Jack Black

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Review: The Big Year

The Big Year falls short
Dorky, obsessed with trivia, and badly dressed — birders get a bad rap.
By PETER KEOUGH | October 12, 2011

Review: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

Gross and unfunny
Like cheap knockoffs of designer goods, Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck's excruciating comedy bears a superficial resemblance to the pricey originals it imitates.
By PETER KEOUGH | August 30, 2011

Review: Kung Fu Panda 2

The unlikely Dragon Warrior returns
The original cast is back, but is there anything left to the story?
By BRETT MICHEL | May 26, 2011

Review: Gulliver's Travels

This travesty is so pitiful, it isn't even worth getting indignant over
Jonathan Swift's epitaph reads, "Where savage indignation can no longer lacerate his breast." Rob Letterman's adaptation of the great man's satire might nonetheless have him spinning in his grave.
By PETER KEOUGH | December 21, 2010

Review: Brütal Legend

Brutal is one way to put it
The cover of Brütal Legend sports an interesting detail.
By MITCH KRPATA | October 16, 2009

Delay of game

With some big names shelved, 10 releases to watch for this fall
Splinter Cell: Conviction , BioShock 2 , Heavy Rain — these are just some of the eagerly awaited titles that won't be coming to your video-game console this fall.
By MITCH KRPATA | September 15, 2009

Review: Year One

Not everything Judd Apatow touches is gold.
Mel Brooks and the lads from Monty Python stormed through this territory with fierce farce. Here there's little farce, just a fusillade of flaccid dick jokes.
By TOM MEEK | June 23, 2009

45. Jack Black

NACHO GRANDE
That Prop-8 musical was brilliant, and it even reminded us of those genius turns on Mr. Show with Bob and David. But perhaps our expectations are too high. After all, he whose first and last names rhyme with “hack” can’t play both ends of the cool continuum — especially if he won’t up pull those damn pants.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Class of the Titans

MUSIC SEEN
Hypothesis: If a band perform a tribute to a parody musical act, does it create a meta-textual black hole from which no form of entertainment can escape?
By DAN CLARK | December 23, 2008

Fourth-quarter earnings

Haden, Hunter, Rollins, Mela, Bley, and e.s.t.
Times a-wastin' on 2008, so before it's too late, here's a handful of discs that have caught my ear over the past few months.
By JON GARELICK | December 17, 2008

Wish-fulfillment for a burning world

The 2008 heroic holiday DVD and Blu-ray gift guide
From the shining big-screen debut of Iron Man to the large amounts of green produced by the Incredible Hulk, this was the year the public couldn't get enough of their favorite heroes.
By BRETT MICHEL | December 11, 2008

Here comes the Whambulance

Mass Art hosts the Baltimore Round Robin Tour
The Baltimore loft once known as Wham City is long dead, its inhabitants evicted in 2007, but the twisted DIY art movement it housed has flourished nonetheless.
By SHAULA CLARK | October 01, 2008

Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder is stupid-funny
Despite a few soft spots along the way, Thunder combines the dark absurdity of Stiller’s underrated Cable Guy with the unrestrained dumbness of his Zoolander .
By PETER KEOUGH | August 13, 2008

Out of Africa

Extra Golden swipe their visas
Writing about Extra Golden, you’re tempted to focus on the novelty: two indie-rock dudes taking off to Nairobi to jam with a pair of benga masters sounds like the premise for some awful Jack Black movie. (Please don’t please don’t.)
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | July 22, 2008

Crossword: ''Never A Good Sign''

Watch out for these
Watch out for these
By MATT JONES | June 18, 2008

Kung Fu Panda

A colorful wuxia comedy
The thin script is light on length and surprise, heavy on tike-pleasing jokes and action.
By BRETT MICHEL | June 04, 2008

Shaggy frog

Interview: Michel Gondry goes lo-fi
Michel Gondry is not a household name.
By BRETT MICHEL | February 20, 2008

Be Kind Rewind

A shambling charmer
This isn’t Gondry’s best work — it’s too unstructured, labored when it begs to soar.
By BRETT MICHEL | February 20, 2008

Hot for teacher

Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes joins the School of Rock
Jack Black may have popularized the notion of a fantasy school of rock, but for 3200 students at 40 schools around the country, the School of Rock is very real.
By JIM SULLIVAN | February 12, 2008

Primary concerns

2008 releases offer campaign reform
The last thing people are looking for when they go to the movies is a reminder of the political crapola they are trying to escape.
By PETER KEOUGH | December 28, 2007

Bride and prejudice

Margot has snob appeal
Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale marked him as the reigning bard of disaffected 16-year-olds from privileged, culturally elite, miserably broken families.
By PETER KEOUGH | November 20, 2007

Noah’s arc

Baumbach from Squid to Margot
William Faulkner conceived The Sound and the Fury from a mental picture of a pair of women’s underpants dangling on a clothesline.
By GERALD PEARY | November 20, 2007

Heavy metal overdrive

High on Fire, Middle East Downstairs, October 11, 2007
Metal can be one of pop’s funniest, loudest, most compelling genre exercises.
By RICHARD BECK | October 15, 2007

War zones

Fall films face terror at home and abroad
The party’s over. Time for the lessons to begin.
By PETER KEOUGH | September 12, 2007

Black lights

Cold War Kids + Muse, Agganis Arena, August 11, 2007
Grids pulsed behind them on three screens, and Matthew Bellamy keened softly, “You will burn in Hell.”
By ELLEE DEAN | August 13, 2007

The 100 unsexiest men 2007: 10-1

These guys couldn't turn on a radio
These guys couldn't turn on a radio
By | April 14, 2007

Warrior riffery

The Viking metal of Amon Amarth
American metal has lost its heart. Who is keeping the tradition of warrior metal alive?
By PHIL FREEMAN | February 27, 2007

The Holiday

A safe box office bet
A reminder to all producers: alluding to iconic romantic comedies in a bid for legitimacy can be a dangerous game, even when you have appealing stars. Watch the trailer for The Holiday (QuickTime)
By BROOKE HOLGERSON | December 06, 2006

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

For hardcore fans
I’m a Jack Black fan — let’s get that out of the way. Watch the trailer for Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (QuickTime)
By BRETT MICHEL | November 21, 2006

Rock and droll

High Fidelity ; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
High Fidelity tries to sell itself as kick-ass rock right from the curtain speech: you are to turn off your fucking cell phones, and if you don’t like that language you can “grab your husband and get the hell out.”
By CAROLYN CLAY | October 11, 2006