I'm no great fan of "Moulin Rouge," but of all the things I despised about that movie the one criticism I never quite "got" was that it had committed some kind of capitol offense by reconfiguring various pop/classic-rock anthems into cheeky Broadway-style ballads.
Well, if you DID feel violated those particular covers, it's safe to say you are not the audience for "Rock of Ages;" Adam "Hairspray" Shankman's movie version of the popular "jukebox musical" that repurposes a laundry-list of 1980s Cock Rock (re: "Hair Metal") into your basic young-lovers-with-dreams Broadway crowd-pleaser with an on-and-off "self aware" streak (our female lead's name is "Sherrie Christian," to give you an idea where this is shooting from.)
The thrust of the story involves the owners/patrons/etc of an infamous LA rock bar trying to stop an evil developer's plan to "clean up" the Sunset Strip by getting a soon-to-break-up super-band to play their farewell show at said bar; as experienced by a busboy and a waitress with dreams of rock/acting stardom of their own.
The big stunt-casting is Tom Cruise as the Axl Rose/Brett Michaels hybrid who fronts the main band; which is kind of inspired - comedy, particularly self-parody, is the only thing that seems to bring real energy out of Cruise anymore, and he's every bit the weirdly-ageless Reagan-era relic as the songs (particularly "Wanted Dead or Alive") he'll be singing.
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