Transplanted Buckeye

Thomas and I went to see Nacho Libre today. He and I saw the trailer for the first time back in January, and we were both excited about going. I don't know what was the appeal for him--I think simply because Nickleodeon was advertising it. But for me it came down to the fact that Jack Black was the leading man.

We have a friend in Louisville, Kentucky named Dan. He lived with us for a while when he was out of a job. I was pregnant at the time, and Dan kept me entertained while my husband was at work (being a manager in food service is a tough job). We used to go see all the movies that my husband did not want to see. Dan is a lot like Jack Black. The same sense of humor, the same good taste in music. I think part of my Jack Black admiration is that he reminds me of our old friend.

I think the first movie I ever saw Jack Black in was High Fidelity. I loved his character, Barry, who was the ultimate music snob. A favorite scene is when he berated a customer who came in to purchase Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" for his daughter's birthday. Great performance, and great physical comedy for a movie which relied a lot on dialogue.

I enjoyed him in School of Rock, where he starred as a slacker musician who ends up substituting in a tony private school. Instead of teaching the kids reading, writing, and 'rithmetic, he seizes the opportunity to teach them all about rock music, and turns them into a band.

Thomas puts up with my music an awful lot. I give him a lot of rock appreciation lessons. How often does a child have to tell the parent to turn that music down? In our house, every day. Poor kid.

In preparation for Nacho Libre, Thomas and I watched School of Rock. It seems that if a song appears in a movie, my son will like it. So now, my son likes Led Zeppelin. It's about time. Another reason to love Jack Black.


Then there's Black's band with Kyle Gass, Tenacious D. Spinal Tap type stuff for my generation.

As for Nacho Libre, I loved it. It was directed by Jared Hess, who also directed Napoleon Dynamite. Very quirky and fun. There are a lot of professional wrestling moves, and a little bit of bathroom humor. Black plays a Friar in Mexico, who is a cook at an orphanage. His lifelong dream is to be a professional wrestler. During childhood, he was punished for wanting to be a wrestler. As a grown man, he now enters the world of Mexican professional wrestling as a means to purchase better food for the kids in his care. I, of course, enjoyed the underdog theme. The music was awesome, but there is no soundtrack available.

A visit to the Internet Movie Database reveals that there are six movies to come from Black in the next year or so. One I am particularly interested in is called Be Kind Rewind. Apparently, it's about a man who is magnetized and accidentally erases every VHS tape in a video store. The IMDB says, "In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films, which include Back to the Future, The Lion King, and Robocop." I can't wait.