Rock of Ages

Initial Hit:  This is a fun and engaging film if you like the music.

This film is about two things: 1980's rock music and Tom Cruise. As Stacee Jaxx, Cruise personifies the 1980s rock star: Full of drink, sex, rock and roll and himself while being totally enjoyable.

The story is about a Sherrie (played by Julianne Hough) who is from the Midwest and comes to Hollywood to make her fame and fortune as a singer (think of the song “Oh Sherrie” by Journey). Hitting LA she gets robbed, meets Drew (played by Diego Boneta) who gets her a job in a famous rock bar as a waitress.

The bar, owned by Dennis and Lonny (played by Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand respectively), is going bankrupt and needs help. Jaxx’s famous band “Arsenal”, who had gotten their start at the bar, agrees to play there for free to help them out.

You've got to love the line by Jaxx’s manager Paul (played by Paul Giamatti), when asked how he got the famously late Stacee to show up to the gig on time; "I told Stacee that the gig was last night".

The music is the star of this film and Cruise’s enactment of a totally self-obsessed 1980’s rocker is dead on.

Cruise is perfect is his posturing, nonsensical thoughts, and having a sidekick named “Hey Man”. Hough is very good as the Sherrie. Boneta is strong as the young man who loves Sherrie and wants to be a rock singer but has to bend to current boy band musical tastes. Baldwin was good as the club owner. Brand was OK as Baldwin’s side-kick. However I didn’t understand why the relationship was portrayed the way it was. I couldn’t figure out what it added to the film. Giamatti was excellent as the sleazy manager. Justin Theroux, Chris D’Arienzo and Allan Loeb wrote a very good script. Adam Shankman directed this with zeal and fun.

Overall: If you enjoy 80’s rock, this film is a must see.

Moonrise Kingdom

First Hit:  Quirky, fun, and interesting while blending stylistic filming to deliver a poignant message of hope and love.

The cast is stellar with the big names in supporting roles. You have Edward Norton (as Scout Master Ward), Bruce Willis (as Captain Sharp), Bill Murray (as Walt Bishop), Frances McDormand (as Laura Bishop), Harvey Keitel (as Commander Pierce), Tilda Swinton (as Social Services), Jason Schwartzman (as Cousin Ben), and Bob Balaban (as the Narrator).

The film is about Suzy Bishop (played by Kara Hayward) who is a troubled young girl and Sam (played by Jared Gilman) a young orphan boy who is determined to live his life his way making him an outcast.

The Narrator begins the film by talking straight to the camera setting up the story of the mythical island of New Penzance its history and that a historic storm will soon envelop it. We are slowly introduced to the characters that are living and working on the island through stylistic mid 1960s scene edits and tones which are almost comic, but blazingly consistent, thoughtful and enjoyable throughout.

This film follows Sam and Suzy as they find each other, realize they can connect with each other, and their choice to journey together. Yes they are only 12 years old, but the point is some people feel really at a loss and lost in their life and people around them, but when they connect with someone else, there is a strong and compelling reason to stay together, to live.

Hayward is bold and evoking as Suzy a girl who struggles with feelings and the expression of them. Gilman as Sam is equally strong as the young boy who is going to live his path regardless of what grownups do. Together they were fabulous. Norton was sublime as the Khaki Scout Master who is charged with training Sam. I loved his acknowledgement of the wonderful camp Sam and Suzy set up. Willis was very low key in his self-effacing character who is just plodding along. Murray was very good as Suzy’s concerned dis-attached father. McDormand was excellent as the dis-jointed lonely mother of Suzy. Swinton was funny, bold and poignantly mean as Social Services. Schwartzman was really funny and good as Cousin Ben. Keitel was good as the head of Khaki Scout Masters and Ward’s boss. Balaban was the perfect choice as Narrator because he brought an informational serious undertone that bordered on dark comedy. Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola wrote a stunning script while Anderson’s clear vision brought it all together.

Overall: This was an excellent film to watch because it tells a wonderful story.

Hysteria

First Hit:  Although a bit uneven, this film was surprisingly funny and interesting.

This is a film about the invention of women’s vibrators.

This may seem like an odd subject and make one skeptical of why the film will be seen by people in a movie theater. However, this film ties together the women’s movement, sexual freedom, and the misperception by the male medical community and many women that women couldn’t have pleasure in sex.

Mortimer Granville (played by Hugh Dancy) is a doctor that cannot believe that medical practice, as practiced by most hospitals in his time (late 19 Century), ignores scientific proof of the existence of germs, thinks that bleeding people with leeches is the go-to cure-all, and hooking up with pharmaceutical makers (OK this is still practiced today) is the only way to survive as a doctor.

He’s fired from yet another hospital because he wants to clean a wound versus bleeding the wound. He finds work with Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Price) who has a private practice only treating women’s hysteria. But, what he actually does is masturbate women who find the results to be a release of their frustrations and dis-pleasurable temperaments.

Back in those times, women we’re thought of not being able to have any sexual pleasurable. Dalrymple has two daughters, Emily (Felicity Jones) and Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who are very different in their participation in life. Emily is of the mindset to be of her father’s ilk and thinks women belong in the kitchen and taking care of the house.

Charlotte, on the other hand, knows women can have sexual pleasure, believes in helping the poor, and think women should vote and have something more to bring to the world than a "well-run house". Granville, excels at his new practice of curing women's moments of hysteria, but suffers from hand cramps.

When he fails to “cure” one of Dr. Dalrymple’s clients he gets fired. When his friend Edmund St. John-Smythe (played by Rupert Everett) shows him an electrical fan, he discovers that the vibration helps his cramping hand. He then pulls off the feathers and asks a women to allow him to try it out on her. She totally enjoys it.

Granville and John-Smythe license their machines which become portable and it changes women’s enjoyment of sex from then on.

There is a side story about relationships between Granville and the Dalrymple girls but it is obvious what will happen.

Dancy shows a nativity and smartness to carry off this role with a bit of tongue-in-cheek and intelligence. Price is good as a Dr. who is protective of his practice and belief. Jones is OK as a girl who does what she thinks she is supposed to do. Gyllenhaal steals every scene she is in. Everett is very strong as a renegade aristocrat. Steven and Jonah Lisa Dyer wrote a script that was mixed with tongue-in-cheek-ness and historical innovation. Tanya Wexler directed this film in a way that makes this subject both interesting and funny.

Overall: This film won’t win many awards but it rewarded everyone in the theater by being both enjoyable and informative.

Men in Black III (3D)

First Hit:  Excellent third installment of a 15 year old franchise. This film starts a little slow with conversations between Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) which seemed to be on purpose, or is it Jones getting older?

This is the question I had in mind while I watched the beginning one way dialogue. Although there is some intrigue with Agent O (Emma Thompson) and K, it never really realizes itself and then when O speaks a lengthy squeaky alien language segment, it ruins her presence as an austere and intelligent agent.

I started to think that MB III wasn’t going to be interesting, that it was going to be worse than MB II, but then J jumps into the past and Bingo!!! - the whole film takes on a new and exciting story line.

The venue is a memorable time in my life – 1969. It focuses around our first moon launch, I was in Vietnam when we sent a rocket to, and landed on, the moon. What boosts the excitement for the film is the repartee between a young Agent K (Josh Brolin) and J. There is the back and forth that J doesn't have from old K, and this becomes the running joke.

J has gone back in time to kill Boris The Animal (played by Jemaine Clement). In current time Boris has escaped the high security moon prison and is bent on destroying earth and he is also really angry at K for shooting off his arm back in 1969. Boris also decides to go back in time to help his earlier self and get his arm back. J's mission is to change Earth's future by fixing the past.

What makes this film fulfill the audience's emotional aspect is the ending. J sees why he and K are connected. The item to note is that Brolin was dead on great at channeling the energy and clarity of Jones as a young K.  By the end of the film, everyone was in full gear and it was definitely a joy to watch.

The 3D is excellent as it is used to enhance the film.

Smith is great and the maturity he’s gained as a person over the last 15 years shows up with more subtle and deeper characterization of his role. Jones has a more minor role here but as the well-grounded senior agent he is very good as the film ends. Thompson is OK and I’m not sure why the scriptwriter and director minimized her involvement. Brolin was the star in that he had to channel a young K but with a challenge to give us the reason why the older K acts the way he acts in the future. Clement was strong as the enemy. Lowell Cunningham wrote a wonderfully full script. Barry Sonnenfeld directed this film with clarity and focus to create a really enjoyable adventure.

Overall: Sequels are hard because they can never match the freshness of the original but here you have a really good and worthwhile film.

The Dictator

First Hit:  This film was disappointing in all aspects.

There are funny moments in this film. In fact there are a few out loud laughing moments. But this shallow scripted film displays its weakness from the get go.

The feeling from the beginning is that I was watching a set of pointedly offensive gags strung together to make a film. True that the conceptual idea was pretty good and if Sacha Baron Cohen had done this film like he did Borat, which was more scriptless and being a character in the real world, it might have worked much better.

However, this wasn’t the approach with this film and I would guess this is because of the lawsuits that were brought against him after Borat when into the theaters. I was surprised that Ben Kingsley, as Dictator Aladeen’s right hand General Tamir, would even do this film. However, I did think Anna Faris as Zoey was fun and held and acted their character really well.

Cohen was occasionally funny and visually full of himself as Dictator Aladeen. I was shocked to see Kingsley in this film and felt embarrassed for him. Faris was one of the better aspects of this film. Cohen, Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer wrote a mostly forgetful script with gags that were more than easily forgetful (think throwing a girl baby in the trash because she's a girl). Larry Charles directed this and probably did as well as he could do with such a weak script and Sacha Baron Cohen riding herd.

Overall: Most gigs and scenes were easily forgotten shortly after watching the film which means this film is forgettable.