Metal Lords

Director: Peter Sollett
Year Released: 2022
Rating: 1.5

Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) and Kevin (Jaeden Martell) start a "post-death-core metal" duo (... not like The White Stripes) and hope to win their school's Battle of the Bands competition, but Hunter cannot stop fighting with everyone in his school (as well as his Dad) and Kevin starts a relationship with temperamental Scottish cellist Emily (Isis Hainsworth).  Having been something of a metalhead in my youth, I'm naturally drawn to the subject (the likes of Scott Ian, Tom Morello, Kirk Hammett and Rob Halford have cameos) and have listened to all those records (repeatedly and to the dismay of others), but I sort of wish it was funnier and the characters were better developed, and that parts didn't play out like an iffy sitcom (they got the R-rating, but more could have been done).  Just for the record, I maintain a strict No Marshall Stack Policy for any classroom I'm teaching in ... so don't even think about it.