School of Rock!

"You wouldn't tell Picasson to sell his guitar!"

is this movie basically an extended version of Yo La Tengo's "Sugarcube" video (with Bob Odenkirk & David Cross)?

cuz that's what it looks like.

The song that really seemed incongruous to me in the movie (though it SOUNDED fine -- it's a really good song) was "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" by the Ramones, about Ronald Reagan visiting Nazi graveyards in Germany in the '80s. And it was in there a LONG time, for some reason.

I think I'll wait to see this one on cable.

I would kill to see a feature-length version of that. But apparently School of Rock isn't that.

But yes, pretty soundtrack.

That said, it probably won't come to Singapore for at least another six months.

Chuck is the first person in history to confuse Belle & Sebastian with Sigur Ros.

As for the movie, I've seen a clip of it and it looks good, so will prolly go see it.

Who else could have taught the School of Rock?

i HEART linklater, he roX0r

also, both David Cross and Bob Odenkirk need the other one to be really funny. Each balances the other, and reigns in their negative traits.

OTM

Anybody want to make the predictable Michael Jackson joke? No? Oh well.

Great kids movie.

(whoops, x-post)

Well, I'm just blessed I guess.

Even the token family-of-squares-eats-food-with-weed-in-it episode didn't make me laugh, and I always laugh at those episodes of shows, even when they're retarded.

I actually thought for half a second that the writer slipped that line in as a sick joke, until the 'and I touched them', followed by realising stares and Jack Black running away from the parents over-egged the point. Weird to see a whole film that has almost no love, sex or romance in it - probably because of the 'kids and teacher' scenario - and then that one line gets shoved in there. Oh, and that annoying girl who finds out groupies were 'sluts' after she researches them on the internet.

Spent the whole film waiting for the 'Jack Black gets found out, the school fires him and the kids all pull together to get him the job back' moment, and wasn't surprised when it happened.

I'm in two minds about this. The film made absolutely no attempt to show Jack Black teaching the kids anything other than music, not even using music as a way to teach them the stuff they should be learning. Stuff like the science involved in string-plucking, which historical figures played music ("Umm, sir, didn't Bill Clinton play the saxophone?" "That's right, have a gold star") and which sort of music comes from where in the world ("Yes, the French horn originated in France where the national anthem is... blah blah blah").

Fortunately the film concentrated on the rock and the Jack Black character remained a completely immoral chancer.

The other funny part was with the kids standing around coughing outside the audience, and drummer kid lying in the road, getting up to celebrate getting the audition and falling over again. Also the nicknames for the kids when Jack Black lined them up against the black board near the beginning.

Yes. Yes it did bother me.

Had it not been a complete stoned retard of a movie anyway, I might be tempted to say: Hey, was anyone else bothered by the fact that THREE different prominent female characters in the movie are basically being told to stop being such bitches -- Silverman's character, Cusack's character, and even the goody-goody little girl, which sort of grossed me out, although at least the theme was dropped early on with her.

What was I on about up there? I love this movie!

I once tried to watch this movie on DVD. The charming qualities of Jack Black's character escaped me entirely and because he was onscreen constantly, I found this movie as delightful as having my head abraded by an industrial grinder. The kids were plenty cute, but that only goes so far when Jack Black is always there, Jack Blacking up the screen. After about 45 minutes I ejected him. Poor kids. They never stood a chance.

I need to watch this again. I remember being delighted by it at the time, but the portrayal of the queer fashionista kid bothered me both then and now. It isn't that he is an obviously gay kid who likes outrageous fashion that annoys me, but rather that by the end of the film, he's the only one of the students who is still left sneering at Black's whole project (even the "goody-goody girl" discussed upthread has come around to him well before the end). Linklater's inability to properly represent queer folk in his films--generally through absence, though here for homophobic stereotype--may be the oddest recurring flaw in his work.

the thing i hate about this movie is how Black seems to think it's ok for the kids to learn no curriculum outside of music for the school year.

Probably why as much as I liked this movie as a twentysomething, it would have likely been my absolute favourite movie ever as a child.

I woulda been crushed that we were skipping dinosaurs

I wouldn't hold it up as a model of responsible citizenry, but I have come to love the film.

I think the ending was too schlocky for me but the opening of Jack being in a band was pretty hilarious.

I wouldn't hold it up as a model of responsible citizenry, but I have come to love the film.

― clemenza, Sunday, May 3, 2015 12:09 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I feel like this statement could be applied to most films that I love.

I know what you mean, though, cryptosicko. I've shown it to my last few classes towards the end of the year, and I always wince when the gay kid speaks (even though I laugh at his Liza Minnelli line). I always get the feeling only a few kids in my class get the joke.

"the thing i hate about this movie is how Black seems to think it's ok for the kids to learn no curriculum outside of music for the school year"

I think this is okay! Fuck curriculum.

I find this movie highly entertaining, but it's definitely better the less you think about any of the implications of it.

he's the only one of the students who is still left sneering at Black's whole project

We watched it last night and I don't remember this. This kid (Billy iirc) designed p. cool outfits for the whole band, including a 'schoolboy' outfit for Dewey (Black's character) himself that he insisted that Dewey wear for the Battle of the Bands ("You wanted to go with the uniforms so put it on; quick").

I think the treatment of Summer (the 'goody-goody girl') as a character is pretty great, actually. Dewey might start out trying to suppress her but he ends up empowering her in a managerial role, which she takes to precociously and enthusiastically, obsessively studying David Geffen. She's totally calling the shots by the end, telling Black what to do. Silverman's character (Patty iirc) could have maybe been treated a little better.

Also, Dewey was pretty clearly being a selfish ass when he was teaching the kids nothing but music so he could win a Battle of the Bands and pay the rent. (I thought he was only substituting for a few weeks, though?) The long-term solution in the conclusion of setting up an after-school program was the better one, obv.

I last saw the film much longer ago than last night, so my memory is perhaps not as trustworthy as yours, but I thought the way it went was that Billy designed some super flamboyant outfits that Black (and the others?) scoffed at, at which point the kid was just like "why don't you just wear your uniforms then?" Like, other than a sarcastic retort, he doesn't contribute or get taken seriously in any way.

That happens maybe halfway through the movie. Dewey replied: "You know, that's not a bad idea", to Billy's dismay. At the Battle of the Bands, Dewey asks different kids about their jobs: "Frankie, how's security?.. What about lights?..." and asks "Billy, how's beautification?", to which Billy responds "Are you kidding?". Right before they play, Billy hands Dewey a big bag. Dewey asks "What's this?" Billy replies: "You wanted to go with the uniform so put it on. Quick." Dewey wears the 'uniform' that Billy made during the whole performance.
(http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/school-of-rock-script-jack-black.html)

Very funny flick. But was anybody but me bothered that the bassplayer girl didn't get to take a solo at the end, like everybody else did??
― chuck, Monday, October 6, 2003 12:26 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they fixed this in the Broadway version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=refCJcJJZso

https://pagesix.com/2019/03/05/school-of-rock-star-facing-felony-charges-for-guitar-theft/

Shared this with my daughter this morning, she's playing Patty in her school's musical this month

That's not cool, Zack. That's not rock 'n' roll.

Pretty hardcore, though.

I can only hope he had his goblet-of-rock face on when they picked him up.

Went to an early screening of this at a London rep this morning. My love and admiration for it deepens every time; I can't believe I was somewhat neutral on it when it came out. I'd forgotten there was a thread on it already--on the way home, I was thinking of possible thread titles if there wasn't. Joan Cusack's big line to all the parents practically makes me tear up it's so funny/perfect.

A Zoomcast on pop music--"Bonzo Goes to Bitburg," basically--in School of Rock.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDO_rK6qpAs

Episode 90--we're done.

Well. (Short version: the actual School of Rock guy is a creep and worse.)

https://archive.is/MMz2D

Well, the most famous line in the film definitely will hit different after reading that.

I have no insight as to the guy's behavior, but have friends who have instructed at the school, and I strongly dislike the rationale of what this guy has achieved— I mean, I suppose the schools are an achievement. And if anyone has some experience with yourself or your kids getting involved with the schools, I'd really like to hear about it.

It is fair to say that the activity anyone on this board cares about and is here for, but for the purposes of this discussion we will call rock and roll or pop music, was achieved by individuals not going to school and learning proper technique from, say, some mooks wearing Zildjain t shirts. Absolutely anyone discussed on this board figured out what to do on their own, or with their friends, either by rehearsing together, or developing their solo thing in solitude, honing whatever it is that will eventually make someone beyond their immediate circle notice, which would hopefully be followed by, shall we say, belief.

anyone in the category outlined above can apprentice with a mentor musician. And/or they can listen to what they respond to and identify with, and then forge their rendition. But to enroll in some Philly dipshit's school, premised around this dipshit's rockist views as to what constitutes proper rock music, which in my understanding is based on the most basic shithead's canon of chops rock, although I guess Ween and Buttholes serve as slight progress from Zappa/Yes/Beatles/"this is real musicianship." What black music (beyond Hendrix) is part of this Philly dipshit's canon?

one cannot achieve in the western art music tradition without conservatory training, and it was ever thus. And in the past 60 years, if one wants to succeed in Jazz music, one must go to school —it could be argued that the moment the jazz tradition became acceptable for pedagogy was the moment it ceased to have genuine popular support. And it would seem in the past two decades, there has been an effort for higher eduction to present music industry schooling, including songwriting and production, particularly at my Alma Mater, NYU, which I largely dislike.

For many years, people I tend to dislike have lamented the end of "rock music," and I typically think that the demise of the one kind of music those people can only seem to value on will be fine, or is at least inevitable. What I will lament is when kids are only going to succeed in music by doing what some industry hack at NYU says they should, likewise some creep who didn't make it in the 90s and instead harangues kids into learning "Siberian Khatru" by rote. When kids no longer figure it out for their goddamn selves, there will no renewal, and the experiment begun in the mid 50s commingling R&B and country, but also prioritizing amateurs rewriting the rules, will be over.