Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Yvonne Jodi Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

jantriska-63546 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.

dallasryan With any Artist, first and foremost, we love what we do, and we will always keeping doing what we do as artists as it's a part of our soul and our soul is our life. Now with that, it would be a false sense of humbleness to say you don't do it for the fans. As Lips said to the likes of, 'the fans are what keeps us going/alive'(to the likes of). We need an audience to be fully fulfilled as artists. As people we're always looking for that validation hence why we collect friends on Facebook and post photos on their, or why we care about how many views we get on YouTube. It's about getting seen, having validation for your being and your work. And with any Artist, we love what we do, but we want to get seen and get lot's of validation for our work and for who are. And we would like to make money doing what we love as well, no lie to that.With that, That is what the band Anvil has been in search of for 30 plus years. They have some good stuff, but Heavy Metal doesn't cater to everyone. As in Searching for Sugar Man, Rodriguez's songs cater more universally, where as with Heavy Metal, it only caters to some tastes. Myself, I love heavy metal and Anvil sounds great to me!A true testament on what it takes for a band to stick together 30 plus years whether they be successful or not. Showing what it's like to go on tour as a band that has been forgotten(or just some no name band), and showing the ups and downs of friendships within the band, and struggles within their own families. A great documentary to see for anyone who struggles with their dreams as an artist(how us actors can relate especially to the scenes where Lips is taking his demo in to different record companies), and just for anyone in general who has never given up on achieving their dreams. Rock on forever!

Jackson Booth-Millard This was one of the newer editions to the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, this was described as being like This Is Spinal Tap, so I wasn't sure if it was a mock film or real life, but I was looking forward to this rockumentary either way, from director Sacha Gervasi (Hitchcock). Rock bands like Scorpions, Whitesnake and Bon Jovi have become very successful and influential, selling millions of records and filling concert venues, and since the 1970's the rock band Anvil have tried to live the same dream, they are indeed influential, but have got nowhere close to the same success. Singer and guitarist Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner have known each other and been together as Anvil since they were young, and dream to making great music to reach thousands of fans, but they only have a small group of dedicated fans, Lips has to work delivering food to schools and institutions and Robb works in construction. Anvil do get an opportunity to play the Sweden Rock festival and a short tour, they are promised thousands of fans will be watching in venues, but problems with ticket sales, lack of promotion, the band being late, and refused payments to them them means they are again not much of a success at all, the final concert at Monsters of Transylvania rock concert was meant a 10,000 seat arena expecting 5,000 of their fans, but only 174 people showed up. Returning home the band continue to struggle with their personal difficulties, mostly in finance, but their families continue to support them whatever move they make, and they decide that perhaps the writing and producing of their last few albums has not been up to scratch, so they call on an old friend to help them back into the limelight. Music producer Chris "CT" Tsangarides agrees to come and see them, he has experience working with Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and Judas Priest, he says that their written songs and the sound of them do have potential for their thirteenth album, "This Is Thirteen", and they get to work recording the songs in a studio, with their nearest and dearest helping to pay most of the costs. Spending a month making the album there is a point between Lips and Robb when they have a very heated argument, it gets so bad that Robb threatens to quit the band, but Tsangarides helps him and Lips reconcile and finish the album, but they fail to get a real record label behind it, but they consider what they have produced a success, and the band say they have stayed true to their roots. In the end Lips receives a phone call that Anvil are wanted to play a concert in Japan, this is exciting because they are returning to the site their career had its highlight, their spirits are lowered though when they are the first act on the bill of a three day festival, they fear the worst, but on stage they finally have an audience of thousands. With contributions from Lips's wife Ginny Kudlow, Lips's son Averey Kudlow, Lips's brother Gary Kudlow, Lips's sister Rhonda Gibson, Robb's wife Jane Reiner, Robb's sister Andrea Reiner, Robb's son Tyler Reiner, Robb's mother Eniko Reiner, Anthrax rhythm guitarist Scott Ian, Motörhead bassist Lemmy, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, band manager John Zazula, Slayer bassist Tom Araya, Anvil fan Cut Loose, Anvil fan Mad Dog, original Anvil bassist Gary Greenblatt, Anvil bassist Glenn Five, Anvil guitarist Ivan Hurd, Anvil manager Tiziana Arrigoni, Scorpions lead guitarist Michael Schenker, Motörhead guitarist Brian Robertson, Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French and Whitesnake drummer Tommy Aldridge. Knowing that the band of the film were real was interesting, the feel of the Spinal Tap style definitely resonates with this film, it is full of funny mishaps and terrible low points, despite the fact you probably never heard of them before you do go on the journey with the lovable band members of Anvil and hope that they can gain better success, a most watchable music documentary. Very good!

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain A documentary that makes a mockumentary, which preceded it by over 20 years, look irrelevant. THIS is Spinal Tap, only their name is Anvil and they are very real. As many have stated before, this is a film with amazing power. It really does make everything seem OK. Here are two men that refuse to give up on their dream or each other. Kudlow is a wonderful character and wonderful man, full of raw passion and a childlike confusion. The scenes where he approaches his peers in a fanboyish way make him truly endearing. He should be level with these men, many of whom he has met before but never remember the encounters. Sometimes you laugh at them, but in a way that can't be considered cruel. Kudlow and Reiner are a sweet couple and this is their moment. This is how people should live their lives, with responsibility, but always with one (and sometimes two) eyes focused on that dream.