Runaways Rock

I went awol for a couple hours this afternoon to see The Runaways. Love going to see movies in the afternoon by myself. If you don't tell anyone what you're doing, for a couple hours it's like you've completely disappeared, which is rare in this hyper-connected day and age.
As for the movie, can I just say: Well-played Floria Sigismondi. Well played Dakota Fanning. And well-played Kristin Stewart—all the Twilight backlash had me believing that Bella would be the weak link in this film, but I was stoked with her performance as Joan Jett. Maybe it's just because I'm stoked with Joan Jett in general, making who played her irrelevant. No, that's not necessarily true. How do I know? Two words: Miley and Cyrus.
In any case, The Runaways is the best movie I've seen in a long long time, and perhaps the best girl movie I've ever seen. I've been watching a lot of girl-movie drivel lately. Just kind of went through a really lame-o period of bad choices at the video store: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was no better than a Lifetime Movie of the Week; Julie and Julia was self-indulgent and superficial (Julie Powell's part, anyways, Meryl Streep was fabulous as Julia Child. Although I'm getting more than a little concerned about Norah Ephron's judgement). Whip It had about as much substance as a box of Smarties and the Lash Blast product placement left a bitter taste in my mouth. My saving grace during this run was An Education, which was decent, but not as crazy good as pretty much every reviewer would have you believe.
The previews leading up to the Runaways didn't offer much hope for the near future. There's going to be a knock off of True Lies starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. The trailer for a sweet-looking flick starring Amanda Seyfried trying to reunite elderly long-lost lovers gave away the entire plot (spoiler alert - the lovers do, in fact, reunite). That seemed kind of patronizing, non? Are rom-com-goers really so fragile that they have to be assured that they're not going to end up seeing something where the ending isn't conventionally happy?
After all that, it was doubly nice to see a movie that didn't pull any punches. The Runaways dug down deep and showed the dirty side of rock n roll through hazy, heavy-lidded, black-rimmed eyes. This movie is gritty as hell and exactly what a rock-bio junkie like myself was craving. The sex is mostly implied, the drugs are about as overt as I've seen in any movie, but the rock and roll is what got me in the end. Even amid all the exploitation and infighting and down-and-out nights at roach motels, I still felt that joy that comes from knowing that you're a girl and you kick a ton of ass. So again, good show girls. If only I didn't have a nagging feeling that I won't see another movie like that again...