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| School of Rock DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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School of Rock
(Paramount Home Entertainment)
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| DVD Release Date:
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March 2, 2004
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| Length:
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109 mins.
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| Rated:
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PG
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| Format:
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Widescreen
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| Audio:
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Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital French 5.1 Surround
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| Subtitles:
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English Subtitles, Closed Captioned
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| Extras:
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Commentary by Actor Jack Black and Director Richard Linklater, Kids' Kommentary, Lessons Learned in "School of Rock", Jack Black's Pitch to Led Zeppelin, "School of Rock" Music Video, Kids' Video Diary: Toronto Film Festival, MTV's Diary of Jack Black, Dewey Finn's History of Rock (Interactive DVD-ROM Feature)
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"School of Rock" kinda has a special place in my heart. Most of this is probably because I first saw it last year at the Toronto Film Festival. I caught a press screening of the film and was fortunate enough to be on the front line for the film's world premiere. The Red Carpet - I was there. (Check out my pictures here.) I got calls and comments from so many people saying they saw me there - on Entertainment Tonight - on Access Hollywood - I was everywhere. I even saw a taped interview with Jack Black where I was hanging around in the background. It might seem stupid, but it was fun for me. And now, the DVD. If you look really, really, really closely in one of the features, you can kinda-sorta see me in the background. Wow. My first appearance on a DVD. I wish I had the tools to provide you with a look at my big scene.
In "School of Rock" Jack Black plays Dewey Finn, a rock star (in his own mind) who takes a substitute teaching job at a prestigious prep school in order to make ends meet. How does he get the job? He pretends to be his roommate - Ned Schneebly. (To this day, that name still makes me giggle.) So, he happens to overhear the kids in his class during their music lesson and gets the brilliant idea of putting these kids together as a rock group to compete in the upcoming Battle of the Bands. Want to learn more? Click here to read my original review.
The movie was a moderate success at the box office, earning just north of $80 million and it's now available on a pretty decent DVD. Decent how? Not only is the movie worth checking out, but they've put together a nice set of special features.
For features, we get two commentaries. The first features Jack Black and director Richard Linklater. Writer/co-star Mike White would have been there, but he had the flu. (We learn this during the commentary.) Anyways, this was a pretty good commentary. Black and Linklater have great chemistry and are very funny together. If I had to offer a criticism, it would be that they spend too much time being funny and not enough time providing insight about the movie. I think this is where Mike White was missed. He wrote the movie, and probably could have provided some more history.
A second commentary, provided by most of the kids from the movie, doesn't work as well. Don't get me wrong - they're great kids, but the commentary doesn't work. There's a lot of dead space where it seems like they have nothing to talk about, which is strange since there are 7 people there. You'd figure they'd have a lot more to talk about, but they don't. It's cute, and maybe it would appeal to kids, but it didn't appeal to me.
The first featurette we get is a great one titled "Lessons Learned in School of Rock". It's basically a behind the scenes look at the making of the movie, but it's so much more fun than your usual run-of-the-mill featurette. It's divided into nine different sections, covering all aspects of the making of the movie, from the beginnings of the script, to the rehearsals, to the big climax - the Battle of the Bands. In your ordinary behind the scenes feature, there's a lot of ass-kissing going around, but you won't find that here, which is what makes this featurette good. The only person kissing ass is Jack Black - and the only person whose ass he's kiss is his own, which is a big part of what make this so fun. (As a side note, I liked how they addressed the issue of the film's title. Was it "School of Rock" or "The School of Rock"? Watch this featurette to find out.)
The next feature is "Jack Black's Pitch to Led Zeppelin" where Black appeals to the gods of rock (apparently Zeppelin) to use one of their songs in the movie. The feature is introduced and concluded by Jack Black and is pretty funny and worthy of the DVD.
Be sure to check out the "School of Rock Music Video", It's hilarious, if only for Jack Black's hair. It looks like his hair was done by the same stylist from Weezer's video for "Buddy Holly".
Next up, you'll see my big scene in the featurette dealing with the Toronto Film Festival. The "Kids' Video Diary" follows the kids around Toronto as they prepare for and participate in the press conference and the world gala premiere of the movie. This was fun for me to be able to see places I know and places I've been - and of course, looking for shots of me in the background. The only part that ruined this feature for me was seeing Sarah Silverman again. Did she ever bother me. (She's also referenced in the film's first commentary by Jack Black and Richard Linklater. They talk about how she kept talking about diarrhea to make people laugh. Even at the premiere, she was signing autographs and talking about diarrhea. She just wasn't funny.)
The final featurette is "MTV's Diary of Jack Black". Here's MTV cameras give us a look at a day in the life of Jack Black. I feel like I'm saying this too much - but Jack Black is funny as hell, and this featurette only works to prove that. I wonder sometimes if the guy is always drunk - because that's how he seems. But, if he is, he's a funny drunk - and there's nothing wrong with that. Anyways, we get to see Jack at home (I'm glad they censored his naked ass), Jack at work - rehearsing with the kids for "School of Rock" and jamming for his real life band, Tenacious D - and Jack at play, ordering fast food and posing in front of a billboard of himself. If I have one complaint here, it's that this featurette wasn't long enough.
Slip the disc into your DVD-ROM and you'll get a couple of more features. There's a brief video looking at Jack Black's favourite bands, a segment of the audio commentary dealing with the famous "History of Rock" chalk board and finally, an in depth look at "Dewey Finn's Chalkboard of Rock". This is definitely the best feature here. Although it's a lot of reading with no visuals, it's a great look at the history of rock and the major artists and bands that have contributed to the music. Finally, there's a look at the film's official website.
I said in my original review that this is Jack Black's movie, and I'll say it here - this is Jack Black's DVD. And good for him - he deserves it. Sure, it's a kids movie, but it's worth checking out just for how fun it is. Couple that with some great special features and what can I say - this DVD rocks!
| The Movie: |
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7/10 |
| The Extras: |
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8/10 |
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