Anvil! The Story of Anvil (DVD)

I know what you are thinking - who the hell are Anvil! Well, that's the point of this charming and engrossing documentary on heavy rocks forgotten men who could easily have been the Canadian Iron Maiden, if it hadn't gone so badly wrong back in the early 1990s, Triumph, alas, now sitting in bronze medal position behind Celine Dion and Bryan Adams as Canada's most famous musical exports. In 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 ...  Read the complete review

Anvil! The story of Anvil is a documentary worth watching for any fan of rock music, or any fan of good documentary making in general. The film documents the fate of the rock band Anvil, who were briefly tipped as the next best rock band in the 1980s, but never reached their full potential. Anvil! The story of Anvil was made by film maker Sacha Gervasi who incidentally worked as a teenage roadie for the band on a UK tour back in the 1980s - perhaps this is why he has so much access to the band. The documentary begins with archive footage of a festival in the 1980s, where they played in alongside bands such as Whitesnake, Metallica and Bon Jovi and ...  Read the complete review

Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a truly affecting, utterly bewildering story how one of the most talented metal bands of the 1970s and 1980s never made it like their contemporaries like Metallica and Iron Maiden did. It follows the now defunct lives of the band members who, although still together and performing, work menial jobs in order to pay the rent, despite having released almost a dozen albums to their loyal but small fanbase. This thrilling documentary also has brief snippets of conversation with the likes of Slash (excellent guitarist from Guns N' Roses) and Lars Ulrich (drummer for Metallica), where they mention how it was utterly baffling how such a ...  Read the complete review

Anvil! The Story of Anvil is without a doubt one of my favourite films to come out this year! From debuting director Sacha Gervasi it's a documentary about the Canadian thrash metal band Anvil, who at one point in the 1980's where at the brink of superstardom but for whatever reason it never quite happened. They faded away, got old and are now working low paid jobs as labourers and meals on wheels delivery men. The documentary is about them trying to get the band back out into the spotlight, trying to return to their former glories. You can't watch this fly on the wall style documentary and not instantly see the similarities to the great spoof film This Is ...  Read the complete review

Documentary is my favourite movie genre for its ability to shock. I have watched some documentaries that, by rights, should not have interested me in the slightest, and yet 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 along by the bare ...  Read the complete review