ROCK OF AGES: Nothin' But A Good Time, Indeed

Image from Wikipedia

I was lucky enough to catch an early screening of Rock of Ages, the big-screen adaptation of the incredibly fun stage musical. I saw the national tour of the musical several months ago in Boston, and had an absolute blast... and the movie more than lives up to the stage version.

I had planned on using the format I used for my last review again, but to be honest, I'd have nothing to say. This movie would be all good. All of it. Now, it's not good in the vein of The Kings Speech or anything like that, absolutely not (in the theater world, you'd say "it's no Shakespeare, but..."), but it is one hell of a good time. It's a perfect summer escape movie filled with hilarious turns and music everyone knows.

Go in expecting to laugh. Maybe even have a drink first (the stage version is well known for having waitress service... during the show). Don't take it too seriously. You'll have a blast.

And good luck restraining yourself from singing along.

Timm sees SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN

Image from Wikipedia

The Good
First off, the visuals in this flick are nothing short of wonderful. Some of the things depicted may be overly weird from time to time (the mirror man, the fairies emerging from birds, queen goo, etc), but it was all solid by my book. I also really enjoyed the overall plot of the movie, which took a pretty creative approach to the same old story we all know.

Performance-wise, the cast is decently strong. Chris Hemsworth basically plays a more naturalistic Thor here, which is more than fine by me. Charlize Theron is absolutely spectacular as the Evil Queen, to the point where you wish there was more Queen, less Snow White. Which brings me to the bad...

The Bad
If Kristen Stewart wasn't the chick from Twilight, she would not be in this movie, and the movie would be far, far better off. I do wonder what this could have been like if Snow White had any personality at all, or possessed any of the charisma the characters keep saying she does. Just a hunch, but I'd bet it'd make for a better film.

Another problem is the length of the movie. The movie is listed as running 2 hours and 7 minutes... and it felt every bit as long, if not longer. The pacing of the film is a bit plodding in spots, but if the Snow White scenes weren't so boring, I don't know if I'd feel the same way.

Verdict
This is a fine movie, except for the presence of Kristen Stewart (I hesitate to call it a performance). All the ingredients are here for a strong summer flick, but when the leading lady is as milquetoast as it comes, it's a tough hurdle to overcome. Still though, the movie isn't a waste of time, if only for Charlize Theron's masterful turn.

My much belated review of THE AVENGERS

Image from Wikipedia

I initially planned on writing this review immediately after I saw The Avengers, but I couldn't quite put my thoughts into words. I decided to give it a few days. I ended up seeing the movie again... and wound up with the same reaction. Now a number of days removed again, I'm forcing the words.

The Avengers is the finest movie yet from Marvel Studios, the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight (at least) and the best of all possible kickoffs to the summer 2012 movie season (The Hunger Games was too early, regardless of what I might have said previously).

Now I won't pretend that the film is perfect, because it's not. There were a few continuity things (why doesn't Thor want to go make sure Jane is safe for himself?  For a movie like this, the lows could be cellar-floor low, the highs could be astronomically high. Neither were. The team getting torn apart was nice, but never quite seemed as dire as it should have been. The final battle (while extremely entertaining) never really felt out of hand for the team of superheroes, making the outcome not as grand as it could have. But so what? I never felt cheated from these shortfalls. In fact, I was thrilled.

The strength of the movie are the characters. And to me, the strength of the Marvel movies leading up to this was that they were largely character driven; I was delighted to find The Avengers to be the same thing. The egos of the characters, the new relationships being formed, this is what drove the film. To a certain extent, this is also what stood between the final product and absolute greatness, but I'm willing to sacrifice a bit. 

To sum it all up, this was exactly the movie I was hoping for when I really started getting into this whole genre. It had all the moments I was looking for, and some that surprised me. The plot felt familiar, but the film felt fresh. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. 

Good luck with The Avengers 2, Marvel/Disney. It's going to be tough to top this one.