Rockumentaries
Everyone wants to hang out with the cool kids, and they don't get much cooler than rock stars. When D.A. Pennebaker developed the first portable sync-sound camera system that allowed him to move freely as he followed Bob Dylan on tour in the UK, he gave audiences unprecedented behind the scenes access and a chance to get up-close and personal with one of rock's most mysterious icons. And thus was born the Rockumentary.
What Pennebaker and like-minded filmmakers such as Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter) showed us was that being an icon ain't always what it's cracked up to be. They have their trials and tribulations, triumphs and failures. In short, they're real people just like you and me. And since those early days, the Rockumentary has become a tribute to bands who have changed the face of music as well as cautionary tales of the price of fame. From those who've struggled and survived (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) to the glorious implosion of the Sex Pistols (The Filth and The Fury), those who never quite made it (Dig!, Anvil) and those whose future is still uncertain (Golden Days), and of course, one of the greatest parodies of all time (This is Spinal Tap). For those about to rock, we salute you!
Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back
$15.95 | 96 minutes
A raucous and intimate road movie of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, DON'T LOOK BACK may be perhaps the most influential rock star documentary of all time. D.A. Pennebaker's trademark cinema verit approach, with its comprehensive perspective, captures the paradoxical Dylan in alternating moments of confrontational&hellip…
Anvil! The Story of Anvil!
$13.95 | 80 minutes
In the early 1980s, the Canadian metal band Anvil wrote the thrash blueprint for followers like Anthrax, Metallica, and Slayer. While those bands went on to become metal titans, Anvil faded into obscurity--so much that decades later, the bands core members--guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner--work menial day-jobs even…
Golden Days
$24.95 | 95 minutes
A struggling indie rock band, The Damnwells, sign a major record deal only to have their album and their career nearly destroyed by the people who signed them. They had been in complete control of their music and their lives before they signed on the dotted line. Now, a year of their lives was sitting on a shelf waiting to be heard. Will…
Dig!
$22.95 | 107 minutes
Ondi Timoner's electrifying documentary tells a cautionary tale about the dangers and trappings of the rock & roll lifestyle. Shot over a seven-year span beginning in the mid-1990s, DIG! follows two bands, the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols, as they befriend each other, have a falling out, and find their careers heading&hellip…
This Is Spinal Tap
$11.95 | 83 minutes
A brilliant and hilarious documentary-style satire of a has-been British heavy metal band who never really was on an absurd American comeback tour that never quite gets off the ground, THIS IS SPINAL TAP practically birthed the mockumentary style. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer are David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel&hellip…
Bonnington Truce
$24.95 | 52 minutes
In New York, they had the New York Dolls. In Athens, they had R.E.M. In Los Angeles they had Black Flag. In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, they had...Bonnington Truce. In 1979, Mississippi was getting ready to vote for Ronald Reagan. At the same time, a few guys got together and decided they were going to form a band. But not a Lynyrd&hellip…
Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten
$13.95 | 123 minutes
As the front man of the Clash from 1977 onwards, Joe Strummer changed peoples lives forever. Four years after his death, his influence reaches out around the world, more strongly now than ever before. In The Future Is Unwritten, from British film director Julien Temple, Joe Strummer is revealed not just as a legend or musician, but as&hellip…
Orquesta Tipica
$19.95 | 90 minutes
Orquesta Tipica started by accident when director/producer Nicholas Entel was walking through the streets of San Telmo - one of Buenos Aires' oldest neighborhoods. "Just as many other Argentineans my age, I didn't care much for tango...until, by chance, I came across the Orquesta Tipica Fernandez Fierro playing on the street&hellip…
Live Forever
$11.95 | 82 minutes
In the mid-1990's, spurred both by the sudden explosion of bands like Oasis and Prime Minister Tony Blair's "Cool Brittania" campaign, British culture experienced a surge that made Anglophilia seem like a world phenomenon. At the heart of this heady craze was pop music, and suddenly, "Britpop" was born. Oasis, their would-be rivals Blur&hellip…
