The Ramones Movies

A teenage boy tries to hold his family together while the girl of his dreams drives him to distraction in this coming-of-age comedy drama. It's 1978, and Henry Nearing (Gregory Smith) and his family are in a state of flux. Henry's mother has died, and now his father, Shep (David Morse), is trying to find himself by quitting his job, buying a motorcycle, and growing out his hair. Henry's brother, Blair (David Moscow), is similarly trying to expand his boundaries by dating a free-spirited girl and experimenting with drugs. Henry, meanwhile, is just trying to get through high school, but a certain girl is making that difficult for him. Grace Chance (Jordana Brewster) is a pretty girl in Henry's class who enjoys wrapping boys around her little finger; it doesn't take long for her to notice he's smitten with her, and she begins flirting with him and getting him to do whatever she wants, even though she already has a boyfriend whom she has no intention of leaving. Meanwhile, Merna (Ashley Johnson), a cute girl who lives nearby, has a crush on Henry and is clearly a better match for him, but she can't get him to notice her, even after she starts dating an older boy to make him jealous. Nearing Grace received its world premiere at the 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Filmmaker Michael Gramaglia's years-in-the-making biography of the legendary punk band the Ramones entitled End of the Century traces nearly all the various and sundry peaks and valleys which the seminal rockers experienced over the course of its 20-plus year career before disbanding in 1995. Beginning with the band's first concert performances in the mid-'70s, Gramaglia explores the eccentric and highly volatile band members -- in all the various line-ups that were presented over the years -- as the Ramones slowly gained fame for their high energy and high-tempo style of music that would later influence generations of punk rockers around the world. Mixing archival interviews with new interviews of the various surviving bandmembers, as well as interviews with a number of the Ramones' contemporaries, End of the Century encapsulates the East Coast underground music atmosphere of the 1970s and '80s that the band inadvertently shocked into existence. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

In 1991, pioneering noise rockers Sonic Youth were about as big as a punk rock band was supposed to get; they'd become one of the most acclaimed bands on the American rock underground, they were signed to a prestigious major label, Geffen, and seemed poised to edge into the commercial mainstream. As it happened, punk rock was about to invade radio and MTV in a big way, but Sonic Youth weren't the ones to lead the charge. In the summer of 1991, Sonic Youth spent two weeks playing large clubs and music festivals, with an up-and-coming band called Nirvana on hand as their opening act. Both bands found themselves playing to some of the biggest and most enthusiastic audiences they'd experienced thus far, and it was a preview of what Nirvana was to experience when their album Nevermind was released a few months later. Musician and filmmaker Dave Markey tagged along to chronicle the tour with a Super 8 sound movie camera, and 1991: The Year Punk Broke was assembled from the footage he shot that summer, as a handful of alternative bands were enjoying a working holiday in Europe, unaware that they'd all be a lot closer to the spotlight in six months. Along with performances from Sonic Youth and Nirvana, 1991: The Year Punk Broke includes appearances by Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland, Gumball and The Ramones. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi