IDF's Film Club - A Casual Rankdown - Nov/Dec #3 Posted - Jan/Feb Theme Posted

[Alex95]

4. School of Rock

4.83/9

Directed by Richard Linklater

Starring Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, Sarah Silverman, Miranda Cosgrove

Music / Comedy

United States

92% RT / 82 MC / 3.8 LB

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@Alex95 - 3/9

@FrogLenzen - 4/9

@~Tom~ - 5/9

@Steven_ - 5/9

@totes4totes - 6/9

@NGM - 6/9

 

Alex

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MVP: Joan Cusack

Favorite Scene: Dewey inspires Tomika

 

God, I love this movie. Honestly, I just sat there with the world’s biggest smile on my face for the entire runtime. Yes, on paper this movie is horrifying. Lowlife loser who refuses to pay rent steals his friends identity and kidnaps a bunch of children for a battle of the band competition. But they manage to make it work? That just speaks to the magic of Richard Linklater, Mike White and Jack Black. I still find myself rooting for Dewey despite all that. I think the characterization of Patty as the “nagging girlfriend” is the only thing that doesn’t age well because truthfully, she didn’t tell a single lie. But other than that, they managed to sell this problematic plot really, really well.

The relationship Dewey forms with the kids is naturally the heart of the movie. Dewey reassuring Tomika that fat people can be sexy and rock honestly has done more for body positivity than like 99% of films. And Dewey letting Billy be the band stylist is beautiful. And Dewey’s relationship with literally every band member. My one “complaint” about Linklater films is I’m always sad it’s over. With something like this or Everybody Wants Some!! I always want to spend more time with the characters. I honestly feel like this movie would’ve worked really well as a mini-series. Could’ve focused more on the kids and developing them. For as much as I can praise the way the movie handled Tomika and Billy, I wish they had the time to develop them and the rest of the kids even more!

All the leading performances are so good and this movie fails without Jack Black’s charisma and commitment. But I would be remiss if I went this entire writeup without praising my queen Joan Cusack. What a comedic force she is in this movie. Every line reading is just pure genius. “I’ve just been informed that all your children are missing ” lives in my mind rent free. She has not been utilized in film and television the way she deserves since the golden years of Shameless and we must fix that ASAP! Anyways, I just love everything about this movie. The ultimate comfort movie.

 

Derek

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basically just Jack Black the Movie featuring kids. it’s still really cute and fun. Maaaaybe I was slightly more on the side of the concerned parents this time around but I think it aged fine. Lauren walking in and seeing part of it… “who is that guy, why do I know him???” ROGER FROM RENT. then walking in and seeing the credits “wait why does Adam Pascal sound familiar” BECAUSE IT’S ROGER FROM RENT. "Cello you've got a bass" remains one of the most iconic lines in cinema for me personally.

 

Tom

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While I like School of Rock overall, I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan and I'm not much of a Jack Black fan either. The premise is that after being kicked out of his rock band No Vacancy, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of an elementary private school with an uptight principal, to try and turn his class into a rock band and attempt to win the upcoming Battle of the Bands and use the winnings to pay his rent. It has its hilarious parts and has t fair share of one-lines: "You're tacky and I hate you".

 

Steven

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Somehow I never watched School of Rock until now. I've known about it; it's a pretty popular movie after all. I did have high expectations for this film. It didn't quite reach those expectations, but I still enjoyed it enough to place it right in the middle of my ranking. I think Jack Black does great work here, and he's in his comfort zone in a role like this. I guess I was just expecting more from the plot. Most of the movie takes place in the classroom, and there's really nothing else going on outside of these music lessons. And what we know about these characters are surface-level too. But it's just supposed to be a family-friendly comedy, and it does succeed as that.

 

Megan

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LOL Jack Black going on a "tank my goodwill" speedrun.

 

Nico

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Can we get this Jack Black back?

 

[Alex95]

On 5/1/2023 at 2:15 PM, Alex95 said:

Once

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Whiplash

Final three

[totes4totes]

4 hours ago, Alex95 said:

Whiplash

Omg. I just realized it’s been 10 years since Whiplash was released. Somehow I thought it was released in 2017/2018

[Steven_]

I predict Whiplash ranks #1. 

[Alex95]

3. Rocky Horror Picture Show

4.67/9

Directed by Jim Sharman

Starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn

Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror / Comedy

United Kingdom / United States

80% RT / 65 MC / 4.0 LB

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@~Tom~ - 2/9

@totes4totes - 2/9

@Alex95 - 2/9

@NGM - 5/9

@FrogLenzen - 8/9

@Steven_ - 9/9

 

Tom

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As a horror fanatic, I felt oblgated to rank this on top, but Whiplash still won out.

 

Megan

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A CLASSIC. I need more movies like this. Working on a shoe string budget. With actors just giving their all.

 

Alex

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MVP: Tim Curry

Favorite Scene: Sweet Transvestite

 

There’s some very legitimate criticism of this movie. Is there much of a plot? The visual effects are laughable. Its portrayal of transness and consent are problematic at best. Do I care about any of this? Absolutely not. I LOVE everything about this movie. First of all, the music. A lot of us got creative with our choices for this round, which is fine. But this is what you want when you’re looking for a musical. Every single song was a banger. Catchy, memorable songs that you just want to listen to over and over again. Sweet Transvestite, Touch Me, Science Fiction/Double Feature. Just a handful of the many songs from this soundtrack I’m obsessed with.

Also, I forgot what it was like for a movie to be filled with just unbridled sex appeal. We are in such a sexless age of film and Rocky Horror just let every character let their freak flag fly. Tim Curry is not who someone thinks of when they think of the sexiest actor, but my God, he is everything in this movie. As is the entire cast. Even Brad!

Speaking of Tim Curry, what a performance! One of my favorite performances in film history. Tim Curry is so gloriously over-the-top and committed to this role. And then “I’m Coming Home” happens. His facial expressions during that number brings me to tears. I love how much this movie means to so many people. My dad was one of those people who went to midnight screenings with friends. I’ve unfortunately never done that, but I’ve seen it with friends. It’s actually been a minute since I’ve watched it so it really was such a joy to revisit. Just an amazing time of a movie.

 

Nico

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I go back and forth with whether I liked it or not, right now I'm highish on it so I'm putting it here

 

Derek

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I feel like I'm the exact demographic for what this is supposed to be but I never got into this. I do enjoy it more than a lot of other cult stuff that I don't consider myself a member of. Like I know a lot of the lines and the songs and I don't hate rewatching and I can catch most references to this in other media. But it just feels like I'm slightly out of the loop about it and I don't have a strong feeling of wanting to be in the ingroup lol idk

 

Steven

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Most of these nine films were interchangeable for me, so it was tough to rank them. However, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was an easy last place for me. Sorry to fans of this film, but this was the movie I enjoyed the least. It was just too campy for me. I expected it to be campy, but there really was no plot to this movie either. It was just nonsensical and bizarre. I expected better since this film has a cult-like following, but this isn't a movie I'd want to watch again.

 

[FrogLenzen]

I didn't expect Rocky Horror to be this high but I can't say it doesn't deserve.

 

And I am pleased about the Top 2

[Alex95]

2. Once

4.5/9

Directed by John Carney

Starring Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová

Music / Drama / Romance

Ireland

97% RT / 90 MC / 3.9 LB

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@FrogLenzen - 1/9

@NGM - 2/9

@totes4totes - 3/9

@~Tom~ - 6/9

@Alex95 - 7/9

@Steven_ - 8/9

 

Derek

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Remember that time Chris cut this from the rankdown. I don't and won't. It’s been a while since I’d seen it, can you believe I'm almost the male lead's age in this when I used to be the female lead's age when the movie came out? Time just keeps marching on. Anyway I can still confirm. Masterpiece. There’s a lot that I feel I shouldn’t like about it but it is just magical and it all works for me. idk if I’ve ever fallen in love with a character in a movie as much as I fall in love with Markéta in this. There’s Grace Kelly and Jodie Foster movie superstar power and then there’s actresses like this that grab me in a different way but just as strongly. This movie makes me cry every time, the ending is so regular and also perfect. Absolutely in my Top 20 of the decade and it was hella robbed in the rankdown. 

 

Nico

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I like the movie but ngl this ranking is heavily carried bc I love the music in it a lot.

 

Megan

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Had this been like 2009 this would have easily been my #1. I saw this on Broadway. I can still sing all the songs. It is a movie that like hugely impacted me then. I listened to that soundtrack on a loop. It's so heartbreaking! Anyway, it still holds up but doesn't affect me in the same way.

 

Tom

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I initially watched once as the 2000 films rankdown was coming to a close. I put it above Rent and Phantom of the Opera, but below others like Across the Universe and Moulin Rouge. While Once has a beautiful soundtrack, the romantic storyline, as you might suspect, bored me at times.

 

Alex

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MVP: Markéta Irglová

Favorite Scene: "Lies" montage

 

Since this is a music round, this could've been my second as it's my favorite soundtrack behind Rocky Horror. But this was such a competitive category with a lot of movies I love, I couldn't rank this any higher. John Carney's a very interesting director to me. Very hit or miss. While this is not Sing Street, I still love Once. Very reminiscent of the "Before" trilogy, but with Irish people, no love story and more singing. Despite this technically not being a love story, the chemistry was palpable between the two leads. For two untrained actors, they really made me believe. It's no wonder they got together when making the movie. I don't know why more actors don't (this brings us back to Musica lol).

Anyways, as a plot, it's fine. We don't need more of a plot tbh. Just good music and good vibes. That's what this movie brings us. While "Falling Slowly" ended up being the hit of the movie, and deservingly, damn near every song in this movie deserved the same level of recognition. Sometimes I just play the soundtrack as background music when I'm working.

 

Steven

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I was looking forward to watching Once, so I was disappointed that I ended up feeling underwhelmed by it. I don't think it was bad though. I was just hoping to have been more impressed by it. There's a simplicity to the movie, and it does adds to its charm. The leads have a nice chemistry too, but I can't say I was really rooting for these characters to be a couple either. By the end of the film, I just thought it was a nice film. Not bad, but not particularly memorable for me either. The highlight of the film was "Falling Slowly."

 

[Alex95]

1. Whiplash

1.5/9

Directed by Damien Chazelle

Starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, Melissa Benoist

Drama / Music

United States

94% RT / 89 MC / 4.4 LB

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@~Tom~ - 1/9

@totes4totes - 1/9

@Alex95 - 1/9

@NGM - 1/9

@FrogLenzen - 2/9

@Steven_ - 3/9

 

Tom

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I am not musically inclined, but I was engrossed in Andrew's journey and JK Simmons' perofrmance as Fletcher. Apparently it was shot in just ten days! Unreal.

 

Megan

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LOL if Damian Chazelle hadn't done La La Land, I'd be hailing him as like a genius visionary director for this movie. But then it just turns out that he likes telling jazz stories explicitly through white people! Anyway, that dig aside, this is really an excellent movie. Just high quality all around. It's shockingly intense in a way that I think I wasn't expecting when I first watched it.

 

Alex

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MVP: J. K. Simmons

Favorite Scene: Finale

 

“I’d rather die drunk, broke at 34, and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remembered who I was.”

Yeah when Nico submitted this one I knew it was all over for me. There’s a lot of films I love here so it was an interesting race for 2nd, 3rd, etc. But my first place was locked up before even watching/rewatching any of these. Whiplash is possibly my favorite movie of all-time? Whiplash, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Frances Ha are the three I go back and forth on depending on my mood. And with Frances Ha I admit there are flaws, but it’s such a personal movie for me I ignore them. And Royal Tenenbaums I’ve only seen twice! Honestly, I’m terrified to rewatch it in case it doesn’t live up to the pedestal I’ve put it on in my head. Then there’s Whiplash. I’ve watched this movie at least half a dozen times. And each time it’s as amazing as the last. I can definitely admit it helps that I got to screen it with Damien Chazelle during a masterclass. Having an experience like that is a once in a lifetime thing and the other films just did not have the same chance. Maybe I’d rank Baby Driver first if I got to watch it with Edgar Wright? But Whiplash was an all-time favorite film of mine before that. And I think it holds up even with any sort of bias aside.

It just combines so many of my favorite elements. I’m a drummer. Love a movie about a drummer. I think art is so valuable, but I love examining pushing yourself past your limit for your art. I mentioned back in the films per year game that’s what I love about Boogie Nights, and though it may be a weird comparison, I think it works for that and Black Swan and Whiplash. I feel so many emotions during the finale. Horror, but also a bit of jubilation? He f*cking did it. This was all that mattered to him and he did it! But holy shit, this is all that mattered to him! JK Simmons rightfully gets all the praise for this movie cause, Jesus what a performance. But Miles Teller is at his absolute best here. He makes Andrew just pitiful and nice enough that you want to root for him. But they don’t shy away from making him an assh*le. The way he treats his family and Nicole. Another underrated MVP here is Paul Reiser! Very little to do, but he makes every second he’s on screen count. His face during the final scene is so impactful. It brings you back down to reality of the level of abuse that is happening. You get off the high of Andrew successfully showing Fletcher up to see his father’s face of mainly horror. Really difficult close-up work from Reiser that he absolutely nails. I can write an essay about Paul Reiser’s character alone despite the fact that he has 10 minutes of screentime max.

I can write an essay about damn near every scene in this movie. The breakup scene. The first date. The family dinner. The drumoff between him and Ryan. I focused on the finale because it’s my favorite scene. But I mean don’t get me started on the car crash scene which is placed perfectly in the movie. You’d think Andrew getting in an accident and still going to his show is a bit of a jumping the shark moment but it’s not. It just works. Everything in this movie works! The film has humor. It’s dangerous. I’m on the edge of my seat. It’s heartbreaking. It’s realistic. It’s not too short. It’s not too long. Just a perfect movie. 10/10 just obsessed.

 

Nico

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I toyed with putting this last bc at times Andrew reminds me too much of how I was at competitions and at work. But this is also such a fantastic movie and it works as a really good wake-up call when I really need it to reset and let go of really bad habits. While the performances of JK Simmons and Miles Teller got a ton of praise (as they should) this is still probably the Chazelle film for me when I think about his work.

 

Derek

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Okay, to be clear. I did not go to the #1 music conservatory in the country. I went to an above-average music school within a large public university. But I was a music performance major. And this is basically a horror movie… I just had a music school nightmare last week and this is not going to help. ummmmmmmmmm do I like it? was it good? different questions. I probably don't like this movie. I don't think I will watch it again unless I have to lol. But I think it is an extremely extremely good film. Do I want to watch a movie where there are extended montages of practicing? not really. Do I want multiple sequences of someone being late to a concert performance?? losing music folders??? Waiting for a conductors downbeat to start a concert???? having the wrong sheet music for a performance?????? absolutely not. That was literally me too many times and being late to concerts was why a conductor eventually stopped letting me in his orchestra lololol. Please take a gun and shoot me. And then the movie throws in a suicide just to seal the deal of ick for me of course. I appreciate the acting and the level of realism they achieved with this world. I do not appreciate the family dinner table talk scene lol again please take a gun and shoot me in the head. This is so real that it's literally scary. If you could only read my "I'm quitting oboe" essay that I posted to Facebook Notes way back when, whew that was a crazy time of my life that never truly leaves me.

 

Steven

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Whiplash was a movie I heard great things about, and it certainly didn't disappoint. I was expecting something a bit more grounded in reality, but the storytelling here felt more cinematic instead. The tone of the movie was so dramatic, and J.K. Simmons is terrifying here. I can see why his performance was so critically acclaimed. This was a movie that had me on the edge of my seat at certain points, making this one of the best movies in this group of nine.

 

[Alex95]

Perfect timing because Whiplash is returning to theaters this weekend in honor of it's tenth anniversary

Edited September 17, 2024 by Alex95

[~Tom~]

Iconic winner and that has to be the lowest score for a #1 yet!

[FrogLenzen]

triggered

[*Chris]

7 minutes ago, FrogLenzen said:

triggered

it’s what you deserve!

 

be thankful I didn’t submit  

Edited September 18, 2024 by *Chris

[~Tom~]

Just now, *Chris said:

it’s what you deserve!

 

be thankful I didn’t submit  

If Once won I was going to blame you.
 

Would’ve loved to read your thoughts on it as well.

[totes4totes]

3 hours ago, Alex95 said:

but below others like Across the Universe

Watch more musicals @~Tom~

[Steven_]

Deserving winner.  

 

That’s cool that Whiplash could be Alex’s favorite movie. For some reason I thought it was The Social Network.

[Elliott]

Well based off where I ranked Whiplash, it's probably a good thing I didn't submit my rankings

[Alex95]

1 hour ago, Steven_ said:

For some reason I thought it was The Social Network.

It was at one point. It's fallen throughout the years. It's still a very good movie and very high in my rankings. But I wouldn't consider it amongst my all-time favorites.

[Alex95]

On 9/15/2024 at 5:21 PM, Alex95 said:

Sept/Oct 2024 - TV Stars in Film

Back in the day, actors were mainly regulated to either tv or film work if they wanted to be on the screen. Sometimes a tv star would work their way up to becoming a film star. Now, the lines are a lot more blurred and film stars are booking tv roles, and vice versa. Tonight is the Emmys! In honor of them, for this theme you'll be choosing films featuring our stars of the small screen. At least one of the top five billed actor in your chosen film must have starred on a tv show that ran for at least two seasons. Limited series' do not count here. Also, a small guest role on a tv show does not count. They have to be tv stars who had a substantial enough role in a tv series, that also have starred in some films. You can choose a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, as she's had significant roles in The Morning Show and Big Little Lies. You cannot choose a movie starring Brad Pitt, just because he was in an episode of Friends once. If you need clarification on anything, let me know.

 

@~Tom~ @FrogLenzen @*Chris @Steven_ @.Rei @totes4totes @Elliott @NGM @#jeah

Bumping this up

[FrogLenzen]

no but seriously Whiplash was an amazing film, I put it at #2 after all. It just hits too close to home lol. My most common recurring nightmares are from music school and concerts. Not high school, not dance company, not law school, not the bar exam, not even actual abusive bosses I've had in my career. Extra points for realism and relatability but minus big points for rewatch value haha

 

I definitely prefer Whiplash to La La Land, which I don't HATE but I could take it or leave it

[FrogLenzen]

Alex is clearly baiting me with ER screenshot and I'm not mad about it!!!

[Steven_]

1 hour ago, Alex95 said:

At least one of the top five billed actor in your chosen film must have starred on a tv show that ran for at least two seasons.

 

 

I'll choose The Fall Guy.

 

Hannah Waddingham is in one of the main roles, and she starred in Ted Lasso. 

[*Diana]

I want to join this round.

 

 Can I do a Michelle Williams Film where she started in “Dawson's Creek"? If so I would love to choose Blue Valentine.

[Alex95]

8 hours ago, *Diana said:

I want to join this round.

 

 Can I do a Michelle Williams Film where she started in “Dawson's Creek"? If so I would love to choose Blue Valentine.

 

8 hours ago, Steven_ said:

 

 

I'll choose The Fall Guy.

 

Hannah Waddingham is in one of the main roles, and she starred in Ted Lasso. 

Welcome back! Of course. Both also starring Ryan Gosling of the Mickey Mouse Club fame

[Alex95]

I’m hoping to get at least six, but I’d settle on five

@~Tom~ @FrogLenzen @*Chris @.Rei @Elliott @NGM @#jeah

[Elliott]

I’ll hold off on this round.