This is Spinal Tap
Published 2018-10-27
Film info
- Title This is Spinal Tap
- Director Rob Reiner
- Year 1984
- Run time 1hr 22m
- Genres Music, Comedy
- Tagline Prepare to crank those amps up to eleven
- Cast Billy Crystal
1982 and the world's loudest rock band, Spinal Tap, are about to embark on their biggest world tour to date. Along for the ride is film-maker and fan Marti DiBergi, there to make a behind-the-scenes tribute to his favourite heavy metal band. However instead of celebrating the genius of the musicians behind such classics as Big Bottom and Hell Hole, the documentary captures the cracks as they begin to appear for this band whose time has come and now appears to have gone again... With a camera recording all the chaos, the archetypal portrait of a band in crisis is born.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 0:21 | Lots of pressure going into this film. |
| 4:18 | The hair though. |
| 5:12 | The New Originals. |
| 8:23 | Mime is money! That's genius. Also mimes are scary. |
| 10:47 | The double headed bass guitar looks so heavy! |
| 12:02 | Wait, are they all playing bass? That's my kind of band! |
| 18:26 | "Fairly simple, there were about six words in the whole song." |
| 21:51 | Bods! |
| 23:46 | It's one louder! Hooray! |
| 23:53 | ELEVEN. |
| 26:58 | "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever." |
| 31:40 | "It really puts a perspective on things, though, doesn't it?" "Too much. Too much f***ing perspective." |
| 33:49 | Do people actually spontaneously combust? |
| 36:26 | "None more black." |
| 46:32 | Fufkin is a fun name. |
| 50:12 | Did they make it on stage? Do we never find out? |
| 57:36 | Baby Stonehenge is adorable. |
| 1:04:23 | "My job is to be in the middle of that, like lukewarm water." |
| 1:08:33 | 37 people!! |
| 1:18:35 | This last name collection sounds very interesting. |
| 1:20:18 | "We don't literally say it. We don't really literally mean it." |
| 1:21:52 | I'm gonna say that every time I have tuna now. "No bones!" |
Thoughts
Yay! It was good! This was a film Mr C and I have both kinda been dreading. There's always pressure on me to watch classic films that everyone loves in case I end up not liking them. And he was really worried that I wasn't going to. Eventually, we just dived in and thankfully, I liked it! Not just that, actually, I loved it.
The mockumentary style is so over-used these days, it's hard to think of a time when that was a new thing but I can totally understand that people would have watched this and thought it was a real documentary. They are so believable, and yet so unbelievable that it makes for compelling viewing. And it's all just so quotable, over and above the 11 thing. Who knew?
Rating: 5 / 5