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.

The OSCARS and Other Notes

It is that time of season again and although this year wasn't an especially great year for films, a couple of interesting and outstanding "out of the box films" caught my eye: "The Artist", The Tree of Life" and "Melancholia".

On the other side of the coin, I'm grateful that the Harry Potter series has ended as they became painful to watch. And the Sherlock Holmes film was also very bad.

Some performances I would have like to have been honored but weren't would include: Michael Fassbender in "Shame", Kirsten Dunst in "Melancholia", Charlize Theron in "Young Adult", Carey Mulligan  in "Shame" (cannot give enough credit for her singing "New York, New York" as though she was standing on the edge of a cliff ready to fall at any moment), Christoph Waltz in "Carnage", and Albert Brooks in "Drive". 

Given the selected honorees by the academy, here are my picks for some of the categories:

• Best Picture: "The Artist"

• Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"

• Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer in "The Beginners"

• Actress in a Leading Role: Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

• Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

• Cinematography: "The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki

• Directing: Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist"

• Film Editing: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

• Adapted Screenplay: "The Descendants" Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

• Original Screenplay: "Margin Call" J.C. Chandor

To all of you: Thank you for coming to my site and reading my reviews. The number of views has grown tremendously over this past year. There are now over 550 reviewed films and it is fun for me to post and read your comments.

May this new year bring on better films with new ideas tested and old ones enhanced. I know I'll be there in the 5th or 6th row center ready to suspend belief into someone else's story.

May you

Be Well...

Michael

Footloose

First Hit: There were moments of great entertainment separated by long sections of pure boredom.

This film was so filled with clichés that it was virtually un-watchable at times.

The Reverend Shaw Moore (played by Dennis Quaid) over reacts to events, doesn’t look in the mirror to see his own faults and has a child who rebels against his righteous rule. His opponent, of sorts, is Ren MacCormack (played by Kenny Wormald) who appears to be a rebel but is actually trying to hold his life together after his mother dies of Leukemia.

Then there is Ren’s first friend whom he meets when he arrives at school on the first day, Willard (played by Miles Teller) who cannot dance but we all know that he’ll be great by the end of the film. Ren comes from Boston, Massachusetts to Bomont, Georgia where he finds things a bit different. The town has made dancing illegal (like this is actually believable) because some kids lost their lives while drinking and driving home from a dance.

Reverend Moore’s oldest son caused the accident that killed the five kids and he feels responsible to protect all other children. His daughter Ariel (played by Julianne Hough) is acting out because she feels lost without her older brother.

I was bored at the long sequences of predictable scenes all leading up to moments of great entertainment. Those scenes are the dancing at the drive-in theater, the little girls teaching Willard to dance, the scene where an angry Ren dances in a warehouse, and the final dance scene.

But outside of these entertainment events the characters are way too predictable, the scenes are marginally acted, and waiting for the entertainment was painful.

Quaid made a good uptight Reverend but there was no interesting ground broken here. Andie McDowell played Vi Moore the reverend’s wife, and was great to see again in a film. In her minor role she actually brought some wisdom to the film. Wormald was OK to watch, a very good dancer, but I always felt he was smirking through the role. Teller was one of the best things to watch in the film – engaged and enjoyable to watch. Hough was barely adequate as a girl rebelling. Yes she acted rebellious but there wasn’t anything coming through on the screen about her character being in pain or challenged. It was all outward and nothing came forth from an inward space. Dean Pitchford and Craig Brewer wrote this mostly awful script. Craig Brewer directed great dance scenes but the rest of it was wasteful.

Overall: Barely watchable on video or streaming. The young girls in the theater liked it but it was all hat and no cattle.

Burlesque

First Hit: Some great singing in a film with a thin plot. But is was very entertaining.

Cher has always been able to project something good with her singing. In her one full song, she knocks it out of the park.

Cher plays Tess half owner of a slowly fading Burlesque theater in Los Angeles. The other half owner is Vince (played by Peter Gallagher) her former husband. Unfortunately, the club is losing money and Vince is trying to find a way to get some money out of it for himself and Tess. His drive comes off as desperate and we never really know why.

But Tess “will never let the theater be sold”. All the girls lip-sync their songs except Tess. Their show is bawdy, clean and fun. In comes Ali (played by Christina Aguilera) who has ventured out from Ohio looking to find a place to sing and dance. She eventually gets her chance when Nikki (played by Kristen Bell) shows up drunk one too many times.

In a fit of anger Nikki unplugs the lip-syncing music and Ali is standing on the stage with no music. So, she improvises and finishes the routine by singing in her own voice. Of course she is a sensation and Tess decides to build a whole new routine around her.

Also Ali is attracted to an engaged bartender named Jack (played by Cam Gigandet). The scene stealer during the film is Stanley Tucci who plays Tess’ confidant and stage manager Sean. When he is on the screen he is the one who grabs your attention.

Cher is very good as the mothering woman who’s seen it all and knows what it is she wants to spend her time doing. Gallagher is good but there is no real depth as to why he’s so panicked about getting his money. Aguilera is wonderful as Ali and her voice shows flexibility and strength. She was perfect for this role. Gigandet was good as Ali’s romantic interest and they have some fun scenes together. Tucci is fabulous. He is the soul of the Burlesque house and this film. Steve Antin wrote and directed this film and for the most part he got it right except the ending number could not have been held in the club we first saw during the opening sequence. Somewhere continuity was lost.

Overall: This is very good entertainment – no more, no less.

Mamma Mia

First Hit: It was fun and you could tell the actors had fun making it.

I’m not a musical fan, however a friend asked me to go see Mamma Mia and I said "yes".

I saw the play many years ago in London and was amused that ABBA songs were gathered together and made into a play, therefore I had some idea about what I was going to see.

In the film Meryl Streep plays the mom (Donna) who is just barely making it running a beaten down hotel on a Greek island. Her daughter Sophie (played by Amanda Seyfried) is getting married and wants to know who her father is. She finds her mother’s diary and discovers it could be any one of three men and therefore invites them to the wedding without her mother’s knowledge.

The three men are Sam (played by Pierce Brosnan), Bill (played by Stellan Skarsgard), and Harry (played by Colin Firth). Supporting Donna in this quest to put on the wedding are her two friends Tanya (played by Christine Baranski) and Julie (played by Julie Walters).

The overall premise is; can Sophie figure out who her father is prior to the wedding.

As musicals go, I liked many of the ABBA songs when they first came out and I still like some of them today. However, some seem a bit out of place like "Winner Takes it All" because I couldn’t figure out who was the winner. Was Donna singing about herself or Sam (or somebody else ???)? Although many of the actors can sing (especially Steep and Baranski), Bronson gives it a go and, despite his full on efforts, his singing is difficult to listen to. Lastly, it needs to be pointed out, from a chronological point of view, things didn’t quite add up (how can we be in today’s time while Sophie was a mid-early hippy baby and playing a early 20 year old).

Overall: The film was really fun (ABBA songs can be fun) because the actors had fun, but from a film and story point of view, one has to suspend making it work.