Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)When I first heard about this movie, back when it was debuting at Sundance, I couldn't wait to see it. When it did finally come to my town, I dragged my husband to it; it certainly confused him, seeing his 39 year old computer nerd wife turn into a teen age skate rat overnight!
In my mispent youth, I lived about 20 miles south of Dogtown & idolized Tony Alva. I had his magazine shots covering my walls; I memorized every issue of Skateboarder when it arrived in my mailbox. I also spent every available moment gonzoing the local hilly streets with my friends. As soon as I was old enough to get my own place, where did I move to? You guessed it, Dogtown. I don't talk much about those days now, or at least I didn't until DOGTOWN & Z-BOYS came out.
This movie is wonderful. It really captures what that time felt like, when skateboarding was still closely allied to surfing & just finding it's own identity. The archival footage is amazing, especially the P.O.P. sequence, & the early shots of the Z-Boys at Paul Revere & Bellagio. The editing is brilliant, & the music rocks! What is truly remarkable is that it manages to make skateboarding accessible & enjoyable to those who never participated, such as my husband. He's just as blown away at some of the footage as I was.
The DVD transfer is great. It's nice to be able to slow down some of the sections, or freeze a frame to get a better look, or just repeat your fave sections over & over again. The voice-over commentary by Peralta on the bonus track adds many anecdotes that had to be left out of the film, as well as giving credit to many of the people who contributed footage the documentary relies heavily on. There's also an additional, uncut film of today's Tony A during a pool session, which is nice to see.
The only reason this film doesn't get 5 stars is because of some of the people it left out. Where's Tom Inouye, of the notorious Inouye's Pool Service? When it came to outlaw pool-finding, Tom was the man! Laura Thornhill was probably the only other hard-core girl who got attention at the time; she's completely unmentioned. Although Stacy Peralta gets his props for modesty, he sometimes errs on the side of being TOO modest; there was a spectacular Arizona Pipe session I recall that goes unmentioned, one that Stacy made history at. It would have been nice to see some of that footage too.
All in all, Dogtown & Z-Boys can't be beat if you remember those days. If you're at the age where all this is new to you, it's a great way to learn where all those moves you're busting came from.
Now to dig out some OP's & Vans, & I'll be stylin' again...
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