Monday

I saw School of Rock last night. It's another film I had avoided. It seemed annoying. But, last night, it was free and so was I. Also, scanning the TV guide I noticed what I had not known before: it's directed by Richard Linklater. Seeing as Dazed and Confused is one of my favourite films, I can't see how I didn't know this. Anyway, I sat down to begin watching it with some inquisitiveness. Very quickly I found out that this wasn't a Linklater film, it was a Jack Black one. It must be almost impossible to direct a man like that. He takes over every scene. Really, Linklater must have just let him go. There's very little there that you can say is directorial style. It's all about Black's performance - which, let's not kid ourselves, is amazing. The scene where he sings his perfect song is exceptional: one long take, slowly pulling away from him, as he sings, describes the lighting, mimes the action, and hums the guitar. Linklater must have just decided 'I'm going to let him go', and it works brilliantly. Of course, overall the sentiment of the film is trite, the battle of the bands concept over-used, but otherwise this is a pretty enjoyable film, with Jack Black at his best. It made me really want to go to Hollywood and be amongst this amazing generation of comedians - Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan - redefining film in the same way that John Belushi, Bill Murray and co. did in the late 70s/80s.