Cheap Hard Core Logo (DVD) (Bruce McDonald) Price

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Customer Reviews of Hard Core Logo

Director Bruce McDonald does a fine job blurring the line between fiction and reality, actor and rock star. If you didn't know it was fake, you'd be hard-pressed to find the seams in this little make believe. A lot of that has to do with establishing credibility in the details. From early appearances by real Canadian punk legends D.O.A. and Art Begmann (not to mention a very confused looking Joey Ramone), to a kick-ass set list written specifically for the movie ("Who The Hell Do You Think You Are" is a great stand-up-and-shake-your-fist punk tune), to the palpable sweat and stink of the small clubs the boys play, McDonald covers all the bases. He even includes himself in the mix, in a great narrative conceit, as a documentary filmmaker named 'Bruce McDonald', who is the repeated object of the band's barbs and spit.

But the biggest credibility coup is the casting of Hugh Dillon as the Hard Core's frontman, Joe Dick. Dillon is a real life rock star, fronting the post-punk Canadian band 'The Headstones'. In his first beefy screen role, he acquits himself spectacularly as the angry core and creative force of the band. He spits, he lies, he snarls, he waxes rhapsodic, and he oozes charisma like nobody's business. His credibility does wonders in the film's final moment, which would, in the hands of a less capable actor and director, feel contrived and manipulative, but comes off totally legit here. Coupled with Callum Keith Rennie, a fine actor who does an excellent job playing right hand man/best friend/guitar hero Billy Tallent, the two make a wonderful team. "I suffer for his art," says Tallent at one point, in a line that perfectly sums up their relationship. Joe wants the low rent tour to go on forever, while Billy is pondering a move to the big time. They fit in wonderfully in the history of rock and roll love/hate relationships that includes Jagger/Richard, Lennon/McCartney, and of course the Tap's St. Hubbins/Tufnel. The rest of the band includes John Pyper-Ferguson as bassist John Oxenberger, a calm schizophrenic who loses his medication and his sanity, and Bernie Coulson as drummer Pipefitter (as ridiculous a nom de punk as I've ever heard), an overgrown child with no prospects, who's putting off "a lifetime of collecting garbage". They make a fine fearsome foursome.

My one complaint with the movie is an intense, LSD-inspired scene of bacchanalia, that fits in perfectly with the narrative, but is too over the top to be interesting. A minor complaint, that. Otherwise, this is a well-crafted and entertaining ode to bitter nihilism and Canadiana, that I can watch over and over and over.

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.

Since DVD is so woefully lacking in extras...
...try picking up a copy of the book (...) ROADSHOW, a making-of diary kept by the HCL screenwriter, Noel Baker. The book is alright, but at least it satisfies some of the behind-the-scenes cravings you might have after watching the movie. Found out some surprising things, like how several GREAT story plot points and that ending came to be. What's up with Quentin being so stingy with the extras on the DVD?? Even though I give the movie itself five stars, the DVD presentation merits only three. Somebody re-release this (...), and do it RIGHT!