nostalgic comic con- ventions run by Adam and attended by crazed fans wearing costumes tion comedy directed by Zak Knutson (Milius). Provided you’re willing to buy into the picture’s wacky premise, you’re likely to fi nd the ensuing turn of events entertain- ing. This otherwise grim period piece arrives blessed with a retro soundtrack featuring James Brown’s African American anthem “Say It Loud, I’m Black & I’m Proud,” Bill Withers’ haunting, R&B classic “City of the Angels,” and Nina Simone’s searing rendition of “Ooh Child.” Nevertheless, consider “Kings” a harrowing de- scent into depravity that makes “The Florida Proj- ect” look like “Leave It to Beaver.” Keith Mahar (Russell Peters) is was a child actor, reduced to comic convention appearances in ‘Supercon’ Knutson certainly assembled a talented cast to execute the zany script he co-wrote with Andy Sipes and Dana Snyder. Among the thespians featured are comedian Mike Epps, two-time Oscar-nom- inee John Malkovich (for Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire) and Maggie Grace, who played Liam Neeson’s daughter in the riveting suspense thriller Taken. And making an uncred- ited appearance as Gil’s gay bodyguard is Tyrus, the WWE wrestler- turned-talking head on the Fox News Channel’s Greg Gutfeld Show. It’s hard to take any of “Supercon”’s over-the- top silliness seriously, and the increasingly-bi- zarre hijinks are just funny enough to recom- mend for open-minded the original Social Media NEWS folks not easily off ended by patently political- ly-incorrect fare. Good Rated R for crude sexual content, homophobic slurs, pervasive profan- ity and drug use Running time: 98 min. Production Studios: Mo- mentum Productions To see a trailer for Su- percon, visit: TheSkan- ner.com. Very Good Rated R for violence, sexuality, nudity and pervasive profanity Running time: 92 min. Production Studios: Bliss Media/ CG Cinema / Maven Pictures To see a trailer, visit: TheSkanner.com. View movie trailers at TheSkanner.com
