herbiehancock

No 122 – The Princess Bride Director – Rob Reiner Some films just age. This is not always detrimental to the story, but it means that the film, as a whole, is stuck in a certain period. From the opening sequence and the plinky plonky 8bit graphics, this film is very much of the 80s. It doesn ’t matter that much because it isn ’t trying to be futuristic or show technology of any kind. It is a fairy tale, and can give off a timeless feel. And it does. It is a wonderful film to watch. It just all looks pretty budget. It is obvious that a lot of the ‘outdoor’ shots are actually in a studio, they look artificial and are littered with the most obviously polystyrene rocks I have ever seen. It isn ’t helped that whenever they do have an outdoor shot (especially if it is a wide angled shot) the film stock (on my DVD at least) goes all grainy. It feels a bit like a 70’s sitcom, when you could easily tell which sections were filmed with which camera because the image quality wo...

No 48 - This is Spinal Tap Director - Rob Reiner Spinal Tap is always going to be an important film, in that it brought us really great, influential , iconic comedy that was improvised. The improvisation thing is what is really impressive, because like Anchorman (another moment of improvisatory genius), this film is so utterly quotable. It makes you wonder how committees who are meticulously writing scripts can fail to get the zest and the laughter than some people can just invent on the spot. The acting is also brilliant, creating fabulous performances which deliver these amazing moments in a brilliantly subtle and understated way. It makes the film believable as an (albeit ridiculous) actual ' rockumentary '. However, before I go on to talk about some of the performances from comedy greats in this film, I want to begin by talking about Rob Reiner's role as fake documentary (and advert) director Marty DiBergi . For most of the film it is fairly understated, asking ques...