ROCK OF AGES (2012 Adam Shankman)

[Johann]

Thanks for the thread, tabuno & Chris.
I avoid movies like this with a vengeance.
I like some musicals (Across the Universe, Phantom of the Paradise, Cry-Baby, Chicago) but this one sucks from miles away.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is a Beauty and she can sing- she does a good job from what I can tell.
The rest?
Hang your heads in utter shame.
How much were you paid to suck so HARD?

[Chris Knipp]

"Sucks from miles away" is a vivid way of putting it.

The top musicals on Broadway now are Evita, Jersey Boys, Once (made from a quite wonderful tiny Irish movie) and Newsies. Jersey Boys is about early Sixties pop, a true story. Watch the video here: http://www.jerseyboysinfo.com/. I'm sure you will have a good time at any of these shows, and they're sharp, tuneful, and well staged.

I also suspect that the stage version of Rock of Ages is fun. Not as good as those four by a long sight, but buoyed up by the glitzy absurdity of the big hair tight pants Eighties rock scene and, well, musical, because it's got music, including some tunes everybody remembers.

Seeing a live show with a live audience is a whole different experience, more suited to musical drama. A "movie musical" is an oxymoron. It's canned. And you expect it to have some semblance of verisimilitude, whereas on stage, you expect artificiality, tinsel, artifice. The transition is one that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

Adam Shankman has show-biz in his blood, and he has an understanding of staging and dance. Musically, I don't know? You have to wonder about somebody whose claim to fame seems to be a remake movie of a musical made from a movie (Hairspray). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. He is openly gay, and thanks for that, and he made "Prop 8, the Musical."

[Johann]

Rock of Ages was playing onstage in Toronto when I was there a few years ago and people were eating it up.
That music isn't rock to me. And it isn't "of the Ages" if that's what they are driving for.

Is this suppsed to be tongue-in-cheek? A joke?
Or are we supposed to take it as a serious tribute to the likes of REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar?
Alright...
I guess sales of Def Leppard albums were lagging, and Tom Cruise gave them an injection boost.
I like a lot of 80's rock, but NONE of the bands that are highlighted in Rock of Ages.

Why not do a COOL 80's music movie?
With a soundtrack like this:

1. "Mean Man" by W.A.S.P.
2. "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen
3. "Sharp Dressed Man" by ZZ Top
4. "Glory Days" by the Boss
5. "Show No Mercy" by Slayer

6. "Turn Me Loose" by Loverboy
7. "Take me with U" by Prince
8. "Whiplash" by Metallica
9. "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead
10. "Sea of Love" by the Honeydrippers

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the cooler list. Obviously there was better music going on in the Eighties, and the excuse for choosing this mostly very mediocre and sometimes wholly unrelated music must have been at least in part to be tongue in cheek. What was peculiar to the Eighties according to that IFC review I cited was a corporate takeover of many aspects of the music. But there were obviously good, much better, groups. Van Halen was in the same vein, but more fun and maybe musically better with the virtuoso guitar playing and the amusingly over-the-top lead singer.

Besides those you mention, how about Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna, The Police, The Pet Shop Boys, Huey Lewis & the News JC Mellencamp, Rod Stewart, The Smiths (mentioned by Isherwood in his raeview of the ROCK OF AGES Broadway musical), Spandau Ballet, Tina Turner, Tom Petty, U2, all groups or individuals who hit it big in the Eighties? They may not have been available for exploitation (or promotion). They are more significant. And the Rolling Stones were there or course and did Emotional Rescue and Start Me Up. They had hits.

I gather that the musical is definitely more tongue in cheek than the movie. In the movie subtlety and perspective got lost, leaving crudeness and self indulgence. That's my impression.

[Johann]

It's a valid question: How should this movie be taken?
Did you laugh at anything in it?
Is it just some flashy "takes" on these 80's chestnuts?

Michael Jackson's music will be mined for all kinds of projects in the future and so will Madonnas, I gather.
The Stones stand alone too. They only feel appropriate on a soundtrack to a Scorsese Classic or a Hunter S. Thompson vehicle.

The 80's had some great music, and you mentioned some great ones. I don't think Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would allow their music to be bastardized by a movie like Rock of Ages. How good can cover songs of classic originals be done?
You have to hit it out of the park like Julie Taymor did with Across the Universe.
You cast people who can do it justice, not Tom Cruise, who just looks ridiculous here.

[Chris Knipp]

Exactly. You've figured it out, without having to sit through it as I did. But tabuno enjoyed it. So people do.

[tabuno]

It's really tickles me that Chris has the integrity to comment on what he distinctly remembers and believes worthy of commentary considering his limited time to experience so many things, including the multitude of movies. He sets his boundaries and lets the rest go. Such a philosophy is bound to lead to living to an old age.