05-24-2021, 07:09 AM
Remember that musical starring Tom Cruise. Yes, that Tom Cruise. Oh, boy. As is frequently the case, you probably ask why did I sit through this. In my defense, I only caught the second half and a few minutes of the beginning. It was like stumbling across a horrific car crash I couldn't look away from.
Rock of Ages is a juke box musical that is all the rage now on Broadway. Get a bunch of old songs that everyone knows and craft a storyline around it. Think the Abba songs of Mama Mia. If the musical is a big hit, then you turn it into a movie. For Rock of Ages, they used a bunch of Hair Metal band ballads from the 1980s. The story they crafted was about a boy and a girl coming to Hollywood to make it big in Rock and Roll. They run afoul of the Hollywood machine and their dreams are crushed only to be resurrected in the final act. Tom Cruise plays the fading rock star, Stacee Jaxx who is trying to make it as a solo star.
The movie is top heavy with talent. There is Paul Giamatti as the corrupt agent. Bryan Cranston as the mayor with Catherine Zeta-Jones as his wife. Alec Baldwin runs the Whiskey-a-gogo (here named the Bourbon Room) with his aide Russel Brand. And Mary J. Blige runs the stripper bar. And the one thing everyone of them has brought to their roles is ham (Or should it be rolls) So much ham. And Cruise has to be the worst as the dissolute rock star. He's got bad tattoos. He never wears a shirt. He went for the guy liner one too many times.
And they sing. All the time. With the most cursory threads holding the songs together. It's like two lines of dialogue and then back into some Def Lepperd track or some Whitesnake song ("Here I go again" is currently lodged in my head) The only person who doesn't do his own singing is Russel Brand. So, yes, Paul Giammatti sings.
So, it's all bad storytelling wrapped with bad production numbers and then you throw in the love story between Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. They sing a duet together about their love for each other complete with kissing. As a straight, it was really wrong. I need to hear from the LGBTQ community to see how it went with them.
I would give this film a pass if it comes to your TV screen.
Rock of Ages is a juke box musical that is all the rage now on Broadway. Get a bunch of old songs that everyone knows and craft a storyline around it. Think the Abba songs of Mama Mia. If the musical is a big hit, then you turn it into a movie. For Rock of Ages, they used a bunch of Hair Metal band ballads from the 1980s. The story they crafted was about a boy and a girl coming to Hollywood to make it big in Rock and Roll. They run afoul of the Hollywood machine and their dreams are crushed only to be resurrected in the final act. Tom Cruise plays the fading rock star, Stacee Jaxx who is trying to make it as a solo star.
The movie is top heavy with talent. There is Paul Giamatti as the corrupt agent. Bryan Cranston as the mayor with Catherine Zeta-Jones as his wife. Alec Baldwin runs the Whiskey-a-gogo (here named the Bourbon Room) with his aide Russel Brand. And Mary J. Blige runs the stripper bar. And the one thing everyone of them has brought to their roles is ham (Or should it be rolls) So much ham. And Cruise has to be the worst as the dissolute rock star. He's got bad tattoos. He never wears a shirt. He went for the guy liner one too many times.
And they sing. All the time. With the most cursory threads holding the songs together. It's like two lines of dialogue and then back into some Def Lepperd track or some Whitesnake song ("Here I go again" is currently lodged in my head) The only person who doesn't do his own singing is Russel Brand. So, yes, Paul Giammatti sings.
So, it's all bad storytelling wrapped with bad production numbers and then you throw in the love story between Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. They sing a duet together about their love for each other complete with kissing. As a straight, it was really wrong. I need to hear from the LGBTQ community to see how it went with them.
I would give this film a pass if it comes to your TV screen.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
