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Rock and roll is back as Rob Reiner gives fans an amazing update on the long awaited sequel to his cult-classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. The original film, released in 1984, follows fake documentary filmmaker Marty Dibergi (Reiner) as he produces a tour film for his favorite British heavy metal band, Spinal Tap. Marty joins the band on their American comeback tour, showing the highs and lows across the band's shaky gigs.

Rob Reiner recently spoke to Deadline about the long-awaited sequel. Reiner was among this year's Emmy nominees for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for his new doc Albert Brooks: Defending My Life - exploring the life and work of comedian Albert Brooks. Reiner joked that his long road to creating an Emmy nominated documentary started with his fake one back in the 1980s, saying:

"Its a total surprise. Especially because Ive never made a real documentary. The only...

One of Rob Reiner’s greatest filmmaking credits is the classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. But he became the maker of an actual documentary – not a faux one – with Albert Brooks: Defending My Life. This morning (while working on the sequel to Spinal Tap in New Orleans) he learned he’s become an Emmy nominee for the HBO film about his lifelong buddy, Brooks.

“It’s a total surprise,” he said of the Emmy recognition for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and for his direction of the film. “Especially because I’ve never made a real documentary. The only one I made was a fake one – Spinal Tap. It’s so funny to get recognized in this way.”

Related: Emmy Nominations Analysis: Fresh Blood Livens Up The Race For TV Gold

Rob Reiner speaks at the HBO Documentary Films screening of ‘Albert Brooks: Defending My Life’ at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

The French artist Apolonia Sokol – focus of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Apolonia, Apolonia – has been compared to the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. She concedes there may be a few parallels, beginning with something of a physical resemblance.

“I was joking a little bit about that — the fact that we have the unibrow and the mustache,” Sokol laughs. “Maybe these are similarities.”

On a more substantive level, both artists describe themselves as almost possessed by the creative urge. “I paint because I need to,” Kahlo once said. In the documentary directed by Lea Glob, Sokol comments, “I can’t tell the difference between my identity and my work. But there really is no difference.”

Painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), circa 1945.

There’s another parallel between them. “What is so interesting about Frida Kahlo is that she was one of the first artists to actually create her own mythology, her personal mythology, for her paintings.

Great needle drops in movies use popular songs to tap into deeper emotions for both characters and the audience, elevating an already emotional scene. Needle drops can be done ironically to juxtapose what is happening in the film and provide a unique viewing experience. The right song can become an anthem for a character or a film, adding layers of meaning and capturing a specific feeling or theme.

The right song in the right movie can elevate both works of art, and join forces to elevate the movie to new heights. While an original score can also enhance the emotion of a scene, there is something special about a great needle drop, especially when the song is particularly appropriate. Great needle drops don't just sell more soundtracks, but they also help expand the world and characters of a film.

An outstanding needle drop doesn't just play a popular song for no reason,...

At the sold-out annual gala of Moca on Saturday night, April 15, Keanu Reeves and his girlfriend artist Alexandra Grant, walked the red carpet and shared a kiss in front of the phalanx of photographers, before joining around 600 other guests inside the museum’s Geffen Contemporary building in downtown L.A.

During the cocktail hour, attendees — who also included Tiffany Haddish, Jodie Foster and Alexandra Hedison, Paramount Animation chief Ramsey Ann Naito and Reeves’ one-time Bill and Ted co-star Alex Winter, Jennifer Tilly, Lisa Edelstein, David and Susan Gersh, producers Lawrence Bender and Carolyn Folks, and CAA’s Joel Lubin — got the first look at Moca’s new exhibit, Carl Craig: Party/After-Party, an immersive soundscape and light installation, ahead of its opening today. “It’s so intense and the vibrations are so strong, that you can’t even hang art in the adjacent building,” Moca director Johanna Burton told THR of the show.

Feature Jason D'Allison 17 May 2013 - 07:08

Grange Hill. The only school kids ever seemed to be interested in. Us included…

At your school, did anyone die in the swimming pool? Did you have to contend with vicious bullies (and we’re talking about the teachers!)? Did everyone have London accents coarse enough to strip the paint off the classroom doors? Yes? Flippin’ ’eck, you must have gone to Grange Hill!

If you grew up in the 1980s but don’t have a fondness for Grange Hill, there’s probably only one explanation: you were banned from watching it. Yep, for those of us who could get away with it, this rites-of-passage drama series about the pupils of a north-London comprehensive was must-see television, but by parents and teachers it was generally despised. It all started in 1978, and continues to this day (just about), but its golden age was undoubtedly the 1980s.