Rock of Ages, set in 1987, is the story of a starry eyed small town girl named Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and an up and coming rock and roller named Drew (Diego Boneta) who meet at the Bourbon Room, owned by Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin) and his right-hand man Lonny (Russell Brand), while pursuing their dreams in Hollywood. Tom Cruise stars as Stacey Jaxx, the rock star headlining at the venue. This rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Foreigner, Journey, Posion, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister and more. Pete Hammond of Box Office Magazine writes, “You’ve never seen Cruise like this—stoned, sexy, topless, reckless—and his swing-for-the-fences performance is so on target it’s actually Oscar-worthy.”
Rating: PG-13.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical
Runtime: 2 hr. 3 min.
Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Mary J. Blige with Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise
Directed by: Adam Shankman
Written by: Chris D’Arienzo, Justin Theroux and Allan Loeb
Produced by: New Line Cinema, Corner Store Entertainment, Material Pictures and Offspring Entertainment
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
As a teenager, Donny Berger (Adam Sandler) fathered a son, whom he named Han Solo (Andy Samberg), and raised him as a single parent up until his 18th birthday when his son disowned him. Now, after not seeing each other for years, Han Solo’s [who at this point has changed his name to Todd] world comes crashing down on the eve of his wedding when an uninvited Donny suddenly shows up broke with a reality TV crew at his heels. Trying desperately to reconnect with his son, Donny is now forced to deal with the repercussions of his bad parenting skills.
Bill Gibron of Pop Matters writes, “That’s My Boy is a gangly guilty pleasure experience that makes you feel foul for enjoying its obvious, out of control bravado. Sandler is terrific as the tacky center of attention and even with a bloated belly and bad mat of monkey fur hair-do, he’s winning.”
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 1 hr. 54 min.
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Leighton Meester
Directed by: Sean Anders
Written by: David Caspe
Produced by: Happy Madison Productions
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Rock of Ages is expected to open at $35M domestically and That’s My Boy at $28M according to BoxOffice.com.
Megan Lehmann of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “The animation by Fox’s Blue Sky Studios improves with each installment, and here it is vividly rendered, with the design of each prehistoric critter a marvel of state-of-the-art technology down to the last hair.” HSX forecasts that the film will open at around $65M-$67M. Boxoffice.com predicts $59M.
