Skateland (Blu-ray)

Editor's Note A handful of teenagers find the life they've known is slipping away from them in this independent coming-of-age drama. Nineteen-year-old Ritchie Wheeler (Shiloh Fernandez) is the manager of a roller rink in a small town in East Texas. Ritchie's job gives him a chance to hang out with his friends and get paid for it, but fewer kids are interested in roller skating, and Ritchie's life increasingly feels like an extension of high school as he parties his evenings away without moving forward. Ritchie's kid sister, Mary (Haley Ramm), and his girlfriend, Michelle (Ashley Greene), both think its time he tried to make something of himself, but Ritchie isn't sure which way to go, even as he sees a disturbing reflection of himself in Brent (Heath Freeman), Michelle's older brother. Brent left town for a promising career in motorcycle racing until an accident ended his career and now he's back, drinking beer with his sister's friends and picking up high school girls. As the roller rink is poised to close and divorce tears apart both Ritchie's and Michelle's families, they find themselves leaving childhood behind while uncertain about what adulthood holds. The first feature film from director Anthony Burns, SKATELAND was an official selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

	AJ Buckley
	Heath Freeman
	Taylor Handley
	Shiloh Fernandez
	Ashley Greene
	Caleb Michaelson - Co-Star
	Casey LaBow - Co-Star
	Joshua Bridgewater - Co-Star
	James Hebert - Co-Star
	Cameron Pierce - Co-Star
	Ross Francis - Co-Star
	Ellen Hollman - Co-Star
	Kent Jude Bernard - Co-Star
	David Sullivan - Co-Star
	Haley Ramm - Co-Star
	Don Reddy - Camera Operator
	Michael Penn - Composer
	Heath Freeman - Screenwriter
	Brandon Freeman - Screenwriter
	Gary Jay - Camera Operator
	Peter Simonite - Director of Photography
	Anthony Burns - Screenwriter
	Roanna Gillespie - Music Director
	Frank Ferro - Assistant Director
	Brett Cullen - Co-Star
	James LeGros - Co-Star
	D.W. Moffett - Co-Star
	Melinda McGraw - Co-Star
	Anthony Burns - Director

Box Office
4 stars out of 5 -- "Filmmaker Anthony Burns turns back the clock to 1983 for his sweet coming of age drama SKATELAND and recreates small town atmosphere down to the retro wardrobe of his teen characters..." 03/14/2011

Entertainment Weekly
"The director, Anthony Burns, catches the flavor of the '80s just before its defining pop culture really kicked in." -- Grade: B- 05/20/2011

Los Angeles Times
"[A] particularly affecting, well-observed portrait of young people coming of age in an east Texas town in the 1980s....[The film] has its own integrity and value -- and a fine array of performances." 05/13/2011

New York Times
"Blondie and Foreigner rule the soundtrack, and the roller-skating rink is front and center in SKATELAND, Anthony Burns's sweetly nostalgic recreation of small-town Texas in the early 1980s....Mr. Burns captures the beat of small-town time." 05/13/2011

Movieline
"Burns handles the more dramatic moments -- divorce, accidental death, betrayal -- with invention..." 05/12/2011