"Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported." - David St. Huggins

The 80's were characterized by super bands made up with glamorous persona's with even more glamorous hair. Great bands such as Def Leppard, Van Halen, and Bon Jovi ruled this decade whereas the wanna-be rockers dismally failed. One group in particular, known as Spinal Tap, fell into the latter of the two. Aside from the overly sexual lyrics, tacky stage props, crazy make up, childish attitudes, dying drummers, and the overall stupidity of the entire band, they are actually pretty good. Director Rob Reiner gives us an exclusive look into the everyday touring of the parody group in a mock-documentary film called This Is Spinal Tap (1984).

The documentary is shown from fictional fan and film maker Marty DeBergi's point of view as he tours with the group from the east coast of the US to the west coast. The hand held camera used throughout the vast majority of the shots gives the audience a feel of authenticity to the mock-umentary style. The overall characterization of the rockers David St. Hubbins (played by Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and Tommy Pischedda (Bruno Kirby) is that of utter stupidity, selfishness, absurdness, austere and strangeness. The comedy of the film comes directly from the ridiculousness in the general endeavors of the band. For example, a specific scene comes from when filmmaker Marty DeBergi is interviewing lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel in a room filled with various guitars and amplifiers. Tufnel goes around giving anecdotes and information about the collection when he shows DeBergi a Marshall amplifier set which he is especially proud of,

Nigel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleve, and...
Marty: Oh I see, and most amps go up to ten?
Nigel: Exactly.
Marty: Does that mean its louder. Is it any louder?
Nigel: Well its one louder isn't it? Its not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty: I don't know.
Nigel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty: Put it up to eleven
Nigel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder
Marty: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel: [pause] These go to eleven.

This sort of humor is used frequently throughout the film giving it a feel of dumbness and hilarity. Although This Is Spinal Tap may seem like a just another brainless comedy, the subtleties and quiet nuances of the parody makes it very enjoyable and extremely laughable. Technicalities such as the colorful lighting on stage when they are playing, the countless low angle shots of the band's crotch areas and the absolutely terrific makeup, setting, and costume all play into role of the impact of the film.

This parody of a British rock band in the 80's makes for one of the truly great comedies of all time. Not only did Reiner manage to thoughtfully mock an entire decade of music, but he also captured the intensity and drive a band of Spinal Tap's nature needs to accomplish in order to survive in the world of entertainment.

Critique the Critic

I chose to review the comments of Rich Cline on the movie We Own the Night directed by James Gray from the Rotten Tomatoes link. I have no idea who this James Gray character is so after a little reseach, I found out he directed the movie Little Odessa, which won a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Critic Prize at the Deauville Film Festival. Judging by these awards, Little Odessa must be a pretty solid movie, giving Gray credit to his directing skills which I anticipate he imposed into We Own the Night. The movie is basically about a particular family where the father and one son are police officers and the other son is in the world of selling drugs at a nightclub. Clines criticisms of the movie were very intelligent and interesting. I have not seen the movie yet but planned to, and now after Cline's words, im not quite sure its worth my time anymore. Cline describes the film in its entirety as,

"somewhat slow and dry with only brief flashes of emotion or action."

He also states, which was very key in my approval of the criticism,

"its a bit too deliberate and over-serious to keep us thoroughly engaged."

I cant stand movies where the director seems to be over the top so that the audience becomes fully engaged. This does not engage me however, it just makes me bored and wanting to just cut to the chase. When I go to see a movie, I enjoy a lot of action and fast paced scenarios. With this movie however, it appears as though my viewing pleasures would not be successfully fulfilled. I really like the actors and actresses who star in this film (Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Walhberg, and Eva Mendes) which was a main reason in my wanting to go watch the movie. After this review, I dont want to really go out and actively pursue renting this film (which comes out on DVD this week) . If I am bored with my friends and there are no other movies which look tasteful in the red box next weekend, I might consider renting We Own the Night.

Intro

This is my Art of Film blog. I took this class so I can get to view movies I otherwise would not be able to see on my own time. Hopefully I can benefit from being exposed to the curriculum and gain a new understanding of exactly how movies are a true art form. I enjoy watching movies and discussing their effects or ideas, which will hopefully help me out in this class and make my movie viewing all the more fun.