Documentaries & Biographies > N Documentaries & Biographies > 2008 > Entertainment Biographies

'Cos for 24 years I've been living next door to Anvil...Anvil....

Advantages: Best rockumentry for years
Disadvantages: Anvil suck

...the dictionary it describes an anvil as a 'simple tool', something that would make the younger readers who know street slang snigger, especially if they heard the bands later stuff. Anvil were a pretty ordinary but well supported rock band back in the day, hyped up by the British music press as the next big thing in the mid 1980s, rocks decade, looking set to be huge but then just disappearing, which is a mystery as rock gods from the past and present ...
...Metallica`s Lars Ulrich even proclaiming Anvil as 'their biggest influence and maybe the band that created Thrash Metal'. But their tunes were anything but complex and their likeable and charismatic lead singer, Steve 'Lips' Kudlow, seemed to be the sole driving force of their 15 minutes of fame, as he is in the present day throughout this film, preferring to play the guitar with a sex aid than take the bands evolution seriously at their prime, resulting ...

thedevilinme 21.07.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Anvil - The Story Of Anvil (DVD)

Anvil Anvil, very good, very good! (The story of Anvil - DVD)

Advantages: Entertaining and heartwarming documentary whether you like metal or not
Disadvantages: I honestly can't think of any

...I had never heard of Anvil which I found really confusing - how had this band that had influenced so many successful bands escaped my radar?! This documentary lends some explanation as to why.... Anvil were a Canadian heavy metal band formed when singer "Lips" and drummer Robb were just 14. They vowed to stay rocking together forever and they meant it. The documentary starts with footage from a show in the early 80s where Anvil played a huge rock ...
...and all of them cite Anvil as hugely influential - the blueprint for the musical style they would later become famous for. So what happened to Anvil? They disappeared off the radar. They were the band that should have made it, but instead you see them at 50 years old, doing their day jobs just like regular guys, still playing with Anvil but not for an income, just because they love it and its "what they do". The documentary charts their "one more ...

ciaomiaow 19.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Anvil - The Story Of Anvil (DVD)

Documentary of the year!

Advantages: different
Disadvantages: none

...have completely blown me away: Anvil is one of them. Anvil are a rock band that started out in the 80s, and looked like they were going to make it big. Cited by top bands as their influence, it looked like it was going to go huge for the band, but it didn’t. Thirty years on, this documentary follows the band as they try to keep the rock n roll lifestyle going. They never quit, but their following is now so small that they are dragging themselves ...
...Lips, the front-man of the band. He’s so likeable, always positive, and massively passionate. He’s probably the main reason this is such a good documentary, as you can’t help but love the man. As the band complete gigs and mini-tours, their lack of success is so demoralizing, it breaks your heart. When they’re booked on a big tour of Europe you want it to go well, but a niggling feeling tells you something isn’t right. This film is hugely rated ...

bruffyboy 05.07.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Anvil - The Story Of Anvil (DVD)

Elite Documentary about an Elite unit.

Advantages: makes you think, can be motivating
Disadvantages: none

...faced bunch of Royal Marine Commando recruits all the way through 32 weeks of basic training. With complete access to every part of the training process he follows the good times and the bad of each of the recruits and something that I felt made the documentary that little more exciting was that he also took part in the training himself, Chris Terrill was 55 years old. The Program was originally aired in 2007 for ITV; at the beginning you see the ...
...of becoming a Royal Marine Commando and receiving the coveted Green Beret so that they can become elite soldiers that look a million miles away from the guys that they were 32 weeks earlier. After the 32 weeks training Chris follows a few of the successful soldiers when they are posted to Afghanistan for a tour of duty, as well as a new officer who takes up his post in Afghanistan for his first tour with a mainly rookie company of men. I managed ...

sjp1966 17.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Commando - On The Front Line - Series 1 - Complete (DVD)

Eye level is buy level!!

Advantages: Cheap prices
Disadvantages: Cheap labour

With the slave trade debate raging last year during the 200 commerations its always important to note that not only is that particular trade is still alive and well in the third world but its as good as here in its modern form in companies like Wal-Mart. Well meaning and angry people may well protest alongside some vegetarians banging a drum in London about what happened 200 years ago but most of the labeled clothing we are wearing will have been ...
...the products piled high in the huge shopping arenas of Wal-Mart and the like are the products of cheap and exploited labor somewhere around the world and when the documentary explores those sweat shops in South East Asia our arguments of reparation begin to fragment. In one segment you see young Chinese girls living in cramped dorms in a grubby factory, the gates locked at night, weekly rent and utilities deducted from their meager pay packets, whether ...

thedevilinme 16.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price (DVD)