rdoyle29 I love The Minuteman, so it would be very hard for me to dislike this documentary. Still, I thought it had some pretty serious structural problems. The backbone of the film is Mike Watt telling the story of the band in chronological order, using primarily clips from two lengthy interviews. This part of the film tells a compelling story. It is inter cut with performance footage and snippets of interviews with dozens of other major and minor figures in the band's story. This talking head footage has a tendency to undermine the film at time. The director obviously collected so much interview footage that he seems compelled to use it, but what's being said is often repetitive and not pertinent to the point that Watt's story has reached. It gives the film a disorganized, scatter shot feel that really undermines its effectiveness at times.

trux_32 Although a lot of the footage is of poor quality, the way the movie is edited taps into the enthusiasm the band garnered during it's live performances. After a screening at the Rice University Media Center in Houston, several attendees mentioned the urge they felt to get up and applaud 20yr old concert footage. The filmmakers did an excellent job of breaking up current interviews with footage they shoot throughout the band's early years. Surviving members of the band and other music contemporaries reminisce about why the Minutemen stood out and were so important. These ideas are then highlighted by concert footage or an archived interview with the band shortly before the death of D. Boon. For example, seeing Mike Watt today talk about growing up in San Pedro and the aggravations of trying to start a band in a small town is accentuated with comments he makes twenty years prior as the band is starting to taste national exposure. Whether you are a fan of the Minuteman, or alternative rock in general, shouldn't matter in choosing this film. The story resonates around the childhood friendship between D. Boon and Mike Watt and how it produced a sound that was one of the most creative in the history of rock n' roll. Imagine a twenty-year class reunion but only the people you liked are going to attend. That's the feeling I walked away with.

geneven I was at the premiere too, and was surprised at how undated the music was. I saw the Minutemen a number of times (best was on the boat in San Pedro harbor, with the Meat Puppets) and this film captures their essence surprisingly well. D. Boone, where are you when we need you! I'm here on the Internet trying to find a place to buy a copy of this excellent film. The music is aggressive and lively and always interesting. The film mainly consists of interviews about the Minutemen coupled with amazing live performances; my friend Andrea Enthal pointed out that they got such excellent renditions of Minutemen songs by combining many live performances to get excellent delivery and sound quality of almost every line. The spirit of the Minutemen lives on.

megasquid I just attended the premier for this last night at San Pedro's historic Warner Grand Theatre, and man - what a beautiful film. I know that "time sensitive references" are not smiled upon by our IMDb benefactors, but I believe that in this case it is entirely appropriate to put the film in context in this way. A documentary is, by definition, a time sensitive thing - and this one intentionally so as it's release marks the twenty year anniversary of D. Boon's passing. What I experienced last night at the premier is, I think, an integral part of what this film is all about: celebrating the life, and mourning the loss of this tremendous artist. I first heard the Minutemen in 1985, just months before D. Boon's tragic and untimely death, and so for me, as well as for so many others younger than myself, my love affair with this band has been one of grieving from the very beginning - a grieving which, for Angelenos like myself, is a deeply personal and palpable thing, and one from which it seems we have never fully recovered. ---Until last night. The opening of this movie was like the memorial service for D. Boon that most of us never had. All of LA's punk rock luminaries were in attendance (and in the film!), along with as many of her fans and enthusiasts as the theater could hold, and the feeling was one of - at last - a proper, collective acknowledgment of the contribution made by the Minutemen to punk rock, to DIY, to music period, to each of us; an exhale, if you will, followed by a whoot and a raised fist. The audience cheered and hollered as each of their friends and idols graced the screen to share the myriad ways in which this band touched and transformed their lives, booed at the villains, wept openly at the final goodbye's to D... and this is, I think, what this movie ultimately is: finally, after twenty years, a "time sensitive reference" of the greatness and importance of this band - something which everyone over here knows down in their soul, but which now can be shared with the rest of world with the same level of intimacy - in Mike Watt's own words as he drive's his van around Pedro, in the amazing and extensive live footage of the band, in the very spirit of celebration with which the film was made.So, see this movie, buy a copy, share it with your friends - then go form a band, make a record, make a movie, start your own label or production company or zine ---or just go drink and pogo! RIP, D. We love and miss you.