Rating: 
Summary: Best of the year?
Review: This is definitely one of the most entertaining films of the year (up there with THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE). The zippy dialogue, the fast action, the not-too-serious look in to the subject all combine to make for one really entertaining movie experience!
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Summary: Incredible memories of West L.A. in the '70s
Review: Disclaimer: this review might be a little biased, as not only was I a young street-rat in the mid-Seventies, but I also went to school at Bellagio Road in L.A., played baseball every weekend at Paul Revere Jr High (Pacific Palisades), and got to know those sloping slabs of asphalt detailed here in this movie very well. Both those school-yards are filmed all through this documentary, and it's difficult for me to watch them and not smell that hot tar, and hear the sounds of those eurethane wheels careening up and down the banks. But for those who weren't there at the time, Stacy Peralta's movie is just a sheer blast of fun from start to finish. It's really about celebrating the underdog, cheering on these particular Bad News Bears as they almost single-handedly created the "cool" ethos behind skateboarding. As detailed in the film, writer-photographer Craig Stecyk, and photographer Glenn E. Friedman (the great!) understood that what they were witnessing in their backyards (and in the backyards that the Z-Boys would invade, to pool-skate) was sheer greatness in action. Seeing the blindingly cool results of their words and images, it's inspiring to understand that "scenes" can spring up everywhere--not just the backstreets of Santa Monica and Venice-- but it takes those with patience and passion (and yes, brilliance) to help it reach those who would truly appreciate it. The soundtrack playing as it unfolds is hella cool as well: ZEPPELIN, SABBATH, HENDRIX, FLOYD, T REX, THIN LIZZY, STOOGES, BLUE OYSTER CULT, NEIL YOUNG, TED NUGENT, AEROSMITH...how in the world did Peralta get the rights to some of this stuff??? They could have used a little bit of FU MANCHU's music, in my opinion, as they're a band that worships the Dogtown ethos (songs like "Blue Tile Fever," and "Downtown In Dogtown"; photos of Tony Alva on the cover of their fifth album), but they weren't there in the Seventies, obviously. Personally, I was most fascinated in the footage of the surfing in and around the desolate Pacific Ocean Park (which had mostly been cleaned up by the time I was aware of it, in the late-'70s). I applaud and thank Peralta for this stuff, because it showed me a side of Venice Beach that I was too young to ever see. Hard rock, punk rock, skateboarding, sunshine, gimme danger little stranger...it's all RADICAL in this movie, and it's all American. This is a DVD that will get played again and again. (And for those who are concerned that the DVD's not in widescreen, don't worry. As "Dogtown" is a documentary using vintage home footage, it wasn't SHOT in widescreen. The version you get on the full-frame DVD is truer to the original footage than the one seen in the cinemas.)
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Summary: Dogtown and Z-boys Grinds
Review: First off I'm 42 not 12 I couldn't get the "Adult" form to accept my review so I dropped in on this one ,,,sorry. VIBE,is what this documentary is all about! Transferring the energy and subculture of that period to todays audience is something this film does short of dragging them to a live pool session and forcing them to ride. I have tried to convey what pool riding sessions were like in the 70's to kids and adults but could not do it as well as this film. Now I'll just put in the Z-boyz DVD and let it rip. I wish they would have shown night sessions like we used to do with trouble lights and stereo speakers in the shallow end. Kind of a surreal underwater feel to sessions like that. Dogtown does describe correctly the fever pitch that builds during riding pools as each rider pushes the limits and the heaviness, if you weren't part of the accepted "crew" you weren't allowed to skate. The riding, the hoots and screams of the on-lookers, the loud rock, always combined into a intoxicating tribal ritual. For those who grew up skating during this period the movie will be an emotionally intense experience, to see your "heroes" resurrected on the screen. For those who have riden pools like myself, You can feel the energy radiating from your groin to your extremities as you vicariously ride with the boyz and feel the grinds and slides. Rise up "Skategeezers" dust off your Jay Adams Flyaway Helmets, grab your Z-pigs and go show all those young Tony Hawk wanna-be-nintendo-poser-never rode-real-vert geeks where it all started. I'm 42 now, never stopped surfin, recently started skaing again to teach my 12 yr old son to ride vert, originallly from Atlantic Beach (Rattown), teaching Kids at the local skatparks how to do all the old school tricks like Berts. Keep Skatin, this movie gets it RIGHT! Buy It , watch It, Relive IT, Live IT . "No Pool too Deep No Ramp Too Steep." Ray Klein 2002.
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Summary: One thing we should all agree on...
Review: As America heads straight towards an ideological breaking point, where no one agrees with anyone on anything and the Christian Right hate the Socialists and the Republicans hate the Environmentalists and Ralph Nader hates everything (curse you, Ralph, you betrayed me, you scumbag!) and so forth and such, one thing remains the same: America is the home of the radical. Oh, I lived in Europe for many years, did some travelling, am an ardent fan of all things Asian, but you ain't never gonna find anywhere in the world where so many cool things have crawled straight from the gutter into the conscience of humankind. "Dogtown and Z-Boys" is the most true-blue, slap leather American film you'll see in forever. How the accidental stumblings of screwups and dropouts from broken homes in concrete suburban hell-town, CA. transformed a generation into rebels, made millions, and turned sidewalks deadly for the aged thereafter is a story only an insider like director Stacy Peralta could get right. It could be about the mating habits of the Brazilian Banana-Faced Boll Aphid and still be good, such is the pace and energy put into it, but of course this one is about skateboarding - not just skateboarding, but skateboarding raw, nasty and pure - with drugs, violence, and rock and roll thrown in for measure. It plays like it was thrown together in five minutes, coming out perfect by some fortune of gestalt and GOD. Instead of fading between scenes, the film melts and catches aflame, or the reel runs out, or test patterns fly all over the place. Narrator Penn's coughs and errors are preserved. Interviews are interupted by laughter in the background. The footage is grainy and shakily shot by hand. All of it, of course, entirely on purpose. This is a documentary experience that must be seen to be believed. This is why documentaries are MADE, brothers in arms. Hoo-hah.
Rating:
Summary: you don't need to be a skater to love this film
Review: The visuals in this movie grabbed me and never let go. The shots of people surfing through the piers and skating all over the town make you giddy. The Z-Boys' moves were dangerous, beautiful, and thrilling to watch. It's great stuff. The local cultural history was more interesting than I thought it would be. The information about Dogtown, surfboard design, and the source of the graphics used on surfboards and skateboard was fun to learn. I loved the way they looked at skateboarding as an art, a sport, pop culture, and the larger culture. I am a 40-something woman, and I never skateboarded. I DO ski, and I like watching "extreme" sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, (and gymnastics). But it's hard for me to imagine how anyone (other than, okay, maybe a 12-yeary-old) could be bored.
Rating:
Summary: great film
Review: this is a great documentary that anyone who enjoys "alternative" sports will really enjoy. It's well made and the story that is told is amazing. i highly recommend adding this to your collection.
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Summary: As fresh today as when it was happening
Review: First, major kudos to the first reviewer of this DVD, Henry "BAD H" Hester. For those of you who weren't part of the 1970s skateboard wave, the heroes of which are documented in this movie, you may not know him. A pro slalom racing legend. Rode one of the first skatecars (which have evolved into the luges we see on the x-games today), and the founder of the Hester Pro Bowl series (which if I've heard it right is was purchased by Tony Hawk's dad in the 80's and was THE definitive skateboarding competition). He also had his own model of Road Rider Wheel: The Henry Hester Slalom wheel. I was totally pumped to see a true celebrity review on here! Henry's worth a movie his own self, but he's not from Santa Monica so not featured in this great movie, Dogtown and Z-Boys! Now, about the movie. This is about the guys and gals who made skateboarding what it is today. Typical ruffians from Santa Monica (aka "Dogtown"). These were ones who thought about bringing surf moves to the street on a skateboard. The ones who thought about taking a skateboard onto a transition/vertical surface (today's half-pipes and bowls). The ones who pioneered getting a person, and a skateboard to go so fast that they could both leave the bowl and get "air." NO ONE DID IT BEFORE THEM. These are the pioneers of extreme sports, and they did it all with incredible style. My friends and I in Bellevue, WA would scour every issue of Skateboarder Magazine to see what these guys were up to, and do all we could to emulate their moves. They did a great job in this movie, IMHO, of showing the impact of the choices we all have make. Several of the greats profiled went on to HUGE success (e.g. Stacey Peralta), some went on to prison, some went on to do "normal things." I used it as an opportunity to discuss these issues with my kids. Regardless of where they are now, though, the fact remains that they started a ball rolling beyond just skateboarding, but all of extreme sports. Good job of narrating by Sean Penn, interviews are solid, music ROCKS, the video editing was a little jumpy ("MTVish") for me, but hey, I'm just an old skater who still listens to Jethro Tull. This is a great movie, and if I were part of the Motion Picture Academy, it'd get my vote for best documentary of the year. Watch it if you're an old skater, you'll jump back on a board quicker than you can say "bert revert." Watch it if you're a new skater, it'll teach you that style and soul is as important as trying a rail grind/heal flip mutant and not landing it 9 out of 10 times(heh heh heh). Carl Kincaid
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Summary: Long live the Dogtown days
Review: This movie did not come to my town, so I had to wait and get the dvd to watch it. Let me first say, for any of you out there who are in your mid 30's - 40's, and did not skate back in the 70's, probably will find this movie (this is more of a documentary then an actual movie) boring and lacking. On the other hand, if you are like me, in your preteens-teen years back in the mid-late 70's, and lived to skate, then you will love this film. It will bring back so many memories of how the scene was back then. Narrated by Sean Penn, and directed by a Z-boy himself, Stacey Peralta, and numerous interviews with other Z-boys (and girl) legend Tony Alva, Jay Adams, and also Tony Hawk speaks on the tremendous impact the Z-Boys had on the skate world. This film took me back, and made me want to grab a board and start skating again, and im in my mid-late 30's. I think the younger newer generation skaters should watch this film, and then they will know where it all came from. Long live the Dogtown days, and the Z-boys....
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Summary: Not your father's documentary...
Review: Great piece of local Southern California history. That fact that some of this footage even exists, is a credit to the people who lived it and thought enough to document it. Nice job.
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Summary: What it's really all about....
Review: Boy does this movie take me back! As a So. Cal. surf rat growing up in the 70's, the Z-Boys represented everything my friends and I were shooting for. Not exactly what you would call ideal role models, especially as far as my parents were concerned. Never the less, they carried themselves with such style and mystique that we were all spellbound by thier mere presence. My mother read an interview with Tony Alva in on of my issues of "Skateboarder" sometime around 76 or 77, and her response was - and I'll never forget this - "He is sickening. He makes me sick to my stomach". Ha! I'd found my new hero! When we went to the skateparks, if any of these guys were there, we'd all just step back and consider class to be in session. They were the guys who started it all, and they did it better than anybody - period. This movie is an outstanding document of an amazing slice of American history. The editing, the sountrack, the narration - it's all there. Stacy Peralta has put together his interpretation of his early life with stellar results. I'm sure there is way more left out than what made it into the final edit, but outside of living it yourself, you can never know the whole story anyway. It's interesting to note the ego's of thier youth vs. where they all stand today. Biniack appears to be "happy with himself". Alva seems to be letting his history do his bidding for him. Red Dog and Wentzle seem to have humbled over the years, without forgetting anything about how they became who they are. And Jay Adams, well, a sad story to be sure, but one that is thankfully still in progress. (welcome back, Jay!) Hopefully he will keep it together and show us what it's all really about once again. To all of those criticizing this movie for being too "self-congratulatory", well, all I can say is you sure missed the friggin' point! If you can't see the impact these guys have had on modern pop culture, you are as blind as a bat. You may say "they're just skateboarders", but if you look around, you'll see that they have dealt a sturdy hand in just about every corner of this country, if not the world. No one makes movies about people who stand back and say "shucks", nor does anybody want to watch one. Where does that leave us? Observing what some might think of as mindless egomaniacs beating on thier chests, but consider this: These guys are interesting, dynamic athletes that defied and rewrote the rules and conventions of organized sports. X-games anyone? I doubt they'd exist if not for the trail blazed by the Z-Boys. Thier achievments seem rediculously obvious to me. They changed the world that I like to live in. That takes ego, balls, and of course, STYLE! As I watched the film, and they detailed their youthful and sometimes criminal exploits, I never once got the feeling that they felt they were ever doing anything other than being themselves. The notariety seemed to be an afterthought for the most part. It would be so disapointing if they felt the need to apolgize for that. The Dogtown nay-sayers can talk all they want. Fact is, the Z-Boys don't give a rats hiney. You have to have done something pretty great to get people talking about you to anywhere near the extent of the rhetoric surrounding the almost mythical achievments attained by these guys. Good or bad - it doesn't matter. They made a movie about them. They write books about them. Apparently, we still care, because we see the movies and read the books. Love 'em or hate 'em, deep down inside, we all know why they are still important all these years later, right?
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