Rob Reiner was a master who didn't care if you noticed

Details about the deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer are still coming in as I write this. Everything we learn about the story is awful, and I would prefer to attempt to celebrate Reiner's work and life rather than despair over this nightmare at the end of it. So let's start with the start of his career as a movie director. These were Reiner's first seven films, from 1984 through 1992: This Is Spinal Tap: It didn't invent the mockumentary form (or even the rock mockumentary form), but Spinal Tap - a tight collaboration between Reiner (who also played film-within-the-film director Marty DiBergi), Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer - perfected it, and is still the standard against which all others are judged, more than 40 years later. The Sure Thing: Admittedly, I haven't seen this one - a road trip romantic comedy, starring John Cusack (in his first real lead role) and Daphne Zuniga as bickering college students who inevitably fall in love - in decades. But I remember being wowed by it back in the day, and no less than Roger Ebert called it "a special love story." Stand By Me: The first of two Reiner adaptations of a Stephen King story (in print, it was called The Body ). Like Spinal Tap , this period coming-of-age tale didn't invent its particular subgenre, but is such a spectacular example of it that it set a terribly high bar for anyone else trying to do it afterwards. The Princess Bride: Like Peter Falk tells grandson Fred Savage in the framing device, Reiner and William Goldman's adaptation of Goldman's novel has got it all: "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles." The Princess Bride is that rarest, most delightful of movie miracles: a hilarious parody of a particular genre (swashbuckling adventure and romance) that is also a brilliant representative of the real thing. While recapping last week's episode of Pluribus , of course my thoughts turned to Princess Bride master swordsman Inigo Montoya. When Harry Met Sally...: Reiner and Nora Ephron's tale of best friends (Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, neither ever better) who take forever to realize they're in love with each other is the greatest modern movie romantic comedy. The only debatable point is whether it's the greatest movie romantic comedy of any era. Misery: The other King adaptation (and his second collaboration with William Goldman, who wrote the script), it is a lean, mean, and chilling tale that turned unknown character actress Kathy Bates into an Oscar winner and improbable movie star. A Few Good Men: When you hear people lament the death of the mid-budget movie for grown-ups, A Few Good Men is the exact kind of film they're thinking of. Reiner and Aaron Sorkin (adapting his own acclaimed stage play) brought together Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kiefer Sutherland (back from Stand by Me ), Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, and many more for a witty, stirring,...

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