“The most stirring release of the year… the emotion that swept the cinema, at the climax, seemed unanimous, binding, and true: pretty much all that we ask of a movie, when you think about it. People who wait for the DVD, on the ground that this is a documentary about losers, made by a Brit, will miss out on that wonderful sense of conspiracy you get only in a cinema, with a bunch of complete strangers joined in a secret pact.”
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
“One of the sweetest, funniest films I’ve seen this year. Clear-eyed hilarity.”
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
“Funny and Heartfelt.”
Sarah Rodman, Boston Globe
5 STARS
Steve Smith, TONY
“Who knew heavy metal could seem like fine art? The biggest surprise is not the pervasive comedy in this compelling rockumentary. It’s the poignant, even heartbreaking, moments that sneak up on you. By the end, you feel you know – and maybe even kind of love – these middle-aged rockin’fools.”
Claudia Puig, USA Today
“4 STARS Funny, sad, outrageous, terrific.”
Elizabeth Weitzman
“When it comes to loudness, loyalty and a love for rock 'n' roll, Anvil turns the dial way past 11. “
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star Ledger
“HILARIOUS! Comparisons to ‘This is Spinal Tap” are inevitable and completely justified. Even if your taste runs more toward Mozart or Mel Tormé than Metallica, you'll be pulling for Anvil every step of the way.”
Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal
“The funniest music documentary of all-time… a true life ‘This is Spinal Tap!’”
Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly
“AMAZING! INSPIRING! UPROARIOUS! Not since THE THIN BLUE LINE have I walked out of a documentary more determined to see justice done on behalf of its subjects.
Aint-it-cool-news.com
“’This is Spinal Tap meets ‘Hoop Dreams.’”
KABC TV
“Every once in a while a movie comes along that makes you believe in the power of the medium. ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ is one of those films. The award-winning audience favorite is a touching documentary about the greatest heavy metal band no one’s hear of… The biggest surprise is that the story is one of hope and friendship, not heavy metal.”
AM New York
"The best documentary I've seen in years!"
"Hilarious and achingly touching."
Critic's Pick, LA Weekly
"Brilliantly funny... 'Spinal Tap with a heart.'"
Jeff Craig, Sixty Second Preview
"Far too candid and heartbreaking to deserve its common pigeonholing as "a real-life This Is Spinal Tap," former roadie Sacha Gervasi's reunion with the long-forgotten, still-struggling Canadian metal band Anvil is an absurdly side-splitting underdog tale without a hint of condescension."
Aaron Hillis, The Village Voice
"A hymn to the human spirit, played loud in power chords."
James Rocchi, Cinematical
“The only heartwarming film ever made about a heavy metal band.”
Kenny Turan, LA Times
“An alternately moving and hilarious love story about two men who refuse to give up on their dream.”
John Horn, LA Times
“A hilariously twisted real-life Cinderella story.”
About.com
“Very entertaining doc is amusing without being condescending, touching without straining for pathos... "Anvil!" is an underdog saga even non-metalheads will root for. Surprisingly inspirational.”
Dennis Harvey, Variety
“One of the best movies at the Sundance Film Festival...This is a feel good movie of rockin' proportions! 9 out of 10.”
Devin Faraci, CHUD.com
“From the first frame, the room was engaged. It was funny, then funnier still. It was Spinal Tap, but all the more compelling for being true. Beautifully shot and full of wit and rhythm, the film began to uncover in its tawdry subject matter a sense of the profound. The jokes faded and the focus moved away from heavy metal. It was about friendship and family. It was about doing what you love and never giving up, about the capacity of failure, much more than success, to foster a kind of enlightenment. All this and a man in leather trousers playing a guitar with a vibrator. The Sundance audience were whooping with delight.”
Tom Horan, The Daily Telegraph, London
“A story that will resonate with most of us who, for whatever reason, have modified our dreams over time to adjust to the expectations of real life... A must-see for dreamers everywhere.”
Tom Hall, Indiewire
“Anvil is this year's American Movie... a pleasure to watch and engage with, even if you, like I, would flip off the radio the second any metal came over the airwaves.”
David Poland, Motor City News
“Hilarious. Moving. Beautiful. I bow at Anvil’s feet. They rock.”
Keanu Reeves
“The Story of Anvil takes the true measure of metal stardom: To be a legend in your own mind is to wield, rather than smell, the glove.”
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