Fruit and Vegetables Movie Reviews

Not so much about skateboarding but rather the entertaining humans loosely attached to the boards, DOG TOWN AND THE Z-BOYS was an audience favorite and winner at Sundance and AFI film fests. Sean Penn is the perfect narrator for skateboarding legend Stacey Peralta's true story about a gang of discarded Venice (CA) kids who revolutionized skateboarding and transformed the culture. In the late 60s and early 70s, skateboarding had gone the way of the Hula-Hoop. And then polyurethane wheels, hi-tech bearings, custom trucks and laminated, curved, surfboard-shaped platforms were custom rigged. And the sport exploded with an aggressive style, awe inspiring moves and intimidating, sometimes cynical, street smarts. This is an affectionate, irreverent look back by the guys who lived and loved it. FRUIT OF THE VINE is an even better film, also nominally about skateboarding. This wonderful vintage footage, shot on Super-8 is dirty, raw, disrespectful and anarchic. At its heart, it's about breaking into private property, cleaning out refuse-filled but otherwise empty swimming pools, and using the tempting concave shells for practicing blissful wall-riding stunts that often end in bone crunching crashes and torn flesh. It's very tribal: enemy territory is claimed and marked, then daring tests of manhood, repetitive, almost trance-inducing coming of age rituals are performed that inevitably involve blood-letting. Recommended.

This was shot at the turn of the century- the 21st CENTURY. Nothing "vintage" that I remember in this vid. But across the country there is concrete being poured in the name of skating better and longer and flowing like the Old Masters, and this vid is all about that. Street tricks and tech-style is fine, if that's what you're into, but this video will open blind eyes and energize swollen ankles. If you can't find a pool or a park, build your own (though that can get pricey), or get all the skaters in town together and demand that city council build one and build it right. This vid is about the concrete style, the ride of the pool, the respect for where everything today came from. Tony Alva and Steve Alba both appear and have plenty to say in regards to the practice of pool skating.
*SPECIAL FEATURE* not to be missed is in the "interviews" section, under Pat Quirk, the Q-man gives the most passionate rallying cry for the SkateNation to rise up, to ride hard, to take your lumps and love it, to be a Skater with pride and confidence in yourself. BUY THIS DVD!!!!

A little sociology lesson as you travel around with rick and buddy, drinking beer and breaking into backyards to ride some gems. Don't get the idea that this is vintage footage. shot and edited on super 8. This is the kind of thing that skaters dream about all day. Great footage of the greatest pool riders of modern times. Salba, Tony Farmer, OX, Royce Nelson and others. Don't get sucked in by the egoes of other films, there is no comparison for this movie.

I didn't realize that this was a Category III film (roughly equivalent to NC-17, Category III is usually applied to soft-core porn) when I bought it, but that turned out to be a good thing, because I might not have bought it and discovered this charming film otherwise.

The story: an 8 year old girl named Peach (in the subtitles, anyway) keeps trying to learn about the adult world, and is continually lied to or told that she'll find out such things when she grows up. She wishes that she were grown up already, and wakes up to find herself in an 18 year old body. With a little help from her older sister, she explores that world, falls in love, and has her heart broken.

If this movie were made in the US, it would never work. It would be a disgusting voyeurism about an 8 year old girl going out and having lots of sex in an adult body.

But this film is a modern fairy tale about an 8 year old girl learning about love (of which sex is an essential part, but only one part), and how she retains her innocence while losing her naivete. As such, this is a far better film than I would ever have expected.

A movie about an 8 year old who becomes a women over night. The consequence of this is hilarious. I had not seen this movie when I bought it, but I thought it sounded interesting. I watched it the night it arrived and loved it. Lots of T&A for the guys and a funny and clever plot for the girls, this should be at the top of the lists.