Tony Hendra
A young trombone player spends an adventurous night trying to open an impossible bottle of wine. An unconscious girl, a crooked bookcase and some mold get in his way.
A look at the history of the American comedy publication and production company, National Lampoon, from its beginning in the 1970s to 2010, featuring rare and never before seen footage, this is the mind boggling story of The National Lampoon from its subversive and electrifying beginnings, to rebirth as an unlikely Hollywood heavyweight, and beyond. A humour empire like no other, the impact of the magazines irreverent, often shocking, sensibility was nothing short of seismic: this is an institution whose (drunk stoned brilliant) alumni left their fingerprints all over popular culture. Both insanely great and breathtakingly innovative, The National Lampoon created the foundation of modern comic sensibility by setting the bar in comedy impossibly high.
Prince Charming was supposed to live long and happily with Snow White after kissing her back to life. However the jealous 'good' fairy decides that she and the prince were meant to be, only the start of a whole series of perversions of various fairy tale characters' traditional good nature.
A deodorant company with a product called "Smell No Mo" pits two rival ad agencies in a race to come up with a campaign for a new-fangled sanitary napkin called Vorcan. The advertising satire follows the New York firm of Cranston & Co. as they fight rival Hoffman & Partners. Cranston fires his creative director which puts a young copywriter with a literature degree on the front line, even though he doesn't want to be. The contest comes down to a schmaltzy campaign by Hoffman with music by Air Supply that uses the tagline "Vorcan: your own personal air supply." or a more down to earth campaign from Cranston of "The pad ain't bad!"
When the champ's promoter, Rev. Sultan, decides something new is needed to boost the marketability of the boxing matches, he searches and finds the only man to ever beat the champ. The problem is that he isn't a boxer anymore and he's white. However, once Rev. Sultan convinces him to fight, he goes into heavy training while the confident champ takes it easy and falls out of shape.
Michael Chapman was once a child TV star. When he grows up, he can't get work so he and his brother start their own talent agency that specialises in child acts. They can't seem to find the next big thing and they have to deal with another agency who's not above bribery to get the kids to sign with them. One day Michael meets a young girl who's a real spitfire, and thinks she could be who they are looking for.
Terry works for a bank, and uses computers to communicate with clients all over the world. One day she gets a strange message from an unknown source. The message is coded. After decoding the message, Terry becomes embroiled in an espionage ring. People are killed, and Terry is chased. Throughout she remains in contact with this unknown person, who needs Terry to help save his life.
"This Is Spinal Tap" shines a light on the self-contained universe of a metal band struggling to get back on the charts, including everything from its complicated history of ups and downs, gold albums, name changes and undersold concert dates, along with the full host of requisite groupies, promoters, hangers-on and historians, sessions, release events and those special behind-the-scenes moments that keep it all real.
A female vampire must bathe in the blood of virgins in order to stay alive. The trouble is that virgins are in short supply nowadays, and she is running into major problems in finding one.
