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.

Arthur

First Hit: Different from the original film with Dudley Moore, but this was very entertaining and had out-loud laughs.

The Moore Minnelli film was good but this one was actually better in comedic charm.

Russell Brand plays Arthur in this film as a heavy drinking funny guy who would marry someone he doesn’t love, just to keep his inheritance. Hobson, his nanny (played by Helen Mirren) raised Arthur after his father dies.

His mother Vivienne (played by Geraldine James) has no real hand in Arthur’s upbringing and is ineffective in communicating and loving Arthur. To keep the family business in the hands of someone capable, Vivienne decides Arthur must marry Susan (played by Jennifer Garner) who is very driven, smart, but only looking for power and validity because her father Burt Johnson (played by Nick Nolte) is a self-made builder.

I loved the relationship between Hobson and Arthur because the greatness of Mirren’s acting kept the film on even keel while letting Brand have some fun with the role. Arthur meets up Naomi (played by Greta Gerwig) whom he falls in love with. Naomi gives illegal tours of New York and writes children stories. She and Arthur have a great connection and it shows on the film.

As Arthur found his strength to grow-up, he takes charge of his life.

Brand is funny and although his drunken behavior wasn’t very good, his witticisms, great comic timing, and facial expressions really made this film work in juxtaposition to Mirren’s smart refined behavior. Mirren was great in this role and she really grounded this picture in a wonderful way. James was strong as the mother who was unwilling to be a mother. Garner was good as the power hungry girl who would live in a loveless marriage just for power. Nolte was gravelly as always. Gerwig is great as the love interest and person by whom Arthur discovers himself. Peter Baynham wrote a funny screenplay from a Steve Gordon story. Jason Winer directed this film with a lightheartedness that was perfect.

Overall: This film was funny enough to be worthwhile of an audience.

Get Him to the Greek

First Hit: There are moments that this film is really funny and there are times it felt sophomoric and I wanted the scene to move on.

Russell Brand plays Aldous Snow an aging rock star that was a wild child singer who made lots of money making rock albums then made a horribly conceived album. He decided to get clean of drugs but that didn't help his marriage or his career so he starts drinking and doing drugs again.

It is here we pick up the story because Sergio Roma (played by Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs) is a record label producer who looking for something big to create more income so that he can provide Nike Air Jordans for his six kids.

His minions have some stupid ideas but when he calls on Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), Aaron thinks that a 10th anniversary concert at the Greek Theater in LA with Aldous Snow will be a huge hit. He explains how it will be great and generate a lot of money by doing a simulcast with Facebook, Twitter and a "pay for view" cable channel.

Roma agrees and sends Green to fetch Snow and bring him back for the concert. The film has enough moments of well represented typical rock star lifestyle and its juxtaposition to a regular person’s life. There is the; I’ll do what I want when I want to do it thing.

There is the focus on “banging” as many girls as I can thing. And there is the I’ll do what it takes to get high to not feel what my life is really about stuff thing. To Green, at first it is fun but he sees the hurt and shallowness in it Snow and wonders if this is the life for him.

What detracted from the film are the sophomoric bents like the often seen Green vomiting because he can’t hold his liquor scenes.

Brand is great as Snow and held his own as a Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, and Lars Ulrich version of a rock star. Hill is not an actor I find very entertaining as he appears to play the same sort of guy most of the time. He’s a semi thoughtful, unimaginative guy who longs to have a normal life and is a bit slow on the uptake. He uses his size to create sympathy and humor but there is little coming from his brain and heart. The chemistry between him and Daphne Binks (played by Elizabeth Moss) is virtually non-existent. Combs is funny and great as the music record producer. I love the dialogue about mind fucking. Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel wrote this and there are moments of truly funny, laugh out loud, scenes and dialogue which director Stoller used really well.

Overall: Where I enjoyed watching Hangover a second time with my girlfriend, this film doesn’t have the ability to be funny or interesting the second time around because the laughs are one shot and some of the stuff gets old quick.