Genres

Visitors Review

FilmRap 2012-05-20 22:07:53

An enduring period piece for the 1980s

Anthony Burns along with Brandon and Heath Freeman wanted to write andmake their first movie about East Texas in the early 1980s where theygrew up. The tag line of the movie expresses what they were trying tocapture, " It was a time when life was easy ...in a place they thoughwould never change." Skateland was the town roller rink where the youngpeople gathered and some hung around or returned there even aftergraduating High School. The film focuses on a crowd where everyonesmoked, drank beer and jockeyed for their boy girl relationships. Thetwo main characters are Brent Burkam (Health Freeman) slightly olderthan the rest who unsuccessfully raced motorcycles for a few years andcomes back to town to hang around with buddies such as Ritchie Wheeler(Shiloh Fernandez) who is about to graduate high school. He is theassistant manager of the roller rink and can't decide what to do withhis life. There are shades of young Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfus,playing characters trying to figure out their lives in AmericanGraffiti with the 1970s take on that decade. Jump forward ten years andwe have the constant music beat of the 80s setting the background forthe young peoples angst, mixed with drinking, parties, cars and someviolence. While the story is about the guys, there is an interestinginfluence of the women. Ritchie's younger sister Mary(Haley Romm) andhis girl friend Michelle(Ashley Greene) are the strong characters ofthe movie perhaps reflecting the women's movement as did the actions ofRichies Mom (Melinda McGraw). While the setting and life style may notquite be the early 80s of the northeast where our kids grew up, thisyoung movie team has created an enduring period piece. The photography,setting and the direction is definitely first rate . We may look backon this film and realize that it was a breakout for several of theactors who were excellent. The movie earned a slot at the Sundance FilmFestival which is not an easy accomplishment for an Indie low budgetfilm which was a first time effort for the Director and writers. Itwill have distribution and will open in late March- early April in NYand LA. (2011)

jsballfamily 2012-05-20 10:37:08

Where's the Skating in Skateland?

At the end my son turned to me and said, "That's it?" I graduated hs in1983 and my 13yo son loves rollerskating so we thought this would be agreat movie to watch together. I've never seen Adventureland (mentionedby some other reviewers) but I'll admit to hoping this might have somesimilarity to Saturday Night Fever (disco vs skating) but don't getyour hopes up. Some good: the acting and the music. Some Annoying andBad; the oh so slow, wandering plot (what plot?), the lack of actualskating scenes and the unrealistic portrayal of 'small town' Texas (noteveryone dressed with the best style all the time, not all girls werehot and brainless and not all boys had perfect hair and muscles - theyoung men in this movie look to be in their mid to late twenties andsince when did small towns have a mall?). All in all, it was a prettyboring movie and we really wish there would have at least been somecrazy fun skating scenes to make the movie more exciting.