Rock School (2005)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is the only DVD I have had so far that I have not managed to watch all of (and I've had Alone in the Dark!).After an hour of this American fool yacking on about how great he is and how well he can teach these children (apparently by shouting at them, humiliating them and being generally abusive)I couldn't take any more.It is simply one guy on an ego trip, he even states that he hates it if any of his pupils get better than him.A complete waste of time, would not have been made if it wasn't for the success of School of Rock, and shouldn't have been anyway.

I'm a bit late seeing this, but after seeing that Paul Green jerk I just had to vent my spleen. What an ARSEHOLE! He was obviously only teaching the school to sate his gargantuan ego, to feel superior to 9-year-olds about musical talent, and to dump on kids who deserve better. This guy needs to be banned from teaching ANYONE, if he insists on screaming abuse at kids who want to learn to play an instrument. Paul, go start a cult in Oregon, and when it's time for the Kool-aid, make sure you are first in line at the punch-bowl, you low-life. I actually liked watching this film, despite being appalled at the big baby teacher who felt so important that he put down depressive teenagers to elevate himself above them. What a sad little man he is.

The hard part about writing this review is separating my feelings about this man (Paul Green), his school (The School of Rock in Philadelphia), and the documentary about both (Rock School). Paul is an arrogant, selfish, and demeaning man, but his school produces some incredible talent, and the movie that director Don Argott made is clever, witty, and downright funny.Paul Green's "School of Rock" has 120 students, ages 9 through 17, who learn to play everything from Black Sabbath to Frank Zappa, and most importantly, Paul gets his students on stage and teaches them how to perform like a rock star. But he's horrible. He's like Simon Cowell in that really mean and insulting kind of way. But perhaps that kind of cruelty pushes them to work even harder and practice more to perfect their craft. He does everything that any other teacher today would instantly get sued for – he curses at them, yells at them, makes them cry, hits them, tells them that they "suck," and asks them if they love Satan (he does that to pump them up for the Black Sabbath concert they're about to put on).It's endlessly amusing to watch 9 year-olds wear all black, smear eyeliner all over their eyes, draw crosses on their foreheads, and write "OZZY" on their knuckles. And to see their mom doing all that for them is even funnier! The coolest moment of Rock School, however, is when the very top students are flown to Germany to play at "Zappanele", the largest Frank Zappa Festival in the world, and they perform with an original member of Zappa's band. Then, to have the original band member, plus the entire Zappanele audience, blow before them in praise (literally bowing!) was out of this world! Not every music student gets an experience like that.Argot does a great job at showing us all sides of Paul Green's personality. I hate him in one scene and love what he does for these kids in the next. If Rock School does anything, it will make you want to get off your butt and start practicing…what ever it is that you love. You'll want to pick up an instrument, or start painting, or get back to studying. This movie makes you want to be the best at something, and it makes you want to work for it.

I am surprised that so much of the negative response to the movie revolves around Paul's antics. If you watch the movie, with your eyes open, you can see that everybody is laughing through most of Paul's more volatile moments. If you are one of the people who is down on the movie because "I wouldn't let him do that to...", clearly they don't belong there. The truth is that Paul knows who can and can't take it and adjusts accordingly.The other criticism is generally... Does CJ really get anything from the school. I am one of CJ's biggest fans. Lets get that out of the way right now. But without the school, that allows him to play with equally talented people, he may be just like so many of the best guitar players that I have known.... the best guitar player in town in a local garage band with a revolving door membership that may get to play to the local drunks on Wednesday night for beer. Through his association with Paul, he has been to Zappanale, completed a west coast tour, been featured on MTV and played in more places than I can count. They do very well for each other.I will say that the movie was more than I expected going in... but I would have liked to see more of the Sabbath show.