Gleaming the Cube (1989)

You know what gleaming the cube means, right? Of course you do — all cool kids do. This skateboarding film, starring Christian Slater (above) as a teen skater investigating the death of his adopted Vietnamese brother, had impressive skating bona fides at a time when skating was really cool.

The film’s skating technical advisor was original Z-Boy Stacy Peralta, and skaters featured onscreen included Natas Kaupas,and Tony Hawk.

The title, as we all know, comes from a question asked of skater Neil Blender in a 1983 issue of Thrasher magazine: “Have you ever gleamed inside a cube?” The DVD includes a hidden featurette that explains what “gleaming the cube” means, which of course none of us needed to watch because duh, we already knew. Right?

The film was not a box office success.