Video Reviews

ADMIN

• April 27 2005
• 113 views
• 14 comments

Round 3

Almost

We’ve waited a while. Supposed “footage” from this video surfaced at ASR in the fall of 2003 when Almost debuted as a company. It was incredible then; it’s incredible now. But if you were there, don’t think you have one up on anyone who wasn’t, because lots of new stuff has been filmed since-that ASR loop was just a teaser.

Round 3 is just plain fun to watch, and the soundtrack is good, too. Chris Haslam has people stoked lately and delivers a part full of his signature tech/hesh, early 90s/mid 00s hybrid skating. And yes, for anyone who was worried they wouldn’t see it, he’s wearing his orange western shirt in his part. Ryan Sheckler is tiny and skates big. Sometimes it doesn’t look like he could possibly get enough pop or speed to land what he tries, but he does, and it’s sick. Little dude will probably be even more insane a few years from now.

Greg Lutzka seems to be the best headphone-wearing skater of the moment-big stunts with ease. And Rodney-Jesus, Rodney-the man doesn’t stop, constantly one-upping himself because no one else really can. Well, except maybe Daewon, that is. Obviously the two are in a league of their own, but Daewon shines in this one. Manual madness like you’ve never seen-and probably never will again until his next part. There’re roof-gap tricks (some with rails) that’ll have you in disbelief and a Cardiel-dedicated ender to end all enders-I almost had a heart attack watching it.-Rob Brink

Freedom Fries

Clichà‡

George “Dubya” seriously tried to change the name of french fries to freedom fries because France didn’t want to support his power-hungry, oil-money-crazed invasion of Iraq. Think about that for a minute. That’s something a six year old would do. Well, on to this video-why did they name it Freedom Fries? I could venture plenty of guesses, but I won’t. What matters is the quality skateboarding the Clichà‡ team consistently puts out and the artistic wizardry of French Fred Mortagne that captures it all on film. Do you realize they just put out Bon Appetit less than a year ago? That’s like back in the Plan B days when they would put out a full-length video every year. That’s harder to do Stateside nowadays where every spot is a bust and kids are getting injured due to the status quo of handrail dieting. But when your team lives in Europe, and you have access to the most buttery spots seven days a week, you can crank out a new video every year. Half the fun of watching Clichà‡’s videos is to see all the new spots these guys find in Europa. I get jealous, and my travel legs start itching. The Clichà‡ team has some new additions in this video: Englishman Franklin Stephens and the most proper Frenchman J.B. Gillet. Standout parts go to Gillet and Lucas Puig, but the entire vid is good start to finish. Check this video, and you’ll be dying to get to Europe.-Blair Alley

Good And Evil

Toy Machine

A lot has changed since Toy Machine’s last non-tour video effort Jump Off A Building. The team has completely revamped itself and that includes the roster, which most of us have become quite familiar with-plus a few newer members like Johnny Layton and Matt Bennett to boot. How many decade-old skateboard-company owners can still produce enjoyable video parts? Not many, but Mr. Templeton’s one of them, and he opens this particular video. Toy’s new am Matt Bennett embarks on some crazy handrail mission loaded with tricks you don’t normally see. Josh Harmony front boards a huge hubba that’s literally as wide as his wheelbase. The hang-up factor is 99.9 percent-pretty gnarly. You haven’t seen too much of him yet, but Layton is good, real good. He’s got one of the better debut video parts you’ve seen in a while. Always stylish (and I don’t just mean his clothes), Austin Stevens, although injured for much of the filming of this video, still makes us metrosexual skateboarders proud. There’s plenty of bonus footage included-Billy Marks has three legit parts in this video.. It’s pretty crazy.

Speaking of bonus footage, Good And Evil is full of it. From heaps of unused footage, a gnarly slam section, a friends section, to random non-skate high-jinks, tour and art-show coverage, and Austin Stephens’ sponsor-me video, which includes one of the hardest-to-watch broken-bone slams ever-seriously disgusting. Good And Evil’s fun, there’s plenty of content to keep you occupied, and the skating is wonderful.-Rob Brink

Destroy Everything Now

88 Footwear

With a title like Destroy Everything Now, 88 gave themselves some big shoes to fill; but then again, they’ve got the team to do it. Peter Hewitt starts this video off right-fast, on the edge of dying, Cardiel-style barging. It’s damn exciting to watch. And that boneless he does to cap off his part-bananas. Justin Strubing and Corey Duffel came through with their second video parts in 2004 (Foundation’s That’s Life being the first). Duffel gets the curtain call once again with a two-song-long part-the kid produces. The ams come through hard, especially Adrian Mallory and Peter Watkins. Unfortunately, Alan Petersen’s only footage is in the slam section. J.T. Aultz cruises smoothly through his part and ices it with some heavy bangers. The soundtrack is all good punk rock-music by the Minutemen, Zero Boys, Modern Lovers, Dead Boys, Cock Sparrer, and others. And that’s good-the kids need to be turned on to good music. Straightforward editing, no skits, no dragged-out intro-this video stays true to its name. 88 helped end 2004 with a video barrage that raises the bar to an unprecedented height. The videos of 2005 have their work cut out.-Ric Flair

Video Reviews

ADMIN

• March 25 2003
• 103 views
• 2 comments

La Luz

A film by Jay Maldonado

Capicu Productions

I’ve spent one-third of my life in the suburbs of Long Island;

one-third in Ozone Park, Queens; and the other third in and around Brooklyn, New York. This means that I used to have an actual driveway and backyard; I used to have a “Free John Gotti” T-shirt; and I speak an ugly, bastardized version of “white boy in da ’hood” Spanish. Basically, the latter knowledge usually consists of ordering food and telling girls on the A train how beautiful they look. Unfortunately, I have no idea what “La Luz” means, though.

All I know is that La Luz is the name of the best burrito joint in Fort Collins, Colorado, and that longtime NYC ripper Jay Maldonado named his new video after the restaurant–I think. The two Luzes do have several subtle differences, however. The burritos at the restaurant are very long, fat, and filled with good stuff, whereas the film is shorter, phatter, and overflowing with the shiznit. The burritos feature rice, beans, salsa, and a secret sauce. The ingredients for Jay’s video consist of one very delicious part Bobby Puleo, two parts Anthony Shetler and Geo Moya, and topped off with the East Coast’s best-kept secret sauce–Danny Falla. Of course, both the food product and the flick are rounded off nicely with a plethora of other hearty spices and seasonings.

Aside from lust, my favorite sin is gluttony, which is why I dream of one day eating a La Luz burrito while watching La Luz. I suggest y’all do the same, you couch burritos. ¡Yo quiero La Luz!–Andy Seifert

When you look through a kaleidoscope, you can move the lens cover and it changes what you see. When you watch the video, Kaleidoscope, produced by Julio De La Cruz and Larry Balma, you can sit back and watch and the changes take care of themselves.

The video basically consists of three parts from three companies with three different vibes, but it’s not your average video to say the least. The very first part of the video is the “friends” section–good lookin’ out. The rest of the video’s broken down into company riders, but since a lot of the riders are on more than one of the teams, you’ll get a pretty good dose of everybody involved.

The skaters are primarily representing from the L.A. area, and most of the spots you’ll be able to track back to that general location. However, the tricks are off the map. Leave it to kids in L.A. to develop the techest tricks–the rest of us will just try to keep up.

Now, go give your little brother his kaleidoscope back and get a copy of Kaleidoscope the skateboarding video–a real feast for the eyes.–Jared Loveless

Was it me, or was 2000 the year to hold out on video releases? Well, Guilty–Shorty’s follow-up to Fufill The Dream–was finally unveiled to the public featuring its all-star cast: Chad Muska, Steve Olson, Peter Smolik, Brandon Turner, Toan Nguyen, Jesse Silvey, and Sammy Baptista.

Shorty’s latest offering is a little much, though. If you cut off the excess fat of the interludes and bad-acting segments, Guilty has some exceptional skating. The Muska’s part is exactly what you think it is, Olson broke off the Shorty’s training facility throwing every flip trick into the flat bank from a perch, Brandon Turner made a comeback after breaking his other leg, and ams Sammy Baptista and Jesse Silvey showed their technical abilities. I’m not sure what to think of the rap-video/skate part from Peter Smolik. It did bring laughter to the room between the serious segments of the Shorty’s crew escaping from policce custody, though.

Pick up the video by a company that started off selling hardware and see what the Shorty’s crew is guilty of.–E.S.

The first hint of what you’re getting into is right on the cover of this video. The company that put it out is justifiably going under the name “Blue Collar” distribution, which, if you go through the trouble of looking it up, means “a class whose tasks are carried out in work clothes and usually involve manual labor”–perfect. And the title of the video, Death Trip 2001, is apparently carved into an incinerator that’s being filled with dead rats–beautiful. But that’s not to say this video isn’t worth watching–it’s actually worth way more than you’ll pay for it. You can consider it a “roots” lesson in skateboarding.

From the looks of it, the person who put this video together didn’t start out with a list of exclusive tricks that’d be carried out at secret spots and stored away safely until the world was ready for it. I’d say they started out with the intent of taking a trip to have fun and document any worthy skating along the way. And they succeeded.

You’ll see people and spots you recognize in the video, but you’ll also see spots you’ve never seen and spots you thought you’d never see again. There’re even some skaters you thought you’d never see again. (Watch the very end.)

What’s most important is what you won’t see, though. You won’t see blatant corporate brainwashing, you won’t see special effects, and you won’t see strictly hammers. You’ll see one person’s effort toward keeping skateboarding what it should be–strictly for the fun of it. Call (978) 425-6681 to get your copy, and support skateboarding’s roots–the working man!–Jared Loveless

The lineup: Jason Adams, Chet Childress, Neil Heddings, Eric Dressen, Chris Swanson, Crazy Eddie, Aaron Harrison, Sam Hitz, Tony Loco, Tony Trujillo, Jub, Patrick Rakestraw, Jerry Haffner, John Ponts, Steve Nesser, Wes Tonascia, Pigpen, and Ricky Espinoza.

The format: Digital, High-8, and 16mm.

The terrain: Streets, parks, ramps, and pools.

The outcome: Some of the gnarliest heads in skating are shown representing the dirt-dog style in support of the clothing company 1984. They start you off easy with some street and park footage, and then gently ease you into tranny and pools, so even if you lean toward the “fresh” side of things, you won’t feel like you’ve stumbled into a time machine (you know–slash, carve, slash). The end result is an eclectic mix of raw, unrehearsed skating.

The rating: Four stars.–Jared Loveless