{"id":42180,"date":"2023-12-31T17:30:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T22:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=42180"},"modified":"2023-12-31T17:50:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T22:50:46","slug":"living-hardcore-school-of-rock-at-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/31\/living-hardcore-school-of-rock-at-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Hardcore: \u201cSchool of Rock\u201d at 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> One of the reasons I\u2019ve been such a rabid fan of Richard Linklater over the years is that he\u2019s able to jump back and forth between excellent indie films, to accessible mainstream films. It\u2019s amazing that the same man that gave us the cerebral existential masterpiece \u201cWaking Life\u201d is the same guy that gave us the rock and roll classic \u201cSchool of Rock.\u201d Linklater\u2019s family comedy is not just a musical gem, but also one that manages to appeal to the genius of classic rock.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Linklater is a man who clearly loves the seventies and with \u201cSchool of Rock\u201d he\u2019s a man who has a clear reverence for the decade’s art, using it not only as a source of needle drops to help punctuate certain twists in the narrative, but also as a tool to inspire and fuel these characters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Main character Dewey is even able to inspire self conscious stdent Tomika to break out of her shell with the help of Pink Floyd\u2019s \u201cThe Great Gig in the Sky.\u201d Linklater has every chance to really lean in to the tropes of these sub-genres of G rated films, but he applies only light pressure on the really important plot points. We know about the kids but their back stories aren\u2019t melodramatic at any instance. Instead they become motivation for their artistic frustration.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Jack Black who is allowed to pretty much run wild throughout \u201cSchool of Rock.\u201d While Linklater could have taken his character and turned him in to an inspirational role model, he\u2019s instead just kind of an over top jack ass\u2014but a lovable jack ass. Even through the very end when he learns how to work as a team and not hog the spotlight, it isn\u2019t some big moment of clarity. It\u2019s instead something he comes to naturally realize during the final number \u201cTeacher\u2019s Pet.\u201d Black is obviously let loose by Linklater who doesn\u2019t do much to rein him in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Black is just all over the board with hilarious one-liners, over the top physical comedy, weird double takes, and of course almost non-stop musical asides. With anyone else this would be obnoxious, but this is Jack Black. Period. Black is able to pull so much out of everyone he encounters, which is tough considering he spends an enormous amount of screen time with children that were not actors, but instead actually performers. Folks like the late Kevin Clark, Joey Gaydos Jr., Rivkah Reyes, and Maryam Hassam were all genuine music performers that deliver very solid and charming turns on screen.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s mainly because Black just has a knack for getting the best out of every co-star he shares the screen with, while never using the kids to pick fun at, but as a source of comedy. \u201cSchool of Rock\u201d is such a celebration about the importance of music and joy of rock and roll. Whether intentional or not Linklater spotlights this benefit it can offer not only in the realm of musical ability but how it provides confidence, enthusiasm, work drive, and so much more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cSchool of Rock\u201d has been such a classic that it inspired a hit musical and spin off TV show (it also acted as a launching pad for Miranda Cosgrove who appears here before her big debut on Nickelodeon), but neither have been able to manage the sheer energy that Black and Linklater brought to the original article.<\/p>\n

Twenty years later it\u2019s still a film for all ages that you can click in to and, as Jack Black always has always encouraged, sing along to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the reasons I\u2019ve been such a rabid fan of Richard Linklater over the years is that he\u2019s able to jump back and forth between excellent indie films, to accessible mainstream films. It\u2019s amazing that the same man that gave us the cerebral existential masterpiece \u201cWaking Life\u201d is the same guy that gave us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1572],"tags":[219,340,580,698,700,1493],"class_list":["post-42180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pcthugs","category-rockandrollny","tag-comedy","tag-family","tag-kids","tag-music","tag-musical","tag-rock-and-roll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42180"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42212,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42180\/revisions\/42212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}