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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
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71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
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Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
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Sugar
84
Summer Hours
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Sunshine Cleaning
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Surveillance
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Tennessee
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Tetro
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Throw Down Your Heart
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Tokyo Sonata
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Tokyo!
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Tony Manero
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Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
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Two Lovers
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Tyson
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U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Riding Giants
Sony Pictures Classics
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language
Starring
Laird John Hamilton,
Jeff Clark,
Greg Noll,
Brian L. Keaulana,
Titus Kinimaka,
Dave Kalama,
and
Darrick Doerner
This documentary takes viewers along surfing's timeline, highlighting the group of extraordinary adventurers that emerged: surfers who, not satisfied with the mere recreational and social aspects of the sport, began searching for bigger and bigger waves, pushing the boundaries of performance to explore the "unridden realm." (Sony Pictures Classics)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Stacy Peralta
Sam George
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Stacy Peralta
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 4, 2005
Theatrical: July 9, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
101 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA / France |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
An exhilarating, often mind-blowing history of surfing.

100
Portland Oregonian
Staff (Not credited)
A more sober, less in-your-face documentary than Peralta's great skateboarding flick.

91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Bill White
May well be the most thrilling and educational surfing movie ever.

91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Traces the sport to its Polynesian beginnings, then zooms in on the genesis of 20th- century Southern California surf culture -- the boards, the bikinis, the laid-back cowabunga.

90
LA Weekly
Joe Donnelly
The Maverick's sequence is perhaps Giants' most viscerally exciting and poignant.

90
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
One of the best surfing documentaries ever filmed.

90
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Every sport, and every sports film, must have its superman. The role is filled here by Laird Hamilton, who, we are told -- and, more astonishingly, shown -- took "the single most significant ride in surfing history." Seeing is believing.
90
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
By land or by sea, there aren't many movies that can move you like that.

90
Chicago Reader
Bill Stamets
This is vicarious cinema at its best.

88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Riding Giants is about altogether another reality. The overarching fact about these surfers is the degree of their obsession.

88
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
The risks these guys take seem outlandish, their accomplishments otherworldly.

88
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Giants has SO many insistent high points, in fact, that its breathlessness threatens to turn monotonous.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
For those dazed and dazzled by surf anarchists Noll and Clark, Hamilton comes off as the sport's technocrat, but he boldly goes where no surfer has gone before.

88
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
Magnificent if overlong and oddly structured surfing documentary.

80
Variety
Scott Foundas
Offers a highly engaging immersion into a culture of larger-than-life characters driven by their thrill-seeking instincts.

80
Village Voice
Benjamin Strong
Peralta has become a more relaxed filmmaker, and when he trusts the haunting sight of a giant wave breaking to speak for itself, the movie reaches the sublime heights of its subject.

80
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Because the waves get progressively higher in Riding Giants, Stacy Peralta's historical surfing documentary, some of that thrill is sustained throughout this overlong but entertaining movie.

80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
It's a film hopelessly in thrall to the thrill of big-wave surfing, and for all its rambling shapelessness, it conveys that excitement in an infectious, conspiratorial manner.

80
Empire
Adam Smith
This story is emblematic of the passion, obsession and solitary poetry of surfing.

75
Chicago Tribune
Allison Benedikt
It's the tales from Noll and his mates, now older and chubbier, that give heart to what otherwise could have faded into PBS special-land.

75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
A breathtaking visual history of big wave surfing. This is vicarious daredevilry at its best.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Every time Riding Giants starts feeling a little too insidery for casual viewers, along comes another, even bigger wave, daring these puny mortals to conquer it.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Offers a thrilling, informative history of a sport-subculture.

70
Dallas Observer
Bill Gallo
Stacy Peralta may think otherwise, but this 101-minute homage to the heroes of surfing is nothing if not a monument to their self-absorption--and to his own. That's probably inevitable.

70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Peralta includes amazing archival footage to demonstrate just how far surfing in general permeated American popular culture, but also narrows his focus to follow the evolution of the surfboard itself.

70
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
For those who do enjoy being smacked around by the ocean, for those who thrill to the romance and hype of extreme surfing and dig the outsider aspect of this rarefied culture or at least its marketed cool, this film will likely be their ticket to ride a board by proxy.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Too long by about 20 minutes, and arguably too obsessed with the lineage of names only of interest to other surfers, this is a vicarious kick.

40
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
There is plenty here to enjoy for beach bums and fans of bikinis and six-pack abs, but others are likely to find themselves hopeless wet blankets.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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