Title Directed by
Rating
Times Seen
Prey for Rock and Roll Steyermark, Alex 7 1
    I'm going to start this review off right away by saying a lot of people who frequent GOTTHAMMER should never see it, simply because I don't need the aggravation of explaining to people who have never played in a bar why a movie about a band of women who play clubs was a 7 on my ratings scale. This is a film that contains a lot of material that would be offensive to anyone who's never known a bisexual person as a friend, gotten tattoos, been in a room with people smoking up, or gone to a rock show in a bar that smells like it hasn't been mopped in eons. For me, it was more like a walk down a good chunk of my memory lane.
    While I'm not a middle aged woman who's hotter than most women half her age, I feel like I've got a lot in common with the lead character Jacki, played by Gina Gershon, whose performance "goes to eleven" to quote Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap. She's just turned 40, I just turned 33. She's played in a rock band since her teens, so have I. She's the lead singer/guitarist...ditto. Her singing is passionate, not perfect...yup. My experience with a small label management wannabe was not held in a corner coffee shop, but in a genuine Chinese food restuarant while Karaoke was blaring in the background. I never played with a bassist strung out on coke or had a band member die, but I have had my share of sorrow and pain within the band dynamic, none of which I care to share here. And while I've never tattooed "rapist" on a perpatrator's forehead, I can relate to the poetic justice of such an act.
    On the other hand, I have rehearsed day in and day out to play a handful of 40 minute gigs, and like Jacki, while I always wanted to be a rock star, I ended up as a musician, just another chick in a band...okay, so I'm not a chick. I already covered that. I echo her final sentiment as well. It is THAT cool. As is this film. Mostly because of Gershon's performance, which is the glue that holds what would have been a typical band movie together and helps sell the idea to the audience. I've seen Gershon in other films, and after "Prey for Rock and Roll" I'm fully convinced she's one of the most underrated actresses in film, if not THE most underrated actress.
     I related to it on an emotional level. I wasn't really watching it for all the usual things I applaud or lampoon a movie for. I can't say the cinematography was great, or that the story was really all that strong. It was just a rock and roll movie. Besides, as I already said, Gina Gershon is hotter than most women half her age, and she absolutely inhabits her role as Jackie, singing her own vocals, and near as I can tell, having learned enough bar chords to make me buy the concept she's playing in a band. (All musicians flinch at poorly mimed movie performances. I only flinched once or twice.) It's also cool to see Marc Blucas of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame playing a bad boy, complete with a serious set of tattoos and a brush cut.
    This is a movie about the hard life of the people who work a day job so they can play the rock and roll at night. So I'm a pastor and not a tattoo artist. Let's get serious, who's got it rougher trying to be a rock star?
 
 

Movie Reviews - Prey for Rock and Roll

Legend
10
 This movie is in my "top 10 films" list.
9
 I laughed, I cried, I peed my pants because there was no good time to leave the theater.
8
 The kind of movie you see twice and tell all your friends about.
7
 Worth paying full admission for.
6
 Worth seeing.
5
 Could have waited for DVD.
4
 Should have waited for DVD.
3
 Even if I'd waited for the DVD I'd still feel cheated out of the rental price.
2
 If someone ever gives me this movie I'll use the DVD as a coaster.
1
 Kept watching because my arms were pinned and I couldn't claw my eyes out.
0
 Piece of crap.
WO
Walked out.