Rock of Ages

To describe ‘Rock of Ages’ I’m going to need to use various synonyms for cheesy, because that was the main thought going through my mind while I watched the film. The music rocks, there’s no doubt about that; everything else around it wasn’t good enough to classify this as a good musical. I unfortunately haven’t seen the Broadway musical this film is based on, but I’m not afraid to guarantee that it’s probably better than this film adaptation.  

The film is set in 1987 in Los Angeles where a small town girl, Sherrie (Julianne Hough) comes hoping to begin her singing career, shortly after arriving she ends up in the Bourbon Room, a famous rock club where she meets Drew (Diego Boneta). Drew begs the club’s owner, Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin) to give Sherri a waitressing job, thanks to Lonny (Russell Brand) Dennis’ right hand he decides to give the girl a chance. The Bourbon Room is at risk when religious groups led by the Major (Bryan Cranston) and his wife, Patricia Whitmore (Catherine Zeta-Jones) threaten to close it down, specially when rock god Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) shows up to perform with his group –Arsenal- one last time. With L.A. as a stage this group of people try to lead their lives surrounded by rock n roll from the likes of Def Leppard, Journey, Foreigner, etc.

It looked like most of the actors in this movie were just lip-synching, which whether that’s the case or not that made it hard to enjoy it as a musical. My favorite acts though were seeing Boneta on stage as well as Cruise; they rocked the house in and out of the screen. Their acting as well as everyone else’s was pretty questionable though. Cruise’s character is eccentric and entertaining with his overly macho jockstraps and tattoos, his rockstar act though might be right on, with his short attention span it was hard to follow or understand. I’m not sure if I was annoyed at Hough’s character or at herself, neither her voice nor her acting were convincing; sure she’s stunning, but that wasn’t enough. 

I would like to say that our young Mexican actor, Boneta, was fabulous, but except for a couple of good singing skits his acting was like seeing a puppy follow commands. Boneta is one of the main characters, so he had a glorious amount of screen time, despite of that he didn’t shine except for his first singing opening number (clip below) as well as his closing number. He definitely has potential to carry over his heartthrob skills from his Rebelde days; there is some chemistry between Hough and him, but it wasn’t exploded to the point of making believable their fairytale story.  

Baldwin and Brand presented some funny scenes, but their main act is actually offensive. The movie began dragging after the first act, perhaps because of the various montages; I was ready for it to finish around the first hour (It’s two hours). The corniness of the film just kept escalating until it reached a level of ridiculous.

I can honestly say I really enjoy musicals and was disappointed by the result of this star-studded film. Even though director Adam Shankman also made ‘Hairspray’, another Broadway hit musical into a film filled with Hollywood A-listers and was well received he didn’t achieve the same with this one. With that said I suggest you save your pennies and go see the musical on Broadway, I’m sure you will be satisfied and entertained then.

‘Taken 2’ kicks butt at the box office

‘Taken 2’ opened at number one with $50 million dollars, it’s the third best opening for a film in the month of October. The film has received plenty of negative reviews, but it seems like no matter what people wanted to see what the second part had to offer. The film earned past its budget and more than the original.

‘Hotel Transylvania’ dropped to number two with $26.3 million dollars. This is still a good figure for Sony, which apparently has no problem holding the throne in kids’ movies right now, because ‘Frankenweenie’ didn’t even become a threat.

The ‘Glee’ like movie ‘Pitch Perfect’ got to the third spot with $14.7 million dollars. It already had gotten an impressive spot in the box office with the limited release the week before, so certainly many were curious to see what this melodic comedy that has received such good ratings was about.  

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1. Taken 2 – $50 mil

2. Hotel Transylvania – $26.3 mil

3. Pitch Perfect – $14.7 mil

4. Looper – $12.2 mil

5. Frankenweenie – $11.5 mil

6. End of Watch – $4 mil

7. Trouble With the Curve -$3.9 mil

8. House at the End of the Street – $3.9 mil

9. The Master – $1.8 mil

10. Finding Nemo 3D – $1.6 mil

‘Hotel Transylvania’ tops the box office

The Adam Sandler/Selena Gomez family film ‘Hotel Transylvania’ premiered at number one with $43 million dollars. The film about Dracula and his 118-year-old daughter, which takes place in a resort for monsters, certainly had a lot of pull at the box office and brought in great numbers for Sony.

One of the best sci-fi thrillers of the year ‘Looper’ came in at number two with $21.2 million dollars. This mind-twisting storyline represented by class A actors such as Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, might jump to number one with some help from those that have seen it.

Last week’s number one ‘End of Watch’ falls to the third spot with $8 million dollars. It’s surprising that this cop thriller has fallen so quickly from the top given all the high praise it has received, however it has been able to earn past its’ production cost.   

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1. Hotel Transylvania – $43 mil

2. Looper – $21.2 mil

3. End of Watch – $8 mil

4. Trouble with the Curve – $7.5 mil

5. House at the End of the Street – $7.2 mil

6. Pitch Perfect – $5.2 mil

7. Finding Nemo 3D – $4.1 mil

8. Resident Evil: Retribution -$3 mil

9. The Master – $2.7 mil

10. Wont Back Down -$2.7 mil

Looper (Movie Review)

I was completely blown away by ‘Looper’ although time travel is not an original concept the way it’s used here it’s jaw droppingly good, creative and entertaining. There’s nothing better than a good sci-fi action thriller that twists your mind without losing you, while keeping you completely alert and at the edge of your seat. There’s no doubt that this is one of the best movies I’ve seen all year, it has all the elements for a blockbuster starting with a mind-blowing storyline that even has a moral to it. 

In 2044 Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works as a “looper” for a futuristic mob that exist 30 years into the future and when they want to get rid of someone they send them into Joe’s present, where he shoots them and gets rid of the bodies. He follows the same work/play routine everyday until he learns the mob has started to close its loops and Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) shows up at the end of his gun and decides to run away from his killer while changing future events.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has already shown what a quality actor he is and despite the hiccup he had with ‘Premium Rush’, he completely redeems himself once more here. His character was made to look like a younger version of Willis, which is a bit disturbing, but despite his freaky transformation it’s easy to see how much effort he’s put into it as he even speaks in the same tone Willis does while still being himself. He gives an amazing performance here over and over again; his character has so many layers that he surprises us countless times. 

Willis doesn’t stay far behind, he also delivers and even goes ‘Die Hard’ at some point in the movie; a moment that everyone will enjoy without a doubt. He’s able to give us some of the most touching, violent and action packed moments in the film. The main lady of the film, Emily Blunt has shown how easily she can jump from genre to genre, because that’s how good she is. Her character here has a strong shell that’s hard to penetrate and she’s able to stand her ground providing a very important second layer to the story.

Everyone in the film just gives one hundred percent no matter how long their screen time is. Paul Dano’s character shows a more human side to the story, which is needed. Abe (Jeff Daniels) is one of the evil bosses and his appearance goes perfectly well with his actions and lines. I won’t say much about Cid (Pierce Gagnon) who almost steals the movie this kid is unbelievably good!

You will leave the movie theater talking and thinking about this movie, which is not completely perfect; when you begin to analyze it you will find holes in the story, some unanswered questions and some discrepancies. There is a slow part in the middle that if it would have been any longer it could have damaged some of the movie. The second part of the film almost seems like an entirely different movie and this is one of the things I enjoyed the most as we are shown the premise of the movie is bigger than itself.    

This movie has it all and some: drama, comedy, action, sci-fi and an astounding storyline that will leave you completely dumbfounded. This is certainly a movie you have to go see this fall, because these experiences are hard to come by nowadays as very few movies are able to reach and capture what director and writer Rian Johnson created here.