tenia wrote: Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:36 pm
I found the MadVR + MPC-HC tonemapping to be the most convincing to my eyes. What are you using ?
Right now I've stuck with MPC-BE, which does okay, but if the brightness levels get too high they come out darker; or that's at least what I figure is happening since it varies. I tried what you suggested, but I recall finding the blacks off. That could have been something off in my configuration, or something with an older video card I had at the time, though, so it might be worth trying again. I also tried writing my own tooling with FFMPEG doing the processing, and that led to mixed results (it was also ridiculous to use).
yoloswegmaster wrote: Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:40 pm
Is this because of that one user on the BR forum who is convinced that the new restoration is wrong and looks Ritrovata'd (even though it doesn't)?
Ugh. It's less red, a bit greener/teal-ier I guess, but to say it's been Ritrovata'd is absurd.
It’s alright. There are some funny moments in the movie, but at times it overstayed its welcome and relies quite a bit on jokes made in the previous movie. Spoiler
They continue with the drummer joke and callback some from the original. They also updated the amp/guitar scene with pedals which really fell flat for me.
Also the third act feels like an afterthought with the reunion concert happening. Once Stonehenge fell on Elton John, I thought we would get another 10 minutes maybe, but it just goes straight into “credits” (which similar to the last movie are just more scenes of them talking)
What saddened me was I had been looking forward to this for a while, since the original one is one of my all time favorites. When I went to the theater Friday night, I was the only one there. My friends have also experienced the same situation at their theaters.
I feel like the original 40+-year-old film has never really went away, such that some people are probably actually tired of it. I remember my college flatmates watching it over and over again and while there are some bits that are obviously deathless (especially Fred Willard's scene) I haven't had a desire to watch it front-to-back for a long time, much less watch a star-cameo-filled valedictory sequel.
The original still holds up for new folks - at least, if my girlfriend's recent reaction is anything to go by.
We also saw the sequel with Harry Shearer in attendance. He seems proud of the fact that he wrested the rights to the original and the characters back, but he didn't have a lot to say about the film itself other than how nerve-wracking it was to work with McCartney and Elton John, and how good the New Orleans crew was. (He also said never to sue anyone if you can help it.) I thought the movie was just ok - not as many rehashed jokes as I'd feared, although I, like Butarsky, wasn't crazy about how the climax and very sudden ending worked. The best bits were, unsurprisingly, the moments where the weight of the original was lifted and the actors could just improv to their hearts' content. I'm thinking particularly of Guest's time in the cheese shop and McKean's quip about biographies during the credits. A lot of the roles felt superfluous and the whole thing was a little unstructured, even more so than the original, which at least has the through-line of the tour slowly falling apart. There are no "Puppet Show and Spinal Tap" moments here - the drama is quick and almost unnecessary.
It wasn't bad, but it's hard to remember much of the dialogue even just a few days on. That's the real disappointment compared to the endlessly quotable original.
yoloswegmaster wrote: Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:40 pm
Is this because of that one user on the BR forum who is convinced that the new restoration is wrong and looks Ritrovata'd (even though it doesn't)?
Yeahhhhhh. Sometimes a person is just gonna see what they want to see.
I’m generalizing, of courses, but to a certain GenX age group (mine, in fact), the original was and remains the funniest and oddly sweetest, most melancholic comedy ever made. Of course, I’m there for the sequel.
My hopes aren’t too high. Nothing the Spinal Tap franchise has produced outside of the original film and soundtrack has been successful, at least to me. I really just want it to have some of the sweetness and heart of the ‘84 film, and not feel like it’s hitting the same notes or straining too hard to capture the same magic.
It does not surprise me in the least that younger people don’t know or care about Tap or the sequel. Why would they? It was a very specific satire of a very specific time and cultural movement that no longer exists and they have no frame of reference for. There’s not much of anything they could relate their lives to in any of it, unless there’s a whole GenZ/Alpha movement of young people stuffing their crotches with cucumbers wrapped in tinfoil that I’m unaware of.
soundchaser wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 1:27 am
The original still holds up for new folks - at least, if my girlfriend's recent reaction is anything to go by.
jazzo wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:32 am
It does not surprise me in the least that younger people don’t know or care about Tap or the sequel. Why would they? It was a very specific satire of a very specific time and cultural movement that no longer exists and they have no frame of reference for.
My daughter ended up watching the original with me and she was laughing through it (pretty hard at some of the songs) so it still works, and I think that has to do with the fact that even if it is specific to that era, narcissistic and clueless musicians are still very much a thing and that still translates here. Even the stuff she probably didn't get the full context of like (like the small sandwiches) she still found funny. On the other hand, she really only watched it because I was. She hadn't heard of the band/film before that and probably wouldn't have bothered.
My hopes aren’t too high.
Same. The trailer is included on the bonus disc and there are a couple of laughs but not many, and I get a sense that will be the film in a nutshell. Going through the features (most of them for a 2nd/3rd/4th time) involving them in character got trying eventually. The commentary isn't perfect but still pretty funny, but by the time I got to the 2009 interview I caught myself checking out admittedly. None of that has negatively impacted the original film, though; it's still very funny on its own.
jazzo wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:32 am
It was a very specific satire of a very specific time and cultural movement that no longer exists and they have no frame of reference for. There’s not much of anything they could relate their lives to in any of it
I went into the movie on its release week after only hearing some vague positive reviews. I hated metal music and wasn’t so into documentaries. As it unfolded I found it funnier as I came to realize that it was in fact a satire and that Spinal Tap wasn’t a real group. As far as I can see the cliches about metal & rock music/touring haven’t changed much & it’s still very relevant.
jazzo wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:32 am
There’s not much of anything they could relate their lives to in any of it, unless there’s a whole GenZ/Alpha movement of young people stuffing their crotches with cucumbers wrapped in tinfoil that I’m unaware of.
The movie came out before 9/11 & back then kids didn’t fly like they do today. If anything they should find the airport security scene funnier than we did.
Lowry_Sam wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 7:13 amI went into the movie on its release week after only hearing some vague positive reviews. I hated metal music and wasn’t so into documentaries. As it unfolded I found it funnier as I came to realize that it was in fact a satire and that Spinal Tap wasn’t a real group.
My problem with American Movie was the other way round - a very poorly thought-out festival programme note compared it with This Is Spinal Tap, and so I watched the entire film thinking that it was a spoof and wondering why it wasn't especially funny.
I really do need to give it another go, as I suspect I'll like it now that I know that it's real.
Lowry_Sam wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 7:13 am
I went into the movie on its release week after only hearing some vague positive reviews. I hated metal music and wasn’t so into documentaries. As it unfolded I found it funnier as I came to realize that it was in fact a satire and that Spinal Tap wasn’t a real group.
That is a wonderful reminiscence, I think most people can't imagine not having the "mockumentary" aspect already spoiled for them....even as far back as the 90's the film has been ubiquitous. I might check out the sequel on streaming but I'm getting Blues Brothers 2000 vibes from the trailer. I saw that motherfucker on opening night, and it was absolutely brutal The sequel here seems particularly ubiquitous, when the original troupe has done a number of fairly humble but humorous follow ups that capture their brand of comedy without recycling the concept. Also Some Kind of Monster has already ably filled the void.
soundchaser wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 1:27 am
The original still holds up for new folks - at least, if my girlfriend's recent reaction is anything to go by.
jazzo wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:32 am
It does not surprise me in the least that younger people don’t know or care about Tap or the sequel. Why would they? It was a very specific satire of a very specific time and cultural movement that no longer exists and they have no frame of reference for.
My daughter ended up watching the original with me and she was laughing through it (pretty hard at some of the songs) so it still works, and I think that has to do with the fact that even if it is specific to that era, narcissistic and clueless musicians are still very much a thing and that still translates here. Even the stuff she probably didn't get the full context of like (like the small sandwiches) she still found funny. On the other hand, she really only watched it because I was. She hadn't heard of the band/film before that and probably wouldn't have bothered.
My 12 year-old daughter is the more adventurous film watcher of my two children, and I was thinking of showing it to her after I pick this new version up. Both kids are familiar with the mockumentary format after discovering the US Office (unfortunately) on Netflix, but I may warm her up with something like Best in Show first which, admittedly, I don't like anywhere near as much as Tap, but still think is pretty successful and very sweet. The subject matter may ease her into Tap's a bit more.
Chris, on a sidenote, one of the great pleasures of my life has been curating film nights for my kids, and I assume it's the same for you and anyone else ion this community with children. I'm successful about 70% of the time. My daughter is way more open to trying different things, so when my 14 year-old son actually joins us, it almost always has to be something genre-specific and non experimental, but that still allows for off-the-beaten path stuff than what most kids these days are used to.
jazzo wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 1:30 pm
Chris, on a sidenote, one of the great pleasures of my life has been curating film nights for my kids, and I assume it's the same for you and anyone else ion this community with children. I'm successful about 70% of the time. My daughter is way more open to trying different things, so when my 14 year-old son actually joins us, it almost always has to be something genre-specific and non experimental, but that still allows for off-the-beaten path stuff than what most kids these days are used to.
My daughter's long been a write-off - she won't watch anything in foreign, black and white or made before about 2012 (and her mother's not much better, although admittedly more tolerant of the "made before 2012" part), and the only subtitled thing she's ever watched voluntarily was Squid Game - but my son's a proper cinephile and will watch more or less anything; I took him to Cinema Ritrovata in Bologna back in 2022 and I'm very keen to repeat the experience.
I try very hard to not be like a sports dad who's disappointed his son would rather draw than strap on skates or kick a ball, but it's harder than I thought! You want them to love what you love!
Nothing will replicate my experience first seeing This Is Spinal Tap in a theater in 1984 with guitarist Jim McCarty (Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, The Rockets) seated behind me. He laughed the loudest of anyone in the theater as I'm sure he had personal experience with much of what was being lampooned.
I also couldn't miss the parallels with real life when the next year I ended up spending some time backstage with Motorhead who kept being promised their "bomber" theatrical lighting prop would be arriving shortly during their US tour only to be held up in customs or repeatedly delayed for some other reason, leaving the band grumbling.
jazzo wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:32 am
It does not surprise me in the least that younger people don’t know or care about Tap or the sequel. Why would they?
Was screened in a documentary course I took a couple years ago, played like gangbusters to a room of twenty year olds (Fred Willard's scene was a high point!).
Last edited by okcmaxk on Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MichaelB wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 8:48 amMy problem with American Movie was the other way round - a very poorly thought-out festival programme note compared it with This Is Spinal Tap, and so I watched the entire film thinking that it was a spoof and wondering why it wasn't especially funny.
I really do need to give it another go, as I suspect I'll like it now that I know that it's real.
Oh boy, yeah, it would be an entirely different experience, both more triumphant in terms of someone willing something into existence, but also a truly sad and melancholy portrait of life getting away from you.
FWIW, if you have the Sara Driver DVD set (which I hope gets upgraded to HD someday), there's a short film by Jim Jarmusch of Joe Strummer scoring When Pigs Fly, and at one point, as he's behind the camera, Jarmusch explains the "11" joke from This Is Spinal Tap because Strummer has never seen it. There's no joke, but it always cracks me up how it plays out.
I got the new Criterion release this week and doing a detailed comparison with previous releases, there's about 13 minutes of previously-released deleted footage that's missing from the new Criterion edition. The original Criterion release and the MGM DVDs/Blu-rays had different sets of deleted scenes, which had some overlapping footage, but also each had their own exclusive footage. The new Criterion release mostly recombines the footage, sometimes using the Criterion source (which had a burned-in timecode) and sometimes using the MGM source (no timecode) when there is identical footage. However, Criterion has still ended up leaving out a decent amount of unique footage.
1) About 5 additional seconds of Spinal Tap posing with Dennis Eton-Hogg for a photo from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "The Party" are missing.
2) About 2 additional seconds of Nigel & Ian discussing ordering food from the end of the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Frenchie's" are missing.
3) About 50 total seconds from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Lost Below" are missing, such as extended David & Nigel discussing Janine, wide shots of the band noodling around, a roadie letting them know the stage is ready, Mick & groupies exiting a bathroom, and extended dialogue of the band discussing how to find the stage.
4) About 6 seconds of Tommy referring to the tin full of drugs as "a box of cookies" from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Tommy's Way" are missing.
5) About 35 total seconds from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Marty Says It Was Good" are missing, including Marty telling Tommy his singing in the previous scene "doesn't denigrate your love for Frank", Derek firing a toy laser gun and David telling him not to because police might think it's a gun, and Tap talking about Tommy taking his socks off.
6) About 15 seconds of Derek discussing his divorce on the phone from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "They're Killing Us" are missing.
7) About 10 seconds of roadies setting up and Nigel counting in the group to start singing from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "They're Killing Us" are missing.
8) A 2-minute chunk of deleted scenes from the MGM releases labeled "Trouble in Memphis" is completely missing. This includes Marty interviewing Nigel, Ian interacting with Paul Benedict and Howard Hesseman, groupies making plaster casts of Derek & Viv's butts, and Nigel putting his Gumby doll in his shirt pocket.
9) About 7 seconds of Ian dumping out a hotel ice container in anger from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Ian Demos the Bat" are missing.
10) About 30 total seconds from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Graceland" are missing, including the drive to the gate and additional dialogue about flower arrangements & gravestones.
11) A 15-second deleted scene from the Criterion DVD labeled "Armpit Farting" is completely missing.
12) About 70 total seconds are missing from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Marty vs. Ian + Subplots". The Criterion DVD version of this deleted footage intercuts Marty & Ian talking in a hallway (while Derek talks on a payphone in the background) with Nigel talking to Janine on a couch in the green room. The MGM releases included the same scene, but removed all the footage of Nigel & Janine; you can see jumpcuts in the hallway footage when the scene should have been cutting away to them. The new Criterion release uses the MGM version instead of their original longer version. An extended bit with Ian greeting Janine at the beginning, and an extended bit of Derek hanging up the phone at the end are also missing.
13) About 35 total seconds are missing from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Pick-ups": the first 30 seconds (Nigel & Derek discussing Janine) and the last 5 seconds (Vicki Blue & Joyce Hyser laughing).
14) About 70 total seconds are missing from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Artie Fufkin" including the first 45 seconds of Artie entering & informing tap about going to a radio station, additional dialogue about the station, and 15 seconds of Artie with egg on his face looking around & Tap laughing at him.
15) About 15 additional seconds of Artie leading Tap down the hall and discussing his promotional strategies from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Radio AM Talk Show" are missing.
16) About 6 additional seconds of Tap saying goodbye to Johnny from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Signings" are missing.
17) About 8 seconds of Marty sarcastically complimenting Derek on his performance from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Roma '79" are missing.
18) About 7 additional seconds of the cucumber being prepared from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Moke Makes Derek Dicks" are missing.
19) About 105 seconds of Nigel & David discussing their creative & personal block from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "All the Way Home" are missing.
20) About 10 seconds of David mentioning it being 19 years since writing "All the Way Home" from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "All the Way Home" are missing.
21) About 85 total seconds of various recording & arguing are missing from the Criterion DVD deleted scene "Heart and Soul of the Band".
In addition, the "Cheese Rolling" promo has been incorrectly re-edited and is now missing footage. On the Criterion DVD, it ran 4:16 while it only runs 3:38 on the new release. This is because the longer edit of the Cheese Fest footage that should be present has been replaced with the shorter edit from the shorter "Cheese Rolling" trailer. When Rob Reiner starts showing the Cheese Fest footage, on the new release, the aspect ratio switches from widescreen to pillarboxed fullscreen; this fullscreen footage comes from the "Cheese Rolling" trailer, whereas the "Cheese Rolling" promo should have a longer version, and on the original DVD, was all in the same widescreen ratio as the Rob Reiner footage. For instance, a shot of a church followed by footage of Michael McKean (in costume) with a child rolling cheese while Harry Shearer narrates "In village square and countryside alike, in every glan & fjord, three days are set aside at the end of every other April, or unterabfel, for a joyous celebration of cheese" are all missing.
After having a chance to sit down & watch the actual film on the new Criterion release, I discovered one definite error with the restoration/transfer, and possibly a second.
1) The “Austin, Texas” location chyron that should appear during the scene with Anjelica Huston is missing.
MGM Blu-ray (It's present on the Criterion DVD and Optimum Blu-ray also.)
Criterion Blu-ray
2) After discovering this, I decided before contacting Mulvaney to do a deep-dive comparison to double-check for any other missing text [there isn’t] and I noticed an additional change to the film: at 49:54, an establishing shot of Season’s Friendly Eating is used before cutting inside to the scene where Nigel draws the Stonehenge blueprint. This establishing shot has been changed, a different section of film has been used.
All previous releases start with the car on the left further back and only 1 car present on the right. Example from the MGM Blu-ray:
But now on the Criterion release, the shot begins at a later point in the original footage, where the car on the left is more forward, the car on the right is further back, and a 2nd car on the right has already entered frame.
The Criterion release ends later in the shot, after the camera has zoomed towards the Season’s sign. The shots last for the same length, but ultimately a different section of footage was used instead of beginning at the same frame.
The missing chyron is alarming. Sigh. I just picked up this release and do we have another replacement program situation like with their Carnal Knowledge release.
Is Criterion releasing too many titles per month? The work needs to get better from them as of late.
