Category: DVD Reviews

Ah! Finally a good scene video that I can sit through without hitting the fast forward button! Aspiring videographer, Morph assembled a bunch of friends and Long Live London crew members to put together Routes and take you on a journey through London’s streets.

The chosen few are Chris Ault, Joe Buddle, David Davies, Alex Greaves, Noodles, Matt Simpson, Joe Sivell and Jak Pietryga, and all of them put on a good show with tech ledge tricks as well as the mandatory big snaps. I think the obvious head turner of this DVD is Jak, but Joe Sivell, David and Chris are also noteworthy.

The overall presentation is clean and concise with a bit of time lapse footage, some slo-mo action and a varied soundtrack that should please any listener. Take note of Morph and his gang of merry men because they are the young blood that runs through the City’s veins. Well done!

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
01/02/2006

I only just saw this film the other day which is some considerable time since its initial release. With such tardiness, some might think my opinion would be prejudiced due to everyone else’s personal views being aired. However, I watched The Lords of Dogtown with an unbiased eye because any mainstream media hype around skateboarding tends to make me run in the opposite direction faster than Kris Markovich from his next sponsor.

So, basically this is what you get when you want to make a film out of an amazing documentary that introduced to the pioneers of skateboarding as we know it today. Honestly, the people behind this have done a good job. The characters (Stacy Peralta, Jay Adams and Tony Alva) are all credible, and to think that the actors playing them had to learn how to skate 1970’s equipment in order to perform the stunts is pretty inspiring. The continuity of fashion, location and music from the era is also kept up to speed which is nice to see considering a few of the pools that got shredded by the Z-Boys don’t exist anymore.

The only things I had doubts about when I watched this film were the skater groupies. Whether it’s something in the water – even though the birth of modern skating arose from a Californian drought – or a simple spin from the Hollywood side of things for the viewer to stay focused, the chicks are hot! As a skater who spends a lot of the time in the streets, the next time I see a parade of tanned bodies in Indian attire and pristine smiles will probably be when they put speed bumps on mini ramps… Anyway, that aside because Hollywood had to create some emotional thread, the only other thing that made me cringe with The Lords of Dogtown were the real skaters acting. I spotted big Tony Hawk, Don Nguyen and Chad Fernandez (There might be others..?), but not one of them had more than two lines which in consequence were delivered with about as much integrity as Krusty the Clown. Stick to what you’re good at guys: Skating!

Anyway, overall this film is obviously aimed at the mainstream, but of all films that have tried to use Skateboarding as a theme, this one actually pulls it off and can be deemed viewable. I think this is partly thanks to Stacy Peralta’s initial Dogtown and the Z-Boys documentary, and more importantly the Z-Boys themselves. Without them, where would we be now???

For more info on this movie, visit www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/lordsofdogtown. This DVD is out now alongside the box set that includes the Z-Boys Documentary and bonus footage…

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
11/01/2006

“The people that matter don’t mind…The people that mind don’t matter….”

Death is upon us! Like Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore and his troops, Nic Zorlac and the boys swoop down on us to the sounds of the Valkyries. Armed to the teeth with obscure combos, wallies, technical wizardry and raw power- these men shall travel the land far and wide and take no prisoners. A manual pad before dawn? A concrete pool in Goa? Or, a crumbling brick bank in the wilderness..? In the words of their leader: Skate what you want. Skate how you want. Be who you want. Don’t let the bastards grind you down!

So, first up to bat is the pretty-boy-floyd of Bedfordshire, Ben Cundall. The only Death rider authorized to wear swishy pants because of his capacity to mix his switch tricks with his massive nollie pops. You might appreciate his crooked grind through a gap, but a man is best judged by the size of his frontside nosebone- and Cundall’s got a big one.

Since we last smelt Death on the horizon, they have travelled far and wide and incorporated new talent from overseas. Schooner is the first of a few Aussie skaters to ride under the skull and crossbones banner. It would seem he stems his courage from his buoyant wig. Some cultures believe that if you shave a man’s head, he will lose his strength. Ummm….?

Back from the infirmary, Ron Calow pushes his way to the front via a no-holds barred attack on everything in sight. A frantic flurry of fast ollies and rapid fire tricks will blow you away here. Lock away the women and hide the sheep because Ronnie’s back!

Another Aussie cadet steps up and proves his worth by taking a few nasty spills on his way to martyrdom. Rhys Grogan is a young upstart that looks like a neat investment for the future of Death Skateboards. Back on native soil though, cyberspace degenerate Moggins, the mispelt yoof of Horsey and Wag, and Welsh wonder Jimmy McNair take care of the rough terrain as they scout towards the future.

Darkman Nic Zorlac is a smart man that rallies other troops including Mark Munson and John Cattle aboard the urethane train to shred huge concrete bowls and peculiar asphalt oddities. Plus, a healthy handful of friends are present to support the Darkman’s conquest. Nic marches upon the hate mongerers with fervour as he plans to slashgrind and wallride the enemies’ tombstones.

Talking of tombstones, the vertical necrophile Lee Blackwell rides his transition night and day, summoning the demonic figures of his tattooed body to give him power to take flight. The scores of innocent gothic maidens await their sacrifice from the Caligula of coping.

Alas, the madness of it all is resumed by the presence of Dan Cates: A lunatic who pays homage to the late-great magic of previous interns like Simon Woodstock and Ken Dodd. Dan Cates is the man of the hour that will skate anything and everything so long as it’s fun. Like Hunter S. Thompson said, “Just another of God’s failed prototypes- too weird to live yet too rare to die…”

Behind all the fear and angst that Death can create, there is someone that holds down the reigns and smiles at the grannies whilst the rest of the team pillage the village for spots. Mark Nicholson is of no relation to Jack, but judging by the way he is at ease with all terrain and all disciplines of the four-wheeled steed, the is no doubt Mark is a wiley youth. Don’t let the smile and Fabio mop fool you.

Finally, Richie Jackson! Whatever drugs this Australian hippie is taking must be the good ones because his body can control a board like no other. The Wallie champ in his suede clarks has sparked a fire within the empty creative hole of everyday skateboarding that cannot and should not go out.

Has this been a long-winded diatribe? Could I have spared the adjectives and used bullet points? I don’t know… What I do know is that Death is a unique gang of friends that love skateboarding and step as far away as they can from the herd in the pursuit of kicks. You could turn the soundtrack of Idle Racer, Siouxsie Sioux, Depeche Mode and the Dead Kennedys right down, but the images would still blow you away. Skateboarding like this is a rare thing, so take note.

For the record, this DVD is just £5 from all good skate shops, go to www.deathskateboards.com for all team related info

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
12/01/2006

I really want to do this DVD justice when I review it because Heroin are a good team, led by a good man (Fos) and they generate great skateboarding.

Re-reading that, I feel I just did them a huge injustice with a crap introduction… I could always pick my brain for a smart metaphor or analogy between Heroin Skatebaords and heroin the drug..? No- that would really suck!

Aah! And you think reviewing videos is a life of leisure…

Alright, listen: Live from Antarctica deserves a spot in your DVD collection because it represents the real fun we all have on our decks. Fos and the boys don’t take themselves too seriously, they push themselves to try new things and achieve improbabilities / impossibilities, they skate everything and anything, and they rock!

To get specific about the high qualities in this video, I would have to mention the great soundtrack, Alan Glass being behind the lens (and his hidden treasure!), the Osaka Daggers – Chopper and Hamaji- as well as other oriental cast members (Dal and Tamago) opening our eyes to new horizons, Howard Cooke– period, Fos‘ last trick (?), Chris Pulman’s youth and spirit, Rogie actually ripping the street and not some poor sod on a skate forum, and all the other multiple magical things peppered throughout this DVD. As you can see there are plenty or reasons to get a hold of Live from Antarctica.

The only thing I found a little hard to swallow was the attire Louie Jones and Nick Worthington manage to squeeze their bodies into. I swear if there weren’t boards under their feet, I’d have thought it was some obscure spandex street ballet..!? Punk it up!

Visit www.livefromantarctica.com for all Heroin related skateboard addictions and also to watch the trailer to this fine DVD.

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
17/01/2006

(Incl. Bristol Zoo, Format, Still in Progress, Jus’ Foolin’, a new Promo and various park footy etc…)

50-50 Skate shop are a staple to British skateboarding, so when they decide to drop a DVD boxset of all their videos and some more, you know it’s top-knotch stuff! I won’t bore you with a review of each individual video, but I will mention that Danny Wainwright has always been a ruler, James Hacker is under rated, and watch as Matt Keal and Zak Pitter grow and progress exponentially.

The best thing about a collection of videos like this is it’s testament to history, in other words you get to scene how a scene has built itself, where it’s gone and who were the movers and shakers along the way. Make sure you have this down as first on the list with your xmas money. It’s well worth it!

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
13/12/2005

with Paul Rodriguez

I think it is almost official to say that handrail-stunt skating has had it’s fair share of the limelight, and the slow pushing street technicians are moving in.

This new video, Forecast, is the defense lawyer for the new breed and I think they have a pretty strong case. To help demonstrate just how tech and smooth they can get, Paul Rodriguez has hired the talent of Ronson Lambert, Nick McClouth, Mike Mo Capaldi, Jason Wakazawa and Mike Barker.

Now, I don’t care what any of you think of Paul because I honestly haven’t seen talent like this on a skateboard since Eric Koston back on H-Street. Paul can control his board and hold down tricks that a lot of you can try 500 times and still not get half the effect. Sorry.

Obviously all the skaters in this DVD are amazing, but only two are worth an extra mention: Ronson Lambert and Mike Mo. Ronson got a bit of a bollocking from me many moons ago (c.f. DNA Continuum review) and subsequently fell off the radar. He recently re-appeared fresher than ever with a scandalous amount of new tech tricks- some of which have never been done before. Mike Mo on the other hand is a newcomer that is shooting to success with this part as starters. Regular or switch is not a problem for Mike Mo, and if Girl have just taken him in as their newest amateur- you know the kid is good.

If this Forecast is a prediction for the future, then the future is bright! *

*Expect to hear that pundit a lot when reviewing this DVD!

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
13/12/2005

(Incl. Video Days, What if?, sections from 20-Shot sequence, Trilogy etc…)

I think Christmas just came early when this popped through the letter box…

– The Blind Deluxe Box Set

i.e. Everything the Blind team riders have ever filmed in one package!

Ok, I’ll just list what we’ve got here: What If?, Video Days, all Blind sections from 20-Shot Sequence, Trilogy, Rodney Vs. Daewon 1 & 2, bonus parts from new Jake Duncombe and Morgan Smith, board galleries, Corey Sheppard art gallery, various unseen Creager footage and… some secret hidden stuff too! Phew!

I’ll skip a review of Video Days, What If? And the rest of the Blind sections from yesteryear because we all know they are great videos. Instead I shall tell you a bit about the bonus/extra stuff.

To begin with, Morgan Smith has taken a feather out of Ronnie’s cap when it comes to smooth and tech skating. This Canadian kid isn’t afraid to add an extra flip or spin whilst he stands tall on a few rails. Definitely a skater worth keeping an eye open for. Then there is Jake Duncombe with his summer footage. Jake is an ugly runt with that mullet of his, but he can definitely skate! How annoying… He even adds flair to his mullet by skating along to the old Crooner Tom Jones- Many of you might hate this track, but I quite like it (c.f. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas soundtrack).

Finally, there is Ronnie’s day at the office i.e. at the Dwindle factory. Think Daewon Song in the Deca video, but with less picnic table stacking and a whole lot more smoothness… Everything Ronnie does is bolts and will have a few of you crying at your feeble attempts to copy his effortless style. I think that despite this box set standing as a complete Blind video package, it also stands out as a testament to the level of skateboarding Ronnie Creager possesses. Never before has one person pushed the level of street skateboarding without breaking a sweat. For that alone, this collection must find its way into your Christmas stockings and video library!

(Note to Dwindle: The re-release of any other World Industries sub-companies i.e. 101 or WI, in a complete box set would be a huge success to, I think…)

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
02/12/2005

I think Santa Cruz has fast become my favourite company again. I say again, because the last Heyday for SCS was way back when Tim Brauch (RIP) was killing it and Jason Adams wasn’t going all Willie Nelson on us.

In fact SCS’s leap back to the forefront is quite shocking yet quite simple: Lay very low with hardly any recognizable riders and then gradually hand pick the unique ones that are often found a little further away than the city limits, all this staying true to the house style. No bells and whistles – just sick skating.

Out There is the second SCS video in a year, and there are even more new faces to watch. Obviously the first thing you’ll notice is the Euro heavy team SCS are running with: Alex Moul, Flo Marfaing, Henning Braaten, Oli Burgen… Then there are the other worldly foreigners repping SCS: Alex Carolino, Tommy Fynn, Sid Melvin… And finally the homegrown talent: Emmanuel Guzman, Lee Smith, Nestor Judkins… This team has it all, from the smooth and stylish to the uber-tech and fast and gnarly.

Even if a good 75% of this DVD was filmed in Barcelona, it doesn’t really matter because some of the spots are new and each one gets a severe seeing to by various members of the squad. I can’t be bothered to go into detail about who did what where, but you must realize the talent of Flo Marfaing! This kid has put out at least three video parts in the last 6 months, and it doesn’t look like he’s out of breathe at all…

On a down side, you might be disappointed by the lack of Henning and Oli’s footage, or the triple angle re-run of certain tricks, but the video clocks in around the half hour mark, so any longer and I could understand your worries.

News just in: Euro tech whiz William Phan is now on the team along with San Francisco slickster Adrian Williams! Oh shit…

http://www.outthere.santacruzskateboards.com

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
25/11/2005

Now here is DVD you probably won’t find. Why? Because you’ve probably never heard of Rellic Skateboards before, nor have you heard of any of their riders, and you are probably too young to know who Adam McNatt is. Correct? I thought so.

So let me inytroduce these Faces in the Crowd: Rellic is Adam’s new venture coming straight out of Canada a.k.a. the great unknown lump above America often overshadowed by it’s Southern neighbour. This might explain why FITC hasn’t been picked up by the radar.

I only recognized two of the riders (Not including Adam McNatt who we all know used to buddy up with Koston on 101 back in the day): Craig Williams who I spotted in a Natural Koncept video (Don’t worry, I doubt you know much about the NK, but you should!), and Alex Rothbauer who I had seen in various bits of Canadian Border but what goes on North of the Border stays North of the Border, eh?

Anyway, despite gathering a group of relatively unknown and uninspiring faces, there are a couple of stand outs in this DVD. On eof those being Alex, and the other being some old transition ripper in a Porkpie hat, Roger Bruinsma. Roger seriously rips it up in various concrete landscapes, and in the bonus section of park footy, he pretty much takes care of business one-handedly.

Now, I don’t know how motivated you guys are to go look for FITC, but it’s still worth a watch none the less- I swear I saw a couple of guys in WHEELCHAIRS carving and blasting airs at Burnside somewhere in there!!! I found it nice to see new faces, but I reckon it’s best to watch with the sound off because this DVD is seriously top-heavy with the metal music. Oh, and Adam McNatt can still skate…

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
25/11/2005

www.chillskatemag.com

The stakes are high in the media nowadays, and the strongest currency is video footage! Click onto any website, or browse the shelves for a new magazine and you can be sure to find some video attached or a bit of footy to get you stoked. Long gone are the days of a simple free sticker or poster…

French newbies (currently on issue 8) Chill Mag have just upped the ante with a little DVD called Filming Crazy. The guys at Chill base their product on aesthetics and top-knotch skateboarding. No tired angles or foot drags here please! The DVD itself is a small masterpiece with the artistic talent of Leonard Vernhet, Nicolas Malinowsky and Uber-filmer Fred Mortagne guidind you through small skits and animation.

The skateboarding gets taken care of by only the Cream of French skateboarding- Read: Lucas Puig, Paul Allard, Luy-Pa Sin, Flo Marfaing…- plus a few Americans and other Euro pals in there for good measure. There are also a handful of extra bonus edits to flick through, but that’s mandatory with DVDs, isn’t it..?

Something which I thought was a nice touch to top Filming Crazy! Off was the inclusion of their ‘Sponsor-me!’ comp. I suggest you check out the mix of those that didn’t win- which is already pretty shocking considering the last two contenders- but then watch the winner: Alexis Lamendin. Bloody hell! Needless to say, the competion was tight, but Alexis definitely deserves his new sponsor.

So, that just about wraps it up for this little DVD. The whole thing runs at a perfectly motivating 20 mins (Plus a good 15mins of extras) with a good soundtrack to boot. I have no idea how many of you will get a hold of Filming Crazy! But if this is the new standard, I can imagine editors are sweating bullets…

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
11/18/2005