Friday, January 24, 2014

Movie review - "This is Spinal Tap" (1984) ****1/2

A wonderful movie made with such love, skill and affection that it has aged extremely well. I've seen it a bunch of times now and always enjoy it - the quality of the performers (who can sing and play instruments), the accuracy of the world it conveys, the beautiful satire, the genuine emotional depth of it (its genuinely sad when Nigel and David break up and moving when they reunite). I even found some of the songs catchy.

Some minor criticisms: the characters of the main three players are so strong they completely overpower the other two in the band (I always forget the keyboardist character); I would have liked to have seen an interview with one of the groupies who are always with the band, and maybe a bit more characterisation in Justine, the Yoko Ono figure (she's completely without any virtues).

But there's no denying it's quality and it's status as a cult classic is well deserved.

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