Rock of Ages! - Bringing back the 80's

WARNING! 

You will enjoy this blog a little bit better if you are a "children from the 80's"!!!

Can you find a movie that's equally AWESOME and AWFUL?  The answer is yes, and the name of the movie is "Rock of Ages".  Before you start attacking me about the "awful" part of my commentary, I want you to understand that I'm a "TRUE" fan and "CHILD" from the 80's.  

Let's be honest people, the movie script SUCKS!, like really bad!  I can totally see it being a success in Broadway but the adaptation didn't translate well, and that's what make this movie AWFUL!  Yes, silly AWFUL! The only way you can overcome this awfulness is if you are a true, die hard 80's fan.

The movie is around 2 hours long, and we started to watch it around 11pm.  Within the first 10 minutes, there were people singing already in a very weird setting... A BUS!  My husband and I looked at each other and were almost certain that we will fall asleep within the first 30 minutes of the movie.  Fortunately our movie experience changed when we found ourselves in a Karaoke movie!! woo hoo!!  We sang every freaking song in the movie, and had a blast!  

Rock of Ages takes one of the best artists from the 80's and used their hit songs as a music platform.  Journey, Foreigner, Def Leppard, Poison, Pat Bennatar, among few others.  Even the music arrangements and medleys were awesome, considering the actors were the ones singing.  Again, musically this movie was AWESOME!! 

Overall acting, considering the story line was ok.  Talented and not so talented actors were brought together, which is expected and ok.  I was pleasantly surprised with Mary J. Blige's acting.  I only like Russell Brand if he's acting like a nut, which doesn't translate well to the real life, but for the movie it was brilliant.  But who really, really, really, really (seriously really) surprised me was TOM CRUISE. Oh lord!  


I have never been a die hard fan of Tom Cruise.  I think he's a great actor, but never really care much about his career.  Fortunately for Tom and for all of us, he has been taking on very different roles lately, and I'm really enjoying watching him playing funny, crazy people on the screen.  In this movie, he plays a heavy metal rocker-star named Stacey Jaxx, and what I'm going to say now make me feel a little dirty... but it's honestly true!  HE WAS FREAKING HOT!!!!  He doesn't only looks sexy on the movie, he shocked me when he started to sing.  YES! he sang pretty darn good!!  I have to say that after seeing this movie I have a new found respect for Tom as an actor.  He can truly play anything. (loved his crazy role in Knight and Day!)  He's good with crazy... we kind of know why, right? ;)

At the end of the movie, my husband and I were browsing the internet for songs that we didn't remember well, buying some of them in iTunes and just commenting on it.  I had a blast singing the songs and watching my husband singing along with me.  After 7 years together, it was the first time I saw him singing like that.  

Rock of Ages movie sucks, but it's a total must see!! :)  

I WANT TO ROCK!!! ROCK!!!

Movie - THE AVENGERS

You all knew I was waiting this movie with crazy passion.  I'm not sure why I like super heroes stories... maybe it's the feeling of "saving the day", be relevant, be resourceful or just those freaking abs!! ;)  I know the girls are like - "Hell yeah!".  I do like super heroes movies, and deep inside I think they make me feel like a kid again, and I'm sure that's a feeling we all enjoy. 

The Avengers got SOOOO much marketing and anticipation that I was starting to be a little concern about the content.  Within the last few years we have been hearing about this movie and seeing bit and pieces after all major "super hero" movie.  Expectations were very high and I have to say it didn't disappoint.   WOO HOO!!!

Good story, pretty bad ass special effects, a cast close to perfection and Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth.  They deserve to be a reason for itself!  :)  

Overall the movie was well done, well balanced and entertaining.  Writers gave each character very good lines, good smart ass lines that I want to learn...  like... "That's the secret... I"m always angry."  What an awesome scene!!!  

Regarding the cast I'm not going to go one by one... they are pretty awesome individually and fortunately they really rock as a team.  I would like to focus on two main characters.  First, Tony Stark aka Iron Man.  HE'S FREAKING PERFECT!!  Robert Downey Jr was born to play Tony Stark, he's perfection!  Seriously!!  Nothing about this character and Robert disappoint.  You have to love when the casting process hit the spot and we enjoy the results.  Robert Downey is on a league of his own, and I'm very happy for him!! 

Now, let's talk about the cute green fella... THE HULK!  I was completely crushed when they left Ed Norton out of the movie The Avengers.  I think his rendition of Hulk few years ago was brilliant.  HE WAS BRUCE BANNER!  Shortly after I found out that Mark Ruffalo was the one replacing Ed Norton.  It felt like Christmas was cancelled.  I was like - "WHAT?" and other things I should not write in here.  I was convinced the movie was ruined beyond repair.  At this point, you already noticed I'm not a Mark Ruffalo's fan.  The reality is that based on previous performances, I don't think he's an actor with acting power. (still not convinced!) 

I'm so glad he proved me wrong!!  Mark Ruffalo played a pretty AWESOME Bruce Banner and I'm so happy I was wrong!  The HULK made this movie really entertaining, not to mentioned he kicked ass!  Still, very deep inside my inner child would like to see Ed Norton playing with the rest of the characters. I would like to overcome that big "if".  But for now I'm grateful Mark Ruffalo made justice to Ed's rendition of Bruce Banner.

Last but not least, Kudos to "Loki" - Tom Hiddleston, who played a pretty disturbed and scary villain.  I would like to see him doing other movies.  I think he will make a brilliant psychopath. 

We all kn0w we will see a sequel in the near future, and I'm really looking forward to it.  The wait was long for the first "AVENGERS" movie, but I have to say that it was totally worth it!  (especially after seeing Chris Evans and Hemsworth in tights!!) :)

Movie - ACT OF VALOR

A movie about the US military that doesn't portrait our military as a bunch of unstable individuals, or the CIA as a the sum of all evil?   

It was hard for me to believe that such a movie could exist in Hollywood these days.

I'm not saying that I like the war or that I think that our government makes the best decision when it comes to foreign policies all the time, but why our military reputation or the reputation of any security based agency has to be tarnished by the decision of very few.  After all, we all have our bad moments, bad calls, that doesn't make us evil, right?

All that being said, I want to say that this is a movie every single American citizen should see.  It's not about politics, it's not about agencies, it's not about our government.  Act of Valor is about real life acts of valor, those acts that a few who believe in our country and what stands for, are willing to make even at the cost of their own lives. 

The movie has been harshly criticized by many.  People are focusing their criticism on acting quality, story and main purpose behind the movie.  I just can't understand why people can't see the movie for what it is.  Act of Valor is a real life tale of an extraordinary group of men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and all of us who enjoy our country way of life.  

Act of Valor is a very good movie considering it didn't have all the budget most action flicks have now a days.  Navy seals members were played by real Navy Seals (YES! real life Active Duty Navy Seals), the story was nicely developed considering it takes into consideration real missions and the overall filming was pretty realistic. 

Do I think the acting deserve an Oscar? No 

Do I think the movie deserve an Oscar? Oh well, if movies like "No country for Old Men" won an Oscar anything goes, right?

What I think Act of Valor, as a movie, deserve is our respect.  Go and see the movie for what it is, a tale of courage, valor and love for your country.  Celebrate the lives of those who died for your country's freedom, not a political belief.  

It's a movie difficult to see, and it's difficult to see because it's real, it happens everyday out there while we enjoy our lives peacefully.  

After seeing this movie I slept a little bit better, felt a little bit more secure and felt a lot more proud of those who serve and their families.  I will be eternally thankful because there are many men out there willing to preserve our safety, our peace and our freedom. 

If you don't have anything good to say about this movie, at least be grateful for what our military does for our country.  Remember, you can always move to another...  :)

 

Oscar's Night

Oscar's night 1999...

A glass of wine, plenty of appetiziers and my BFF's. Titanic was nominated for Best Movie.

Oscar's night 1983...

A soda, some chips and my mom.  E.T. was nominated for Best Movie.

One thing I missed about being away from the US and Puerto Rico is the opportunity to watch the Oscars with family and good friends.

This year while watching an "encore" of the Oscars (a night later in Germany) I certainly remembered those days.  It was a classic Oscar's night and on top of that Billy Crystal hosted the show, what else you can ask for.  RIGHT?  And even when it was a rerun, and I didn't have my BFF's and family around, the emotions were still very familiar.  

It's still exciting watching "first timers" finding out they got the Oscar, still emotional witnessing a winner thanking their parents and still heart-breaking realizing that so many talents are not with us anymore.  

I grew up loving Hollywood, its stars and craziness.  This love connects me with my mom, with my friends and it's part of who I am.  

Today, "The Oscar goes to... my mom and my BFF's"  

For sharing the love and passion I have for the movies; and for creating memories that will live with me forever, but particularly make me smile today.