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| yambu |
 Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:45 am |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Marj wrote: .... Actually it was the duo, Mitch and Mickey and I didn't get. I figured they were just before my time. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:48 am |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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| The second group, BTW, was a shot at the Brothers Four from that time. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:58 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: Since Rob Reiner directed This is Spinal Tap, it doesn't qualify, but it's still the cream of the crop of mockumentaries.
Agreed.
It also made me think of Michael McKean in a completely different way after This is Spinal Tap. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:39 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| A MIGHTY WIND was a mightily disappointing. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:55 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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jeremy wrote: Quote: What's great about Spinal Tap is that it doesn't try to force a plot onto the documentary format. There is one, sort of, but it isn't pushed. The events seem to happen naturally: just as they would in a real documentary.
I realise it's not saying a lot giving the pertinance of most your, but this last line has to be one of your more inane and wrong-headed things you've written. Isn't the whole point of a mockumentary that it is in documentary format? Spinal Tap's brilliance lies in how it manages to both skewer (and roast over a low flame) both that style of documentary and heavy metal, yet, amazingly, still leave you feeling well disposed towards both.
I felt things like the band member exiting the group were so well-realized that you could buy into the illusion of a documentary being made. I didn't get that sense of plot gears grinding. It seemed like some stuff just happened to occur while the "documentarians" were around. And it developed at a natural pace, with less of the immediate cause-and-effect of a structured movie. Which is, of course, what a good mockumentary should do.
But it seems to me that a lot of the mockumentaries are so heavily plot oriented, and the plots are so obviously constructed, that you never really believe the illusion of a documentary being made. And once you don't buy into the concept, the joke dies. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 4:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| The return of Nigel in the last scene had a real kick. It was as heart-stopping as anything in Rocky. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:25 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| The Stonehenge scene from Spinal Tap is still about the funniest sight gag I've seen in the movies. Right up there with the sight of the avenging monster rounding the corner in Ghosbusters, which had me crying with laughter the first time I saw it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:10 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Marj wrote: marantzo wrote: Sorry Marj, but I do get lazy some time. In fact often. I was disappointed to find my 7 word review rather a disappointment also, if that makes you feel any better.
I guess we should be grateful that the title had three words!
Yambu,
I'm a tad younger than you guys but do remember the New Christy Minstrels. And I thought the A Mighty Wind got that exactly right. In fact, thinking about the smile on Parker Posey's face still makes me laugh. Actually it was the duo, Mitch and Mickey and I didn't get. I figured they were just before my time.
The most obvious inspirations for Mitch and Mickey were two famous but not household-name folk duos: Ian and Sylvia, and Richard and Mimi Farina. |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:13 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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| I think Best in Show is the funniest (although they all are entertaining to some extent) |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:40 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is an oddly compelling actual rock documentary. The most insightful film about a band's dynamic and inner working that I know of. The combination of heavy metal music and therapy is distinctly odd. And the film helps answer the question of what happens to aging rockers. If I had known the film was made by the same team who constructed Brother's Keeper, I would have been more confident going into the film. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:00 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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gromit wrote: And the film helps answer the question of what happens to aging rockers.
This is a question I've never quite gotten the fascination with. What happens to aging rockers is, I think, pretty much what happens to aging anybody's. They age in different ways. They get more eccentric (Bob Dylan), they burn out completely (Ace Frehley), they continue to rock (Mick Jagger), they continue to act like charismatic assholes (Ted Nugent). or they turn into quiet little Jewish gentlemen (Paul Simon). |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:16 am |
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Quote: The most obvious inspirations for Mitch and Mickey were two famous but not household-name folk duos: Ian and Sylvia, and Richard and Mimi Farina.
It's hard for me to see much similarities to those two duos except that they were couples. Richard and Mimi would fit the folk singers thing but little else. And Ian and Sylvia don't even fit into the folk mold all that well. They did get divorced so that's a similarity, but Richard died very early and they were still a couple. I think it was more of an overall characterization than anything specific.
Perhaps Paul and Paula? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:18 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Rock 'n' roll is angry young man's music. So how do you keep the pretense going when you are 40 and rich and have two little kids, or 60 and have grandkids? For jazz, classical or blues, we can understand how experience can be beneficial, and one can move into elder statesman territory (though classical music can be a bit unforgiving).
Heavy metal in particular seems to be about youth and disaffection. Btw, I thought an interesting aspect of Metallica was just how awful or inane their lyrics frequently were. They sound like they were just slapped together haphazardly, and we get to see a few instances of just such a process.
In addition to your alternatives, many old rockers branch out into jazz or other more "serious" music (Charlie Watts). Or retire (Bill Wyman). |
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| dlhavard |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:30 am |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 1352
Location: Detroit (where the slow are run over)
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| And then there's David Bowie making a nice career out of doing small movie roles, most recently in The Prestige. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:33 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: gromit wrote: And the film helps answer the question of what happens to aging rockers.
This is a question I've never quite gotten the fascination with. What happens to aging rockers is, I think, pretty much what happens to aging anybody's. They age in different ways. They get more eccentric (Bob Dylan), they burn out completely (Ace Frehley), they continue to rock (Mick Jagger), they continue to act like charismatic assholes (Ted Nugent). or they turn into quiet little Jewish gentlemen (Paul Simon).
The only difference is their aging process is exposed to more people than the rest of the anybody's. IMO, Robert Plant (Led Zep) has aged the worst. Although seeing a picture of Ronnie James Dio the other day shows that time hasn't been all that kind to him, either. |
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"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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