Runaway With Me...

It was only a matter of time before my Bf caved and took me to the movie I demanded he see with me since I missed seeing it with a clan of girls due to plans with him.. But boy, did I make him pay. It was 100% girl power, 100% girlicious, 100% lesbian-chic & lesbian-grittty. And I loved it.

The movie starts off with a drop of blood on the cement —  I, being the obnoxious movie watcher I am, cooed to said Bf, "It's nail polish! I just know it!," as I geared up for the movie to feature '70s glitz and glamour as a sixth main character — but it was blood. Period blood, to be exact. And so begins the luscious and lush girly coming-of-age tale about the girls from the first successful all-girl rock band, The Runaways, and particularly Cherie Currie, the lead singer and ridiculously prime sexy frontwoman (she was 15 when the band set out on the road).

Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart are white-hot in the film; in the same way for their stellar acting and bangin' voices, but in completely different ways as their characters. Dakota Fanning as lead singer Cherie easily commands a sexiness and intrigue in her waifish young body, which is a good reminder of how ripe she is to life and to such a sensual industry (we're excused for the inappropriateness of our thoughts as we get to vacation to the mindset of the '70s), and Kristen as Joan Jett is the sexy tough chick who seduces everything and everyone with her aggressive, forward attitude toward sex and her command of her sexuality. At one point I find vital, Jett is seen pissing on a man's guitar; he was in the band they were opening for and was being degrading to the girls. It's this show-no-mercy, "stand up for yourself" plus literally "stand up to pee" attitude that I think sums up Jett for a new generation who doesn't know her so well.

The whole movie is about experimentation on the road (Cherie is introduced to sex with a man quickly as she bags the band's roadie on the first tour, plus eventually she starts fooling around with Joan like most of the girls seem to), but what is experimentation on the road for Cherie, who runs herself ragged trying to keep up and even OD's, is life to Joan. And that is what separates Cherie and what makes her end up having to choose between living life on the road or a life of her own. (Since we all know or can easily search the band's history online, I think it's fair to say I'm not ruining the movie by saying she leaves them.)

It could've been the end for an ex-"concept band" guitarist like Joan, but luckily, the breakup with the band forces Joan to get out on her own with experience behind her, and an even greater familiarity with the sound she wants to put out, and she comes out with her greatest musical legacies when she links up with the Blackhearts (AKA "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock & Roll," and "Crimson and Clover").

Rolling Stone said the movie had the ability to be truly provocative, but "pussied out" so to speak. If you ask me, the movie was quite liberated and seemed to ring true of the hedonism and sassiness one would expect from the baddest, most scandalous, trail-blazing chicks of rock & roll. If I can compare life on the road briefly to life in the locker room (growing up playing hockey and soccer I played with women sometimes 5 years my senior), you do grow up quickly and learn a lot about sex young. (Surprisingly, there was much less lesbian action in our rooms... maybe it was the lack of drugs.)

Either way, the movie was raunchy enough to truly remind me of those significant moments when you discover your womanhood and sexuality, sometimes with the help of others (chatting about first times, periods, and exactly how to give a hand-job), but also raunchy enough to be a little unreachable, as a rock & roll flick should be. Like when Joan directs one of her bandmates on how to masturbate using her hands and then the shower head while she hangs out just outside the shower curtain.

It's not exactly my childhood — but it was Cherie's and Joan's. And a few more runaway girls' who grew up on the road raising each other, looking out for each other, and loving each other (in all ways). 

Throw in some cocaine and LSD, some superior girl power (the girls were told they shouldn't even play electric guitars) and some serious talent into the mix and maybe some of my childhood friends and I could've made this our lives. Danggg. And now I'm way too old to be like those rock & roll queens.

Now, it's only in all of our dirty dreams.

Wishfully thinking,

The Frotchstar

Check showtimes at The Globe to see for yourself! http://winnipegmovies.com/showtimes.php?thname=globe-cinema

The Trailer:

Cherries and Grapes: The New Maple Leaf?

I wasted 3 hours trying to download video on my Mac and getting the run-around trying to download Adobe Flash Player 10 before getting to watch Part 2 of this Miracle-ous movie. And it was MORE than worth it.

There's no doubt that Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story is one of the nation's most identifiable, epitomizing films to come around since... That Pierre Elliot Trudeau movie? Seriously, it's no secret we have a bit of a shortage of cultural icons here in the True North, but Don Cherry is about as iconic as they come. Do a quick sondage and I'm sure you'll find he's one of the first famous Canadians to come to mind.

Anyways, the best part of this movie isn't even just the idea (which was ingenious on its own and was the brainchild of Don's biological child, Tim Cherry, who wrote the story – props!) but the production value of this little national treasure. The filming and acting was top-notch, and maybe it's the extra romance that the film was shot in Winnipeg and Brandon (at the Keystone Centre), but I couldn't help but feel extremely attached to the movie and proud of it.

(OK, I did spot a good half-dozen guys I know that play Bisons and keep hearing about more and more people who were part of the cast, so that was fun to point out! But I kept not being able to believe it in a way because I know their acting experience is, well, void, and the movie's so rockin'! Well done y'all!)

So anyways, maybe my attachment to the extras is relevant, maybe it isn't, but I swear to you that movie has all the makings of a successful Hollywood jock movie — a sincere, not-oversweetened romantic plot, lots of true-to-life hardships dealt to the main character, and lots of funny moments that help represent a guy we already know but haven't really cracked (OK, my love affair with bio-pics is starting to show...)

You get to get to the bottom of Don along with the screenplay, though again, it leaves you wondering which representation of ol' Grapes is more accurate: the sweet, considerate father and husband, the determined hockey-obsessed devotee, or the balls-to-the-walls crazy hothead we saw on TV every week during our upbringing. (Is it really ALL an act? They hinted at signs of his temper throughout the movie but he did really just seem like a mild, genuine guy...)

Maybe hockey makes us all crazy. Either way, the moments where we learn why Cherry was nicknamed "Madagascar" by his old coach (He said he would've sent him away there if he could... Instead, he traded him to Three Rivers, Quebec) and other intricacies in Cherry's career and life shouldn't be skipped. This movie is comparable to a Hollywood-scripted romance about a man and his loves; hockey and a woman named Rose, but with all the Canadian no-bullshit you need to buy in. And that's what we can continue to be known for thanks to this CBC special: no frills or opening-day, "coming to a theatre near you" gimmicks, just a film about a "good Canadian kid" (in Don Cherry speak) making his way in the world who moved 53 times for hockey, only to play 1 game in the Show for the Boston Bruins early in his career, coach them, then end up a national broadcast legend for his colour commentary on the CBC (along the way running his tongue and getting into trouble for bigotry). Ahh, Canada's Sweetheart.

Doesn't hurt that the young Don (as played by Jared Keeso) was a total babe either! (That is NOT a gimmick, most of my buddies who were extras are real hockey players and total top models too! Can't fight the truth....)

Snuggle up to your Mac (unless you're fighting..) and settle in to watch the 2-part series here: http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/The_Don_Cherry_Story