Marred by a self-importance and heavy-handed assertion of mythic status that some may well find misplaced or just downright ridiculous.
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08/01/08
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Dogtown and Z-Boys (2002)
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:84
Rotten:8
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Dogtown and Z-Boys is a colorful, exhilarating look at the skateboarding subculture.
Theatrical Release:Apr 26, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $1,187,606
Synopsis: In the late 1960s, a group of burnt out teenagers from broken homes ambled together and began to surf along Venice, California's Pacific Ocean Park pier, a ghostly shell of a former amusement park... [More]
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Reviews for Dogtown and Z-Boys
You want to know more about their private lives than you get. But most viewers may be too stoked by the sheer adrenaline rush of the subject to care.
11/01/07
Top CriticPackage is lively, if loosely structured.
04/02/07
Top CriticThis propulsive, highly satisfying 2002 documentary concerns a group of daredevil skateboarders from an economically depressed and dangerous area of Santa Monica known as Dogtown who reinvented the sport in the 70s.
04/02/07
Top CriticI know exactly nothing about skateboarding, but this wild, exuberant documentary puts it all in perspective, outlining a crew of 12 surfers-turned-skaters who pioneered the sport -- and, some say, the art form.
05/26/06
Infectiously exuberant.
01/26/06
Using the Zephyr team's creation, its sudden fame, and death by defection, Dogtown documents genuine 20th century tribalism.
06/13/04
The straight cuts illustrate how the Zephyr team's revolutionary, riffing style was both an extension of surfing and aesthetically beautiful.
05/20/03
There is something I find deeply disturbing about a documentary made about one's own life that never acknowledges its first person status.
01/07/03
Quite possibly the best documentary about youth and sport since Hoop Dreams.
12/23/02
The film fearlessly gets under the skin of the people involved ... This makes it not only a detailed historical document, but an engaging and moving portrait of a subculture.
12/08/02
It's an entertaining study for anyone, as it makes you believe that skateboarding is the ultimate guerilla sport -- taking something that exists and is shrugged off and turning it into something amazing.
12/08/02
An enthusiastic ode to a few of the pioneers of extreme sports.
11/06/02
An affectionate look back at those heady days.
10/21/02
Despite its lack of perspective on history or the evolution of the sport, Dogtown and Z-Boys does what documentaries do best: It makes even viewers who have never touched a skateboard feel a part of the action.
10/15/02
It also paints a vivid portrait of a place, time and tribal gathering where environment, attitude, innovation, athleticism and emphasis on style spawned an accidental revolution of sorts.
10/10/02
Dogtown and Z-Boys does precisely what a documentary movie should do: it makes its subject fascinating whether you actually give a damn or not.
08/25/02
What there's too much is interviews with middle-aged, self-proclaimed radicals indulged in endless back-patting sessions for having spawned 'a revolution.'
08/23/02
A truly fascinating case study of just how an underground sport ascended on the world.
08/17/02
Has all the depth of a wading pool.
08/05/02
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