Thursday, 21 June 2012

Thursday Santoro has landed

Hello, pleased to meet you, thanks for welcoming me into your world. Prepare to be polarised!

Review: Rock of Ages


My first blog will focus on the recently released rock epic Rock of Ages. Based on the hit Broadway musical, Rock of Ages follows two youngsters, Sherrie and Drew, on their quest to keep on rockin'. To be truthful, both the main characters are easily forgettable, its the supporting cast who make this movie so I am basically going to ignore them.

Right time for that polarisation of you lot. I am a big Russell Brand fan, there I have said it. I won't get all preachy about it but everyone is entitled to their opinion...I am merely here to draw the battle lines. Anyway Russell plays a Brummie, acknowledging that it was in fact Brummies that gave rock n roll to you rather than God. Yes, this meant a rather exagerated approach to our beloved slang but I can't fault the lad for trying, in my head it made up for all those films where the Yanks come and win the war for us. Russell Brand is very good at playing Russell Brand and continues superb turns in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get him to the Greek in bringing his unique brand to Hollywood.

It makes me sad that Alec Baldwin will forever be immortalised in puppet form as the head of FAG in Team America when he is in fact a very good actor. If you need proof I suggest you check out one of the best cameos ever to make it onto celluloid with his appearance in Glengarry Glen Ross. Anyway Alec plays the owner of the film's main stage, the Bourbon. The chemistry between Alec and Russell evolves in a rather unexpected way but provides the movie with its biggest laughs.

Now to Tom Cruise. I just don't get him. He is a believer of the faith of Scientology, I am officially a doubter of said faith (long story...maybe for a future blog) so straight away we are at loggerheads. Basically, Rock of Ages is not the type of film you would expect to find Tom Cruise but yet here he is, with his stupid face. However I must admit that by going out of his comfort zone, Tom aint half bad in this, playing rock sex god Stacee Jaxx. He isn't the first actor I probably would have put in this role but consider this blogger pleasantly surprised. Still a weirdo though, and he is rather short....and he is in my lounge!!!


The last person I want to talk about is Bryan Cranston who is tragically underused and miscast in this film. I am a big fan of the show Breaking Bad, a show I am going to convince you to watch in next week's blog, and in my eyes Bryan Cranston can do no wrong. Rock of Ages is yet another recent movie that Cranston pops up in and its good to see his star rising. Its just a shame he plays a square in this instead of getting to rock out!

Anyway all this matters not for the movie's true star, the soundtrack. My predecessor Thursday Hulse appears to have made it her mission in life to instill the virtues of Def Leppard et al onto me. Rock of Ages is the culmination in this intoxication and I must admit I bloody love it. Featuring songs from Journey, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Xtreme amongst others, this film definitely rocks.

Thursday Santoro’s verdict:

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