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karmakelli
Reviews
School of Rock (2003)
Possible spoilers included - be warned
Maybe it's because I used to be a musician, but a plot based on a bunch of 10-year-olds becoming a better rock band than the seasoned vets is just too ridiculous. Their wealthy status-seeking parent's ultimate embrace of their kids' squandered semester studying "Immigrant Song" rather than multiplication tables is just too ridiculous. Black's character Dewey Finn remaining unchallenged for several weeks in his purloined identity as his substitute teacher roommate Ned Schneebly is just too ridiculous. I realize a certain suspension of disbelief is often necessary to make a movie work; but if that's the case, why not just have him flash lightning bolts from his eyeballs? It's about as believable. Anyone familiar with Black's work in Tenacious D (where their tour bus popping oat Satan's asscrack is assumed to be high hilarity) knows this guy's managed to escalate a third-place performance in a local air-guitar contest into an actual movie career. And I'm so tired of major corporations (Paramount) promoting the idea that "sticking it to the man" is better than actually studying in school. Anybody who's witnessed the internecine Hollywood movie culture knows a bigger group of kiss-asses you'll never find ... "School of Rock" is a phony film from beginning to end, along the lines of "Home Alone" or anything in the past decade starring Eddie Murphy.
Flight of Black Angel (1991)
Highly recommended, taut storyline, great aerial dogfights
Is it possible these days to tell a story -- a taut, relentless, no-fat-no-frills story -- in contemporary Hollywood? This 1991 effort by writer/director Jonathan Mostow reminds me of Steven Spielberg's "Duel" in its relentless pursuit of a linear take-no-prisoners storyline. No real characters, but who needs 'em? Let Merchant/Ivory wander through sanguine tepidity ... Mostow wants to grab you, must compel your attention -- he plies his craft for the MTV 15-second-attention-span generation.
I stumbled across this unknown gem flipping through cable stations one meandering Saturday afternoon, and immediately wondered why Hollywood hadn't discovered this amazing director. Then I searched IMDB and learned he recently finished directing "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." Hmm ... guess he was only anonymous to me.
The aerial dogfights are simply great. The maniacal plan of the wacked-out Crazy Christian Crusader main character is riveting, and Mostow's script seems plausible in its attention to military technology detail.
Highly recommended.