Rock of Ages: O Filme

I'm 60, I want to have some fun, and this movie was fun. It put me right in the Bourbon Room audience, blithely wearing the tasteless and bizarre outfits that I couldn't wear because I was setting a standard of decorum for my kids in those days, and embarrassing them was anathema. It features a period of Rock (1987) when the genre was flanked by inane crap "music" aimed at the 13-16 year olds I was raising. Fortunately they didn't bite. This movie features the memorable music of the decade that my grandson is now still honoring. This music and that of the late 60's and early 70's helped me as a beleaguered working mom "Rock" through a day of commutes, housework, and culture shock. I don't "get " the focus on plot and antics that some of the more "serious" reviewers are stroking themselves with. I paid $8.00 and didn't fancy myself being at a rock concert or a stage play, but I got all of that feel and more. I would have paid $30 just to see Baldwin grunged, and desperate but hopeful. Cruise's character looked shaky at first. But as usual, in trademark style, he starts off blasé and then explodes into passion and surprise. Paul Giamatti and Zeta-Jones were fun to despise in their hypocrisy. Hough and Boneta were fresh, talented and beautiful. Mary J. Blige (Justice Charlier) was superb, and although I never "got" Russell Brand before, he was the most fun of all. Leave your pretense at home. PLOT!? Yada Yada. If you are pushin' or draggin' 60, go pig out on some Italian and party with "Rock of Ages".

Rock Of Ages is a great musical that's fun and gleefully ridiculous with an incredible cast who give good performances, especially Tom Cruise who is easily the standout. The great songs and solid pacing help make up for the predictable plot.

There's a lot to love and enjoy about Rock of Ages. Like most musicals, it has a great buzz and electric feel to it. You can't help but finish this film with a big smile on your face and its a very feel good comfort experience.

The production value was also great, from the sets to the costumes, everything felt realistic and just looked cool.

Then there's the key part of any musical, the songs. You can't fault the selection, there were numerous classics which just kept on coming. Maybe a little too much.

I couldn't help but feel like there were just too many songs. There wasn't any time to take a breather and the story wasn't allowed to develop outside of the music. As a result I couldn't find myself connecting to any of the characters and I feel like there was a lot of missed opportunity to develop the plot and characters because of the amount of songs.

This wasn't the only problem with the plot... it was all over place. Was this film about Sherry, Drew, Stacee Jaxx, Patricia, Lonnie and Dennis? Who knows. There was too much sharing of the spotlight, and the constant changing of perspectives and protagonists started to give me whiplash. I think things would have benefitted from having a more obvious and clear protagonist to root for and follow, which would have given the film more drive and direction.

I also had mixed feeling about the characters. What Russell Brand was doing with his sporadic Brummie accent I'll never know. He's never been a great actor, and the accent just made everything so much worse. The two "main" characters of Sherrie and Drew were also pretty bland and I wasn't that fussed about them. Tom Cruise on the other hand, what a surprise. Easily the best thing about this film. He threw himself into this role and it massively paid off. It's worth watching for him alone.

Finally, as much as I liked the selection of songs, the singing wasn't always on point and was quite obviously auto tuned to a heavy extent for some of them. I think musical films need to start finding a better balance between casting big names to get bums on seats, but also casting actors who can sing.

Rock of Ages is definitely fun, and any musical lover will find lots to enjoy here. I did however find it to be quite messy and overcrowded with one dimensional characters and too many songs. Lots of fun, but not a great film.

Can you ring my plan to watch every Tom Cruise movie in order, I come to Rock Of Ages (2012)

Plot In A Paragraph: A small town girl and a city boy meet on the Sunset Strip, while pursuing their Hollywood dreams.q

Tom Cruise steals this movie, like with Tropic Thunder, he is not the lead, but he has the best part and he seems to be having a blast.

I love rock music, especially the rock music played here, and I love musicals, some of my favourite movies are musicals, but I don't love this one. My problem with the movie cosmos down to the two leads, Diego Boneta and Julianne Hough!! They're both gorgeous, OK singers and very, so very bland.

Catherine Zeta Jones, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand and Bryan Cranston are all fun, but the movie is also plagued by predictability. Of course the 2 leads fall in love. Of course they have heartfelt conversations while standing behind the "Hollywood" sign. Of course they break up because of a misunderstanding. Of course they're back together at the end. Some parts are fun, but overall it's a miss for me!!

Rock Of Ages grossed $38 million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 84th highest grossing movie of 2012.

Yes it's true. People panned this movie. But I like a movie to entertain me. I'm totally entertained! The music is good and creative and as a child of the 80's, it's just fun!!! It's not going to be critically acclaimed but it's good fun!!