Rock of Ages (2012)
*** (out of 4)
Good, loud and fun adaptation of the Broadway hit has small town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and city boy Drew (Diego Boneta) becoming friends and falling in love while trying to make their dreams come try in Los Angeles during the late 80s. Also hitting the town is a club owner (Alec Baldwin) trying to save his establishment while the rock legend Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) thinks about where his career is going. ROCK OF AGES has pretty much no story and there's no question that your take on the music is going to determine how much you enjoy the picture but for the most part I think the film was a minor success thanks in large part to some terrific performances. Again, if you're looking for a strong story then you're not going to find it here as everything is pretty predictable from start to finish. However, I guess it would be fair to say that most people are coming for the music and I think the majority of the songs work just fine. The soundtrack includes covers of Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, Poison, Journey, Foreigner, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, White Snake and many others. I'm not a major fan of any of these groups/people because my main interests are the late 60s and 70s rock but I think for the most part the cast did good versions of their tunes. Some of the stand outs include Pour Some Sugar on Me, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, I Love Rock and Roll and a monster mix of We Built ThiS City and We're Not Going to Take It. I found Hough to be extremely pretty, charming and believable in her part and her take on the music was also fresh. I found her story to be incredibly silly but the actress still made you care about her character. Boneta was also extremely good in his part as is Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand and Baldwin in theirs. Mary J. Blige, Catherine Zita-Jones and Malin Akerman are also good in their parts. The real standout is of course Tom Cruise who is 100% believable in the part of the rock star as he nails the entire sex, drugs and rock and roll of the character. The wonderful performance makes you feel as if you're really looking at a star and the funny touches the star brought to the part just added to the fun. It also didn't hurt that he had a perfect voice for his music numbers. The majority of the sets are fun and the rock numbers are also well staged. ROCK OF AGES stills falls short of being a great film and I think the majority of this is due to the unoriginal story and perhaps some of it is due to the songs, which aren't exactly the greatest pieces of music ever written. Still, they're fun enough and I think this film at least proves that rock and roll is here to stay.
*** (out of 4)
Good, loud and fun adaptation of the Broadway hit has small town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and city boy Drew (Diego Boneta) becoming friends and falling in love while trying to make their dreams come try in Los Angeles during the late 80s. Also hitting the town is a club owner (Alec Baldwin) trying to save his establishment while the rock legend Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) thinks about where his career is going. ROCK OF AGES has pretty much no story and there's no question that your take on the music is going to determine how much you enjoy the picture but for the most part I think the film was a minor success thanks in large part to some terrific performances. Again, if you're looking for a strong story then you're not going to find it here as everything is pretty predictable from start to finish. However, I guess it would be fair to say that most people are coming for the music and I think the majority of the songs work just fine. The soundtrack includes covers of Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, Poison, Journey, Foreigner, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, White Snake and many others. I'm not a major fan of any of these groups/people because my main interests are the late 60s and 70s rock but I think for the most part the cast did good versions of their tunes. Some of the stand outs include Pour Some Sugar on Me, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, I Love Rock and Roll and a monster mix of We Built ThiS City and We're Not Going to Take It. I found Hough to be extremely pretty, charming and believable in her part and her take on the music was also fresh. I found her story to be incredibly silly but the actress still made you care about her character. Boneta was also extremely good in his part as is Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand and Baldwin in theirs. Mary J. Blige, Catherine Zita-Jones and Malin Akerman are also good in their parts. The real standout is of course Tom Cruise who is 100% believable in the part of the rock star as he nails the entire sex, drugs and rock and roll of the character. The wonderful performance makes you feel as if you're really looking at a star and the funny touches the star brought to the part just added to the fun. It also didn't hurt that he had a perfect voice for his music numbers. The majority of the sets are fun and the rock numbers are also well staged. ROCK OF AGES stills falls short of being a great film and I think the majority of this is due to the unoriginal story and perhaps some of it is due to the songs, which aren't exactly the greatest pieces of music ever written. Still, they're fun enough and I think this film at least proves that rock and roll is here to stay.