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School Of Rock [2004]


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £3.25 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Turbo-charged comic Jack Black shakes School of Rock to its foundations, wailing with born-again metalhead passion as Dewey Finn, a guitarist who gets kicked out of a band because he grandstands too much--or, to put it another way, enjoys himself. Through an intercepted phone call, Finn gets a job as a substitute teacher for a fifth grade class at a private grade school. Neither students nor teacher quite know what to do with each other until Finn discovers that some of his young charges can play instruments; at once he starts turning them into a blistering rock & roll troupe that can crush his former band at an upcoming competition. School of Rock is silly and formulaic, but director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), writer Mike White (The Good Girl), and especially Black and co-star Joan Cusack invest the formulas with such glee that the movie is irresistibly fun. --Bret Fetzer

On the DVD: Like the movie, the DVD extras are smarter and a lot more entertaining than your average flick. The making-of feature ("Lessons Learned") has the usual behind-the-scenes banter but Jack Black is in fine form--that is, something special--interviewing as much as being interviewed about the making of the film. His unique pitch to Led Zeppelin to use their song is alone worth the price of the DVD. Black is more his maniacal self and a bit more grating in MTV's Diary segment, but his commentary track with director Richard Linklater is as insightful as it is funny. Ok, it's a lot more funny, but entertaining throughout. The commentary track featuring just the kid actors is less so, but any preteen would love listening to it. To top it off, the DVD-ROM has Dewey Finn's instantly famous blackboard history of rock. You can drill down to the bands mentioned and get a brief history of each. --Doug Thomas


School of rocks and pebbles and stuff...yeah something like that...
Review date: 2008-08-13 Rating: 2 out of 10

School of Rock never appealed to me...for a good reason: it sucks, like a vampire let loose a school hall full of female teachers. The only good and funny part was the guy in front me and my friend danced with two pencils, hitting his maths book repeatedly, in time to the poor music. Well, I say music, I should say urine. With ants in it.
To describe the story, a man needs money so he pretends to be a famous school teacher to be a substitute for when the real teacher was unavailable. The man turns out to be a rock star that no-body is a huge fan of (I wonder why (?)). For example, most of the audience said that he sucked.
He tried to teach the children how to play rock music (which reminds me, if you are a Christian then don't ever watch this because you will find it offensive as he suddenly talks about some phoney rock god...I mean, what the funk is that about. It's freaking random. Since when has there been a rock god?).
Jack Black's performance was astounding considering the awfully moronic character he was cast as...but the child actors? Not so much astounding as retard-ish, even the smart girl was impaired!?
In short, don't watch this film it's just tooo...bad.

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Reviews


Jack Black at his best.
Review date: 2008-07-31 Rating: 10 out of 10

I watched this film for the second time a couple of nights ago and had forgotten just how good it made me feel at the end. One reviewer described it as a guilty pleasure. I would agree with that, but in anyone else's hands, this story would have become sickly sweet and ridiculous. However, Jack Black gives an utterly brilliant and believable performance as the failed and bitter guitarist, just dumped by his Rock Band and out to make a quick buck to appease former band member flatmate Ned (now a relief teacher), and Ned's nagging girlfriend.
He interceps a phone call offering Ned the post of a stand-in teacher at a posh prep school and decides to take the 'gig' himself, despite having no teaching experience. Once in the job, he soon drops his first plan (to have a six hour recess every day) when he discovers that some of the children are musically gifted, so he decides to change their 'classical' outlook to form a Rock band to compete at the 'Battle of the Bands' competition.

Although Black's original intentions are selfish, his influence on the children is positive as you can't help feeling that his anarchic teaching methods are bringing balance to their otherwise stuffy education. He manages to find each child's strengths and gives them tasks within the Band that show them what they are capable of, thus increasing their self-confidence and self-esteem. This fact is not lost on the Principal a closet rock-chick played by the brilliant Joan Cussack, who is very supportive of him.

The climactic scene is both hilarious and up-lifting as Black (dressed like Angus Young from AC/DC in an ill-fitting school uniform) and the children take to the stage to 'kick-some-ass' in front of an audience that includes their outraged parents. Even the final credits had me laughing out loud and showed that Jack Black was probably not acting at all but just being himself. When it was all over, my first impulse was to watch it all over again.

This film is definately recommended if you like Jack Black, if you like Rock music or if you just want a feelgood film to take you out of yourself. Five stars is not enough!

wow!
Review date: 2008-07-23 Rating: 10 out of 10

this film is amazing! the great songs, jack blacks one liners and the great kids really make this film! shame the Cd soundtrack doesnt contain all the songs from the film = but this is a must see for anyone!!

I used to like jack black
Review date: 2008-03-03 Rating: 2 out of 10

Until I saw this self indulgent rubbish. First off, it is supposed to be a comedy but nearly all the attempts at humour are painfully unfunny. Jack Black just comes off as irritating, the kids are damn annoying. PANTS. In fact it was so bad I havent watched anything with jack black in since.

This film ROCKS!!!!
Review date: 2007-05-29 Rating: 10 out of 10

How can it not, with Jack Black?! He makes the film hilarious with his over-the-top rokin' 'n' rollin'. The way he walks into a private school, turns it upside down and tries to make a band out of a bunch of school kids is such an unusually story line. But it makes it fabulous!!!!. I absolutely love this film and so will you........well if you have a sense of humour!! So I would highly recommend it. Also this particular DVD has many special features to keep you amused after the film.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Jack Black|Mike White|Joan Cusack

Creators:
Jack Black|Mike White|Joan Cusack (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437843234
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2004-07-12
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 105 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2003-10-03
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)

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