Dogtown and Z-Boys 2001

Mike Antonucci, San Jose Mercury News: Peralta captures, in luminous interviews and amazingly evocative film from three decades ago, the essence of the Dogtown experience. Read more

Jonathan Perry, Boston Globe: Does a terrific job of evoking the electric magic of an extraordinary era. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: When these guys were headed down the street at 50 m.p.h., you got out of the way. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: An informative, nostalgic trip back to a fascinating era, told by those who knew it best. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Even if you couldn't care less about skateboarding, Dogtown and Z-boys serves up an intriguing slice of American culture. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Few sports films catch their time, place and sport so well. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: It is impossible not to be seduced by its hard-edged vision of an endless teenage summer. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Unless you come in to the film with a skateboard under your arm, you're going to feel like you weren't invited to the party. Read more

Meredith Brody, Chicago Reader: This 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. Read more

Melanie McFarland, Seattle Times: A wonderful demonstration of how employing the aesthetic values of a subject can produce a raw, jagged exciting style in cinematic nonfiction. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Gives a detailed and fascinating picture of the Z-Boys phenomenon. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Despite its faults, this is a fascinating look at a subculture. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Watching Dogtown is like discovering a secret history of America. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A dazzlingly crafted documentary. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Blatant promotion aside, the chronicles of Dogtown make for fascinating insider cultural history. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: A high-flying kick for anyone who enjoys a good road rash and wind rushing through the hair. Read more

Manohla Dargis, L.A. Weekly: Enormously enjoyable, high-adrenaline documentary. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: 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. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The film has an infectious enthusiasm and we're touched by the film's conviction that all life centered on that place, that time and that sport. Read more

Jeff Stark, Salon.com: The problem is that Peralta wants it all, and that it doesn't all add up. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: Exhilarating but blatantly biased. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: This is pop history that blows your hair back. Read more

Time Out: Infectiously exuberant. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Filmmaker Stacy Peralta has a flashy editing style that doesn't always jell with Sean Penn's monotone narration, but he respects the material without sentimentalizing it. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Package is lively, if loosely structured. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: Its spirit of iconoclastic abandon -- however canned -- makes for unexpectedly giddy viewing. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The rare and wondrous nonfiction film that transcends its subject to become a thing of beauty in itself, a slice of pop-cultural history that shimmers with life. Read more