Why does everyone seem to over-think these things? Just go, enjoy, take it for what it is, LOSE your

Is Rock of Ages timeless or just tired? Maybe both. With its stellar cast and equally new england clam chowder recipes from inns great performances, you'd think all would be well. You'd be wrong. Rock of Ages reminds me of a real rock opera, Tommy , which was made into a movie 37 years ago. Tommy was ground-breaking as a record, powerful on stage, but fell flat on screen. As with Tommy , the problem here may actually be a product of the treatment not the tunes.
First, the good: Tom Cruise fans, rejoice -- Cruise is terrific as Stacee Jaxx. Imagine combining the look of Brett Michaels (today) with the moves of Axl Rose (in his prime), new england clam chowder recipes from inns and that gives you a sense of the amazingly buff star's turn as a rock god. No question, Cruise owns the screen whenever he appears. Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand are brilliant together. Their comic timing is impeccable and must be revisited in a future buddy film. Catherine Zeta-Jones reminded me quickly why she won an Oscar for Chicago . Malin Akerman is surprisingly and disarmingly funny.
Now, the bad: Sadly, these great performances new england clam chowder recipes from inns couldn't allow me to shake the unsettling feeling that I was watching a big-budget episode of Glee ( Rock of Ages cost a reported $80 million to make). These terrific actors are merely supporting players to the admittedly talented but syrupy real stars of this movie. Julianne Hough is her ever-adorable self and that hurts when we are asked to suspend disbelief and imagine that she briefly becomes a stripper (I couldn't). Equally cute Diego Boneta, who also displays a pleasant voice (in an American Idol sort of way) is well cast as the boy Juilanne would most likely fall for on screen. But I was never immersed in the movie. I was always consciously observing it. Even moments of laugh-out-loud humor could not save the feeling I was watching a two-hour, highly sanitized, music video. For me, the film would play better on my iPad, listening with headphones, than viewing it on the big screen, where it just felt out of place.
How ironic that a film purportedly celebrating new england clam chowder recipes from inns rock prominently featured a song voted by the readers of Rolling Stone magazine (also highlighted in the movie) as the worst song of the 1980's. According to the magazine, "We Built This City" won "what could be the biggest blow out victory new england clam chowder recipes from inns in the history of the Rolling Stone's Readers Poll ." The song featured along with it in a "mash-up" was another rock anthem, "We're Not Gonna Take It." I heard the chorus of that song on my car radio on the way home from the theater as the new jingle for Extended Stay Hotels. How fitting. The film nearly put me to sleep. Plus, I make a sincere plea to all television and movie producers new england clam chowder recipes from inns -- enough already with "Don't Stop Believin'." If I hear that song one more time (in a show that is not a high school musical) I am going to scream. Also, many of the film's numerous musical numbers felt forced and over the top on screen. The exaggeration and campiness that works so well on the Broadway stage and even translated to film so well in director new england clam chowder recipes from inns Adam Shankman's own 2007 adaptation of Hairspray , sometimes devolved into parodies that seemed more at home in a skit on Saturday Night Live .
Perhaps I am too harsh in calling this a slick re-telling (or re-singing) of the tried-and-true "boy meets, girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" formula, set to the soundtrack of the '80s (think more Broadway and less Sunset Strip). new england clam chowder recipes from inns I can't fight the casting or the performances or even the material (cue rendition of "I Can't Fight This Feeling"). After all, the play on which the film is based has enjoyed international new england clam chowder recipes from inns success on stage. So maybe it's just me being too old to "get it." I admit, I am jaded when it comes to music. As an electric guitar player myself new england clam chowder recipes from inns for more than 40 years (brace for the final soundtrack reference), "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." I just didn't love Rock of Ages .
Is Rock of Ages timeless or just tired? Maybe both. With its stellar cast and equally great performances, you'd think all would be well. You'd be wrong. Rock of Ages reminds me of a real rock opera, T...
Is Rock of Ages timeless or just tired? Maybe both. With its stellar cast and equally great performances, you'd think all would be well. You'd be wrong. Rock of Ages reminds me of a real rock opera, T...
Russell new england clam chowder recipes from inns Brand premiered a new late-night series in the US last week. Brand X With Russell Brand, which airs on FX in the States, mixes Brand's stand-up with political satire and audience participation. I watched the premiere episode, and it stank.
There were some things in Rock of Ages I really liked, but there were also things that were annoying or just plain weird. But what's weirdest is that what I liked and what I didn't like were often the same things.
On June 12, the Friars Club and Friars Foundation honored Tom Cruise with the Entertainment Icon Award, which until now had only been given to three recipients: Douglas Fairbanks, Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra.
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I saw it Saturday, bought the soundtrack, it's still playing, AND went back to see it Sunday. So there!. Anyone who doesn't goose bump, laugh out loud.... a lot, and have an all over seat-dancing good time at this film is just plain dull. Cruise delivers the goods, as always. I don't give a hoot about his personal life. I don't know why, but the man owns the big screen.
Why does everyone seem to over-think these things? Just go, enjoy, take it for what it is, LOSE yourself for a minute. I wish I could tell those involved in the making of it how much I enjoyed myself. I went dancing out of the theater...
Thought this movie was shockingly a hoot! Truly, cheesy, laugh out loud fun! (If you can get through the first twenty minutes...which is eh). Worth it for Tom Cruise alone (who plays it straight) - and absolutely captures the stage presence of Brett Michaels with the attitude of Axl Rose. Cruise really nails it! It is like cotton candy... mindlessly entertaining! Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Mary J. Blige, new england clam chowder recipes from inns Paul Giamatti (chewing his green gum) and Catherine Zeta-Jones are excellent! This movie has that "wink wink" quality. The story is comic book sappy silly and would be a disaster if it were not for this four star cast. I did love it - because this was not "cinema" - just a fun escape new england clam chowder recipes from inns flick. You will be smiling all the way out of the theater.
new england clam chowder recipes from inns Definitely agree! Tom Cruise was the weak link in an otherwise brilliantly campy, roll on the floor laughing, wonderfully new england clam chowder recipes from inns sung rock musical. I just kept wishing Brett Michaels or even Axl Rose was in the role of Stacee Jaxx.
I made that pledge years ago when he was so nasty to Nicole Kidman in their divorce and have held to it, but made the exception on this one because of Catherine new england clam chowder recipes from inns Zeta-Jones, Julianne Hough and Alec Baldwin (and the songs from my 20's). I'm not sorry I went and might go again, but really wish Brett Michaels or even Axl Rose would have been cast instead new england clam chowder recipes from inns of Tom Cruise. The movie didn't need him and he's pretty awful in it! Everyone else is spectacular.
A rock musical that doesn't have one decent rock song in it is a disaster. These schlock songs were awful the first time around. Why would I want to waste time watching nostalgia about the WORST music of the 80s?
I thought Rock of Ages "Rocked"!!!! new england clam chowder recipes from inns The whole cast was wonderful. I can't believe all the people that can't just go to a movie and enjoy the talent and just be entertained. Imagine just lighthearted fun, no gore, murder, fbombs every minute, just fun.... Unbelieveable that they all can add singing to their list of talents....I can truly appreciate all the talent that was in that movie and I know I was thrilled to see it.
I'm sorry.... I loved it.... a few movies a year... but this movie had me humming and laughing and smiling and feeling goose bumps and over all I was impressed by the direction and all the actors (small parts to big) from the very beginning! This is a FUN MOVIE! ... and I never say this.... new england clam chowder recipes from inns "I want to see it again!".... why is everyone so jaded nowadays that in order to sound intelligent we need to be critical? Because that's what makes us so appealing? Tom Cruise was GREAT and Diego is an up and comer.... Julianne.... a new career.... and Alec... he can do anything.... Russell what fun you are... Malin... I think you are beginning a career where everyone is going to be talking about you, a gifted young actress... and everyone else! Great ensemble movie!
What a surprise! First there was the 70s nostalgiafest, the vomit-inducing "Mama Mia", then the 80s nostalgiafest, vomit-inducing and septum-destroying "Rock of Ages". Nostalgia is a recipe for disaster. You can enjoy the music of your youth all you want; but when you start worshipping it, and get to be unable to distinguish real classics (Bowie/Queen's Under Pressure, for example) from disposable junk (anything by a hair band), people can take advantage of you and feed you cr*p and make you pay as if it was caviar...
I will not be seeing this movie for two reasons. 1. Tom Cruise(not a fan of his work) is in it and 2. all the "bubble gum rock music". The author new england clam chowder recipes from inns mentions Joan Jett's iconic I Love Rock 'n' Roll, now that's rock music.