Product Description

A hilarious rockumentary in the laugh-packed tradition of THIS IS SPINAL TAP -- critics everywhere are howling the praises of HARD CORE LOGO! The punk rock band Hard Core Logo is back -- reunited and hitting the road on a last-gasp tour across the western part of the nation. As magnetic lead singer Joe Dick holds the whole tour together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle come bursting hilariously to the surface! Featuring a memorable appearance by punk rock legend Joey Ramone of The Ramones -- settle in and enjoy this offbeat comedy as it really cranks up the laughs!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33102 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2001-06-12
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.com
Hard Core Logo is often compared to This Is Spinal Tap--and for marketing purposes, that makes sense: both are pretend documentaries about rock bands (a self-important heavy metal crew in Spinal Tap, a self-destructing punk mob in Hard Core Logo). But though Hard Core Logo can be cuttingly funny, it's not really a comedy; it's a piercing examination of friendship and betrayal, success and self-hatred, and everything that fueled punk rock. Lead singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon) uses false pretenses to convince guitarist Billy Tallent (Callum Keith Rennie) to reform Hard Core Logo for a reunion tour across Canada, followed by a film crew (featuring director Bruce McDonald, whose other films include Roadkill and Highway 61, as himself). Tallent agrees, but only because he expects to be joining a much more successful rock group very shortly and sees this as a favor to Dick. As they travel from town to town, their relationship unravels, as does the psyche of bass player John Oxenberger (John Pyper-Ferguson). The performances are astonishingly genuine; even the oafish drummer Pipefitter (Bernie Coulson) becomes three-dimensional. By the end, you'll believe in them so much as people that the band's disintegration is truly wrenching. A remarkable film, both comic and sad. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Wonderful movie... but what's up with the DVD?
I love this film. Its emotional impact is roughly similar to that of watching a car accident in slow motion -- it's horrifying, and you keep hoping that what you see as the inevitable isn't going to happen, but it does, and you can't look away...

This is not a hilarious comedy, despite what the back of the box may lead you to believe. But it is definitely worth one viewing. Or several. I'd be lying if I denied that a lot of my enjoyment from the film comes from the amazing twisted chemistry between Joe Dick and Billy Tallent. They're wonderfully dysfunctional together. It didn't hurt that I already knew Hugh Dillon from his band the Headstones and Callum Keith Rennie from Due South, either. That was, in fact, how I found out about this film. But I digress.

Note to people who are interested in this film because Quentin Tarantino's name is on the box: he didn't direct it. His only involvement with it, as far as I know, is liking it enough to get it a US release.

I love this film, but the DVD is bad. First off, the only extra is the trailer. That's very disappointing, especially since I read an interview where the director talked about how he wanted to do a commentary track with Hugh Dillon and include four or five deleted scenes. Even the Canadian VHS release had a music video. Also I know there was a making-of special that could conceivably have been included. And they could've even added Bruce McDonald's music video for the Headstones' "Cemetery," as it's a great song to sing over the closing credits -- you'll see why.

I would recommend not looking at the images for the chapter stops until after the film. The final one, "Salute," (sic) spoils the ending.

But my main problem with the DVD is that over half of the titles that are supposed to appear onscreen in white are missing. This includes the names of the bands onstage at the Vancouver show, the word "Git-tah" during Billy's solo at the Vancouver show, the song titles at the Edmonton show, and pretty much all of the time/date references.

That lack messes up a lot of the movie. For example, right after Joe tells them to be at the van at 6 am, and you see shots of them waiting, there should have been numbers indicating 6:15, 7:00, 7:30, etc, to show that they finally left four hours later. Also, one of John's monologues makes a comment about how a certain time, I think, 3 am, relates to something. The something, when it happened, was not marked as 3 am, and thus, we lose that foreshadowing. Plus, in general, it would be nice to know when the events in the film happen. I know these words and numbers should be there because they were there in the Canadian VHS release.

Oh, one particularly bizarre loss of text: I think it was the Calgary show. On the VHS tape, as they come up on the city, the words "Calgary, Alberta" appear onscreen, timed with a sound effect. The words stay on screen a couple seconds, then are replaced with two repeated Chinese/Japanese characters. On the DVD, the sound effects are there, the characters are there, but the English text is missing. How odd.

The picture is much brighter on DVD than on my VHS tape, which is nice, and all the black and white interviews are now sepia-toned or blue. I don't recall the VHS release having this, but I could very well have really funny color settings on my TV.

I am editing this review to mention that the part with the gun in the "music, no coke" conversation is still there. I had misremembered when it was. So there probably are no editing differences.

My verdict is: if you already own the Canadian VHS, don't throw it out. But if you haven't seen it, buy the DVD. I'm just a slightly obsessed fan, and you probably won't notice any of this. The film itself is still superb.

There is a superior, special edition DVD out there...
If you go to Amazon's Canadian branch (at www.amazon.ca), you can order the much superior version of this classic movie. Here's what you get:

A few years ago, Miramax released a bare bones DVD of Hard Core Logo, but now Bruce McDonald has re-released his movie with a new transfer (strangely full-frame as opposed to the 1.85:1 aspect ratio of the Miramax disc) and a new and improved 5.1 surround soundtrack.

First up is the rowdy audio commentary between Bruce McDonald, actor Hugh Dillon and the screenwriter, Noel S. Baker. McDonald and Baker dominate the track at first, but then Dillon gets more vocal (or is that drunker?) as the commentary progresses. There are a lot of interesting observations from all the participants. Initially, Dillon wasn't interested in doing the movie because he felt that most rock 'n' roll films didn't get it right but McDonald convinced him that this one would be different. What makes this commentary such a treat to listen to is that it's obvious that everyone involved hasn't watched the film in years and that they're having a blast revisiting it. They are all clearly proud of the film and aren't afraid to poke fun at it and themselves.

Also included are the obligatory cast and crew biographies and the theatrical trailer that was originally on the Miramax DVD.

Another new feature are two music videos: one for Dillon's band, The Headstones and the other for Hard Core Logo, which parodies A Hard Day's Night (the band in ridiculous wigs runs away from their fans) and features clips from the movie.

Fans of Canadian music will be happy to know that the tribute CD-with actual Canadian rock bands covering the songs of Hard Core Logo-is also included. For those that think Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne sum up Canadian music, think again!

In keeping with its DIY roots, the DVD booklet is designed and written like an independent punk rock fanzine that is a nice added touch.

Callum's best
This movie is an absolute MUST for Callum Keith Rennie fans; he shines in his role as a reluctant returning member of the Canadian punk band Hard Core Logo for their reunion tour. This movie has been described as a dark, realist Spinal Tap, and was billed as a black comedy. While the movie has its funny, often hilarious moments, it actually concentrates on the real, human emotions driving each character. This is a character-driven movie, rather than a plot- or action-driven movie, and shows a great deal of insight about the internal politics of friendship. Though the performance scenes are also very cool.