Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

denis888 Oh yeah, it is a way too difficult to film biopics about real rock bands. If the members are still alive, they can meddle in the process, send a scathing review after the film is made, or ask to be withdrawn from the script altogether if they fear their part in a given movie would be not so good. Or even the time limits of a film, even if the band in question, The Runaways, exited for not so many years, still, many many key events have to be omitted or so heavily shortened that any fan will end up scratching their head and asking whether it was what they wanted to see. Mind you, this version is not bad at all, as a musician myself, I must admit that the rehearsal process and backstage routine are depicted admirably well, and the whole grudge of a song learning, sound check, and pre-gig booze is here at an excellent realistic swap. Still, the short timing of the movie leaves much off the camera, and the whole thing seems a bit too rushed and sometimes ruined. The main actors do their part well, Kristin Stewart as Joan Jett is surprisingly decent, dark, menacing, self-destructive and deep. Dakota Fanning as Cherry Curie is another winner, with her blonde angelic looks and wild persona. The rest is a bit dubious. Kim Fowley? Was he that weird and queer? Lita Ford? She is present, but her fiery guitar and her fiery persona are shown so briefly and little, that one can only feel shame. The bassist? Her name? Poor dear, she never even uttered a word. Sandy, the drummer? She is cool at the offset, but then she is somehow lost in a mire. The rushes ending and vague scenes with bathtub and sea leave us a bit perplexed, and the whole wrap-up is a bit too confusing. Anyway, this is not a bad effort, and yeah, can be watched at least once, even for their sake of beautiful ladies and their long legs. Kidding. The movie is good.

Rich Wright The Runaways were the first all girl rock group, put together by a sleazy manager who saw a gap in the market. In their line-up was a very young Joan Jett... she would go on to much greater things with a group called The Blackhearts who would score a huge hit with a cover of I Love Rock And Roll, which would sell over ten million copies in the USA alone. The reason you probably haven't heard of the Runaways is perhaps because a) They had a massive falling out when the co-lead singer, Cherie Currie(!) decided to quit early into their creation, and b) Judging by the material in this movie at least, their music wasn't actually that good. Oh well, c'est la vie...The 70's was all booze, sex and drugs according to those who witnessed it, and the film demonstrates that in graphic detail with a catalogue of debauchery and mayhem. Quite how these young bodies can stand so much abuse is beyond me, but hey... If all the Rolling Stones are still alive, I guess that's possible. There's also an awful lot of profanities exchanged between these amateur musicians... if you took any of these girls home to meet your mother, she'd most likely have a heart attack, You can't help but feel though for all they THINK they're doing for feminism, they're still being exploited in a different way... And most of their fanbase seem to consist of either dirty older men, and young girls who should know better.Dakota Fanning completely ditches her good-girl image as the depraved and vulnerable Cherie, who sleeps with girls and boys during the course of events and snorts more blow than a cheap hooker. Kristen Stewart also surprises as the openly gay Joan Jett... free of the shackles of her usual downbeat roles, she portrays the boisterous and spirited young future star with relish. The reason why, despite all the talent on show, this doesn't score higher is not much happens in the 90 minute run time... Just a few performances of their one hit song and an impromptu trip to Japan, before Cherie leaves and the movie is as good as over. Oh, there's some stuff involving Cherie's fractious family life and the crush Joan has on her, but none of this is particularly exhilarating.They may have been trailblazers in a way, but in my opinion the footprint they left on the industry was smaller than a mouse's. There are no real classics in their repertoire, and the only people who fondly remember them these days are either blinded by nostalgia or devotees of Joan Jett who adore everything she does. It's rather odd that a studio would bankroll a film about an average band that struggle for a few years before ending acrimoniously, such groups are ten a penny. But I suppose the fact they're female gives it novelty value, but not enough to convince me they were anything great... even if they had stayed together. 6/10

DKosty123 Up until the Runaways hit the scene, women's rock and roll were limited to some random women in rock bands. The Runaways were the first group to change all that by having an all-women group. This is the second film to address this band. Both films should be watched and then remember that history is always revised in Media. When I watched the extras on the DVD I found out this story focus was on -Kristen Stewart Kristen Stewart ... Joan Jett Dakota Fanning .. Cherie Currie Joan Jett and Cherie Currie were consultants on this film and so the story is limited by their point of view. Other than that limit I have no complaints about what the film tries to do. Women in Rock and Roll prior to the band I can recall were a member of The Honeycomb who sang the song "Have I The Right" in the early 1960's and a woman drummer with The First Edition ( song -Just In Time). Kenny Rogers was the lead singer of The First Edition. Since neither of these counts as really hard rock, they were just token women who tried to break the barrier

Dory_Darko Back in the 70's, The Runaways was one of the first all-girl rock bands, initiated by then 16-year-old Joan Jett, who later went on to gain world fame with her band The Blackhearts. Now, I might be somewhat biased on this particular subject, because I am a huge fan of 70's (punk)rock, and especially female rock artists, but I am also a very critical film reviewer. The Runaways therefore, leaves me feeling in limbo.I love musical biopics as much as I love the music itself, and since The Runaways falls exactly into my favourite genre of music, I thought this film would be nothing other than a win-win flick for me. However, I felt rather quickly discouraged from the build-up on. When you are telling a true-to-life story, I consider it an important issue to let the audience know who we're dealing with, what's going on and perhaps most importantly, why. These are real people and I want to know why they are who they are, and what motivated them to walk their chosen path in life. The film starts off with alternating scenes of Joan Jett and her soon to be band mate Cherie Currie. Doing stuff that, well... isn't that interesting. It doesn't tell us much about these girls except that they like punk rock and David Bowie. Honestly, having only seen the film last night, it's all I can remember about the first 15 minutes or so. And so the film continues.They form a band, are taken under the wing of weirdo record producer/manager Kim Fowley, become famous and at some point, break up. The way director Floria Sigismondi tells the story, you'd think it was actually that easy. And this is exactly where the problem lies: bad direction. Possibly even worse editing and screenplay. We are given almost zero back-story of the lives of these young girls, and strangely, literally nothing at all about the personal life of Joan Jett. What makes it even stranger is the fact that the real Joan Jett was actually executive producer of this film, which completely puzzles me considering her part was so badly written. Her character comes across as not much more than a bystander in her own story.At least we're offered snippets of information about Cherie Currie. We know that she comes from an instable family and that her sister (who is in fact her twin – something I had to learn from Wikipedia since it's never told in the film...) is the only one she is at least somewhat close to. Again though, strangely, what is never told here is that this girl was raped when she was 14 – an incident which strongly determined the person she would become later on. Very weird to leave out of a biopic.It is my understanding that the rest of the band didn't give permission for their life story to be used in the film, and it shows. On the one hand, it's a shame because the back-story of the band is already so badly underexposed. On the other, I can't blame them, because this film would have done them no justice whatsoever.The story of The Runaways is told as though it all happened overnight: formation, fame, break-up; in what feels like no more than a short year maybe. When in fact they released four albums, three of which with Cherie. Truly awful screenplay.The actors though, are not at all to blame. Kristen Stewart embodies Joan Jett perfectly, she's got the looks, the voice (she sings all her parts herself) and the swagger. Dakota Fanning as Cherie does a very good job also. Although she may not look or sound that much like the real Cherie Currie, her acting more than makes up for it. But then again, anyone who's seen Dakota before, whether as a child actor or teenager, already knows she's a very convincing young actress. The rest of the band, much like their characters, are barely there to be noticed...The part of Kim Fowley is played by Michael Shannon, and he approaches it with a "love it or hate it" attitude. Personally, I think he was an absolute scene-stealer (which is not necessarily a good thing, because obviously this film is not about him – though it is the direction that is to blame, not the actor), acting completely over the top, crude, and horribly inappropriate. Though I can see why some people absolutely hated his character. Simple: there is nothing likable about him. He's an a**hole, and a big one too. As an acting part however, it was obvious that Michael Shannon had a ball playing this guy, and I think that's what makes his role very enjoyable to watch.The actors really do make up for a lot in The Runaways. All parts are equally well-played and very enjoyable. But when the technical aspects of a film are this poor, not even the best actors in the world can make it a success. Zero story, zero character development, shoddy editing and, worst of all, not enough music! Probably the stupidest thing about the whole film – you'd think that, in a film about The Runaways, there'd be more than two or three original Runaways songs! Yet we have to listen to "Cherry Bomb" over and over again, and we get only titbits of their other songs. Sheesh.The Runaways may not have been the most groundbreaking band in history, but they certainly were a cool band of young rock chicks, and they deserved a better film than this one. I would say it's fun to watch once if you're into this kind of music, but that's it. Such a shame.