ROCK ON!!!

It is suffice to say that all my friends pretty much know that am sooooo into  MUSICALS....   I must have even stated it here, in a few blogs about Theatre and Movie Musicals....   so when the movie, from the 2006 Broadway Musical, ROCK OF AGES came out - pretty much everyone assumes that I will be there opening night...  but I was not... even  with the idea of seeing Tom Cruise doing his take on AXEL ROSE (writhing around stage half naked!)  being  soooo enticing  - not forgetting to mention Academy Award Winner Catherina Zeta Jones back in a Musical movie)...  somehow, I was afraid it would be too ROCK for me...as in Heavy Metal Rock... a GENRE of Music I never really got into....  Boy was I wrong!!!

I actually knew almost all the songs used for the film - and the storyline was nicely held together by the song choices....  it all worked for me - even found myself singing along to a few of the numbers....   sorry moviegoers...  :) - proving a point that a MUSICAL PERSON can actually appreciate all GENRE as long as they are GOOD MUSIC!!!  Stand out songs of course are "More Than Words" by Extreme and "Waiting For a Girl Like You" by Foreigner - but there are other Great contributions too from Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, Journey, REO Speedwagon, etc...

 

 

The movie itself was by the numbers - simple, straightforward - and even the surprise regarding Catherine Zeta Jones' character close to the end was predictable....  still, all is forgiven as all the actors in the movie were just great...  to a point that you can actually feel them enjoying playing their characters - a bit exxagerated but just so that it is not too out of the place....  The young leads, Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta are both capable, and had such a nice chemistry that you root for their love to overcome all the excess of the Rock and Roll world/scene in the 80's Los Angeles....

 

The small town girl and the big city boy's worlds collide.

 

 Catherine, if were given a bit more to do, could easily walk away with another Oscar.....  Paul Giamatti is one wickedly delisciou A**hole of a manager....   the tandem of Alec Baldwin and Russel Brandt were soooo unexpectedly hilarious (the whole movie house was in such roaring laughter with their revelation for each other!)....   and  Tom Cruise...  well, what can one say?  Take away all his private personas - this guy is one hell of an actor....  he can actually do it all - believably!  Special Mention goes out to Miss Mary J Blighe - truly one DIVA of a performer....  all eyes on her when she is onscreen belting out her musical numbers...  what a voice!!!

 

I would actually reccomend this film.... one surprisingly fun and entertaining musical of a movie....  just the right kind of film you want to see on a rainy Friday night...  well, any night for that matter, really... .   :) 

Of course this W Magazine cover was enough to interest anyone into seeing the film - but TRUST me - this is quite TRUE...   plus so much more!!!