Lemmy Movies

Ian Fraiser Kilmister, better known to the world as Lemmy Kilmister, is arguably the single most indefatigable character in the history of rock & roll. Born in 1945, Lemmy played in a handful of small-time British acts before joining the pioneering "space rock" band Hawkwind in 1971, and sang lead on their best-known song, "Silver Machine." But it was when Lemmy formed Motörhead in 1975 that he took his first steps toward becoming a living legend. Motörhead played heavy metal faster and louder than anyone dared in the mid-'70s, and their relentless aural assault, fueled by Lemmy's bruising staccato bass lines and howling leather-lunged vocals, ushered in a new era of metal and was a key influence on Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and literally hundreds of other bands in heavy metal and punk. While Motörhead's albums have never enjoyed consistent success on the charts, the band has continued to tour tirelessly, and well into his sixties Lemmy plays and lives as hard as he ever has, rocking head-banging audiences around the world as he survives on a diet of red meat, bourbon, and cigarettes. Filmmakers Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver spent three years following Lemmy on the road and chatting with him at his modest Los Angeles home, and Lemmy is a documentary that pays homage to the legendary father of speed metal as well as profiling the surprisingly quiet man behind the thunder. Featuring interviews with Dave Grohl, Ozzy Osbourne, James Hetfield, Billy Bob Thornton, Alice Cooper, and many more, Lemmy received its world premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Notorious schlock and psychotronic production company Troma (known for such classics as Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High) hails Tromeo and Juliet, its contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's love tragedy, a "thrill-a-minute, body-piercing, computer sex, sapphic, car-crashing extravaganza." Set in New York City, the tale centers on the Ques and the Capulets. The bitter feud begins when father Capulet steals father Que's Silky Films production company. As enemies, the two warring clans are always doing horrible things to each other. Tromeo Que is a computer nerd who spends much time fondling himself in front of his favorite sexy CD-ROMs until he falls in love with lovely Juliet and proposes to her while she sits upon a toilet. The film, seemingly aimed at adolescent boys, features violence, considerable gore, profanity, vulgar situations (featuring buckets of fake vomit), and the graphic depiction of body piercing. (Of course, if it didn't, it wouldn't be a Troma film.) ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Airheads is a variation on Dog Day Afternoon, as well as a comic look at the trials and tribulations of both the music business and Generation X. A hapless rock trio consisting of Chazz (Brendan Fraser), Rex (Steve Buscemi), and Pip (Adam Sandler) hits a brick wall with their attempts to get their demo tape played by record label executives. Chazz, on the edge since being thrown out by his girlfriend (Amy Locane), decides it's time to take more serious action, and he leads his bandmates on a mission to invade the local "alternative" rock station, KPPX, and hold it hostage to get the band's tape played on the air. The station staffers don't realize that they're being held with a water gun, and when they finally agree to play the tape, it gets eaten up by a faulty machine. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons, and Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Steven Tyler are among the Heavy Metal artists interviewed in The Decline of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years. This follow-up to filmmaker Penelope Spheeris' classic 1981 "punk" documentary The Decline of Western Civilization is a bit more reflective and word-dominated than its predecessor, but no less entertaining. One striking aspect of the film is its before-and-after comparisons of the impact of MTV. Heavy Metal newcomers tend to overpraise the cable service, while the "oldsters" implicitly decry the mainstreaming-and in some cases, homogenizing--of their best work. Interestingly, Spheeris' own style has become more mainstream in the years since Decline of Western Civilization, thanks to experience gleaned on such dramatic films as Hollywood Vice Squad (1986) and Dudes (1987). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

See the original group members perform. ~ Rovi