Rocking Revelations
They say that life imitates art, and in the case of some aging
rockers, unintentionally prophetic movies have provided insight
into their future musical activities. We're not sure if that's a
good or a bad thing, but here are some uncanny examples of
celluloid precognition. Fledgling rockers take heed: Your future
may lie in a movie that's out right now!
By Bryan Reesman
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
In a scene in
Office Space, corporate drone
Michael Bolton has to endure being compared to the reformed rock
singer of the same name, especially during a bruising evaluation
where an efficiency expert (John C. McGinley) waxes eloquent about
the real Bolton's pop vocal prowess, particularly on his "stunning"
and "very emotional" opera album. Flash forward to January 30,
2007:
Michael Bolton's opera DVD
My Secret
Passion arrives. No joke.
METAL TRIBUTE
In the 2001 movie
Rock Star - based
partially on the life of Tim "Ripper" Owens, who ascended from
Judas Priest tribute singer to Rob Halford's replacement in 1996 -
a young singer played by
Mark Wahlberg becomes the front man for
his favorite band after his vocal idol quits. But once he's
entrenched in the group's world, he does not get to write his own
parts and has to sing a rap-metal tune. Move forward several
months: Judas Priest releases
Demolition,
which has no Owens songwriting credits and which closes with a
rap-metal-style song. However, unlike Wahlberg's character, who
returns to doing coffeehouse performances, Owens still tours the
world today with Iced Earth and Beyond Fear.
JAZZ ODYSSEY
In the legendary
This Is Spinal Tap, the
dim-witted British rockers unveil their new jazz approach at a gig
where they are lower than a puppet show on the marquee. Funnily
enough, some headbangers have gone on to explore their own
real-life jazz adventures. Completely crazed Raven drummer Rob
"Wacko" Hunter, known for having worn a
hockey goalie's gear to
protect himself when he smashed into his drums during the '80s, has
since become
Branford Marsalis's sound engineer, both for recording
and gigs. Also, Testament thrash guitarist
Alex Skolnick recently
has played and toured with the Alex Skolnick Trio, which has
recorded jazzy instrumental covers of classic hard-rock and metal
tunes by the likes of Deep Purple, Scorpions, and Black
Sabbath.
LIVE OR MEMOREX?
In
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, the
goofy, time-traveling SoCal dudes compete in a battle of the bands
(with bands that were hijacked by their evil robotic doubles).
While no one has yet had to face that peril in real life, some
well-known bands have splintered into different versions and
inspired recent lawsuits between various members over the right to
use their name on tour, including
the Doors, Ratt, and Saxon. On a
parallel line of thought,
Kiss manager Doc McGhee admitted in 2005
that the famous band might eventually tour without any original
members. McKiss, anyone?
FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Hey, funny we mention Kiss and robots, because in the 1978 TV movie
Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, the
famous rockers take on evil robotic doubles created by a former
theme-park designer who wants to upstage their concert at
California's Magic Mountain. Thirty-five years later, fellow makeup
kings Twisted Sister find themselves playing a Six Flags park in
New Jersey during their reunion tour and performing on the West
Coast in support of then future
California "Governator" Arnold
Schwarzenegger. And plenty of metal bands can now give older
headbangers/parents relief from kiddie attractions at the House of
Blues at Disney World.
Hollywoodland
(Universal)
Although the death of former
Superman star George Reeves in 1959 by gunshot was
ruled a suicide, some people speculate that it was another person
who pulled the trigger and ended his life. Combining real-life
events with a fictitious story line in which a detective named
Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) searches to find out what really happened
to Reeves (Ben Affleck),
Hollywoodland
juxtaposes the frustrated lives of a small-screen star and a
small-time PI. It is a tale of big-studio politics, the
constrictions of fame, and the illusion of stardom, which were much
less frequently front-page news in the days of old Hollywood than
in our tell-all era. The filmmakers wanted to avoid making a
standard biopic, but the story of Reeves - an aspiring movie star
known only for his immortal TV role and who was the kept man of the
wife (Diane Lane) of an MGM studio head (Bob Hoskins) - makes for
compelling material. Simo is hot on the trail of evidence of
homicide (which provokes threats to his life), and his saga is one
of a failing detective struggling to cope with his ethical
missteps, his divorce, and the waning attention of his young son.
But you'll probably wish you had seen less of him and more of
Reeves. There's a certain cleverness in casting Affleck as Reeves,
especially considering that he has coped with similar trappings of
typecasting, albeit it without the financial hardships his alter
ego faced. In the end, you'll want to dig further into the life of
Reeves on your own, especially as the bonus features do not probe
into his life and we see little of his childhood on-screen. Despite
its flaws, the well-acted
Hollywoodland at
least draws you into and humanizes the life of a former Man of
Steel who was not so invincible in the end but who remains some
fans' favorite Superman. - B.R.