The Citizen Kane of music mockumentaries, Rob Reiner’s 1984 classic This Is Spinal Tap is a pitch-perfect deflation of rock-band pretensions and aspirations. It’s an acerbic roasting of lyric-writing, song-titling, stagecraft, guitar-worship, amp settings, drummer mishaps, and crotch-enhancement, among other things. Impeccable cast members Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean helped Reiner write the hilarious script, which deconstructs music documentaries’ tendency to deify their subjects. This Is Spinal Tap has entered the popular culture pantheon, becoming a perpetual reference point for any act of absurd pomposity in the entertainment biz. It belongs in heavy rotation of any cinéaste’s viewing regimen. by Dave Segal