May 13, 2005 |

ROCK STAR

Cliffnotes review:
Relive 80s hell.

This film goes to: 7
Rated (R)
Directed by: Stephen Herek
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Aniston, Timothy Olyphant, Timothy Spall, Dominic West
Written by: John Stockwell


106 minutes
Warner Bros.
2001
Official Site

As much as I hate to admit it, I liked this film. I tried not to, trust me, but in the end, was really entertained by "Rock Star". Don't get me wrong; this opus to 80s metal is fairly formulaic… just like the music from which it was spawned. This is not always bad, however; and the story of Steel Dragon (taken from the pages of Judas Priest's book) is an entertaining romp through the chaos of the mid to late 80s.


Mark Wahlberg is Chris Cole, adept lead singer for a Steel Dragon tribute band whose only aspiration in life is to be Bobby Beers, Steel Dragon's "real" lead singer. Fortunately for Chris, Beers' band recently ousted him from the group and is looking for someone to fill his leather pants, er… shoes. Naïve and ordinary Chris becomes rock-god "Izzy" and is thrust into the chaotic, drug-and-sex-fueled world of rock and roll and, from there, pretty much all hell breaks loose.


Now I am not a big fan of "Friends" and have, in the past, imposed a fairly strict rule against seeing any "Friends'" vehicles. If there were a "Friend" whom I have grown to tolerate, it would have be Jennifer Aniston, who actually does a relatively decent job portraying Chris's longtime girlfriend, Emily. I am not fully convinced that Aniston ever does much more than play herself in the roles she has taken but I suppose I like her well enough to let this slide. In fact, her portrayal of Emily is simultaneously funny, sensitive and emotional as she deals with letting Chris pursue his dreams that directly conflict with her desire to remain his girlfriend. She may find herself taken off my "banned" list if she keeps this up.


The smattering of past and present "real" rock stars fleshes out the cast of supporting characters and not only brings a realistic feel to the film but adds a bit of camp appeal as well. The music is of the genre is fun enough to be more than tolerable and the soundtrack is packed with recognizable hits from the era. If there were a decade I would like to banish to hell, it would be the 80s so, as you may expect, my tolerance for 80s nostalgia runs fairly low. "Rock Star" did an excellent job toeing the line between mockery and respect for the material leaving me with a grin on my face and no regrets whatsoever for spending the time to revisit that which I would gladly wipe from the world's collective memory.


DVD Details:

"Rock Star" is delivered in a widescreen anamorphic format with English, Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. English, French and subtitles are also provided.


A decent assembly of extras can be found on this DVD including an informative, witty and overall interesting Director's Commentary, "Backstage Pass" featurette, music video of the title track by Everclear, and theatrical trailer. The extras definitely drop the ball a bit in the Cast/Crew section, which is, in a word, weak but the other items more than make up the difference to provide plenty of incentive to buy.

Thoughtful strategy. Practical execution.

Clear thinking, honest perspectives, and experience shaped by years of doing the work. No shortcuts, no borrowed opinions, just lessons learned by showing up, solving problems, and following ideas all the way through.

Four hikers with backpacks walking along a rocky mountain ridge under a blue sky
May 8, 2026
We are each our own greatest inhibitor. People don’t want to do new things if they think they’re going to be bad at them or people are going to laugh at them. You have to be willing to subject yourself to failure, to be bad, to fall on your head and do it again, and try stuff that you’ve never done in order to be the best you can be. ~ Laird Hamilton Yesterday: Hit Range Balls/Hike – Casa del Critters, 1:15 Today: Run – GGCSP, ~2 hours Tomorrow: Ride – Somewhere singlespeedy, ~2 hours Yesterday, Rach and I took a nice stroll in the woods around our house. The songbirds were going crazy-nuts and surprisingly, we only saw one other person walking his dog. I love where we live – close proximity to fun trails and the ability to get away from it all in just a short walk from our house. During lunch yesterday, I went to the driving range to get a few cuts in before playing a round of golf with my dad next week. I don’t get to play very often so need to brush up on my skills (or lack thereof) whenever I can. I am looking forward to playing with my pops and hope to break 100. I shot a 102 the last time I played so I am within striking distance of the sub-triple-digit score. We’ll see how things go. I usually do okay for most of the round and then fall apart on a couple of holes pushing my score way up. Dad shoots in the low 80s usually (I think). I am not sure I will ever play enough to be that good but it is fun to get out on the course now and again. I also went to see Dr. Paul yesterday for my ankle problem (which seems to have been resolved) and my knee (which is still a bit swollen but has decreased in size markedly over the past several days). The knee stems from my unscheduled nose-dive back in May (see this post for details). The shot some pictures and believe that everything is a-ok so that was good news. I just need to select better places for splashdowns in the future. And today is Luke’s birthday. Age is one place where I will always beat him but visit his blog to congratulate him on trying to catch up. Until next time…
Runner silhouetted at sunset on a rocky trail, mid-stride between hills.
May 8, 2026
Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience. ~ Elbert Hubbard Yesterday: Run – Casa del Critters/Flume, 1 hour 15 minutes Today: Ride/Hike/Relax Tomorrow: Run/Hike – Pawnee/Buchanan Passes, 6 hours? Yesterday I ran around the house. Not literally, mind you, but in the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous evening – calm, cool. Perfect. The wildflowers are really starting to take off up here and I was treated with a bold display of color throughout my run. Tons of Columbine lined the trailside as I ran on old mining roads and singletrack trails. It is really fun to see how much differently I am able to handle familiar terrain. I used to have difficulties running this loop and would have to walk major sections. Last night, I ran the entire loop without trouble and was able to moderate my speed to maintain a steady cadence through the run. Good times. Contracting is staying steady. A bit of a drop-off this week given the holiday but I am still managing to put in a decent number of hours. I picked up another new project today and will need to get started immediately to ensure that it gets completed on time.  Tomorrow, we are going to head up Pawnee Pass and loop back around to Buchanan Pass in the northern Indian Peaks Wilderness. This should be a fun challenge as we’ll get up pretty high, have to navigate some snow (most likely) and will be out for quite awhile. I am looking forward to it for sure . Movie time: I forgot to mention Shopgirl, a Steve Martin vehicle, we watched the other night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but found this to be a charming film about loneliness. It was well acted and would recommend it for sure. The pacing is steady throughout and some might find it a little on the slow side but it was an engaging film that had a lot to say without being overly sappy.
Hands holding a tablet displaying a video player interface. The video is paused.
February 20, 2026
In case you hadn’t seen these (and also for my friends at Adventure Film ), here are a couple of must-see running movies from Joel Wolpert:  Geoff Roes: Slogging to the Top