the wasting of jack black

[erikamay]

found this and completely agree - love jack black, hate dem movies and the decline of the D:
http://www.slate.com/id/2155440

[TexasImprovMassacre]

Do you hate the same movies as Sam Anderson? Who is Sam Anderson?

I liked nacho libre...but i was disappointed by the pick of destiny's lack of inspiration for some kind of new direction. It felt like fansploitation.

I think Anderson felt betrayed by Jack Black when he wrote this, but at least he hasn't given up.



"So why is it that, somewhere deep in the starless night of the winter solstice of my soul-cosmos, I still detect the faintest glimmer of hope? Black's career seems to have reached the archetypal Jack Black moment: The inspiration artist is uninspired, repressed, imprisoned by the status quo. We've written him off. It's the perfect situation. If we're lucky, he's about to respond like he always did in the old days: to launch himself into the heavens and blow our minds with a kick-ass riff that no one but him ever could have seen coming."

i'm still excited about Be Kind Rewind

[York99]

I feel like I just had an intervention of my friends telling me that I'm in a dependent relationship with an abusive girlfriend. I ran out of the intervention by bailing on the article midway through it, but what kills me is that I know they're right.

However, I started watching "School of Rock" last week and it was decent up until the DVD froze 20 minutes in. Plus, he FIRST lept into my hearts in the second most misunderstood movie of our generation, "The Cable Guy," as Matthew Broderick's friend, Rick. His screen time was brief, but he brought delivered some lines and reactions that were golden.

I saw Tenacious D in Vegas. It was probably the best music show I've ever been to. An article in The Onion AV Club quotes Black saying that the stage show for this tour is so elaborate that they are actually losing money. Gotta see that show!

[mcnichol]

He may be making weird/bad choices ("The Holiday"????) but he's still damn talented. I can't give up on the man behind Heat Vision & Jack. It simply wouldn't have been the same with anyone else in that role. And although the new D movie might be suck, the brilliance of those HBO shorts back in the day will always be what I remember (ie, the snap-jam that they failed to record).

Hey, he's got a kid and a family and he's gotta earn and all, but hopefully this is all gaining credit and favors to do something really really good. I hope.

[DollarBill]

Well I thought Pick of Destiny was pretty classic D, which is what I like. Too each his own. If you're not super into ROCK it might be harder to fully appreciate the new D stuff. But it really suits me. The new album still gives me goosebumps if I'm in the right mood.

This reminds me of Jeremy's theory that most comedy has a "best fit" outlet for being funny. Some bits are funniest as stand-up jokes. Some stuff is funniest in movies, or sketch, or written down. I think JB's comedy shines through the best while he's got a guitar slung around his neck. I'll see/hear anything The D ever creates.

By the way "Cosmic Shame" is actually a really inspiring song that possibly had some influence on my decision to go to Chicago and attempt to make Improv a career.

And to Sam Anderson and the rest of the haters... Maybe you should listen to "Inward Singing" a little closer next time, and quit "Always nay-saying."

[TexasImprovMassacre]

By the way "Cosmic Shame" is actually a really inspiring song that possibly had some influence on my decision to go to Chicago and attempt to make Improv a career.

watching the cosmic shame performance on the masterworks disc really gets me sometimes. It scoops me up and forces me to reflect.

heat vision and jackdid give me exactly what i wanted...

and lets not forget his appearences in airborne as well as bio-dome...and never ending story III as "sick leader of the nasties". I've got that on vhs if you think you want to experience it

[Matt]

Of course, if you're a hater, you need only rent a copy of The Jackal to get your fix.

I told you it was off....

[DollarBill]

heat vision and jackdid give me exactly what i wanted...

That is freakin' genius.

Wow, I can't believe I never looked at JB's imdb before. It's yudge.

[mcnichol]

fox passed on hv&j to make room for one more season of 90120.

i can't even imagine if that had become a weekly show.

[York99]

fox passed on hv&j to make room for one more season of 90120.

i can't even imagine if that had become a weekly show.

The Un-Cabaret in Los Angeles used to have nights where they would show a lot of pilots that were never picked up. There were a lot of really funny shows put together, including HV&J. I could tell watching them, though, that they would never appeal to a mass audience... particularly HV&J because it was too, I guess, high concept. Even if it did get picked up, it would have gone the way of great shows like "Arrested Development," "Sons and Daughters" (which was great if none of you saw it -- ABC 10 episodes early this year) and your beloved "Freaks and Geeks."

Very funny, though.

[mcnichol]

fox passed on hv&j to make room for one more season of 90120.

i can't even imagine if that had become a weekly show.

The Un-Cabaret in Los Angeles used to have nights where they would show a lot of pilots that were never picked up. There were a lot of really funny shows put together, including HV&J. I could tell watching them, though, that they would never appeal to a mass audience... particularly HV&J because it was too, I guess, high concept. Even if it did get picked up, it would have gone the way of great shows like "Arrested Development," "Sons and Daughters" (which was great if none of you saw it -- ABC 10 episodes early this year) and your beloved "Freaks and Geeks."

Very funny, though.

I did see Sons and Daughters, actually, on my sister's recommendation. I just sent a homemade DVD of the 10 episodes for her and my brother-in-law as a Christmas gift (I hope they don't read this forum). It was interesting, as the show made use of improv pretty heavily (Second City's Gillian Vigman was one of the main roles on the show). It really didn't try too hard to be funny either, which seemed to appeal to some and really turn others off to that show.

Freaks and Geeks is as good as network TV gets. That show is indeed beloved.

I'd heard about the un-Cabaret thing -- I wish I could have seen them. I have one other infamous pilot up my sleeve that I have at home (on VHS, recently converted to DVD -- it aired once in 1991 on NBC, and then last year on Trio) that was never picked up as it was probably also too high-concept: Lookwell. Created by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smiegel, and starring Adam West as an ex-70's-tv-show cop who now solves crimes in his spare time when not conducting self-serving acting workshops. Brilliant.

[York99]

Another one that flew over peoples' heads was The Dana Carvey Show. It flew over mine at the time, but I was about 13 or something.

I got the DVDs of it and "got" it finally.

[mcnichol]

Another one that flew over peoples' heads was The Dana Carvey Show. It flew over mine at the time, but I was about 13 or something.

I got the DVDs of it and "got" it finally.

I would very much like to see this. I've heard about it's brilliance, not to mention it starring the before-they-were-stars Colbert and Carrell (among others), and before-they-were-writing-stars Robert Smigel, Dino S, Dave Chapelle, Louis CK, Charlie Kaufman, not to mention Carrell and Colbert.

I'm going to sidetrack this thread even further to lazily revive the let's watch some comedy thing.

[TexasImprovMassacre]

I'm going to sidetrack this thread even further to lazily revive the let's watch some comedy thing.

i've got wondershowzen season 2 on the way.

[beardedlamb]

and before-they-were-writing-stars Robert Smigel, Dino S, Dave Chapelle, Louis CK, Charlie Kaufman, not to mention Carrell and Colbert.

my god, that's incredible.