Rock of Ages Review

Though I was completely exhausted from my Current Events class today, Justin and I saw Rock of Ages on June 16, 2012. This movie was fun, entertaining, and an overall incredible experience. I knew that this was based off the hit Broadway play of the same name and going in, I knew it was a movie not to be taken too seriously and the actors would just have fun. I felt the casting choices made in this movie were very good and felt that Julianne Hough's Sherie and especially Diego Boneta's Drew did an excellent job of two kids that came from different backgrounds: Sherie is a SMALL TOWN GIRL. Drew is a CITY BOY. I purposely capitalized those by the way for a reason and you'll see as I delve into this for you. I felt it was actually a pretty cute storyline overall between the two of them. They are pursuing dreams to make it in the music business and overall, they do a great job of singing the songs they cover throughout the movie. There is a great storyline of rock and roll and how it has a major influence specifically in Los Angeles, California during the 1980s. There is the religious/political movement led by Patricia Whitmore, played by the absolutely gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones, and her husband Mike, who is the Senator, played by the Man of 1,000 Movies, Bryan Cranston-(he seems to be in everything honestly) that is trying to battle the corruption of society, specifically in the form of Stacee Jaxx played fantastically by Tom Cruise. If I could give a guess as to who he was supposed to be channelling, I would say it's a mix between Jim Morrison of The Doors and definitely Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses. He is scheduled to make his last appearance before he goes solo at The Bourbon Room which is important as this is where Stacee's first gig was and the man that helped him get it runs the bar. That man is Dennis Dupree who was played by Alec Baldwin. Him and Russell Brand's Lonny Bannett provided alot of great comedic parts. We see that Stacee is a tortured soul and has a bad boy reputation and I feel throughout the movie he is trying to redeem himself and make himself a better person. I think part of the reason he has such a bad boy image and personality is due to the way his management wants him to present himself. His manager Paul Gil was played by the awesome Paul Giamatti. He really played a perfect douchebag throughout the movie. Also, going back to Stacee Jaxx, one of his bodyguards was played by Kevin Nash, who some may know as a former professional wrestler in WWE, WCW, and TNA. What Justin and I found funny was that Stacee reminded us of Shawn Michaels from the 90s. He even had the same cowboy hat he would wear in his later run. Each storyline becomes intertwined as the love story spills over into the influence of Stacee Jaxx flowing into the anti-rock and roll music movement as well as the dangers of rock and roll, along with a couple of jabs at modern day society politically and socially. You can definitely see them. Most of the covers were very good. I LOVED when Patricia busts out Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar. I also really liked Stacee's Pour Some Sugar On Me-very well done. The whole idea of the movie is truly Don't Stop Believing: Sherie and Drew keep having to endure obstacles like Drew having to be in a boy band and almost selling out by joining that douche Paul, or Sherie having to resort to dancing in a gentleman's club. She gets help from Mary J. Bliges's appropriately named character of Justice. She was very good as well in this and can still belt out the tunes. Stacee gets some influence from positive people that come into his life such as Malin Akerman's Constance that helps him to realize how to grow up but still be a rock star. Patricia realizes that she is fighting a cause that probably can't be won, but then realizes that she is a hypocrite because she was on the other side of the fence at one point. I thought Catherine Zeta-Jones was awesome in this. Actually, I felt everybody did what they had to do to make the parts entertaining and keep the audience interested. They certainly did that. Two more covers I really enjoyed were the We're Not Gonna Take It/We Built This City mash-up with the conservative traditions battling the changing youth of society-very well done. I love that message personally. Of course as I said the Don't Stop Believing message was the overall theme and all the characters put together a really solid finale (which I assume is just as cool to see in the play). I really enjoyed this because I took it for what it was, a movie based off of a play that is strictly a fun musical with larger than life characters and the changes they make throughout the movie. Very well done in my opinion!!! Justin enjoyed this as well. I give it a 4/5 for the creativity, amazing music, and fun performances.