This Is Spinal Tap
Amazon.co.uk Review
The comedic genius of This Is Spinal Tap is confirmed by the fact that a majority of studio executives were utterly clueless about its brilliance. As a first-time director and cowriter, Rob Reiner must have felt simultaneously frustrated and elated, knowing that the obtuseness of movie executives was a clue to his debut project’s potential greatness. Now, of course, the clarity of hindsight and the rarity of superior satire have turned This Is Spinal Tap into one of the funniest documentary spoofs of all time. Reiner and the members of “Tap” (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer) couldn’t have picked a better target for their satire, because heavy metal music in the early 1980s was already a borderline case of self-parody. From the bizarre, premature deaths of the band’s drummers to the backstage squabbles over sexist cover art and meddling groupies, this movie scores about a hundred comedic bull’s-eyes for lampooning every possible aspect of rock pomposity in the age of Kiss. It’s a virtual bible of rock & roll irreverence, so accurate in its observations that it’s become a tour-bus classic for real bands around the world. On the one-to-ten scale of satirical inspiration, This Is Spinal Tap is like the modified amplifiers that Christopher Guest so hilariously demonstrates: this one goes to 11. –Jeff Shannon
This DVD goes up to 11 – one louder. This is what the DVD was created for. The first disc of this two-disc set contains the film and a commentary from the band. The picture quality is superb and the sound is excellent – the …metal numbers are perfect CD quality. The second CD contains what basically amounts to an alternate version of the film – out-takes which are almost good enouhg to have been in the original. On top of that, you get piles of extras – videos, trailers, archive footage, interviews and, of course, adverts for bizarre Australian savoury pastry products. What more could you ever ask for from a DVD. The film itself is excellent. I had heard so much about it beforehand – mainly from sad obsessive fans – that I watched it for the first time wanting not to like it. But it really is well worth watching – even if you can’t stand Heavy Metal. Everyone plays it completely straight – and that’s what makes it all so funny. The songs are also superb in a terrible kind of way. There are too many wonderful bits in this to mention – but the show-stopping performance of the theatrical soft rock classic Stonehenge has to be the highlight of the film.
Rating: 4 / 5
Well, what can I say! This has got to be the funniest film I have ever seen and their are just soo many classic moments and quotes that it is impossible to list them all here.
The ‘Stonehenge’ scene alone makes it my favourite comedy EVER, but that is not all it has to offer. Who could forget the famous amp scene (these go to eleven) or the pod prop diaster!
And this DVD has so much to offer as well, the deleted scenes is basically another film as well (I think there is an extra hour and a bit!)It’s hard to beleive they left so much out. The best ‘outtakes’ have got to be the album signing scene and the zoo scene! There is also trailers, music videos, promotional stuff and loads more.
So if you fancy a film that never gets boring, never loses its comedy then watch this.
So to finish this review on the greatest film EVER, on a scale of 1 to 10, I give it…. 11!!
Rating: 5 / 5
But it is not a line that Spinal Tap needs to worry about. Spinal Tap is a razor sharp spoof/satire.
Spinal Tap is a great comic movie – hilarious from start to finish. It takes the (much copied but never bettered) form of a mock documentary (or rockumentary, if you will) following the spoof band as they go on tour of the USA to promote their new album.
Heavy Metal may seem to be beyond parody but Spinal Tap manages. The band is a glorious, grotesque caricature of a heavy metal band: misogynist & sexist, vain, split by internal dissent and artistic differences and hopelessly lacking is self-awareness.
The boys in the band all excellent and totally convincing and there are a lots of great cameos. The songs are glorious parodies of heavy metal songs; listen to the lyrics, they are often hilarious (and of course deeply offensive). The film is full of laugh out loud moments and memorable lines that have entered the lexicon (the airport metal detector, turn it up to 11).
To cap it all off the extras (listed in the product description above) are fantastic and hilarious.
Buy it, watch it, enjoy it
Rating: 5 / 5
There can be little doubt that ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ is still very funny and also extremely influential. There are many memorable scenes, often quoted and I certainly won’t bore you here by listing them. Actually, they are in danger of being over done. I just don’t think there is any particular reason for yet another ‘special edition’ release of this classic movie. I have the previous two disc edition and I consider that more than enough.
There are a few new extras here with the main one being a new documentary on the movie featuring several famous talking heads. I enjoyed listening to Anvil the most here with their take on the movie and they are pretty funny(including the band member that never speaks, very Spinal Tap). The question is whether it is worthwhile stumping up your cash for this 25th anniversary edition. In my opinion it isn’t as there isn’t too much more on offer despite the extras, with a few of them already appearing on the earlier two disc release.
This is a classic that is really being milked now so if you want to own everything about this movie then the new extras will be worth it. For me though, enough is enough and I’m happy with the earlier special edition. What’s the betting that there will be a 30th anniversary special??
Rating: 4 / 5
Did Elton John watch this before making Tantrums and Tiaras? Did Madonna see it before making ‘In Bed with Madonna’? Have Metallica watched this before releasing `Metallica’ (the black album)? Did U2 see this before visiting Graceland in Rattle and Hum? Have Velvet Revolver watched it before forming a band?
The humour throughout Spinal Tap is dry and observed rather than slapstick in your face and that is fine by me. Hissy fits about food, on stage pompous prop failure, the tuning of a violin used during a guitar solo, radio interference on stage, the constant replacement of drummers, getting lost on the way to the stage, the revival of the career in Japan, amplifiers that go to eleven, all the jokes and clichés are there, in fact I think this film may have invented a few.
In much the same way that the British TV series `Drop the Dead donkey’ character Damien Day successfully lampooned cliché overly self important `on the spot’ news reporters, to the point where I struggle to take these `news hounds’ seriously, I find it hard to take most TV `Rockumentary’ programmes seriously as a result of Spinal Tap. Musicians and producers talking to camera about their `work’ just isn’t the same.
Both influenced and influencing Spinal Tap is a work of comedy genius. Not many films have dialogue that enter the language, the phrase `its all a bit spinal tap’ I have heard used in the media on countless occasions, and will be for years to come. There is little funnier in film or television when life imitates art, and art then imitates life to this degree. If we can see it, why can’t they? All you need to enjoy this is a sense of humour.
Rating: 5 / 5