Lords of Dogtown (Unrated Extended Cut)

One of my favorite Heath Ledger movies! A true gem!

Lords of Dogtown (2005) Movie Review: A gnarly look into the lives of skateboarding’s pioneers Life isn’t easy for the local teenagers living in a California surf ghetto. Telling the story of how a group of lower class adolescent boys take an unknown sport to the world stage, Lords of Dogtown gives a magnified look into the birth of skateboarding. Catherine Hardwicke (Director) teamed up with professional skateboarder and original Z-boy Stacy Peralta (Writer) to accurately display the era that marked the rise of skateboarding. Hardwicke undoubtedly depicts the 1970’s era in an accurate way using a carefully selected cast to convey the intensity of what the Zephyr skate team went through to follow their dreams. After seeing the documentary Stacy Peralta (Writer and Producer of Dogtown and Z-boys) had made about Dogtown and the Z-boys, this film seemed incredibly well done and within the same context. This movie really challenged me to pay closer attention to the details that made the 70’s notorious. It wasn’t just a bunch of pot smoking hippies. It was a time of change and endless possibility. The long hair, skinny jeans, tattoos, and lack of shirts displayed by the characters in the film really lead me to think I am far too reserved to ever hang out with these guys in real life. However their rebellion towards society and punk rock attitude towards life made me question my own roll in society. While watching, I wanted to be like them. The smooth surf-style punk rock soundtrack reflected the thoughts and emotions of the characters. This movie certainly does inspire the audience to do what makes you come alive, not what keeps you comfortable. The movie is well casted starring actors such as Emile Hirsch, Heath Ledger, Johnny Knoxville, and Rebecca De Mornay. The actors brought each character’s unique personalities to light, with the script adding even more clarity to the plot that shaped the individuals to find their true purpose. Peralta used at least one whole scene to focus on each character as an individual, and later put these individual moments together to show that only these people could have accomplished the task they set out to do in the first place. Also, there are some witty guest appearances on one of the Z-boys tour across the world. One of these is Tony Hawk playing an astronaut. Jay Adams (protagonist in the film) is posing for a photo with him in his astronaut gear and Tony Hawk asks to try his skateboard, steps on the board and wipes out on his back. Later Jay (played by Emile Hirsch) is delivering booze to his mom’s party and hands a bottle to the real life Jay Adams playing the roll of a party guest. Professional skateboarders Tony Alva, Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi and Steve Caballero also do the actual skating as stunt doubles in the film. Which is extra fun to watch if you are a skateboarding fan in any sense. Overall you do not have to be interested in skateboarding to love this movie. There are many scenes that show impressive surfing and skateboarding, but the plot and characterization are what make these scenes amazing, fusing the personalities of the characters with their own style of riding their boards. Don’t invite anyone under the age of thirteen to watch this movie with you, there are mild sex scenes and heavy drug use, but this accurate, provocative portrayal of the rise of skateboarding to the mainstream media is more emotionally stimulating and inspiring than I could have imagined a film of this sort to be.

They did a good job at showing how skateboarding became popular.

Every now and then really good movies come around and this is one of them.

I love Lord's Of Dogtown,it reminds me of better days and great friends.

Should have bought it for $10 instead of renting it for $4.

Every line and scene should be in service of making the story and film better and this movie doesn't remotely attempt to do this. The setting and topic and cast are all amazing, if not for some wildly caricaturistic performances, but it is very difficult to think of what I watched as an actual movie and not just a bunch of loosely strung together scenes. The story is so poorly edited, written and directed that you could probably show nearly the entire thing out of order and you would have the same understanding of what happened in the movie as what you have with the current edit. There is a beginning and end and a bunch of stuff happens in between that doesn't impact anything. There is zero character growth, absolutely nothing feels earned, characters just act as they need to act for a particular scene without any reasoning or justification or even the need to act as the character that has been attempted to be developed. Every single conflict is resolved effortlessly without any potential threat of failure and there is absolutely no pacing throughout this, no building and resolving of tension, because the scene will end and a new one will begin and it will just be another blank slate to play an entire song and have a bunch of proto pro skaters run around with no impact on anything that could drive the movie forward.I remember seeing this right after it came out and thinking that it was an ok movie but on re-watch this is really terrible. Massively squandered talent and potential and it just feels lazy and, extremely, low effort.

As soon as I saw the previews for LORDS OF DOGTOWN , I knew it was going to be incredible !I actually saw it 2x in the same weekend and then got the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys.I loved the energy and the primal force that drove the characters. I loved theway they transmuted a chaotic and at times dark existence into something mythic.Catherine Hardwicke is a brilliant director. She really got into the emotions andlife experiences of each character in a really deep way. I could really FEEL them.The action and the skatebaording scenes are awesome. LORDS OF DOGTOWN is also a metaphor for finding freedom and blasting through limitation not knowing what's on the on the other side.Emile Hirsch is an amazingly talented actor . They all are. Heath Ledger was likea tranced out dirvish dancer. I actually like how big his performance is. He is consistently brilliant. John Robinson and Victor Rasuk are also amazing. So is the actor who plays Sid ...The pulse of the Ocean, the asphalt that became the new almost living waterand the intense and fierce energy of this film blew me away. It is a very emotionalmovie that is totally engaging in every way. EVERYONE must see this movie !Easily 5 Stars !

Awesome movie was still Brand New in packaging upon arrival thank you

This is one of my favorite movies of all time and the fact that I found the unrated version online seemed great so I ordered it. The DVD case came cracked and hastily taped over and the DVD ended up being scratched and wouldn't play after the half way point. Would not order from here again.

No especificaba que solo venía en inglés y sin doblaje o subtítulos a español

Lords of Dogtown is a 2005 American semi- biographical teen drama film following a group of young surfers in Santa Monica, California during 1975-77 who turn to skateboards. A film of three parts, the first half charts the boys backgrounds and rise as they form a skate team but as their fame grows, will the camaraderie survive the lure of money, fame and girls.I have no interest in skateboarding and in the first half hour I almost switch off believing this to be a weak parody of ‘Thirteen’. How wrong I was. This turned into a multifaceted look at friendship -warts n’ all.A box office flop (it made barely half its production cost) the single disc opens to an anti piracy ad, then a screen offering play, introduction by the director, audio set up (English or French) subtitles (various English options, 2 French options and Arabic, Hindi and four Scandanavian languages.) scene selection, extras (commentary on/off, making of, cameos, deleted scenes, featurettes, gag reel, storyboard comparisons, music video, trailers). Featuring drugs, swearing, sex, violence and adult themes (but no nudity) it’s not family viewing. Things to look out for: Has flashing screen menu and slow cut to intro scenes. Some excellent period music and lots of cameos by then unknown actors.Overall a good **** but just misses out on top marks as parts seem overly cliché -even for the time period but deserves to be watched -especially if you want something out on left field.

I really love this movie! I love everything 70s and Catherine really brought that 70s feel to life, the actors were right on spot and i could see they did a lot of research into the characters they were portraying! What i loved about this movie is that you don't have to be into the skateboard scene to love it, it has an awesome storyline and beautifully shot, a really radical soundtrack which i bought too! It's definitely a must see! Watch out for Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch they're performances were great, and it only helped be fall even more in love with Emile!!