School of Rock (2003)

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comedy, commentary, DVD, dvd extras, extras, Jack Black, Richard Linklater

School of Rock (2003) Amazon
Director: Richard Linklater

Truly once in a great age do you get a film like this. I love School of Rock. A big fan of Jack Black. So, doing a review of the extras on this DVD was an easy task. If you are not a fan of his then you’ll probably loath the extras as he becomes the focus of it all. But, I liked it.

• Commentary by actor Jack Black and director Richard Linklater
• Commentary by the kids from the film
• “Lessons Learned”
• Jack Black’s pitch to Led Zeppelin
• Music video
• MTV’s diary of Jack Black
• Kids’ Video Diary from the Toronto Film Festival
• Dewey Finn’s History of Rock Interactive Feature
• Trailers
• Weblinks

I think you can skip the running commentary by the kids. Boring for an adult, but maybe children will find it fun.

School of Rock Music Video. Great fun had by all.

Kids’ Video Diary is an 8 minute video of them at the Toronto Film Festival Premiere. These are cool kids (we’ll they are adults now) and they are being . . . well . . . kids.

Theatrical trailers – are theatrical trailers.

MTV’s diary of Jack Black is a pretty funny 16 minute extra sort of a day in the life piece. Done with the humor only Jack Black can muster. It takes you from morning Jack to ‘School of Rock’ rehearsal Jack, to rehearsal with ‘Tenacious-D‘ Jack, all the way to bedtime Jack. It’s sprinkled with bits and clips from the movie.

Jack Black’s pitch to Led Zeppelin starts off with an introduction by Jack. It was Linklater’s idea to have Jack make an appeal directly to Led Zeppelin (during rehearsals for the concert scene) to use the Immigrant Song in the movie. It worked.

“Lessons Learned” is a 30 minute piece featuring on-set interviews, behind the scenes videos, and rehearsals. The kids are great, Jack is funny as always. There are 9 lessons/chapters in this Extra:

Lesson #1 Have a Vision: Mike White talks about how and why he wrote School of Rock.

Lesson #2 Form a Band: Interviews with the kids and how they came to be in the movie. 

Lesson #3 Rehearse A Lot: Jim O’Rourke the music consultant talks about his part in working with Jack and the kids. There are some funny clips of the kids talking about working with Jack.

Lesson #4 Creating a Code Name: Hmmm, Jack “The White Tiger” – “I don’t get it'”

Lesson #5 Safety First: WTF! jack starts a fire on the set! Silliness abounds.

Lesson #6 Know What to Film: Linklater discusses the making of the film and working with Jack.

Lesson #7: Remember the Past: starts out with Miranda Cosgrove (Summer) interviewing Jack. 

Lesson #8: End with a Bang!: focuses on the “Battle of the Bands” concert scene.

Lesson #9: Choose a Title: “Why School of Rock” instead of “The School of Rock”?

 

Dewey Finn’s History of Rock Interactive Feature (requires installation of InterActual.
A requirement that I hate BTW). Once installed you have three options:

1. Play DVD plays the movie as a digital file.
2. The “Chalkboard of Rock” features 1 minute segments and an interactive Chalkboard:

1. A video of Jack Black’s talking about his 5 favorite bands
2. Linklater and Black talking about the “Chalkboard of Rock” 
3. What is cool about this extra feature is the interactive “Chalkboard of Rock” which allows you to see the whole board and click on the individual music genres to reveal a more detailed history. Clicking on the individual musicians and bands gives you an even more detailed bio.

3. Web Site Archive allows you to explorer more goodies:

1. Including “The Film” with text based info about the film.
2. The Cast with small bios
3. Production Notes with character development and background info on the cast
4. More Behind the Scenes video clippets, Games and Downloads (like wallpapers et al).
5. A gallery of thumbnail images from the movie.
6. The Music lists the music in the film. But, it also has R.A.T. (Rock Aptitude Test) an interactive quiz on rock,  and Stage Dive Dewey which is a simple game where you get to make Dewey stage dive OR NOT.

I’m giving it 4 of 5 stars because the extras are mostly about having fun. Well done indeed, but not directed to those who want to learn more about the art of film making. I give it ★★★★☆

Victor

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Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tags

Ben Stiller, comedy, commentary, DVD, extras, Robert Downey Jr. Jack Black, Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder (2008) Amazon
Director: Ben Stiller

Ohhhhhh man, this is some funny sh*t! I really love this movie. Even for all the politically incorrectness controversy, it still has to be one of the funniest movies ever. And if you like the movie then you’ve got to watch the commentary and extra features. Because it’s as funny as the movie itself.

• Feature commentary with Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. (in character!).

• Blowing Sh*t up
• The Hot LZ
• The Cast of Tropic Thunder
• Make-up Test with Tom Cruise
• Full Mags
• Rain of Madness Trailer
• MTV Movie Awards – Tropic Thunder

 

This DVD has something for everybody IMO. Well, PTSD aside – for everybody else! The violence is over the top and graphic almost to ludicrous levels – even in the extra features. 

 

As mentioned before, the commentary is gold. Robert Downey Jr. never breaks character until the very end and well . . . you’ll just have to watch it yourself. Mostly they are reminiscing about their time on the set.

 

I liked Ben’s short commentary on the SF/X in “The Hot LZ” extra. Blowing Sh*t up extra gives you some insights into their filming process for the spectacular practical fire  effects. The “Cast of Tropic Thunder” extra is better than most with frank conversation and little gems through out. Personally, I thought Robert was robbed at the Oscars. He should have won. Nick Nolte is hilarious in the “Cast” extras. 

 

In the extra “Full Mags” you get to see great raw footage of Robert and Ben in a scene with close to a dozen running takes and Jack in another scene as well. Never seen a cool feature like this before in an extra. Rain of Madness is a mockumentary of the making of the movie. 

 

So, I’d say you have to check out the extras on this DVD.

 

I give it ★★★★★

 

Victor

 

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Tags

comedy, commentary, extras, love story, meg ryan, nora ephron, tom hanks, You've got mail

You’ve Got Mail (1998) Amazon
Director: Nora Ephron

There is a newer Deluxe Edition available but this review is on the standard edition DVD. (oddly enough the deluxe edition is much cheaper than the standard edition).

• Musical score on alternate audio track
• Behind-the-scenes documentary: “HBO First Look: A Conversation with Nora Ephron”
• Interactive map tour “Discover New York’s Upper West Side”
• Running commentary with Nora Ephron & Lauren Shuler Donner
• DVD ROM Extras: Original Call Sheets, compare scenes with the original Shop Around the Corner and In the Good Old Summertime, read all the mail sent between the characters, screensaver, poster, web links, etc…

The running commentary with Nora Ephron & Lauren Shuler-Donner is one of those “Let’s chat about the movie” extra features rather than a critical analysis of the art of movie making. AND THAT’S OK! I really enjoyed the relaxing chatting and remembrances of the movie by these two. As you may know we lost Nora this past year (1941—2012) so it was nice to hear her voice and to feel the enjoyment she had making films. The commentary focuses a lot on the locations as it was shot in NY and the Upper West Side is as much a character in the film as any. They talk about the incredible acting by Tom Hanks and the chemistry he has with his co-star Meg Ryan.

The “HBO First Look: A Conversation with Nora Ephron” really focuses on her and her life in movies. Not so much on the movie itself. Nice piece however.

There is an interactive map of the Upper West Side neighborhood and clicking on each of the location dots on the map opens up a mini editorial video piece by Nora and Lauren.

As for the DVD-ROM features. Well, no very interesting and not very effective. It is, after all 1998), and it works only on a PC. A number of short clips from interviews of the actors, the Call Sheets are interesting only if you know what one is and how to read it! Screen saver doesn’t work – does anyone use screen savers anymore?

So, I’d say you still have to check out the extras on this DVD.

I give it ★★★☆☆

Victor