That was an excellent one.

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

From my favorite movies..

Fantastic!

The bones brigade was a slew of skateboarding dudes from America that took the world by storm in the eighties and then transcended into legends based on their radical moves. I kind of wish this movie was put in a different light though, the camera panning during the interviews is cheesy, and all the damn whining nearly drove me to insanity. It's like in the Metallica doc when Dave Mustane get's brought in by a shrink to whine to Lars Ulrich about being kicked out of Metallica twenty years prior. C'mon dave you only went on to form an even more awesome band MEGADETH, quit cryin! But he won't and neither do these guys. Hawk laments being such a "trickster" and playing second fiddle to Hosoi, Rodney Mullen just plain cry's the whole time and the rest of the team spit out sob stories while a roving camera creeps around them like a shark circling it's prey. Vice started a series years back called "Epicly later'ed" which is far and away better then watching this whole flick, people talk about their experiences and maybe sometimes someone cry's, but this flick really sent me packing due to all the waterworks. Enough. Rodney Mullen who's probably one of the most influential street skaters ever just cry's all the damn time, i've seen other little doc's about him and he's very emotional about his years skating and how he got there. This one could have been good i just hated the approach, it would have been better to interview these guys separately at their homes or at a diner, someplace other then a highly lit set with ten cameras. It just didn't feel organic to me. But that's the way a lot of Stacy Peralta's stuff is, it's either way to artsy (pick a bones brigade flick) or it's well crafted (dogtown). It's weird when you think of these guys being so cool and crazy just to see them wash up on the shores of shrugtown.

I've literally watched Stacy Peralta's Bones Brigade: An Autobiography half a dozen times in the past two weeks. Not only because it provides a view into the careers of those now well- known skaters who got their jump by being Bones Brigade members, but also it gives insight into two of my favourite skaters of all-time, Rodney Mullen and Lance Mountain. Both Mountain and Mullen have always been different from the others, and I've forever been intrigued by them both from the time I first started skating in the mid-90s; this film focuses on most of the original Bones Brigade including Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Tommy Guerrero, and Steve Caballero, but I find the focus on my two favourites extremely touching. Mullen is an extremely intelligent, well-spoken individual who puts thought behind his words, and might often strike some as being strange, but judging by his upbringing he spent life much as I did at a young age for a very long time- by himself. On the other hand, Mountain has always been the everyman of skating, and Mike Vallely comments in the film how it was Lance who finally made skateboarding accessible to him (and I'm sure many others) who watched the guys like Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero doing extremely progressive stuff; Lance has always been a great skater, but he embodies the passion, the love of what skating is, and it shows in how he skates. The look at these two gets very emotional. I found there were times I teared up right along with Lance, as he talks about what it meant to be a part of something so amazing, and how much it hurt to see it all sort of come to an end.I can't recommend this enough to people who love skateboarding. Unfortunately, due to knee injuries I was unable to skate much longer than past the age of 17, but I have always loved the sport. Even after stopping, I continued to film my friends skating; I still waxed the curbs, still went to the skate park until we had no more light to see our hands in front of our faces. I will always love the sport because it meant a lot to me. Like many of the Bones Brigade members, I found some solace in skateboarding, and many great lasting friendships I came into because of it. So to hear several of my skateboarding idols talk of it in the same terms I come to see it is incredible. Absolutely a 10 out of 10 stars for not only being informative and emotional, but it also had some really amazing footage I had never seen before from very early days of the Bones Brigade, and it also had some solid music throughout.

I grew up at the same time as these people in the movie and I was hardcore into skateboarding just like all of them. I had to buy the magazines to see them all doing their thing though because we didn't have camcorders and youtube back then. Anyway, I happily paid my $20 clams to purchase an HD copy of the film and watched it on the edge of my seat like a little kid in a candy store. It did not disappoint :-) I had no idea there was all of this drama behind the scenes, that was a real eye opener. The skating is very cool and the interviews are dynamite and it was a very fun trip down memory lane for me. The film is very interesting and engaging even if you are not all that into skateboards. 2 Thumbs Up from me and thanks very much to Stacy Peralta and the rest of the riders and crew that brought this excellent film to life!

A must see truly inspirational movie, especially if you're a skater.Covers the pioneering and determination progression of skating into the bedrock foundation of what we know today. Also the human trials and emotional difficulties of a team of kids coming of age and the pressures of competition and fame when the only thing they truly care about is skating with their mates.I started skating when i was about 10 in the street revolution of skating when bones brigade videos were released. Watching this movie is like traveling back in time and reminds me what life is really about.I knew the bones brigade movies and have always followed skating. I never knew that Tony Hawk was disliked so much by his peers. To stay in the sport and overcome bullying amplifies his achievement. Also its a real joy to learn more about the rest of the team especially Rodney Mullen, a real genius and captivating person.