Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Gleaming the Cube (1988)

Director: Graeme Clifford

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

'Gleaming the cube' is the term applied for that moment when pirouetting skateboarders momentarily leave the ground to carve their way through the air. It's the type of thing rebel without a high school diploma Brian (Slater) loves to do, much to his parents' despair. But he's first to rally to their cause when tragedy strikes, getting his act together to take the law into his own hands. According to the hackneyed conventions of this so-so thriller, this involves ridding himself of tatty clothes and stubble. He delves into the Orange County underworld, which is racier than you might think. The Vietnamese community is up to no good, with corruption infiltrating a seemingly respectable medical supply business. Slater and Le Tuan (as a Vietnamese ex-colonel) put in decent performances, but the best moments come from the action sequences in which Brian and his buddies perform their sporty feats. But with the screenplay dabbling with too many issues and stereotypes, the characters are largely one-dimensional and the relationships unconvincing.

Author: CM 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.