Film Review: Side Effects (2013)

Steven's Soderbergh's retirement from filmmaking - something which, considering his commitment to directing an entire television series next year, should probably be viewed through huge sceptical quotation marks - has had two distinct yet symbiotic consequences. Creatively, it seems to have reinvigorated him, giving an urgency to his work that suggests that he is trying to work through as many genres and styles as he can before he leaves film behind forever (again: sceptical quotation marks). When you look at the disparate films he has made since he announced he was walking away - from the throwback action of Haywire to the lurid kineticism of Magic Mike - as well as the speed at which they have been produced and released, there is a definite sense of an artist trying to get everything out of his system before it's too late.

Film Review: Rock Of Ages (2012)

"I sense that Xenu is near..."

Adapted from the hit show, Adam Shankman's Rock Of Ages sets itself out as a rowdy, debauched entry into that venerable cinematic tradition, the jukebox musical. Based largely at the the Bourbon Room, a dingy rock club which, despite apparently being the home of rock and roll within the universe of the film, is always on the verge of financial collapse. Over the course of a few days in 1987, the film follows the stories of people whose lives revolve in some way around the club; the girl fresh off the bus from Oklahoma (Julianne Hough) who dreams of making it as a singer; the bartender/aspiring rock star (Diego Boneta) who falls in love with her; the owner (Alec Baldwin) and his second-in-command (Russell Brand) who are trying to keep the club alive; and the puritanical busybody (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who wants to shut it down.