Movie Review : Rock of Ages & Salmon Fishing in Yemen

saw a couple of fantastic movies these past few days : ‘rock of ages’, a musical for the rockin child of the 80’s. ‘what to expect when you’re expecting’ – a sweet comedy for moms and dads and everyone who is expecting a baby! ‘bernie’ – a dark comedy about stretching out the lie until there’s no way out, and finally one of my favorites, ‘salmon fishing in the yemen’ – a lovely movie about faith in realising the impossible dream.

 

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I LOVE this movie! if you were a kid of the 80’s, you would absolutely enjoy this movie. and more so if you were a fan of rock n’ roll. this movie is a walk down memory lane with 80’s rock hits, long bushy blow-dried hair, rockin hand gesture, spiked wristband, studded belt, black t-s and tight jeans everywhere. and don’t forget the scarf around the knee…

songs like journey’s ‘don’t stop believing’, and reo speedwagon’s ‘can’t fight this feeling anymore’ and of course joan jett’s ‘I love rock n roll’ are just 3 among many-many beloved rock n’ roll hits of the 80’s featured in this movie. like any musical, the songs were incorporated within the scenes to match the storyline. like during the demonstration between the politician and church ladies with the group of rock and roll fans, they sang starship’s ‘we build this city on rock and roll’ which was so appropriate!

there’s A LOT of singing, but basically the storyline is girl comes to the city, meets boy. boy works at cool rock n roll club. boy helps girl get a job. boy can sing. boy becomes famous. love interrupted because boy thought girl was sleeping with this never-sober rock star. what happens next?

the leads drew and sherrie are totally unknown to me, but they’re so cute together and they can sing. tom cruise as stacey jaxx is just awesome in this movie. he transforms into this sexy, selfish, alcoholic, dazed rock star that we forgot he was ever sweet ‘jerry mcguire’ or macho top gun’s ‘maverick’!

I LOVE musicals, and I LOVE the rock and roll songs that were featured, so I totally enjoyed this movie. my husband (much more a music fan that I am) and I had fun spotting the songs and naming them. of course we sang along! hihi. if you’re anything like me, this is one movie not to be missed.

 

 

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saw this on the flight back to dubai from malaysia. this movie is just so so close to us mommies kan! it explores almost all the joy and hurts of pregnancy and birth! the movie covers :

• couples who constantly plan their love-making sessions at the right time so that they’ll conceive,
• the joy of seeing the +ve sign on the pregnancy test, or the disappointment when it’s –ve,
• the geramness when another person is also pregnant together with you but can still be looking so fresh and glowing while you looked like you’re gonna throw up for the hundredth time,
• agreeing to adopt, and the excitement is JUST like waiting in labor
• knowing that there is all kinds of pregnancy – either it makes you glow or blow up like a penguin, makes you wanna do absolutely NOTHING, or makes you wanna keep your active lifestyle
• ..and the dads – I LOVE the part where they all came in with strollers in hands, babywearing and all that jazz, at the same time walking in slow-mo with so much swag! loved it!

pregnancy and birth are magical alright, but it comes together with a lot of indescribable mood-swings, muka sembab, pain and suffering too that all men need to understand! haha. anak-anak jangan derhaka dengan mak-mak tau!

this delighful comedy ‘what to expect when you’re expecting’ is truly a must-see for parents and future parents everywhere. highly recommended! the cast are so wonderful and played their characters wonderfully funny! great script, and never a boring moment when dealing with pregnancy and baby-fever!

 

 

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based on a true story, it centers around bernie, depicted as the sweetest and nicest man in the neighbourhood. he befriended a lonely widow, who soon becomes extremely possessive of him to the point of exhaustion. he then kills her – and so begins his task of concealing it by constantly convincing everyone that she was still alive…

this dark comedy is made to look like a documentary about bernie whom everyone in the small town likes, and the murder of the old lady whom everyone in the small town hates – complete with interviews with the actual neighbourhood folks who knew the real bernie. it’s funny how most of the people continue to have positive words for bernie eventhough it was clear that he had killed an old lady. a mean old lady!

the actor jack black is known for tackling normal guy character with crazy wacky personality like in ‘nacho libre’ and ‘school of rock’. however, the character ‘bernie’ is soft-spoken, and sweet-natured. a decent guy with an uneventful life. jack black proved he is a character actor when he convinced us that he can be the sweet, loveable bernie, until we cannot help but grow fond of him.

quite a fun watch.

 

 

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water. salmon fish needs water, and there’s no water in yemen. therefore the ‘salmon fishing in the yemen’ project envisioned by sheikh muhammed is ridiculous – so goes the main character dr. jones who is an expert in fisheries. but with millions of dollars already banked in by the sheikh, and his job on the line, dr. jones agrees to undertake this project.

his character is innocent, and straight-forward – as he is autistic, he has no apparent sense of humor or sarcasm – he simply say things as it is – and that makes him more endearing, funny and sincere everytime we see him.

two other delightful characters are harriet his assistant on the project, and the charming sheikh himself. together they not only try to realize this seemingly impossible project, but also to inspire others that dreams do come true – we just need to dare to dream – and have FAITH!

‘salmon fishing in the yemen’ is an unlikely love story, an impossible dream, a journey of faith and salmon – this movie is so sweet that it could be one of my favorites now. highly recommended. halfway through the movie I’m sure you’re just cheering and rooting for dr. jones and harriet to successfully pull this off!

I am just disappointed that they did not do justice to yemen’s beautiful landscape…

 

 

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more movies coming up. watch this space.