Opening this weekend, if you're lucky enough to live in New York, L.A., or Toronto, is a documentary that follows an aging Canadian heavy-metal band on a thirty-year quest for rock-stardom. Anvil: The Story of Anvil features interviews with longtime fans and many of the band's successful peers, all of whom seem equally puzzled by Anvil's lack of fame and fortune:

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As the band struggles to complete its thirteenth album, This Is Thirteen, the tumultuous relationship of the band's remaining original members, Robb Reiner and Steve "Lips" Kudlow, takes center stage. After three decades of playing music together, Anvil is no longer a band but a family. And in the words of Lips himself, "Family is important shit, man." It's like watching Spinal Tap, but in reverse.

(Holiday weekend bonus No. 1: watch Reiner's epic drum solo from Monday night's premiere here in New York. Now.)

(No. 2, from Tim Heffernan: If you can't get to the theater for Anvil, or if one dose of cinematic blood, sweat, and triumph just isn't enough, try to catch Paris-Roubaix, a.k.a. the Hell of the North, the greatest one-day bike race in the world. Read what makes it great here. Or just let a picture speak its thousand words: This is what the winner usually looks like.)

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PLUS: Four Things You Don't Know About Bike Messengers

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