Hard Core Logo Hard Core Logo

Bruce Macdonald follows punk bank Hard Core Logo on a harrowing last-gasp reunion tour throughout Western Canada. As magnetic lead-singer Joe Dick holds the whole magilla together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of life on the road come bubbling to the surface.

Hugh Dillon Callum Keith Rennie Julian Richings

Terminal City Pictures

indie music documentary drama comedy

92 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • Brynner

    Review by Brynner ★★★★★

    One of my all time favourite movies and without a doubt my favourite Bruce McDonald film, my favourite Canadian film, and my favourite music film (sorry Spinal Tap). For me, this film just seems to be on a whole different level than any of McDonald's other work. The characters are awesome and extremely well portrayed, the music is great, and the film manages to be funny while at the same time touching on some pretty dark subject matter and an excellent look at the breakdown of a band and a friendship. And you gotta love the Joey Ramone cameo part 2.

  • J Hobbs

    Review by J Hobbs ★★★½

    The dramatized version of Another State of Mind, following a self-destructing punk band on tour. A Canuck classic.

  • foblis

    Review by foblis ★★★★★ 1

    There is nothing else out there quite like a Bruce McDonald film. Full of engaging visuals, hateful yet endearing characters and butt kicking rock music. Leaves you wondering who's genuine and who's an a**hole. Filthy and fascinating.

  • John Roberts

    Review by John Roberts ★★★★

    Although this film is often (and rightly) compared to "This Is Spinal Tap" since the general plot is very similar, the tone of this film is much, much darker. Where "Spinal Tap" were somewhat out of touch with their interpretation of the band's fame, "Hard Core Logo" know just how little people care about them and the various band members cope with this knowledge in differently destructive ways. I did enjoy this film quite a bit, but in a very different way than I enjoyed "Spinal Tap"

  • Thomas Ringdal

    Review by Thomas Ringdal ★★★★★

    In my opinion this kicks Spinal Tap's ass!
    Hugh Dillon and Callum Keith Rennie are the main focus, but all the band members' acting is above average. I knew Rennie from Califronication, but this....this! Now I love the guy.
    First and foremost a mockumentary, touching on comedy (some very funny scenes), but it's the drama that gets you, and the complicated relationships between "Joe Dick" and "Billy Tallent". Well, that and the best acid trip ever.
    Awesome soundtrack, just awesome, brilliant script, an excellent depiction of a band, and an ending that I won't be able to shake for weeks.....
    If there's a better Canadian movie out there, I'd be amazed.

  • Corey Pierce

    Review by Corey Pierce ★★★★★

    I wanna keep this simple.

    This is one of the best Canadian films ever made, one of the best rock movies ever made, one of the best fake documentaries ever made, and has Quentin Tarantino's stamp of approval. There are so many scenes I reference or steal to this day, in particular: "Where's Billy?". This movie gives Hugh Dillon an eternal free pass, and makes me excited whenever I see Callum Keith Rennie's name associated with any project, usually as a minor character. (most famously as one of the recurring Cylons in Battlestar Galactica)

    Valuable information for fans ahead:
    The newly released blu-ray, unlike the Special Edition DVD which has been out for many years, is finally widescreen 1.85:1, and contains the experimental and arty anti-sequel Hard Core Logo 2

  • Joe

    Review by Joe ★★★★½ 2

    The easy blurb is "punk rock Spinal Tap," but this is actually a much more emotionally ambitious film than Spinal Tap's singular focus on three hard rock numbskulls. The characters in the Hard Cores are a little more dimensional and a little less broad (the same goes for the laughs). This doesn't make Hard Core Logo better than This Is Spinal Tap, of course - just different.

    There are two sequences in particular that stick in my craw. One is the acid trip scene, which I think would have been much better without breaking the documentary format. The second is the ending. I won't spoil it but it seemed to me like this ending was conceived almost independently of the…

  • Nikolai Efimov

    Review by Nikolai Efimov ★★★★½

    The sub-sub-genre of mock-rockumentary is not exactly a crowded scene, and its originator, a title I'm sure I need not mention here, holds such an unshakeable cult status that its descendants really need to step up in order to compete. Well, that's no problem at all for this fantastic little film that puts story and character first, and yet has no problem seeming uncontrived and utterly believable. The detail and nuance in the storytelling really put Christopher Guest to shame, at least in the dramatic rather than comedic sense. There's a clumsy bit thrown in at the end about audience expectations or the documentarist's responsibility to his subject or some crap, but that's hardly enough to tarnish the veneer. I have issues with the ending, which is honestly a bit of a shameless play, but two seconds of footage can do only so much damage to the total film. Bruce McDonald's first great achievement.

  • Infected

    Review by Infected ★★★★½

    "There's two ways to look at it: Billy wants the models and limousines, while I'm happy with hookers and taxicabs."

    Review pending.

    9/10