Light of Day (1987)

Really Surprised!

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This film may not be a work of genius, but it touched me deeply in 1987 and it still does. Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox touch a chord literally and figuratively as polar opposite siblings who share a passion for music. Gena Rowlands is absolutely brilliant as the desperately ill mother who clings to her faith for solace and dominates her children out of fear for them. The soundtrack is jam-packed with old-fashioned style rock n' roll. An instrumental piece (titled Elegy) underscores the leaden sadness throughout the film and is ethereal and beautiful. For anyone who has struggled with family strife, there will be familiar territory here. This film is, in my opinion, underrated and worth a second (or a first!) look.

Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett are an unlikely sibling twosome, living in Cleveland with Jett's illegitimate kid and hoping to get their rock-and-roll band off the ground (Fox struggles with an underwritten character, at once rebellious and responsible, while Jett talks with a thick, streetwise drawl suggesting she's from the opposite side of town). This downbeat movie has none of the spirit of Joan Jett's rock videos from the 1980s; a few of the camera set-ups are good, but the locations aren't especially well-captured and the music--integral to the story--isn't strong enough to provide the necessary uplift the soapy plot desperately needs. Fox has a solid scene fighting with his sister over her boy, although a whole sequence with him quitting the band over a shoplifting incident doesn't wash. Gena Rowlands is admirable as their mother (with a medical condition!), but there's too much of her and this plot-thread fails to build momentum. "Back to the Future" fans passed on this, and who can blame them? Despite being a personal project from writer-director Paul Schrader, his handling is pedestrian, sometimes awkward or unsure, and his dialogue doesn't have the canny ring of truth--it's all a blue-collar cliché. ** from ****

I enjoyed the movie because it reminded me of growing up in Cleveland and going to bars and listening to some AWSOME bar bands that no one has ever heard of. Joan Jett does a fine job acting and the soundtrack is great.

I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan. Nice movie.. but the real thing that I took notice to is the music by Exotic Birds. This is one of the bands Trent Reznor used to play in. Way before he ever started []\[] [] []/[]Trent is a master keyboardist. It wouldn't suprise me to see him scoring a movie. Oh wait.... NBK.. heh, kinda forgot.-BlazeFoxKitsune =^.^=