Movie #15 - Rock of Ages

It's much too late for this review - this is no longer showing.  Sorry!  I'm sure it'll be out on DVD in a month though.  Rock of Ages is the movie verison of the very successful stage show based around the bourbon soaked rock venues on LA's Sunset Strip in the 80s.

If you saw the stage musical, you will be wondering whether you will like the movie.  I went with the same group of friends who went to the musical version with me last year.  We all loved the musical, but the movie got mixed reviews.  B & D thought it was okay, but D thought the whole Tom Cruise bit was unnecessary and she hated the Cruise-meister in it.  E just hated the whole movie.  I loved it.  So that isn't helping you is it?

I think the reason I liked the movie is because it was basically my 'Big Hair Rox' double CD of 80s glam hair metal and power ballads, brought to life.  How could I not love it?  The only thing that could've made it better would have been a singalong version.  So many good songs, by Poison, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, Journey, etc etc.  The only inexplicable omission is 'Oh Sherrie' by Steve Perry - the lead character's name is Sherrie for a reason you know!  I kept waiting...and waiting... to no avail.....

Oh, there was a storyline?  Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back.  Yep, cliche city but not the sole focus.  In fact, the Drew and Sherrie love story is sidelined even more in the movie than in the musical.  Thank goodness they dispensed with the sub-plot about the German father and son looking to open a chocolate shop on the Strip.  Sensibly the movie's writers and director realised you can't have an interesting movie if you follow the musical too closely, and they chose to expand in the area of exploring the Stacee Jaxx character.

Stacee Jaxx is a very small part of the musical, being the rock star who could revive the fortunes of Dennis Dupree's Bourbon Room venue which is sinking under the weight of poor accounting, crooked politicians wanting to clean up the Strip, helped by a protest by a Christian women's group.  In the movie,the emptiness of Stacee Jaxx's decadent lifestyle and rock stardom are explored in detail.  It's obviously a take on Axl Rose.  This made the movie more interesting in my view, and I totally bought Tom Cruise as a jaded rock star.  He looked the part, he acted the part and his singing wasn't awful (not great but adequate).  He has a great scene emerging from underneath a massive pile of bottles, drugs, bedclothes and naked groupies!

The actors playing Drew (Diego Boneta - apparently the Justin Bieber of Mexico) and Sherrie (Julianne Hough from the Footloose remake) are pretty bland, but the support cast are great besides Cruise.  Malin Akerman (fanboy alert - Silk Spectre 2 in Watchmen) is great, as is Paul Giamatti as Stacee Jaxx's sleazy manager, Catherine Zeta Jones as the protest leader with a secret, and Alec Baldwin as the rock dog club owner.

Yep, it's total throw away territory but an absolute classic moment of this movie that will always stay with me now is the duet in the movie to "Can't Fight this Feeling Any More" (one of the most awesome cheesy ballads ever) by Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand.  I can't reveal too much but let's just say you'll never think of anything else when you hear this song on the radio.

Overall, I rated this movie 3 out of 5 stars.  Whether you enjoy it or not will depend on how much you like the music - there is really not a lot of point unless the following hold a special place in your heart or past:

• lycra leggings (boy or girl)
• big, hairsprayed hair (boy or girl)
• falsetto vocals
• leg warmers
• stretchy belts
• leopard print anything
• power ballads with lighter waving

If you looked fondly over the above list, the movie is worth a watch, preferably on video to stay on theme.

Movie # 18 - The Dark Knight Rises

Note - this review contains spoilers of the previous movie in this trilogy, The Dark Knight, so don't read if you haven't seen that.

The moment we've been waiting a long time for had finally arrived.  The excitement of going to see The Dark Knight Rises, which had received almost universally good reviews, was made even better by watching The Dark Knight just before we went.  The Dark Knight is still so good and the performance by Heath Ledger is still so out of this world amazing as Batman's ultimate nemesis, The Joker.  With The Joker suppressed and presumably in jail or an asylum (it is not mentioned at all out of respect to Heath), Two Face dead at the end of The Dark Knight and Batman going into exile and taking the rap for Harvey Dent's death, how could they continue and top the series?  We were soon to find out that it would be by going big - extremely big.

Everything in The Dark Knight Rises is big - the scope, the villain, the toys, the performances.  It opens 8 years after the Dark Knight, with Bruce Wayne as a recluse in his home, grieving over Rachel's death, retired from society, his company and his charity work.  Batman is a wanted fugitive who hasn't been seen in years, the mafia have been shut down, the streets are clean and everyone is happy.  Everyone except a guy called Bane.  Bane has been building a secret army to help him carry out his plot to destroy Gotham City, which he says as a corrupt and divided city that needs to be brought back into balance.  And there is nobody to stop him.  Or so he thinks.....

As Batman decides to come out of retirement to fight this new threat to his city, he is aided or blocked by friends and enemies both old and new.  Commissioner Gordon, loyal Alfred and Lucius Fox all have parts to play, with the main newcomers being Anne Hathaway as Catwoman (never explicitly named as such though) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as police offer Blake promoted to detective and right-hand man to Commissioner Gordon.  We also have Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, a possible love interest to get Bruce Wayne out of his shell and member of the Wayne Enterprises Board.  Bane, the new villain, is simply massive in both physique and his ambition to cause chaos.  He is also another very theatrical baddie, with his strange mask and creepy manner of speaking.  Kudos for Tom Hardy (Inception) for his commitment to the role.

I found the movie to be really entertaining all the way through.  There are several large set-pieces that are quite astonishing in the scope and scale of moviemaking on show and mainly free of obvious CGI (the football stadium was packed with real extras, in the melee between cops and baddies Christian Bale said he accidentally punched an extra because it was such a chaotic fight scene).   There are a lot of parts that aren't action sequences, but I enjoyed these as well.  Catwoman was a nice frothy distraction in her interactions with both Bruce Wayne and Batman, essentially providing some much needed comic relief.   The dialogue between the other main players was mainly a continuation of the theme around 'what makes a hero' and the nature of villainy, which I find fascinating and ever more relevant as society appears to be crumbling around us.  The baddies' cause in this case is obviously related to the recent "Occupy" movement, which makes it the most grounded in reality movie in any Batman film to date.

What I would say is that this isn't the perfect movie that a lot of people are saying it is.  There are flaws - it's really, really long and you just feel some of it could have been skipped or covered a bit quicker.  The cops are made to look like bumbling idiots, but this is something I noticed on re-watching The Dark Knight as well - why didn't they just go on the wrong side of the road instead of down the tunnel, why didn't they just shoot Batman when they had the chance etc?  And if you thought the last movie spent too much time in the daylight, you're gonna hate this movie.  Even more of the action occurs in daylight, and Gotham City just looks like New York City (obviously the location, but previous films have had much more of a fantastical feeling to the city).  Coming out of the shadows just kind of spoils Batman's mystique if you ask me.  And I kept getting distracted by thoughts of "hey we saw that when we were in New York".

The climactic battle is epic, entertaining and emotional and there was a nice surprise that we didn't see coming.  With Batman's armoury falling into the hands of Bane and his army of believers and crooks, you get a good chance to see what all those powerful toys can really do when they're used for evil as well as good.  So fun (especially the Batpod, I love it!).  The film is a completely fitting finale for what has been a very ambitious undertaking to "reboot" Batman into a dark and gritty drama.  Reboot is usually a dirty word but I think everyone would agree this one has been very welcome, with a fantastic character arc for Christian Bale, excellent supporting cast and villains in each one, and just some very fine movie making in general.  It's probably left a little too open for the final episode in a trilogy, but I'm pretty happy with this as an ending.  A very strong movie, dark, fun, thought provoking. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Movie #16 - Ted

Yes, for once I'm posting a movie review before it comes out, so you can be fully informed and not have to try to rush out while it's on its last legs.  Last night we attended a free preview of Ted, in a Vmax cinema no less.  First time in Vmax, it was quite nice with the comfy leather seats and extra leg room.  The blindingly bright lights on the seat number on the drink-holder between the seats was quite annoying though. Don't think I'll pay extra for this annoyance.  Anyhoo....

Ted.  A teddy bear that magically comes to life to save little John Bennett (Marky Mark Wahlberg) from a lifetime of having no friends.  Teddy moves from family friend to celebrity to disgraced celebrity to a nobody after his 15 minutes are up, but he remains best friends forever with John.  Now 35, John's life is based around hanging out with Ted, working in an average job and trying to keep his girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) just happy enough not to leave.  The catch is that when Ted and John are hanging out, it involves a lot of smoking pot, swearing and watching bad TV including Flash Gordon.

You can't have avoided seeing the ads for this, so the shock factor is probably gone a little and some of the funniest bits are in the trailer.  But there's still plenty to laugh at and make an "oh my god" face over, because it is weird to hear this naughty language coming from such a cute little teddy bear.  But this not just a cuter version of Wilfred (the great TV show where only one guy can see his neightbour's dog talking to him). There is a subplot in the movie that is not even shown in the trailer, which I really enjoyed, and gave the movie a point of difference just when it looked like being a typical "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy loses best friend, boy has to win them both back" rom-com plotline.  This revolves around some fans of Ted and the efforts they go to to make friends with him.

This is Seth McFarlane's movie - he wrote, directed and "stars" as Ted (somehow he wore a motion-capture suit to portray the bear, but it doesn't really show if you ask me, it could have just been a very realistic CGI character).  He's that guy who created Family Guy and American Dad.  And his voice for this movie is very similar to Brian the dog's voice in Family Guy, just with a Boston accent.  But once you get over that and some of the slightly lame "magical" parts of this fairytale, the fact that the humour is very similar to Family Guy (pop culture references, general weirdness, weird cameos) makes it worthwhile seeing.  And it has THE best fight between a man and a teddy bear that I've ever seen. Which totally offsets the lame "animated show" music that is sprinkled through the movie - it really could do with a soundtrack makeover. Which is made up for by the awesome payouts on celebrities I hate and the Flash Gordon references and tribute scene.

So the movie has pluses and minuses, but overall I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5.  There are some really really funny moments but you just feel like there could have been a few more.

Movie #14 - Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods is a little movie with a big pedigree that nearly slipped by Australia altogether.  Big pedigree because the idea and script came from the man Joss Whedon (admired by nerds for Firefly, Buffy , Angel, Serenity and now the well done The Avengers movie) and Drew Goddard (admired by nerds for being a co-writer on Lost, Angel, Buffy and Cloverfield), Goddard directs and it stars currently very hot Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth (Thor, The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman).   Due for straight to DVD oblivion for some reason, the bloggers and fans took to the internet and protested and hence we have a limited season screening only at Palace Barracks in Brisbane.  Check websites for options in other locations.  I also recommend you book ahead if you plan on seeing it - our first attempt on the first Saturday night was sold out and the session on the Tuesday we attended also sold out but I'd learned and booked tickets online earlier in the day.

Cabin in the Woods is not a movie I can tell you much about.  The plot is simple - five teens head to one of their relatives' cabin in the woods for a fun weekend away.  Not long after they arrive, they discover nothing is as it seems with the cabin and they have to fight for their lives.  However, even that is not as it seems.  The reviews and publicity I've seen have possibly overrated this as having a "massive twist ending" or "turning every horror movie cliche on it's head".  What happens in this movie is not a twist as such, as many clues are given even from the beginning of the movie.  It is fair to say though that although the first 20 minutes feels like your typical teens in danger slasher film, it ends up not being very conventional.  However I don't think it turns every horror movie cliche upside down either.  It's just a very smart idea that hasn't really been done before.

The teens in question are mostly unknown other than the aforementioned Chris Hemsworth, which does kind of help them to sink into their stereotype characters - the jock, the slutty chick, the good girl, the brain and the joker.  What happens to these college kids is very interesting though and makes you want them to survive despite the eye rolling cliche-ness of it all at first. 

I'm not going to say anymore other than that while it is not a scary horror movie, but it is a really good gory horror movie and it will definitely make you think about 'what would I do if i was in that situation?'.  There is one particular scene in the movie that is a real standout and, for me, probably one of the best scenes in any movie I've seen in the last few years. Ever since I saw this movie I've had this song in my head and that can only be a good thing.  Highly recommended for gore hounds with patience.....

Keep comin' back

Howdy folks, long time no post!  I apologise for the lack of posts recently, but that is what happens when you work in fnance and the month of June rolls around.  The hours at work get longer and the movie viewing opportunities are limited when downtime with friends and family is short and precious.  I have still found some time to fit in some movies though, I just haven't had time to write about it and share it with y'all.  I am glad to know that some people have actually been checking for updates and been disappointed that there weren't any - it has motivated me to make time for this again.

Please keep coming back and looking for updates.  I plan to post a review about 'Rock of Ages' (the movie), as well as some DVD reviews on '30 Minutes or Less', 'Young Adult' and 'Cedar Rapids'.  These are all coming as soon as I have time.  In the meantime, please enjoy my rave about 'Cabin in the Woods' that will appear in about half an hour.  And in case you are in the video store now, those DVD reviews will essentially be "great, fun, black comedy", "dark, bleak comedy" and "bit weird, neither liked nor disliked" respectively.