How Far Would You Go To Get To "Detroit Rock City" ?

Time to take a ride in the wayback machine!

The Story:

4 teens (Giuseppe Andrews, James DeBello, Edward Furlong and Sam Huntington) have their own band, and they worship (not literally) KISS.  They've got tickets to the big show in Detroit, 1978...
And then it all hits the fan when the ultra-conservative mom (Lin Shaye) finds and burns the tickets.  Fate seems to shine on the boys one more time though when they win a radio contest for 4 tickets, and then all bets are off as they risk everything to make it to the show on time.  However, where KISS is concerned, nothing is that easy...

It's almost like an unofficial autobiography of how great KISS was at the height of their fame in '78.

The actors are all convincing as high school slackers who like nothing more than to rock and roll all night, and party every day.

Yeah, you see what I just did there.

: )

The biggest problem with this movie may lie in the rating.  It might have found more of an audience with the younger set had they toned the language way, way back.  I mean seriously, if you have to have your characters dropping f'bombs in every sentence, that's just lazy writing.  Most people don't actually talk like that, and if they do, odds are they don't have that many friends in real life.

Or, they are probably in the military... : /

My guess, whoever wrote this film grew up listening to Eddie Murphy's Raw, and figured the best way to humor was to just inundate it with so much profanity, you would just double-over with laughter.

Or maybe I'm wrong, which is why I've only seen this movie twice in its 15 year existence.

That said, the movie has a killer soundtrack, even if not ever song was released prior to 1978.  I will forgive those mistakes as the music is pretty awesome and holds up 35+ years and counting.

Come on, any movie that includes the Greatest Hit of David Naughton isn't all bad.

: )

Naturally, the film culminates with a performance by KISS, led by Gene Simmons who doesn't look a day older thanks to the makeup and a special cameo from his wife.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, can't purchase it.  Too many little ears around my house.  When Bruce Willis is spouting obscenities in Die Hard, it makes sense to the film.  When it comes out literally in every character's dialogue for the entire movie...shock and awe... and I come away disappointed.  Maybe I'll check it out again in 8-10 years.

The Night Everything Changes..."Sleepover"

 

The most important rule is don't leave the house...

The Story:

Getting ready to start high school is tough.  Doing it when your best friend (Mika Boorem) is about to move away forever...world-changing.  So Julie (Alexa Vega) has a sleepover at her house.  Her mom (Jane Lynch) is still treating her like a little girl while her dad (Jeff Garlin) remains clueless about everything.  However, when the popular rival (Sara Paxton) challenges Julie's crew to a scavenger hunt... the winner gets to sit at the "popular kids" spot in high school for lunch while the others have to sit near the dumpsters...  Some rules are meant to be broken.

If you have daughters, this is a good film for them to watch.

On second thought, since they disobey the parents, maybe not! : )

Okay, ignoring the bad parenting advice, it's a fun, mostly harmless movie.  The trouble they get into is nothing that bad, and it's a movie with the hi-jinks that won't hopefully bother the parents I you're watching along with your children.

Sam Huntington provides some amusement as the put-upon brother who tries to cover his sister's shenanigans by pretending to be an all-female slumber party by himself.

Thrown also into the mix is Steve Carrell as a rent-a-cop for a few silly moments as well.

This one came out in 2004, right after his breakout performances in Bruce Almighty and Anchorman.  Nothing quite that funny for him in this role, but here you can catch him before he shot to fame the next year as a star.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it or stop everything that I'm doing if it came on, but it's a harmless bit of fun that if it was on, I would likely stop flipping channels.

Brandon Routh is No Superman... "Dylan Dog: Dead of Night"

No pulse? No problem!

The Story:

Dylan Dog, (Brandon Routh) a former paranormal investigator is pulled back into the life he tried to leave behind when he is asked to investigate a murder that appears to have been committed by a werewolf.  He has no desire to get back into that side of New Orleans, but when his best friend Marcus (Sam Huntington) gets turned into a zombie, he feels he has no choice.

Unfamiliar with the comics upon which this is based, I probably feel it's for the best.

So here we go...

I enjoyed it.

Possibly the best Brandon Routh film I've ever seen.

Having checked his credits, it is indeed the best film I've ever seen him in. : )

You've got a paranormal investigator that at one time was charged with keeping the peace between werewolves and vampires plus the zombies and other supernatural beings living in New Orleans.  Then something truly awful happened, Dylan snapped and set in motion a plan that is coming to fruition under his nose.

It's fun watching his friend not enjoy the fact that he's been turned into a zombie and spends most of the movie in denial about it.

To me, it's a welcome addition to the comics turned to movies genre or horror/comedy genre.

Final Grade: B-

Would I Watch it Again or Own It: I could definitely watch it again, and for the right price, I'd pick it up.