the audience applauded

It is a performances centric movie

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

First off, I'm a huge fan of documentaries. A lot of times I really enjoy them but am slow to recommend them to friends as broad appeal is sometimes limited. (American Movie being a huge exception). Rock School is just great, both as entertainment and certainly succeeds as a documentary. I would like to address the heavy handedness that others reviewing this film seem to take at the Zappa-heavy content or the tearing apart of Paul Green, the namesake of the Paul Green School of Rock. It is true that there is a lot of Zappa, a lot of fiery temper, and some harshness from the man himself. I guess I would ask those who attack the film with low ratings (because of the man) if they have ever had crowds bow down in front of them in a foreign country after performing so well? This film succeeds in its ability to deftly pull you into the reality of the school. You meet the kids, the instructor, and some parents and are constantly and linearly drawn to what feels like a very organic conclusion. I was very impressed at the rate at which you identify with the kids and the parents, and the ability of the director to edit in such a way to provide just the right amount of emphasis. Paul Green is completely right in his teaching technique. Paul Green is completely wrong in his teaching technique. Doesn't matter. Rock School is extremely entertaining and very interesting and compelling because of one thing Paul says early in the film... "It's easy to be a novelty act, a bunch of kids playing rock, but the goal is to do it very well..." The kids can indeed play. I especially enjoy the confession that "The Guitar teacher and the Guitar Player inside me are always at odds, as a teacher I want to make them better, but the player doesn't like that at all". The best part of the documentary is the way there is the prodigy juxtaposed with the sad emo kid, who was my favorite character... each has his own relationship to the instructor and each has a different outlook on life, on music, and on the school. I especially enjoyed Will O' Conner's (sad emo kid) candor in addressing a newspaper article in which he was misquoted. I felt that Mr. Green was indeed hamming it up in parts, but it didn't hurt the documentary at all. In fact, the character and role he has created for himself is one I find fascinating. I think and genuinely believe he cares about those kids. And wants them to succeed. And refuses to grow up. And gets results. The film itself is 1.78:1 and looks great, sounds great. Those of you used to docs looking and sounding sub-par despite being great (I'm looking at you, Paper Clips) and having genuinely fascinating moments but being very unevenly paced (Spellbound) will find this fresh and fun. The performance footage shown is just enough. Not so much you feel it's there to artificially pad the run time, and not so short you can't get a feel for their talent. The interviews are well placed, well directed, and very well edited. There are a lot of moments in the movie where you'll wish it were longer... but not so much you feel cheated. A good documentary is one, in my opinion, has got to show equal parts of an obvious passion for the subject material and those the camera capture as well as the courage to be honest. In today's land of multi-movie propaganda lectures, this is a great relief from the Greenwalds and the Moores... they could learn a lot from the masterful pacing and invisibility of Don Argott. You forget this is a documentary entirely... there is no agenda. Andrew Jarecki's BRILLIANT Capturing the Friedman's is one of the slight few other examples I can think of that play that card so well. Here it's raised to an art form. The exception being the last minute or two of the film that really tie it together in a very nice way. Kudos all around, I'll be keeping an eye out for more from Mr. Argott.

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.

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.

I'm puzzled by some of the reviews I have seen. How many documentaries are over before you know it and leave you wanting more? I found it pretty amazing what these kids are capable of as well as how this all seemed to come together by accident. Paul Green teaches his students with a great deal of passion and more importantly has the respect for both their ability AND their potential ability. How many kids get to share the stage with actual rock icons? Some people seem put off by the "tough love" thing that is part of the instruction but it seemed to me that the only time he got impatient was when it was obvious that certain kids weren't trying their hardest. Besides, you can't really argue with teaching kids that they can get where they want to by working at it.