What can be said about The Karate Kid that hasn't already been said? How about: there's a tiny bit of skateboarding in it. Kevin and Mike wax on and off about that, the film's performances, the tenuous link between skateboarding and karate, and, or course, crane kicks. So many crane kicks.

The Karate Kid

The year was 1991 and Hulkamania was running wild in cinemas across America with the release of Suburban Commando! The film stars professional wrestler Hulk Hogan as an outer space warrior of some sort who finds himself having to blend in on Earth while living with a suburban family. Shenanigans, as they say, ensure. Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Larry Miller are also in this nonsense. While it's true that the Hulkster does ride a skateboard in this film, Kevin and Mike lament having to watch something so terrible for the podcast. Kevin tells Mike a bizarre story about the time Hulk Hogan ran around the backstage area of the tv morning show he used to work on chasing a mouse, Mike and Kevin discuss a weird character they've been performing for each other since the late 90s, and we try and figure out if the special effects in this movie were made by a Video Toaster or an actual toaster.

Suburban Commando

Grease 2 brings us back to the Rydell High from the popular 1978 musical film Grease but this time instead of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John we’ve got a new set of Pink Ladies and T-Birds, including a young Michelle Pfeiffer in her first starring role! Pamela Adlon on a skateboard! The guy who played Rex Manning! Cool riders! Strange songs! It's a rare sequel that's better than its predecessor and this sure ain't one of them but we watched it anyway.

Grease 2

Y2K from 2024 is an apocalyptic comedy science fiction horror coming of age film directed by Saturday Night Live alum Kyle Mooney in his directorial debut. It follows a group of high school students who attempt to survive on New Years Eve when the year 2000 comes and all technology comes to life and turns against humanity. It's also got skateboarding! Kevin and Mike didn't like this movie all that much so spend a lot of time talking about skateboarder Eric Koston and his shoe line (which are referenced several times in the film), how much they hate rock music from the 1990s (particularly Limp Biskit), the time Mike gave Limp Biskit frontman Fred Durst a tattoo, and the time Kevin spent NYE 2000 hiding in a bathroom. It's one of those episodes, in other words.

Kevin and Mike are back for 2025 to tackle a movie that's synonymous with skateboard culture - 1990's Pretty Woman! Learn the mysterious identity of the skateboarding teen who appears briefly in the film! Hear how we think the film has held up! Julia Roberts! Richard Gere! Jason Alexander! Opera! Is there anything this movie DOESN'T have? (Aside from a consistent tone, that is.) Find out in the latest pulse-pounding episode of GLEAMING THE TUBE!

Pretty Woman

Dìdi is a 2024 coming-of-age film, written, directed, and produced by Sean Wang in his directorial debut. The film follows a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy as he navigates the challenges of adolescence, his relationship with his mother, and his love of skateboarding. In a departure for movies covered on this podcast, it's really good. Kevin and Mike discuss the film and then go on some weird semi-related tangents around deathbed summons and snack cakes, the Scottish pop band Belle &amp; Sebastian (who are featured on the movie's soundtrack), and their own embarrassing adolescent memories. This episode is messy and all over the place, kind of like how being 13 years old feels like. So yeah, we meant to do that. It's conceptual.

Didi

1993's So I Married An Axe Murderer finds Mike Myers, hot off the success of the Wayne's World movie, playing a commitment-phobic beat poet who falls head over heels in love with a woman who may or may not have murdered her previous three husbands. There is a profoundly tiny amount of skateboarding in this movie, but that doesn't stop Michael and Kevin from discussing the movie, the career of Myers, the baffling use of an inferior cover version of "There She Goes", beat poetry as a career path and the skateboarding scene in San Francisco, CA (where the film is set.) So break out your most enormous cup of coffee, strike up the jazz band, and let's dig into So I Married An Axe Murderer! Piper down!

So I Married an Axe Murderer

We're back! 2005's DECK DOGZ is an Australian film about three skateboarding teens who are trying to escape the law, school, parents, their demons and a couple of criminals to realise their burning ambition; to meet world class skating champion, Tony Hawk and compete in his skating competition. We watched the heck out of this terrible movie and also discuss the larger implications of what having Tony Hawk in your skateboarding film meant circa 2005. Our conclusion - go watch BMX BANDITS. At least that movie has a young Nicole Kidman in it.

Deck Dogz

hack the planet

1995’s Hackers is a shockingly accurate portrayal of the rollerblading hacker subculture of the time and stars darn near everybody, most notably a skateboarding Fisher Stevens who plays an evil hacker called "The Plague." The film also stars Angelina Jolie in one of her first starring roles, Lorraine Bracco, and the dude who played Sick Boy in Trainspotting. Kevin and Michael discuss the film, the skateboarding, hackers they have known, that moment in early 90s Providence when people would declare "I'm not a raver! I'm a club kid!", and many, many other tangents that are both related and unrelated to this deeply silly movie. Hack the planet, y'all!

Hackers

Kevin and Mike watch movies in which somebody skateboards at some point.

Kevin and Mike watch movies in which somebody skateboards at some point. Sometimes the movie will be about skateboarding, sometimes it’ll just be some rando in the background. They will interrogate it all.

Gleaming The Tube

Follow