Another entry for Rob Reiner, This Is Spinal Tap may just be the most quotable comedy of all time (or, at the very least, it gives Airplane! a run for its money). Following the hard-working English rock band Spinal Tap on tour across an America that seems to have forgotten who they are, Reiner's 'rockumentary' stands tall as the forerunner for faux-documentary comedy. Without This Is Spinal Tap, there would be no The Office, no comedy played off as reality with shaky cam and semi-improvised dialogue. Though it's an occasionally farcical laugher, This Is Spinal Tap never feels anything less than real, and it's remarkably performed by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Tony Hendra, as Spinal Tap's cricket bat-wielding manager. Repeated watches are required to take in the more subtle jokes and to appreciate the background characters, all of whom deliver those funnies with aplomb.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
