This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Simply A Masterpiece

Best movie ever!

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Every now and then you come upon a movie that just makes you want to get up and dance, and for me, Rock of Ages is just that!Based on the live stage production with the same name, Rock of Ages follows a relatively simple plot; it's the 1980s, a small town girl goes to LA in hopes of making it big, she finds there's just more to it than that. She meets a beau, and the rest? Well, you'll have to watch it to find out. Along with a catchy soundtrack, the cast is great; there's Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin as support, along with the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Malin Akerman. This is a movie I pop into the DVD player at least twice a year and just feel so good after seeing!

I started watching this movie while thinking "A not-so-good but very enjoyable movie about 80's hair metal? Count me in!" I love those kind of movies and I love 80s music. So I thought I was in for a treat. But when Julianne Hough inexplicably started singing on a bus with the whole bus joining in within the first few minutes, I decided that I was not. However, I know we can all make mistakes and gave the movie a try. But things got even tackier after that. Maybe I just couldn't stand Julianne Hough with her small town-girl-moves-to-big-city character, maybe it was all the clichés you could possibly think of, forced into 15 minutes of film. That made me change my mind though. "Perhaps the filmmakers meant this one as a parody?" I thought to myself. You know, just like 'Not Another Teen Movie' and all (because to be honest, I sort of enjoyed that movie). But not even that mindset made it work. The jokes were just not funny, it was too try-hard with its music references, the characters were tacky and the story was ridiculous. Now I know these kind of musicals tend to be a little over the top, but I don't mind as long as the actors have the charm to pull it off. I mean Mamma Mia! was just cute that way, who doesn't love seeing Meryl Streep pouring her heart out in an ABBA song? But it didn't work for this movie. I tried so hard to love it though. There were some scenes that I liked. I even sort of liked that character Patricia Whitmore - until she broke out in a rendition of Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot along with her fellow Christian house moms. What? I think the only thing I really liked about this movie was Bryan Cranston. I kept telling myself to give it a try, to keep watching because it would probably get better, that I hadn't even seen much of Tom Cruise. But when Diego Boneta broke out in an acoustic version of Don't Stop Believin with one of the corniest jokes imaginable to follow, I decided to love myself and stopped watching. 4/10, because I hated it as much as I hated Moulin Rouge (2001).

Rock of Ages is one of the big musical bombs, to the point where Motley Crue wouldn't even let their music be used for it, but is it really as bad as everyone says it is? Well, let's look at the bad parts of this movie. The characters are clichéd, the storyline is predictable, the pacing is slow, and there are numerous unresolved subplots. But if you look past all that, I found it to be actually a lot of fun. I think most of that is owed to its great soundtrack, where every singer in the movie sings some surprisingly impressive renditions of '80s classics. Also, Tom Cruise seems to be having a lot of fun with his performance. It's a guilty pleasure to say the least. Or most. Take whatever you want from that.

What happens when you get a bunch of actors, dress them in silly costumes or wigs and get them to sing some of the best rock tracks of the 70's and 80's? You get Rock of Ages. And with it all the cheesiness and over the top nature of a jukebox film.Its story follows just about every cliché that you can think of. Our out of town girl Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) comes to Hollywood looking to become a rock-star. She meets and falls in love with Drew Boley (Diego Boneta) who has the same aspirations of rock and roll. We watch them try to get into the rock and roll scene which is going through difficult times due to fighting off a politician doing a slander campaign to boost his support and the corporations that are trying to turn rock groups into boy rapping groups.For the most part the cast seem to be up for getting into the spirit of the film and embracing their over the top characters, all of whom have their funny moments. Catherine Zeta Jones does well as the campaign woman with a stick up her rear who believes that rock and roll spawns nothing but sex, hateful music and sex. Paul Giamatti is a manager who isn't in it for the music and only wants the money, willing to back-stab anyone for an easy dollar completely embracing his character as a douche-bag. The only actor who seems out of place is Alec Baldwin who gives the impression of a guy who's already signed a contract and can't pull out now. The only thing amusing with his character was his over the top wig. But the best cast member is Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx. He seemed to devote himself to Stacee as much as he would to any dramatic role playing an exaggerated Axl Rose style of rock-star. He has a big ego, but with good reason. Any time he enters a room all eyes turn to him and he seems to be able to get every woman he meets to swoon or fall under his spell at the mere sight of him. Then there's the songs themselves, which are very enjoyable. Unlike a film like Mama Mia (and its dreadful vocals from the likes of Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep), here the actors are great singers and do the songs justice. However once again Cruise is the standout demonstrating some real musical talent by not just acting like a rock-star, but singing like one too doing an amazing cover of Bon Jovi's 'Dead or Alive'. Whilst the songs are great, the film's weakness is the time between songs. Where we're left following what are really quite boring plot lines that we've seen before too many times like the main couple splitting because of a misunderstanding or a girl having to go to the life of a stripper because Hollywood is tough. Not only have we seen these too many times but they're done poorly here. Plus the film is too long and it would have probably helped if the film were cut by about 20 minutes since 2 hours is too long for a jukebox musical to keep audiences entertained. But as bad as the script is, the actors are entertaining and the songs are good. So long as you don't have any higher expectations then you shouldn't be let down.