Rock of Ages
Genre: Musical, Comedy, Drama
Genre: Musical, Comedy, Drama
Main Players: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Paul Giamatti
General Gist: A musical set in the late 80's about a girl from a small Oklahoma town who moves to Hollywood to live her dream of becoming a singer.
Tiff's Take:
Let's just state the facts here. I'm a product of the 90's. I'm not a huge fan of musicals. (Remember my Joyful Noise review?) So you can imagine what I might think of this movie. Well, you can bet you're wrong. What an interesting little turn of events.
I was prepared to be slightly entertained but cringing at the style, music, etc. the whole time. The first scene starts out with a cheesy little rendition on a bus. Let the cringing begin. But after I got through the initial shock of watching a musical it all went up hill from there. First of all, I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed all the songs. Even though I did most of my growing up years in the 90's I was familiar with 80's music. So I obviously knew all the songs. In the movie, let's just say they were so fun. The way they were put into the scenes were great. And I think because I am not a product of the 80's I dug the way they poked at the 80's just a little between the more serious stuff.
As far as the actors, I thoroughly enjoyed Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. I love their sense of humor. Catherin Zeta-Jones was great. Malin Akerman was great. Tom Cruise surprisingly worked for me. His over exaggeration of a slightly washed out 80's rock idol was spot on. Again, I think I liked the way they poked fun. Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta were okay, nothing special, but didn't ruin it for me definitely.
I thought this movie was a good mix of serious/humor/making fun of and overall a fun movie to watch. Who would have thought? Now what did my 80's loving sister think? Ha!
Tiff's Rate: Friday Night (I'm actually shocked I'm writing that!)
Deb's Take:
I am a product of the 80's. I love 80's music, I still listen to 80's music (to my children's demise) I work out to 80's music, I have so many memories when I hear those 80's tunes. So, I loved loved loved the music in this movie. It was sort of difficult hearing a different voice to these songs as the actors sang the music, but all in all they did well. As far as the movie itself, I am a little on the fence. I know it was suppose to be a spoofy type movie, and it was, but they threw in a relationship that was a little too serious with Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta. I just didn't like the blend of "Let's do overkill on the 80's" and "now lets add this somewhat serious yet cheesy relationship". That wasn't the kicker though, I just did not like Tom Cruise in his role. Man, he drove me crazy. He is not Rock Star material. I didn't even like him in his role if they were trying to make him look dumb and bad, it was distracting to me.
On the flip side, I think Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand were hilarious. Stupid funny of course. Also, like I mentioned I liked the music. I liked especially how they played on the music, pitting two songs against each other at times. Now, remember this is the pop rock of the 80's, so don't expect some out of control 80's flashback of best music, just the stuff that always came on the radio.
So do I sound committed one way or another? Ha, that was just the kind of movie it was.
General Gist: A musical set in the late 80's about a girl from a small Oklahoma town who moves to Hollywood to live her dream of becoming a singer.
Tiff's Take:
Let's just state the facts here. I'm a product of the 90's. I'm not a huge fan of musicals. (Remember my Joyful Noise review?) So you can imagine what I might think of this movie. Well, you can bet you're wrong. What an interesting little turn of events.
I was prepared to be slightly entertained but cringing at the style, music, etc. the whole time. The first scene starts out with a cheesy little rendition on a bus. Let the cringing begin. But after I got through the initial shock of watching a musical it all went up hill from there. First of all, I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed all the songs. Even though I did most of my growing up years in the 90's I was familiar with 80's music. So I obviously knew all the songs. In the movie, let's just say they were so fun. The way they were put into the scenes were great. And I think because I am not a product of the 80's I dug the way they poked at the 80's just a little between the more serious stuff.
As far as the actors, I thoroughly enjoyed Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. I love their sense of humor. Catherin Zeta-Jones was great. Malin Akerman was great. Tom Cruise surprisingly worked for me. His over exaggeration of a slightly washed out 80's rock idol was spot on. Again, I think I liked the way they poked fun. Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta were okay, nothing special, but didn't ruin it for me definitely.
I thought this movie was a good mix of serious/humor/making fun of and overall a fun movie to watch. Who would have thought? Now what did my 80's loving sister think? Ha!
Tiff's Rate: Friday Night (I'm actually shocked I'm writing that!)
Deb's Take:
I am a product of the 80's. I love 80's music, I still listen to 80's music (to my children's demise) I work out to 80's music, I have so many memories when I hear those 80's tunes. So, I loved loved loved the music in this movie. It was sort of difficult hearing a different voice to these songs as the actors sang the music, but all in all they did well. As far as the movie itself, I am a little on the fence. I know it was suppose to be a spoofy type movie, and it was, but they threw in a relationship that was a little too serious with Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta. I just didn't like the blend of "Let's do overkill on the 80's" and "now lets add this somewhat serious yet cheesy relationship". That wasn't the kicker though, I just did not like Tom Cruise in his role. Man, he drove me crazy. He is not Rock Star material. I didn't even like him in his role if they were trying to make him look dumb and bad, it was distracting to me.
On the flip side, I think Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand were hilarious. Stupid funny of course. Also, like I mentioned I liked the music. I liked especially how they played on the music, pitting two songs against each other at times. Now, remember this is the pop rock of the 80's, so don't expect some out of control 80's flashback of best music, just the stuff that always came on the radio.
So do I sound committed one way or another? Ha, that was just the kind of movie it was.
Deb's Rate: Ok, I will give it Friday night. And considering it probably opens on a Friday night, you might as well go.
Preview: There's a good chance we'll be seeing Snow White and the Huntsman. Has anyone seen it yet?
Preview: There's a good chance we'll be seeing Snow White and the Huntsman. Has anyone seen it yet?
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