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Video: Rebels on wheels
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 8, 2002
Dogtown and Z-Boys (PG-13)
Director Stacy Peralta was a 1970s pioneer in the sport of skateboarding, along with his crew, the Z-Boys, in a southern California enclave known as Dogtown. This arresting documentary traces the rise of a sport and the decline of a community, set to a terrific soundtrack of rock 'n' roll from the period and some amazing footage of rebels with a zippy cause.
First impressions: "Peralta and editor Paul Crowder assemble this film like one of the Z-Boys' rides, abruptly changing directions, coasting to a terrific soundtrack ranging from Joe Walsh to Herb Alpert, turning any slips into something that looks intended. Sean Penn narrates the movie, which is so casually against the grain that he clears his throat once and Peralta leaves it in."
Second thoughts: This is still the best documentary -- and one of the best films -- I've seen this year.
Rental audience: Extreme sports fanatics, baby boomers with an edge.
Rent it if you enjoy: Watching the X-Games, the IMAX film Ultimate X.
Deuces Wild (R)
A gang war erupts in the streets of Brooklyn in the 1950s between the Deuces, an anti-drug crew, and the Vipers who want to introduce narcotics trade to the neighborhood. Stephen Dorff and Brad Renfro play sullen brothers caught in the middle but still finding time for romance between the rumbles.
First impressions: "(Director Scott) Kalvert's underachievement amounts to a rather tired exercise in nostalgia, with plenty of cliched dialogue and lots of opportunities for star spotting: There's Matt Dillon, himself a veteran of lost-boys flicks (The Outsiders, Rumble Fish). There's Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore) and Adriana (Drea DeMatteo) from The Sopranos. And isn't that Deborah Harry, the Blondie singer and occasional actor, nearly unrecognizable as an older woman addicted to Christmas music and convinced that Santa Claus lives upstairs? Yes." (Philip Booth, Times correspondent)
Second thoughts: Barely made a dent at the box office, or viewers' memories.
Rental audience: Transplanted New Yorkers revisiting their misspent youth.
Rent it if you enjoy: A Bronx Tale, West Side Story without the music.
Super Troopers (R)
Prankish state troopers in Vermont spend their days goofing on speeders and druggies until a real case crosses into their jurisdiction. Created by the members of Broken Lizard, a quintet of comedy performers working stages in Los Angeles and New York.
First impressions: "The movie contains a few big laughs but many more that graze the funny bone or miss it altogether, in part because the consciously dumbed-down approach wears thin. What keeps you going is the troopers' camaraderie. Whether they're messing with the minds of dopers they've pulled over (or) coining a new profanity that incorporates the word 'chicken', they're kind of fun to hang around with." (Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune)
Second thoughts: Not exactly the second coming of the Marx Brothers -- or even the Farrelly brothers -- as some hype-sters wanted us to believe after a Sundance Film Festival slot. But it's a crudely anusing flick.
Rental audience: Juveniles who couldn't sneak past the R rating in theaters.
Rent it if you enjoy: Wondering what the Farrelly brothers would do with a Police Academy flick.
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