Reviews

HBO should release this show on DVD. I remember it and was a fan back in the day. It was a hit or miss affair, but it hit often enough to be pretty funny (though not as funny as the BBC version, "Not the Nine O'clock News"). There were some really hilarious bits on the show and a lot of great comedy writers got their start there, like, Al Jean (of the Simpsons) and Conan O'Brien. I definitely liked the original cast the best but there were even a few funny bits in the later years too. It'd be funny to see just how the politics of the day were made fun of -- because even though the show wasn't great at the time it was probably the best political satire on television. Remember, this was during the extremely lean years for Saturday Night Live when they were just limping along. So NNtN provided all the best Reagan jokes. It sucked that during the Reagan/Bush years, which were ripe for satire and jokes, that SNL was so weak then. I mean, can anyone even recall who was the great Reagan impressionist during those years? During the 70s we remember Dan Ackroyd doing Nixon and Carter, and Chevy doing Ford. In the late 80s/early 90s Dana Carvey made his Bush impression famous. And during the 90s there were two great Clinton impersonators, Phil Hartman and Daryl Hammond. But during the 80s who was the great Reagan impressionist? What a lame cast that was. Anyway, Not Necessarily the News should definitely be released on DVD, not only for the comedy but as a time capsule of political humor.

I saw a preview of "School of Rock" tonight. It was a genuine crowd pleaser...and I usually hate crowd pleasers. But this worked for me. This should be the break-out hit for Jack Black that "Shallow Hal" should've been. He's wonderfully zany and the audience kept cracking up when he was on screen. The supporting cast is great too -- especially Joan Cusack and the kids. Children in movies have a tendency to mug for the camera and come off as cloying but the director, Richard Linklater, was smart enough to let the kids be kids and leave the mugging up to Jack. Mike White (who used to write for the brilliant, but short-lived "Freaks & Geeks" television series) wrote an enjoyable script and Richard Linklater's direction is inspired. The children also seem to be singing and playing their own instruments for the most part here (no Monkee business) and they do a fine job. It reminded me somewhat of The Commitments. Anyway, this is a good family film, and I'm sure it will be a hit when its released in October.