Dazed And Confused

Alright, let's do it.

I need to express my apologies first and foremost, for not seeing this movie until I was either a junior or senior in high school. And my opinion has not changed at all, I loved it the first time and love it just as much now. Which is odd because in terms of story there's hardly any. It's the characters or more accurately the performances and overall experience of the film is why people hold it so highly and with a lot of adoration. The story is just about teens in high school and junior high enjoying the last day of school and the subsequent evening in 1976. That's it. It's not even a, well we finished high school so what the hell do we do with our lives, kinda vibe. It's just following various groups of kids as they meander around the real town of Austin, Texas. No sets, no bullshit, just the real deal. And I think that's the perfect way to describe the film, it's the real deal. How the teens talk and act, what they do after finally getting out of school, for all intents and purposes in my head this might as well be fact. But that's what is to be expected, Richard Linklater produced, wrote, and directed this movie so it is 100% his baby and he does such good work with it all. It's such a fun, easily watchable, and highly quotable movie. Most everyone's favorite character is McConaughey, and he is brilliant but the rest of the cast do such great work it's hard not to give them credit. My personal favorite of the bunch is Slater, he just cracks me up and was my favorite long before the George Washington monologue he gives. Christ, it even has the best damn history teacher ever potrayed in cinematic history who flat out explains and gloriously so, the reasons why America even exists. I almost applauded. The soundtrack is also a slam dunk, with a perfect storm of late 60s/70s tracks, from Black Sabbath to ZZ Top to Bob Dylan. It's a soundtrack totally worth buying. I know this is just an unimaginable rainstorm of praise for this movie in all it's facets, but did anything happen that I hated? Yes, actually. Very severely if I can speak plainly. Not about the production but just the, for lack of a better word mentality of this town. It really struck me as a vicious cycle, seeing kids get brutally beat with paddles and sophomores be completely and quite honestly repulsively subjugated. And hardly anyone bats an eye at it. I'm serious man, watching those girls go through so much shit just left a scar on my heart that enrages me to this day and very truthfully makes me feel horrendous. It's f***ed up and there's no reason for it. I detest it with every last vestige of my soul and particle of my body. Which is the only reason why it doesn't get a 10/10! It's a solid 9/10 from me, 4 stars check it out! You're in for a trip man. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

School Of Rock

You know, for a movie over 15 years old (and you just let that sink in for a minute) it honestly hasn't lost any of it's charm or enjoyment for me.

I can't remember exactly when I first saw School Of Rock, I know I definitely rented it at one point so I must have been fairly young maybe 10 or so, but it has a lasting impression on me. More on that later but first, story time! So our story begins with our man Jack Black as a guitar player named Dewey that gets kicked out of his old band, and in need of a steady gig impersonates his roomate who's a substitute teacher and gets into a prep school. After learning about his student's musical talents he forms a rock band and grows a great relationship with the kids as they perfect their craft for a battle of the bands event. First off, there is no way in hell that this movie could have worked without Jack Black, I mean he has that energy and appeal plus he can totally act and even play. He's the best part of the movie, but his co-stars aren't outshined. These are cool kids, pretty much perfect acting from all with extra love and admiration going to Summer, Zack, and Tomika. Granted some kids are more in the background but they get their moments and with an ensemble cast this big it was unavoidable. Bottom line, the kids are awesome! But what's the point of talking about the movie if you don't bring up the soundtrack? I mean geez this film practically groomed me for my music taste! This film introduced me to a lot of artists that I've come to enjoy and appreciate like The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC, bands I didn't know much about when I was younger but now am big fans of them all. If you straight up asked me what my favorite band is, it's either Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, or The Doors, it really did influence me that much. The music selection no matter how brief is really, really good with even the original songs being great. Lord knows I'd take a music class like that where I could be introduced to lots of different groups and appreciate their styles and songs. It really puts you in a good if not great mood by the end, it's easy to get invested in the story, to enjoy these characters and their interactions together. Jack Black is so good in this movie, he can talk to these kids about their problems and issues and be completely genuine while still having fun and being crazy. It's a damn good movie man, what can I say? I do hate the whole liar revealed nonsense, cause you know they're just gonna go rock out anyway, those scenes no matter the movie are padding. Plain and simple. But beyond that is there anything I even slightly dislike? Nope, I love how the opening shot is kind of a long take, I love all the actors, the story is original and fun, the music is all kinds of awesome, not much at all to hate here! 4 stars! See it again if you grew up with it, introduce it to your kids if they dig that kind of music, have fun with it, rock out, you just go have a ball. Okay I have to tell this story cause I have such good memories of this movie, waaaay back during the summer of 2007 I was on break at my grandparent's house, and Cartoon Network pretty much had a marathon of this movie for about 3 days and all I did was watch the movie, play some Guitar Hero (both 1 and 2), and had a great summer. I pretty much had my own version of Woodstock and it was pretty far out, granted it wasn't as massive or as wild as Woodstock but I loved every minute of it so I'm always in higher spirits when the School Of Rock starts rolling credits. And what's summer without some great tunes?