mfnmbessert-224-279128 Glad I finally got around to seeing this documentary, as it has been sitting on my To View list for quite some time now. I remember years back when MySpace was hugely popular, and this film had it's own page, making it out to be soooo incredibly awesome, the definitive story of punk rock. Sadly though, that only turns out to be about half true.The filmmakers focus mainly on 1980's punk rock, with very little discussion of the formative years of punk during the late 1970's, and absolutely touching nowhere on the grounds of "punk" music, or any form of music, as it appears today. However, even since this film was done in 2006, six years ago already, music has changed immensely. This isn't the time or place for philosophical discussions on music theory or any of that crap, but let's just say it's nice to see early members of the hardcore punk movement interviewed and to hear their side of things as they view it in the present day, which was something like thirty years after the inception of punk. It's interesting to hear the opinions of certain bands who came from the East coast, and then to have those opinions conflicted by West coast or D.C. area punks, all of whom were trying to carve out this own sound. Whatever, it's good to watch, gets a little stale at times when some of these guys are just rambling on and on, but it's still fun to see where these people are at today and how they viewed what they were doing back then. Nice take on the "hardcore" aspect of things, but there are so many huge chunks missing. I've never read the book from which it was inspired by, but maybe that could be the next step.American HARDCORE -----6/10(Once again, dear IMDb, why can't I capitalize the ENTIRE word American?)

E. Catalan American HARDCORE, the cinematic version of Steven Blush's awesome historical book, is only an incomplete look at the hardcore era at best. While it is obviously understandable that covering such a vast subject, one is always bound to leave somethings out, this film leaves A LOT out. The book was pretty much an accurate (and biased) account of the hardcore days, complete with the era's key players (MINOR THREAT, DEAD KENNEDYS, MISFITS, BLACK FLAG, HUSKER DU, CIRCLE JERKS, D.O.A., M.D.C., BAD RELIGION, TSOL, BAD BRAINS, AGNOSTIC FRONT, CRO-MAGS, etc.)to the extent of devoting entire chapters to some of these bands. The film, which could have been an intense documentary with head and toes in the chronological department, ends up being just a string of interviews with little order and ending on an empty note. While the book's author managed to do interviews with DEAD KENNEDY's Jello Biafra and HUSKER DU's Grant Hart, they are NOWHERE mentioned in the film, save for their brief logo appearances and Henry Rollins mentioning them. MISFITS, who had an entire chapter dedicated to them, are also missing in the film, with just a brief interview with ex guitar player Bobby Steele. The film has loads of interview clips with Henry Rollins, Ian Mcaye, Dave Dictor, Bad Brains' Dr.Know and HR, Bad Religion's Greg Hetson, Brett Gurewitz and Brian Baker, the SSD guys, CRO-MAGS' Harley Flanagan, AGNOSTIC FRONT's Vinnie Stigma, TSOL, ADOLESCENTS, ARTICLES OF FAITH's Vic Bondi and some other, minor players of the HC scene. The interviews are fun and insightful, but the overall look of the documentary lacks cohesion. It ends up being just a documentary about 40 something punk rockers reminiscing about their glory days. What could have been the documentary's saving grace are the live performances, which to this very date, are extremely hard to find, save for the more long standing Hardcore bands. There's some excellent footage of BLACK FLAG playing in what appears to be their final days and it looks and sounds very powerful, almost metal like. But this performances are limited at best.Despite my obvious complaints, American HARDCORE looks like it was a work of people who really love the scene. They just could have put it together more cohesively and in a more chronological order, with maybe a voice-over explaining certain aspects of the hardcore era (much like METAL: A HEADBANGERS JOURNEY, which was put together much better).If you like this type of music ( I happen to LOVE it!), you'll do no wrong in getting a hold of American HARDCORE, but if you want a more in depth and complete look, get the book also.

wyattej2000 "Ameican Hardcore," is a pretty good documentary for those even a bit interested in the genre. Personally I found it heavily lacking in a number of departments. The film itself was put together pretty well over all and moves along at a good pace. What is lacking though is the appreciation of the entire other side of the West Coast scene. Most of the bands from San Francisco, or who centered themselves from S.F. were not covered at all. Obviously someone did not want to include Jello Biafra and DK, but whatever, they were there and they were important to the scene. Those from the mid-west probably felt a bit slighted by the fact that the Crucif*cks were not included as well. Way to many major bands were not even mentioned and it was very irritating. Overall this documentary was just okay. I was expecting much more considering that the book "American Hardcore" was quite a bit more thorough overall.

D A A blistering, frothing era of misfits and outcasts venting their collective frustrations into a punk hardcore genre feels underwhelming here in it's attempt to reminisce about being a part of that anti-musical scene. Interviews with many of the underground's more respected (something I would not have any knowledge to debate) original hardcore members consume the majority of this basically constructed mass recollection, and while the punk attitude (with a side of bitter old geezer) flies fast, proud, and hard in the varied lineup of interviewees, little insight is gleamed during the repetitious bickering- largely made up of many of these "real punks" insisting that they have rocked harder then you ever will. A healthy contempt for mainstream normalcy would obviously be a precursor to any working punk band's ethic, but constant negativity and elitism masking for edgy commentary proves that time has not been kind to many of these rock warriors. Proving the exception to this stereotypically shallow attitude, the filmmakers do manage to find a few contrasting punks who offer to take powerful themes these raw, unbridled, often violent bursts of creative energy they helped pioneer and contextualize it in a way that is actually inspiring to someone who wasn't directly involved in this scene that supposedly died in 1986. Amongst a dazzling (though certainly dizzying as well) wealth of never before seen low quality footage showing these erratic outbursts of sound from numerous bands documented here, an initial grip this music may have around your adrenal gland will slowly become as repetitious as their interview counterparts. An interesting glimpse into a radical time for young American music, but lacking most of the depth to make this truly relevant to all but hardcore Hardcore fans.