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.

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.