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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Solaris (2002)

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commentary, DVD, dvd extras, extras, George Clooney, Jeremy Davies, love story, movie making, Natascha Mc Elhone, sci-fi, Viola Davis

Solaris (2002) Amazon
Director: Steven Soderbergh

This production of Solaris is not based on the Andrey Tarkovskiy Russian film Solyaris of 1972, but rather a new interpretation of the original Stanislaw Lem novel Solaris. This movie is really more of a love story between the two main characters rather than a science fiction drama. The production value on this production is second to none. The look created by Steven Soderbergh and production designer Philip Messina is absolutely wonderful. BTW, Steven was not only the director, but also the Cinematographer/Lighting Designer and Editor of the film.

• Running Commentary with Steven Soderbergh (director and screenplay) and James Cameron (producer)
• HBO Special: Inside Solaris
• Solaris: Behind the Planet
• Trailers
• Screenplay

The running commentary with Soderbergh and Cameron is very interesting. They discuss the film on an intimate level, a more personal level, as opposed to a technical analysis of the film. Man, I never had the opportunity to work with Cameron (back when I was in the industry) but, after listening to him on this commentary . . . well, IMO, this guy has one big ego. But, may be that’s what it takes to be one of the greatest directors in history. Anyway, they discuss just about everything about the film. I think, writers, producers, and directors will find the commentary interesting and informative.

HBO Special: Inside Solaris is a 13 minute piece. I did not know that George Clooney lobbied for the role and was, in fact, not the first and obvious choice for the part. He talks about the difficulty in taking on such a role. Jeremy Davies, Viola Davis, Natascha Mc Elhone, and Ulrich Tukur are also interviewed about their roles. They all give such good insight into their characterizations. This extra feature is also a visual treat.

Solaris: Behind the Planet is an 18 minute piece which is not only about the planet, but really about the entire film. Lots of behind the scenes footage, interviews, outtakes, production video, etc… A nice piece as you get a bit of everything. Including really cool screen tests from a few of the actors. The most famous is the legendary Ulrich Tukur (Dr. Gibarian) video tape where he does his monologue while the camera is pointed at his dog—the entire video! The last part of this extra goes into detail about the planet itself. Beautiful imagery and footage. Did you know they went to 4K resolution for the planet scenes? Man, remember, this is 2002! You also get to learn about some of the very cool set designs.

The trailers include two for Solaris and two for other movies.

The screenplay is text based and you need to forward through it. But, it appears to be complete. I do wish it were available as a pdf or rtf file so one could read it full screen or print it out. As it is, you can only read a few paragraphs at a time.

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

I give it ★★★☆☆

Victor

Everlasting Moments (2008)

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commentary, DVD, dvd extras, Everlasting moments, jan troell, movie making, swedish movies

Everlasting Moments (2008) Amazon
Director: Jan Troell

This has quickly become one of my favorite DVDs. Ever since the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series came out, I’ve begun to revisit Swedish movies and this one is a gem. Here is the plot in brief: “Sweden, early 1900s – an era of social change and unrest, war and poverty. A young working class woman, Maria Larsson (played by Maria Heiskanen), wins a camera in a lottery. The camera grants her the eyes to view the world, and empowers her over several decades to raise and nurture her family of six children and an alcoholic, womanizing and sometimes violent, although ultimately loving, husband Sigfrid Larsson (played by Mikael Persbrandt).”

The performances and the direction are superlative. Jan is an amazing Swedish director. I think if you are a student of film making the extras are a must view.

Extras are on disc two. The first disc contains the new HiDef digital transfer movie.

• New high-definition digital transfer
• Jan Troell’s Magic Mirror, an hour-long documentary about Troell’s life
• “Troell: Behind the Camera” Short documentary on the making of Everlasting Moments
• “The True Story of Maria Larsson” Documentary featuring photographs by the real Maria Larsson along with narration
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Armond White

Troell Behind the Camera is a wonderful documentary featuring Jan and most of the principle actors. jan talks about his thought process during production and before production giving you a bit of insight into his directing style. It is filled with on set videos showing cast and crew working. He also goes into the editing room as he makes critical decisions with his editor.

The True Story of Maria Larsson. As narrated by her distant relative Agneta Ulfsater-Troell and features the actual photos taken by Maria. She talks about the people, the places, the times in which Maria and her family lived.

Troell’s Magic Mirror is a documentary on the work and life of the director Jan Troell. It is fairly long at some 60 minutes, but it really shows the breath and significance of this international film maker.

It helps if you speak Swedish to get a more clear understanding, but the subtitles are a welcomed feature!

Along with this Criterion Collection DVD is a wonderful booklet by Armand White (film critic for the New York Press).

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

I give it ★★★★★

Victor

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