Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

New Line Home Entertainment presents Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny”. Written by Jack Black & Kyle Gass & Liam Lynch. Running time: 95 minutes. Rated R for pervasive language, sexual content and drug use.

Directed By:

Liam Lynch

Cast:

Jack Black .JB
Kyle Gass .KG
Jason Reed .Lee
Meat Loaf .Jack’s Father
Ronnie James Dio .Himself
Paul F. Tompkins .Open Mic Host
Tim Robbins .The Stranger
Ben Stiller .Guitar Store Guy
Amy Poehler .Truck Stop Waitress
David Grohl .Satan
John C. Reilly .Sasquatch
Troy Gentile .Lil’ JB
Mason Knight .Young KG

The Film:

Every great rock band starts with a humble beginning. Maybe Tenacious D isn’t a “great” rock band, and perhaps they’ve never been all that humble, but The Pick Of Destiny is the story of how Kyle Gass and Jack Black came together.

Jack Black has had diverse acting career. Sometimes rehashing his well known wacky over the top “Jack Black” character, other times venturing out into new territory always with varying levels of success. Perhaps certain roles don’t always work but when he’s on laughs are guaranteed!

With The Pick Of Destiny Black returns to his own humble beginnings as Tenacious D has been around since the mid 90’s. Not everyone is going to enjoy the wacky brand of humor of The D, but for those who do it really doesn’t get much better than this movie.

Not only are Jack and Kyle a great on-screen duo, playing off each other with lighting quickly timing, but the film also has an overflowing cornucopia of cameos. From Ben Stiller as the Guitar Store Guy who shares with them the secret history of the pick and John C. Reilly as Sasquatch to the epic appearance of Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio in the opening scene, every one of them steals a part of the movie making it their own.

This movie is about as silly and goofy as it gets with strange dream sequences and an epic rock off with the devil and for some the episodic flow of the film will get a little stale. What makes this movie work as a whole is Jack and Kyle who are a joy to watch. It is obvious that these two are the best of friends, and their chemistry makes you want to cheer them on. One might worry that the movie is just a feature-length version of the old HBO series, but this story is elevated to epic proportions setting to ease any naysayer.


Flaming microphones? Yes, The D rock that hard!

The DVD:

The Video:

The film is presented in widescreen 1.85:1. Liam Lynch is a creative director who brings a nice level of magic to the film with the cinematography. It’s a well shot movie and the transfer here is top-notch.

The Audio:

The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. If there’s one thing Tenacious D does well is rock your socks off, and they do just that with the toe-tapping catchy songs scattered throughout the film. To top that off , they sound great on the DVD.

Extras:

Commentary with Jack Black an Kyle Gass: This is a pretty funny commentary as one might guess. Black and Glass spend most the time cracking jokes, but a few good nuggets about the making of the film slip out now and then.

Commentary with director Liam Lynch: This commentary is chock full of great tidbits about the making of the film. However, it is severely lacking in entertainment value. Frankly, I think both commentaries would have benefited from being done together as one, the best of both worlds in half the time.

Deleted and Extended Scenes: These are some seriously hilarious deleted scenes a few that really should have been in the film. This includes a great scene with David Koechner as a military store sales clerk.

Making of “The Pick Of Destiny”:This is a borderlined run-of- the-mill making-of, but the antics of Cage and Jables keep you laughing.

In The Studio: This Spinal Tap-like documentary captures the writing process of The D and is absolutely hilarious! Definitely a must see.

“The Pick Of Destiny” Music Video: In this video Jack and Kyle decide to watch their own movie. To heighten the experiene they enter the movie theater and perform it live, thus ruining the movie-going experience for everyone else. This is also directed by Liam Lynch and very funny.

Making of the Music Video: Total fluff piece promoting the video. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t see this.

Jump To A Song: If there’s a song you love and just want to watch that scene, this feature allows to to jump right in there without having to skip around and figure out where it is.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Tenacious D in “The Pick Of Destiny”
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

8.5
THE VIDEO

9
THE AUDIO

9
THE EXTRAS

9
REPLAY VALUE

10
OVERALL
9
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years