The Runaways was pretty good. It's a pretty typical "band gets together, has brief success, and then tears itself apart" movie. I wouldn't call it a particularly sensational story, but it's definitely worth watching if you're into that early 70s glam/punk period of rock history, girl power, or indeed The Runaways themselves. Kristen Stewart (Twilight) does a good job playing the band's founding guitarist Joan Jett, shedding a lot of her usual mope and showing some edge. Dakota Fanning (Coraline), who I really haven't see as an actress, did a wonderful job as the band's David-Bowie-meets-Bridget-Bardot sex kitten lead singer Cherie Currie. The film is based on Currie's memoir and produced by Jett herself, so the movie focuses almost completely on them, much to the detriment of their bandmates. Founding drummer Sandy West gets a few lines. Lead guitarist Lita Ford is barely shown and mostly portrayed as a brat when she is. Instead of buying the life rights to any of the bands many bass players, they use a fictional one, played by Alia Shawkat, whose talent is sadly wasted in the cardboard cutout role. Michael Shannon (who was really the only great thing about Revolutionary Road) does a fantastic job playing svengali-like glam rock producer Kim Fowley, whose manic antics gleefully prop up some of the limper parts of the film.
Sunday morning, K. went to do yoga and I managed to do a couple hours of writing. After that, we figured a cold, gloomy day was as good a time as any to subject ourselves to the outlet mall and the grocery store.
