Thursday, June 21, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Rock of Ages
Not only do I love musicals, but I also have a strong passion for 80's rock n' roll. Because of these two passions, the new rock-heavy musical "Rock of Ages" (an adaptation of the Tony award winning Broadway show) seemed like a match made in heaven for me. Throw in Tom Cruise looking like Axl Rose and belting tunes such as "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and I was on board. Well Sunday night I finally got to view-and sing through-"Rock of Ages" and, for the most part, it was nothin' but a good time (forgive the first of my several song puns).
The Bourbon Room seems to be a pretty popular place on the Sunset Strip. The film opens with Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) arriving in Los Angeles looking for a job which she quickly finds thanks to Drew Boley ( Diego Boneta) who works at the Bourbon Room. Of course Drew must first ask his two bosses, Dennis Dupree and Lonny Barnett (brilliantly played by Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand respectively) but after a brief argument they give her the job. And they will need all the help the can get with their big concert coming up. The performer headlining is the infamous Stacee Jaxx (Cruise) and the club's existence could ride on how well everything goes. Plus the mayor's wife Patricia Whitmore (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is protesting on the Strip to shut down the Bourbon Room and eradicate all of the "sex, drugs, and rock n' roll." Yes there is a lot of things happening with the Bourbon Room, and how are the characters going to deal with it? Simple...don't stop believin'...in rock n' roll.
Stop reading this review now is you don't care for bands such as Guns n' Roses, Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, and Journey, because if so you are going to HATE this movie. However, if you do like this genre then get ready for a big sing-a-long. The musical numbers seem to never slow down with more than twenty songs packed into the two hour film (some of them are mash-ups). You will get to see every actor sing, even Baldwin and Paul Giamatti, and I guarantee that you won't be able to sit through the whole thing without singing a word or two...I couldn't.
But as prominent as the music is in the movie, Tom Cruise is the star. Hilarious, surprising, incredible, and so many other words can describe his performance. Cruise got into the heart and soul of his character. Add that to his great voice and rock persona and I will say that this is one of his best performances of his career. I had an even greater appreciation for it when I learned that he really does sing all of the songs.
The movie benefits from a slew of great acting. Baldwin and Brand are a hilarious duo with their crazy hair and deadpan humour, and I couldn't gaze at Giamatti's gigantic mustache for five seconds without chuckling (his acting was great too as always). But a supporting cast can't carry a film on their own, the two leads also do a fine job of belting it out and really getting into character. Plus, they all have great comedic talent, the movie made me laugh countless times even if it was at the hairdos.
But "Rock of Ages" is weighed down by some problems, primarily it's dreadful middle act. The film has a great beginning and end but a very slow and boring middle that is plagued with wondering plot points, pointless characters, and way too many "rock ballads." The other negative element is the insane amount of sexual content. Yes I know that this is a movie about 80's rock stars but still, the film really does push the envelope of it's PG-13 rating with it's innuendo, choreography, and "romance" and more times than not it was quite cringe worthy.
Sure "Rock of Ages" is pretty cheesy as well but really, would you expect anything else from a film of this kind? I can promise this, if you go into the film ready to view two-hours of sometimes cheesy dialogue, crazy hair/outfits, and LOTS of music you will have a great time with this movie. If not, then this will be two hours of nails on a chalkboard. But I was in the first group. I went into this saying, I wanna rock, and I did. I give this film three stars out of four.
"Rock of Ages" has a running time of two hours and three minutes and is rated PG-13 for sexual content, suggestive dancing, some heavy drinking, and language.
The Bourbon Room seems to be a pretty popular place on the Sunset Strip. The film opens with Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) arriving in Los Angeles looking for a job which she quickly finds thanks to Drew Boley ( Diego Boneta) who works at the Bourbon Room. Of course Drew must first ask his two bosses, Dennis Dupree and Lonny Barnett (brilliantly played by Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand respectively) but after a brief argument they give her the job. And they will need all the help the can get with their big concert coming up. The performer headlining is the infamous Stacee Jaxx (Cruise) and the club's existence could ride on how well everything goes. Plus the mayor's wife Patricia Whitmore (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is protesting on the Strip to shut down the Bourbon Room and eradicate all of the "sex, drugs, and rock n' roll." Yes there is a lot of things happening with the Bourbon Room, and how are the characters going to deal with it? Simple...don't stop believin'...in rock n' roll.
Stop reading this review now is you don't care for bands such as Guns n' Roses, Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, and Journey, because if so you are going to HATE this movie. However, if you do like this genre then get ready for a big sing-a-long. The musical numbers seem to never slow down with more than twenty songs packed into the two hour film (some of them are mash-ups). You will get to see every actor sing, even Baldwin and Paul Giamatti, and I guarantee that you won't be able to sit through the whole thing without singing a word or two...I couldn't.
But as prominent as the music is in the movie, Tom Cruise is the star. Hilarious, surprising, incredible, and so many other words can describe his performance. Cruise got into the heart and soul of his character. Add that to his great voice and rock persona and I will say that this is one of his best performances of his career. I had an even greater appreciation for it when I learned that he really does sing all of the songs.
The movie benefits from a slew of great acting. Baldwin and Brand are a hilarious duo with their crazy hair and deadpan humour, and I couldn't gaze at Giamatti's gigantic mustache for five seconds without chuckling (his acting was great too as always). But a supporting cast can't carry a film on their own, the two leads also do a fine job of belting it out and really getting into character. Plus, they all have great comedic talent, the movie made me laugh countless times even if it was at the hairdos.
But "Rock of Ages" is weighed down by some problems, primarily it's dreadful middle act. The film has a great beginning and end but a very slow and boring middle that is plagued with wondering plot points, pointless characters, and way too many "rock ballads." The other negative element is the insane amount of sexual content. Yes I know that this is a movie about 80's rock stars but still, the film really does push the envelope of it's PG-13 rating with it's innuendo, choreography, and "romance" and more times than not it was quite cringe worthy.
Sure "Rock of Ages" is pretty cheesy as well but really, would you expect anything else from a film of this kind? I can promise this, if you go into the film ready to view two-hours of sometimes cheesy dialogue, crazy hair/outfits, and LOTS of music you will have a great time with this movie. If not, then this will be two hours of nails on a chalkboard. But I was in the first group. I went into this saying, I wanna rock, and I did. I give this film three stars out of four.
"Rock of Ages" has a running time of two hours and three minutes and is rated PG-13 for sexual content, suggestive dancing, some heavy drinking, and language.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman
Lips red as blood, hair dark as night...and you know the rest. And yes this is not the first film based on the classic "Snow White" fairy tale to come to the silver screen in the last year (the last three months to be more precise). However, it was very obvious from the first trailer that the makers behind "Snow White and the Huntsman" did not want this movie to be the traditional, happy fairytale. In fact, one of the taglines for the film states, "This is no fairytale." With a really evil queen, scary monsters, and some epic looking battle scenes filling up the trailers, I had high hopes for this new "Snow White" epic...HAD being the key word here.
It's obvious from the very beginning that Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) is bad to the bone. First off, she has been sucking the life out of women for years to preserve her youth and magical powers. Second, after killing her newly wed husband, who happens to be the King, she imprisons her step daughter Snow White (Kristen Stewart) in the dungeon for fifteen years. At the end of this long period of time, the Magic Mirror informs the Queen that Snow White's beauty is capable of ending the magical powers of the Queen and that if she consumes Snow White's heart, she will live forever with unlimited power. So naturally, she tries to have her killed. But this Snow White won't go down without a fight, and that fight leads her right into the Dark Forest.
Enter the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), whom the Queen employs to track down and bring Snow White back. But of course if that happened there would not be that much axe swinging action. Yes, the Huntsman is persuaded onto the side of Snow White and together they start a plan that will dethrone the Evil Queen forever...and yes there may be dwarfs involved.
So does "Snow White and the Huntsman" live up to it's promise to be a darker, more intense fairy tale? Absolutely. Everything about the film feels as if the Grimm brothers themselves made the movie. It's violent, eerie, and has some pretty freaky monsters in the dark forest. The Queen is the main reason that this movie sells its promise. Theron is fantastic at being bad and most of the time I was more interested in what was happening with her than what was happening with Snow White.
The film also delivers plenty of action. Chris Hemsworth brings his rage over from his other role (Thor from "The Avengers") to end the life of many a henchmen by his axe and dagger. Some cool CGI effects add to it, along with some incredible make-up work used to make the Queen look younger/older. All of this contributes to a refreshingly dark atmosphere that we don't usually see in fairy tales.
And yet a key ingredient is missing. An ingredient that, whether you want it to be a traditional fairy tale or not, should always be in a Snow White film...romance. Where is the romance? I'll tell you where, not in this movie! I try to stay away from spoilers in my reviews but I can't help it this time...so if you don't want to be spoiled, skip to the next paragraph. (SPOILER ALERT) Sure this movie has all the classic elements of a Snow White story, such as her eating a poisoned apple and her needing "true love's kiss" to wake her up. And she does get the kiss (I won't say who) but guess what? The two NEVER fall in love. In fact, the film never makes mention of their feelings for each other for the rest of the movie, not even in the very end. For this reason, the true magic was ruined for me.
I applaud "Snow White and the Huntsman" for truly living up to their intentions. They have created a dark, action packed tale that will likely impress many moviegoers. But unfortunately, they have tried so hard to make this movie not like a fairy tale that they have failed to include one of the greatest assets to ANY film...love. The movie is void of all compassion, romance, and love, and because of this, the film as a whole is about as magical as the crow on the Evil Queen's chair. I give it two stars out of four.
"Snow White and the Huntsman" has a running time of 127 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and brief sensuality.
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