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20
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43
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60
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63
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43
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43
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67
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72
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54
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49
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xx
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51
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27
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47
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89
Man on Wire
82
Dark Knight, The
81
Still Life
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Ghost Town
71
Horton Hears a Who!
67
Flow: For Love of Water
64
Wanted
64
Pineapple Express
63
Man Named Pearl, A
63
Burn After Reading
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
62
Duchess, The
61
Wackness, The
60
Traitor
60
Blind Mountain
57
Towelhead
55
House Bunny, The
55
Ping Pong Playa
54
Hamlet 2
51
Mamma Mia!
51
Savage Grace
51
Step Brothers
49
Hancock
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
43
Eagle Eye
43
Anamorph
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
42
Fred Claus
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
31
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
16
Surfer, Dude
15
Disaster Movie
xx
Eden Lake
xx
Alphabet Killer, The
xx
Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Cool School, The
Arthouse Films
 |
|
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Jeff Bridges,
Dennis Hopper,
Frank Gehry,
Ed Ruscha,
John Baldessari,
Billy Al Bengston,
Ed Kienholz,
and
Irving Blum
The Cool School is the story of American art in the 1950s and '60s, LA's coming of age, and a distinctive, fraternal group of headstrong talents. The renowned Ferus Art Gallery groomed certain members of the LA art scene from a loose band of idealistic beatniks into a coterie of competitive, often-brilliant artists. What was lost and gained is tied up in complex web of egos, passions, money, and art. The Cool School is about San Francisco versus LA, New York versus LA, commercialism, and bohemianism. Ferus managed to do for art in LA what the museums would not; the gallery gave birth to a vibrant, coalescing scene. Assemblage art, abstract expressionism, or Pop--the men of Ferus shared ideas, goals, studios, women, and a vision. The Cool School is an extraordinary lesson in how a city can build an art scene from scratch without losing its soul. (Tremolo Productions)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Morgan Neville
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: July 29, 2008
Theatrical: March 28, 2008
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| RUNNING TIME: |
86 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
The rare footage of '50s and '60s L.A. alone is a treasure; the City of Angels has rarely looked so hip. Bonus: cool music from the likes of Charles Mingus and the Velvet Underground.

75
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Happily, many of the figures spoken about throughout the film are still with us -- Neville is even able to reproduce Patricia Foure's famous group photo with most of its original subjects.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Kenneth Baker
Takes its title from an early Artforum article that described the sleek aesthetic of the then-new Southern California art.

70
The Hollywood Reporter
Sheri Linden
Documentarian Morgan Neville has fashioned a spirited riposte to the groundless cliche that Los Angeles is a cultural wasteland.

70
Variety
John Anderson
What The Cool School does so well, through its color accents and black-and-white photography, through the kinetic music that propels Jeff Bridges' narration by and the unorthodox attitude that reflects the artists themselves, is impart a sense of discovery.

70
Village Voice
Nathan Lee
All told, and well told, this is essential history.

63
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Filmed largely in black and white, The Cool School includes interviews with one of the gallery's founders, Ed Kienholz, as well as with Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell and architect Frank Gehry.

60
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
The Cool School, is, well, cool, but it’s also fairly parochial.

60
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
The cultural cock-strutting gets to be a bit much, but Neville handily captures the excitement of an art scene percolating, breaking wide open, and finally burning itself out.


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