riverc0il
New member
this is kinda gonna build off the recent topic on meatheads, but i definitely thought it deserved it's own thread. i recently acquired a netflix account and immediately took advantage of the stock of recent ski movies. most of the major production outfits including warren miller, tgr, and matchstick are available for the last few years on netflix. having viewed a few from each production outfit, i can honestly say i am usually bored during a good portion of each movie. or if not bored, at the least, uninspired.
the latest film i watched from tgr (further) was horrid in production, direction, and what lack of writing there could have possibly been. the film simply cut away from shots, cutting the music as well, when they reached the end of a scene. no transition attempted at all. for voice over, they dropped the music almost straight out, and the voice overs were just terrible. the soundtrack was obviously geared to appeal to the 'nu skool' free skiing generation of kids. i am actually down with some of that sound, especially the underground hip hop stuff... but it really doesn't fit well in a movie i think. two big mountain descets, then a jib scene, and be sure to highlight the fact that it's a first ascent, woo! :roll:
warren miller more than makes up for tgr's lack of production and direction insight; however, goes way over the top with commercialization of the entire movie process. ski scenes at resorts turn into a commercial (not surprising since it has been documented that WME goes to shoot at the location of the highest bidder...). have a fruit bar and drive our SUV and ski at these ski areas! alright! get bent! at least warren miller gives you some background on the skiers and shows ascents and hard ships of the journey, but then turns every scene into a "we ski for a living, this is the life, haha you suck!" type scene. get bent!
figure 11's, big mountain heli ski descents, huge hucks of cliffs, big air, jibbing, and getting air with more rotations than previous thought humanly possible. impressive for the first 15 minutes, but it gets old! let's see the human aspect, let's see the historical perspective, how about music that fits the scene? a little personality wouldn't hurt. and i think cutting back on a rotation or two so they could actually show most big airs stick a solid landing wouldn't hurt either. am i asking too much here?
to date, immersion (matchstick) has been one of the better ski movies i have seen to date. a ski movie who's director states straight out he is trying to make a more soulful ski movie. thank goodness! just a half dozen skiers doing their thing on their mountain and sharing their stories. capturing the spirit of those skiers and the sport in general. more than just a hour of straight eye candy and crapy production. needless to say, i am looking forward to epoch and will provide a full review upon my second viewing
in the meantime, what are your thoughts about the current state of most ski and ride movies? do they capture anything for you or mearly eye candy to pass the summer months?
the latest film i watched from tgr (further) was horrid in production, direction, and what lack of writing there could have possibly been. the film simply cut away from shots, cutting the music as well, when they reached the end of a scene. no transition attempted at all. for voice over, they dropped the music almost straight out, and the voice overs were just terrible. the soundtrack was obviously geared to appeal to the 'nu skool' free skiing generation of kids. i am actually down with some of that sound, especially the underground hip hop stuff... but it really doesn't fit well in a movie i think. two big mountain descets, then a jib scene, and be sure to highlight the fact that it's a first ascent, woo! :roll:
warren miller more than makes up for tgr's lack of production and direction insight; however, goes way over the top with commercialization of the entire movie process. ski scenes at resorts turn into a commercial (not surprising since it has been documented that WME goes to shoot at the location of the highest bidder...). have a fruit bar and drive our SUV and ski at these ski areas! alright! get bent! at least warren miller gives you some background on the skiers and shows ascents and hard ships of the journey, but then turns every scene into a "we ski for a living, this is the life, haha you suck!" type scene. get bent!
figure 11's, big mountain heli ski descents, huge hucks of cliffs, big air, jibbing, and getting air with more rotations than previous thought humanly possible. impressive for the first 15 minutes, but it gets old! let's see the human aspect, let's see the historical perspective, how about music that fits the scene? a little personality wouldn't hurt. and i think cutting back on a rotation or two so they could actually show most big airs stick a solid landing wouldn't hurt either. am i asking too much here?
to date, immersion (matchstick) has been one of the better ski movies i have seen to date. a ski movie who's director states straight out he is trying to make a more soulful ski movie. thank goodness! just a half dozen skiers doing their thing on their mountain and sharing their stories. capturing the spirit of those skiers and the sport in general. more than just a hour of straight eye candy and crapy production. needless to say, i am looking forward to epoch and will provide a full review upon my second viewing
in the meantime, what are your thoughts about the current state of most ski and ride movies? do they capture anything for you or mearly eye candy to pass the summer months?
