School of Rock (Widescreen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: LET'S GET ROCKIN!!!
Review: I would have to say that this is one of my favorite movies ever. Jack Black is masterful in his role as Dewey Finn. A washed up rocker that needs some juice for his music making. THe child actors are pretty good, sometimes you have to remember that they are only kids and not masterful musicians (like we would all hope for). Everything about this DVD kicks. The special features, the outtakes, the lesson on rock by jack black. I am glad that his tenacious d style was abandoned for this movie because it is awesome that he finally found a role that fit him, no Shallow hal, or drunk guy from orange county, just a wanna be rocker, playing a rocker that totally freaking rocks. School of ROCK..."for those about to rock, I salute you."

Rating:
Summary: It's all about Jack Black
Review: This is alternative filmaker Richard Linklater's break into the mainstream, and the same goes for it's star, Jack Black. The script is a formulaic story of an extrovert entering a conservative institution and shaking it up with controversial teaching methods (think Sister Act and Dead Poets Society, the tone of School of Rock is more the former however). Failed rocker Dewey Finn (Black) masquerades as his flatmate Ned Schneebly (screenwriter Mike White) and becomes a supply teacher of a 5th grade class at a conservative prep school. He discovers that some of the kids have musical talent, the curriculum goes out of the window as the whole class is mobilised to form a rock band. Dewey has to hide his unorthodox teaching methods from the other teachers and parents while the band prepares for battle of the bands.

The plot is entirely predictable so the film depends on the comedy and characterization to hold interest. Black is perfectly cast as the manic rock tutor (the script was written by his friend Mike White with him in mind, and it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role). Less convincing are the forces of conservatism that obstruct the band's development - it soon becomes obvious that the teachers are all closet rebels anyway. All's well that ends well, so sit back and absorb the growing feelgood tone that emerges as Dewey persuades the kids in his class to 'lift up their goblets of rock'.

Rating:
Summary: A movie featuring rock music, not actually about rock music
Review: Although it is unlikely that one can encounter so many talented players and singers in just one class at a private school, despite the fact that (people may say that) the plot is predictable, that nevertheless does not stop Mike White from penning a piece that is designed to fly in the face of predictability or Richard Linklater from directing a feel-good movie that should delight many people, even those who are, like myself, admittedly not fans of rock music per se, yet love it when it is good.

A sacked rock guitarist, Dewey Finn (Jack Black), exercises "identity fraud" by claiming to be substitute teacher Ned Shneebly (Mike White) when the principal of a private prep school, Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack), wants to talk to Ned about a temporary job. Desperately for money to pay his part of the rent - or else face eviction at the hands of Ned and his irksomely patronizing girlfriend, Patty (Sarah Silverman) - he intends to contribute nothing to the education of his young charges until a chance overhearing of their music class immediately fires him with the idea of turning them into a "high-voltage" rock band in order for them to compete with the people who had sacked him in a forthcoming rock band competition.

With the predictable role of a "rules-are-meant-to-be-broken" maverick, Black blends comedy and humour into his alter ego, although one cannot at times help thinking that he tends to dominate the movie. There are hardly any scenes whatsoever in the movie in which Black does not feature, and so one tends to believe that it all centres more on the character of Finn as opposed to on the ones who make "The School of Rock" such a hit at the competition. I would have liked to have seen more character development from the supporting cast members - that is, from the youngsters - yet it seems that only their collective musical talent is allowed to have its day on stage as opposed to their abilities as actors, some of whom were making their movie debut.

The only moment of real "drama" comes when drummer Freddy Jones (14-year-old Kevin Clark) is persuaded to join some guys from a rival band in their van when the kids go to an audition for the competition. Finn does his nut and effectively hauls the card-playing youngster out of the van out of concern that the guys might otherwise have their own agenda for him, though it was never made clear what that might have been.

The moral of the story appears to be that rock (an analogy for life, perhaps?) is not about winning music contests, which was the raison d'etre for Finn wanting his class to perform, but about "winning" against "The Man" (an analogy for authority, personified by the Cusack character), something that even the youngsters hammer home to him in a kind of role reversal where the students teach the "teacher" a lesson in life.

Overall, it is a good movie to watch, with some very catchy rock songs, although the music itself, like the Jack Black character, does tend to dominate right from the start (before the stars even have a chance to surround the Paramount Pictures mountain peak) to the very end. The music itself ought to have been more of a backdrop to the story yet it tended to become a bit too prominent. It is, after all, not meant to be a movie about rock music, but it was in danger of becoming one.


Rating:
Summary: eh.
Review: For the sake of space, I will be forced to dismiss the entire first half of the movie with the following: that's a whole hour of my life that I can never have back. Yes, to say that the first chunk of this movie was lame and unfunny is to do a disservice to the words "lame" and "unfunny."

But things pick up somewhere around the middle--and the movie's primary descriptive adjective rises from "terrible" to merely "tepid." Any idiot could surmise the entire progression of the movie's plot before the opening credits finish rolling, and once the predictable plot proper gets underway, it isn't so bad. The kids (remarkable musicians, really) get more air time, the trivial social conflicts impeding Jack are largely resolved, and there appears to be a concert looming on the celluloid horizon. Wowzers. Maybe by the end of this thing, the prep school kids' tight-laced parents will loosen up and realize that God Gave Rock and Roll to You after all. wouldn't that be nice? wouldn't that fulfill the cutsey formula? Yeah. Don't expect Jack Black to go out on a limb with this one.

So the kids were amazing and the movie had its "moments" (learning that "Ned" was once in a glam goth band, for example), but overall I found School of Rock distracting and tedious. As someone who spent several years responsible for large groups of elementary school children, I spent too much time cringing with horror to be amused. Jack regularly herds the students into his van and then leaves them places while he conducts bits of business. And by and large the kids all stay put. Cripes. No given group of TEACHERS behaves so well. My own experiences with kid groups were somewhat different--i.e., weaving through a dark, people-packed aquarium while I obsessively counted to fifteen over and over again, praying that the bobbing heads I've numbered at least mostly belong to the actual kids in my actual care. Oh look, there goes Jared into the sea-snake tank. hope he's had all his shots. Yes, Taran, I see that you lost a tooth. Next time be careful how you catch that revolving door. Bethany, take that frog out of your mouth; your face is starting to swell.

Right. Anyway. If you're a Jack Black fan, you'll probably like this movie. It is less inane than it could have been, though it does not achieve the comic greatness it might have known with a different writer, director and lead actor. That's just my opinion though, so if you've got money burning a hole in your pocket and a few brain cells you don't mind wasting--have at.

Rating:
Summary: JACK BLACK ATTACK APPEASES THE GOD OF ROCK!!
Review: Penned by Mike White, Directed by Rick Linklater and starring the Jack Black Attack, (the) School of Rock is a successful combo of hilarity, rebellion, and rock'n'ruuuwwwwlll!
From Jack Black's 200-pound-ball-of-pain belly dive at the opening to that at the end, from Sunshine of Your Love to The Immigrant Song, SOR takes Spinal Tap to the next level (12). Black plays a rock'n'roller who gets a job subbing for the country's top grammer school by pretending he's Ned Shneeebly (sic). He takes over the class and teaches them the ABCs of Rock. The talented kids are all great as they learn the lesson well of how to stick it to the man.

And behind all the humor there's a serious message. Rock'n'Roll explodes at a time of societal rightwing oppression. Rock has been the way for half a century, the way to tell the man to "step off". Whether "the man" is oppressive parents, teachers, or other disciplinarians who rule our oppressive society. But there are some cracks in that oppression and that's where rock comes in. So turn on this 5 star movie and LET'S GET ROCKIN'! Ahh-aaahh-aaaaaaah-AAAAHH.