Purely Joyful Movie!

A Disappointing Continuation

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

You knew this was just going to be some typical crap just a minute and a half in, when some clueless idiot starts spewing nonsense about Reagan and pretty much is saying the "mean white man" had to put women and "negroes" back in their place, because they became too "uppity." It's downright hilarious when you see idiots such as he talk this nonsense, and add that punk was a "reaction" to the right-wing. He even defends Jimmy Carter and how he spoke of "peace," you have got to love it when anyone has the nerve to get in front of a camera and actually defend Jimmy Carter. (If the democrats are all for peace, why is it they are always by far the most hateful, intolerant and violent people?) And how perfect is it that the man who created punk rock, Johnny Ramone, was a right-wing republican and conservative. The film ignores that so any punks in the 80s were on the right. The bands are good but when it gets political, you pretty much feel like you are dealing with people who are brain dead.Punk is a great music but unfortunately like other forms of music, when the musician gets political, he or she spews out nonsense. Maybe that guy has actually learned a thing or two about the real world by now.

I am an enormous fan of hardcore, particularly the first wave of bands in the 80s, so I was obviously excited about watching this movie. Unfortunately, I found it to be an enormous let-down. It seems to focus a little too much on anecdotes and overblown comments on 'youthful rebellion' than on the anger, incentive and pragmatism of the scene, which I think it far more admirable and interesting. The comment on the front page before I wrote this said (Iparaphrase): "If you know hardcore you won't learn anything and if you don't know about hardcore you won't lean much". I completely agree. There were some nice moments in this, particularly Mike Watt and Greg Ginn's interviews and some of Ian Mackaye's comments. Of course, a few nice moments (which will only be nice for people interested in hardcore) can't save a documentary like this. I was very disappointed.

I know because of copyright issues the misfits and the Dead Kennedys were not able to b put in but then honestly they shouldn't of done the movie those r the 2 most popular, most influential bands from that scene and era and to make a history about the hardcore punk scene without them is just plain stupid, movie wasn't very good anyways. They talked about some great legendary band but leaving out the 2 greatest legendary bands very bad. Just plain and simple if you want to make a movie about the history of hardcore punk it is 100% necessary that the misfits and the dead kennedys be involved and if you can't get them it's a stupid idea to make the film

"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.