Josephina
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Eric Seaberg
I was at this show with several friends at the end of our musical tour through the U.K. We read about the concert on our flight from LAX and got tickets as soon as we landed. Originally scheduled for one night, it sold out so quickly they had to add a 2nd night. Was great to sing-a-long with "Big Bottoms" and other classic Tap hits. I bought the LaserDisc as soon as it came out in '93 and have enjoyed it several times. It is longer than the current DVD release and so much fun to see my 'seat' in the long shots!A great follow up to the classic film... if you've not seen the original, watch it first and then settle down for Spinal Tap playing "At Home" in the U.K.
magicsinglez
The original movie 'This is Spinal Tap', filmed by amateur movie maker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), is a very funny spoof of a heavy metal band. The actors playing 'Spinal Tap' made up songs for use in the documentary -er 'Rockumentary' -er mockumentary. We see the band at the coliseum - unable to find their way to the stage, or saying, "hello Detroit" when they're in Cleveland, or on stage in the midst of various technical or prop-difficulties. It's very funny. Listed as one of the top cult films of all time I think. I give the original 9 stars. In the original movie, at times the jokes go too far. When the guitarist repeatedly insists his amp is goes louder, because, "it goes to 11", it's obvious the guitarist couldn't really be that dumb and so it's obvious the he's just an actor repeating a line. When a joke becomes too mean, perhaps, it's not funny anymore, except for nervous/fear laughter. Still, today, radio stations across the dial advertise, "crank it up to 11. . ."To a certain extent, in hind-site, I think the joke is on the fearful who do laugh 'at' Spinal Tap rather than laughing with them. Their big song in the original mockumentary is 'Big Bottoms' - "Big Bottoms, big bottoms, talk about bum-cakes my girls got'em". And there's the scene where their record label won't print the cover photo for their album 'Smell the Glove' because it's too 'sexist'. I know, to this day, if someone says something to me, like, "Talk to the hand", I'm liable to respond with, "Smell the Glove".Spinal Tap's actually helped me appreciate metal bands. For example, I'm not a fan of hard or punk rock, or metal bands that mostly have a hard rock sound, tho I am a big metal fan - each song in these mockumentaries seems to spoof a different band/style of metal music, and Spinal Tap are just so harmless and amusing they've helped me appreciate some of these other styles more. In '25th Anniversary Sell-Out' they continue the joke from the previous movie, pretending to be a real band. Of course, they now know Marty DiBergi, who filmed 'This is Spinal Tap', made fools out of them in the first movie! as witnessed by this extra footage added on after the end of the first movie, Nigel Tufnel: I think his real last name is DiBergarmo.David St. Hubbins: No!Derek Smalls: No, his real last name is DiBergowitz.Nigel Tufnel: Yeah! DiBergowitz. David St. Hubbins: No! He's like one of those... Derek Smalls: Yeah, he is one of those. Check it out: DiBergowitz! It's pretty funny. For this movie, '25th anniversary sell-out', Spinal Tap operate the cameras themselves. They turn the tables on film maker Marty DiBergi, showing up at his 'office' and putting him on film. Marty's office seems to be a pay phone inside a pub (he's given the phone number of this public phone out as his office number) and he's waiting by the phone fruitlessly for other offers to come in after his movie 'This is Spinal Tap'. They don't have 'Martyy DiBergi' for this film, so, of course, this film isn't that good! Duh. It's a bit funny but 'The 25th Anniversary Sell-Out' isn't as amusing, or a good as 'This is Spinal Tap'. I like the music tho, so I go ahead and give it an extra star or two.
Motorskallen
Hey! Whatta ---- !! Why doesn't this band appear anymore? This "rockumentary" actually gives a real touch, and not only is it tunes in the name of DreamEvil and Manowar ... this band was actually BEFORE these kind of bands. I really dig "Tonight I'm gonna rock you tonight" and "Rainy day sun", because this band gives a touch of different kind of music genres. The old 60s weed-smokers-and-get-stoned-and-say-hail-to-the-rainbow-music stuff as well as heavy metal.It's also fun to watch their self ironic stuff, like in the intro when they can't get down on the scene. Or when they get out of the eggs and one dude dressed up as chicken actually appears in one of them. Hilarious! I strongly recommend this film for all beginners of heavy metal. 10 out of 10.PS! If you're expecting a sequel to the original "This is spinal tap" you'll however get disappointed. This should be watched more like a "serious" concert recorded live.
John Frame
"The Return Of Spinal Tap" proves that Spinal Tap were indeed a band of superb musicians, excellent vocalists and ultimate showmen. It doesn't matter that they are fictional characters, because what you get here is one of the most powerful sounding and visually impressive rock'n'roll stage shows anyone could ever hope to see.Sadly when Tap did Australian appearances to promote their "Break Like The Wind" CD, the public and media all thought that they were joking when they said they were planning a world tour and that Australia could be included if demand was high enough. This film is some compensation for all of us who missed out on experiencing Tap live and at their peak.Filmed with inclusion of state of the art flying cameras and superb visual editing as well as sound production. I've enjoyed many repeat viewings of the LaserDisc over the years - and I'm always blown away. Crank your sound system to eleven and enjoy the ride.
