Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)

Best movie ever!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This is a great little documentary. It works as an exercise in telling a story of the humans behind the act - very ordinary Canadian guys who happen to be in a viable but commercially unsuccessful metal band - as well as a story about an industry, the music industry. It's a fun, weird, wild ride and there's genuine humanity in it, no grandstanding or manipulation of the central characters. You meet the guys, get in their heads, see them go through various tragic-comedic struggles.In one sense, this may be the best recent "reality" documentary about a rock band. (Please be warned that there is a partial 'spoiler' in one of my last sentences...)Sometimes, failure is a more intriguing subject than a smashing success. The guys in Anvil may have inspired many other metal bands in the early 80s but, as the documentary goes on to show, utterly failed to harness the raw talent and energy in a direction of dollars and fame. Theirs is a compelling story because it contains this central mystery: why not Anvil? Why Metallica, Slayer, Judas Priest, Saxon, Anthrax, Accept...or, for that matter why Guns n'Roses, Alice in Chains or Motorhead? Why did all those other heavy metal and hard rock acts of the 80s and early 90s succeed so thoroughly while a seminal band like Anvil managed to fail so thoroughly? Anvil are the ultimate slackers, that is slackers in all other areas of their lives except for crafting their music. Musically, they are shown to have the chops, the skills, the energy, the will and the stage presence. Doesn't matter if they're playing to 10,000 screaming fans or to an audience of 50. They deliver. As for any other aspect, they are a continual slow-moving train wreck. It's almost as if the band remained a supremely important but low-key side project, for 32 years. That alone is an amazing thing.(Think of a professional quality, polished artistic gig you'd carry on for 32 years, without receiving adequate compensation....)The documentary offers some answers as to the 'why', such as unprofessional management, but it ultimately leaves other question marks. For instance, with this documentary being a kind of a ticket to newfound exposure and much-deserved fame for Anvil, how are the band members now doing? (We know they are playing better, bigger, properly paid gigs, and we know that Steve Kudlow and company have gotten overdue acclaim because this film hit such a note.) It almost deserves a follow-up because the story of Anvil didn't stop in 2008...no, it continues and there is an upward trajectory. Including the main fact that they finally could quit their day jobs! I highly recommend, even if you're not a fan of this kind of music.

Still passionate as ever about their music, the two original members of 80s heavy metal band Anvil continue to try to recapture the fame they once had in this documentary from Sacha Gervasi (director of the film 'Hitchcock' with Anthony Hopkins). As one of the musicians' wives says, they have kept "dreaming that dream" despite fading into obscurity and never achieving the recognition of bands like Metallica who they inspired. Now in their fifties, the two men hold regular day jobs and play whatever gigs they can on the side, while still recording albums to sell directly to their fans, since the demand is still there. While their never-ending passion is interesting, watching the pair argue while going from one low paying gig to the next is not particularly fascinating. Same goes for a sequence that follows one of the rockers while he tries to make it as a phone salesman. More history on the band may have been beneficial, with the film skirting over the period in between their 1980s fame and the present day, but when focused on the hurdles faced by them in the present, it is fairly compelling stuff. The interviews with their wives really enhance the material too, highlighting what their families have had to put up with as a result of their undying dreams of renewed fame and glory. Their music is also very decent, if only ever heard every now and again.

I have to reluctantly admit that if I'm one hundred percent honest with myself I'm in love with the romance of rock n roll music more than I'm in love with the music itself. My tastes are a little more modern and to me, and I'm aware this is a sweeping statement, the music feels just a touch dated. However, with this fact in mind, The Story of Anvil ticks just every single box. Aside from being a gripping story, featuring truly endearing characters, it just oozes romance that wouldn't sit in a fictional movie but in a documentary it serves to remind me how wonderfully ironic real life can be. From start to finish I was on board, willing them to succeed, riveted by their story up to now and just thoroughly entertained. I defy anyone not to smile along with this film, no matter what your musical taste.

Heavy metal really isn't my thing and also full length documentaries aren't always. So I was a bit worried a might end up not liking this documentary at all but instead it surprised me with how much I loved it by the end.This is not a pretentious documentary that takes an artistic approach and sets up certain moments. It instead is a very humane and honest one, focusing on its persons, that takes a snappy approach and tells its story in such an incredible engaging way. It's a documentary that will make you laugh and is fun to watch throughout but it's also one that plays with all of your other emotions as well and might make you cry.Secret to this is because we get very close to the documentary its very likable subjects, who after 30 years are still chasing their dreams. Normally you would expect a documentary to be made about a band that's successful or on the rise. A documentary about how against all odds they made it to the top but not this documentary. Here we instead have a band that against all odds never made it. Chances are you never heard of the band Anvil before, while in fact they were one of the earliest heavy metal bands, that also influenced many other big and well known bands. It doesn't stop the band from playing and still being hopeful at a breakthrough though.Their lack of success has certain kept the band members humble and down to Earth, though at the same time their hunger for recognition also makes them blind at times. It makes you think about when chasing a dream can be a great and wonderful thing and when it's simply time to stop trying and accept that some things aren't meant to be. This is also a question that rises up multiple times throughout this documentary, mostly by the family and loved ones of the main two band members, who also started the band originally, Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner. They are well in their 50's and all have a family to take care off as well, without a steady job or a bank full with money. Is it still responsible to keep chasing your dreams by then? Watch this documentary and judge for yourself.It's not so much a documentary that looks at the past but instead at the future but by focusing on the now. We don't just get to see interviews with the band members sitting around, we get to see them touring, all over the world, earning basically no money and facing lots of other struggles, hoping for that one gig that will mean their road to success and their singing with a big record label. It's a very inspiring documentary, even if you have absolutely nothing with music at all.A both foremost fun and extremely engaging emotional documentary to watch, about real people still chasing their dreams.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/