'Jack Reacher' is in Cruise Control

Tom Cruise plays an ex-Army investigator who puts the smackdown on just about everyone he meets.

Tom Cruise delves out the punishment as an ex-miltary guy roped into a murder investigation. He's got to take out the bad guys, save the girl and find the real killer in "Jack Reacher." The Jack Reacher book series has been popular for years, now it's moving to the big screen under Cruise control, with the actor as a quiet and deadly man. Cruise is the rare action star who brings both brawn and brains to a role, but in this case he's limited by a weak script. He does, however, excel during the action scenes. Packing quite a punch. A real kick in the pants. See the video here, you will know what I'm talking about. What you see is what you get in this movie. Action, reaction, Cruise being brutal and brash; it's all here. The crime that draws…

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Dinner and a Movie

'Rock of Ages' Not One for the Ages

The rock 'n' roll of the 1980s is in the spotlight this week, and, like a lot of rock from that decade and despite a bunch of A-list actors, it doesn't rock.

Boy meets girl, they rock each other's world, and it's all done to the tune of the 1980s L.A. rock scene in … "Rock of Ages." This rags-to-riches rock 'n' roll musical is set mostly in a music club on Sunset Strip. A lot of the entertainment, with some energetic musical numbers, includes several big names (Tom Cruise, Russell Brand and Alec Baldwin.) The two leads are Diego Boneta, as a bartender, and Julianne Hough, as a naive kid just off the bus from the Midwest. They prove that they too can sing covers of '80s rock classics. Basically the film is a set of songs linked together by a very weak story line (so as not to fool you into thinking you are watching a large-scale cover band concert). Honestly, it's not a good movie, but I think …

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