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jerryfranc1
Reviews
Levelland (2003)
No frills - just a true slice of southwest suburbia and skate action
Levelland sums up high school life in a suburban town very well and is to be appreciated by skate fans. The film is far from slick, but relies on the strength of the acting talents of the two brothers and the stifling boredom of subdivisions and strip malls. The actors are not Hollywood pretty boys - they appear to do their own skating - and after a few minutes I was settled in to see a film that did NOT feel the need to shock or insult the audience. Life goes on, but there's no easy way out.
The soundtrack is impressive, but more geared for those in their 30's and 40's than high school kids. Texas Instruments, Big Boys, Replacements, Defenestration, and Meat Puppets are just a few bands to be featured.
A small part of me wishes it could have had a bigger budget, but all in all it will be a good archive for the time and place.
D.O.A. (1980)
16mm of rawness....
FINALLY had a chance to see this raw, indy piece of work. As a punk snob from the era it refreshing to hear the original brit punks that slogged it out for obscure cult status and to be on about a zillion punk compilations, but w/ little else to show for it. Fans of Green Day, Rancid or whatever $$$-making outfit should bow their heads to these folks that would have loved the glory and cash but it was not to be.
A good non-obtrusive film that lets music speak for itself (albeit somewhat out of sync). It was a pleasure to see and hear COMPLETE songs as so many documentaries show perhaps a minute of a song and go back to commentary, etc.
Covers the Sex Pistols tour rather well, both on stage and crowd reaction. About 10 songs in all from the early '78 tour.
Sid and Nancy are there for real and are anything but the shapely, stylish Chloe Webb and Gary Oldman from "Sid and Nancy" from Alex Cox. Rather wrenching to sit through it all.
A tragic highlight was suffering through working-class yob Terry Sylvestre and his 'Terry and the Idiots' outfit that bomb heavily at the local pub.
If you want a double feature, pick up "Decline of Western Civilization" - a bit more polished, but pretty damn raw and worth it for the Fear concert footage.