Absinthe Flipside Episodes: Neverland

Posted by on Thursday, February 18, 2010

I've mentioned in previous posts that I enjoy documentary-style programs, and the Absinthe Flipside shows are an excellent example. Well, Whitelines has a bunch of episodes for their recent production: Neverland.

I'm not sure if that's the full collection yet, but what's there is definitely worth watching, if you like this type of thing. I think the one I've embedded below is the first episode? Check out Wolfgang being told to take his backpack off when he gets on a chair :)

Labels: absinthe films

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Absinthe's Neverland: DVD Review

Posted by on Sunday, January 03, 2010

Absinthe's Neverland is the first snowboard movie that I've bought this season. I'm definitely an Absinthe fan, so each year, if I'm looking for something to buy, I'll normally start with their current production. Here's the review.

The Introduction, leading into the first sequence is excellent, as is often the case with Absinthe movies. I think they get this right every time; an emotive build-up running into some first class shredding. In this case, it's Japan, and the opening section has Nico Muller, Kevin Pearce and a little bit of Eero Ettala.

Powder by the bucket load, trees, drops, everything is natural. Super smooth style; they ride it like the trees aren't there. For me, this concoction of filming style, terrain and riding will always make we want to go snowboard, no matter how many times I watch it. I'd say this is the best section of the film.

Romain follows with some nice, high tempo back country shredding. But the next thing that really grabbed my attention was Annie Boulanger. It seems she is becoming a regular with the Absinthe crew, which I think is an excellent move. It's not a particularly long section, but her riding gets better in leaps each season, the progression and attitude is inspiring to watch. Some of her hits and lines are really impressive. Women's snowboarding is pretty huge now, but I believe Annie B is one of the first to regularly film backcountry parts; that's got to be good for others who would like to do the same.

Marie-France Roy follows Annie, again with backcountry shots. I remember reading some competition or poll results a while ago and if my memory is correct, she cleaned up. It shows here. She's definitely got ability.

From this point onwards I was less impressed. Just another snowboard movie. Actually, I did enjoy Dan Brisse's riding. A good mix of shots, with some huge jumps and nice heli shots. I'd like to see some of those heli follow-cams in full speed.

And not to mention Wolfgang's no-boarding. Ultra-impressive one-footed cliff drops, powder riding with such freedom that looks like surfing. But I wanted to see more.

Urban stuff. The Absinthe crew continues to bring out fresh stuff each year in this area, and yes, some of it is mega impressive, and always ballsy. I still love to see someone stomp an ultra smooth front board down a long rail, but the rest of this stuff isn't doing it for me. If I had to take it or leave it, I'd rather leave it.

Travis Rice. Excellent shredding. As usual, he goes big with technical moves. But what's the deal with the horse? At first I thought it was a response to Leanna Pelosi's intro in the all girls film "As If". Then I decided that probably wasn't the case, so maybe it's just his ego? If that is the case then the song is fitting: "Head Honcho". Whatever, I didn't think it was funny; just kinda stupid. Oops.

The intro to Gigi's section is fun, but for his main part, I don't think it's a patch on his riding in something like More. Don't get me wrong, I can only imagine how hard it must be, given schedules, travel, conditions, filming etc. to continually come up with belter video-parts; but when you've become accustomed to someone producing awesome material, unfortunately you start to expect it. I didn't get that this time.

The soundtrack. I think that Absinthe music scores tend to be quite varied and for me, that's the case with Neverland. As such, there are some little gems in there, but also some beats I care little for. I still think Futureproof is my favourite soundtrack of theirs.

Absinthe have again, included Flip Side in the extras. It's a documentary showing the making of their movie from the previous season, in this case, Ready. I love this stuff. I'd pay for it by itself. You get to see more of the riders, who they are, what their schedule is like. There's this amazing clip of a few of them just shredding in a resort before they start filming. MFM hits a natural feature, the type that you or I would, only they go ten times bigger. I love that. I really wanted to see the whole thing :)

Overall, it's an OK movie. I thought the opening sequence was top class, but after that, with a few exceptions, nothing else lived up to the beginning, which leaves a feeling of disappointment. I think previous Absinthe films have been better, and would recommend those instead. I haven't seen any other movies this year, so I don't know how it stacks up in the fresh bunch... A few little gems in the sound track.

Absinthe's Neverland Soundtrack

Here's a link to the Neverland Soundtrack.

Labels: absinthe films, dvds, review

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Absinthe's Optimistic: DVD Review

Posted by on Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I'm a fan of Absinthe films, especially the last two, so I was really looking forward to this season's Optimistic. It didn't disspapoint - I think Optimistic's a good snowboard movie with some exceptional parts... but for me, overall, it didn't grab in quite the same way as Futureproof and More.

So which bits didn't work? Mostly, I think it's the case that having really liked Futureproof and then thinking that they took More farther still, Optimistic had a tough benchmark to beat. I do feel that as the film gets going, it kinda settles in. My favourite bits are mostly at the beginning, so it seems to mellow out as the movie goes on. Don't get me wrong, the riding and filming is strong throughout, it just bobbed around my personal that's so good meter, whereas More kept leaping above it.

What about the excellent parts?
Gigi's section really appealed to me. The music's funky and the riding is varied. There are some heli follow-cam shots of Gigi and Danny Davis hitting this backcountry kicker that might be some of my favourite ever. The action smoothly follows the rider showing how big the jump is and you get an idea of what the kicker might look like from the rider's perspective on the run in, yet the rider and the kicker appear small in the vastness of the whole scene; awesome. There's also this sequence of Gigi riding down a side street with steps and rails, how can he make that sequence look so good? It just oozes style.

As well as some pretty sick shredding (I really like the way he rides powder), MFM's part has a true laugh out loud section - a snow-spray assault on skiers. You might think it's a little harsh, you might think some of it's justified, either way you'll probably think it's hillarious. The film is worth watching just for this bit!

Trees. There's some excellent tree action in Optimistic. Trees and deep powder. The section shot in Canada towards the beginning of the movie shouldn't be missed. Visually it looks fantastic, the trees, deep snow, the sun. And then check out the riding, Marco Feichtner and Wolle, it's like the trees aren't there, except when they're jibbing off them!

Perhaps most impressive in the movie is Wolfgang. I reckon Wolle Nyvelt was on a mission last season. Seriously, he has so much footage in Optimistic, so much powder, so many good shots. It's like he owns the DVD. The guy is riding deep pow on a wooden stick with no bindings better than most people when they've got both feet hooked in, it's insane. His riding alongside Matt Beardmore is also top drawer. I can't always tell who is who, but it's all good. Wolle really kicks this film going, he's killing it!

Other parts that I liked
Annie Boulanger is representing female snowboarders and has some really nice backcountry riding, pushing it pretty hard. I found myself liking quite a lot of the urban scenes. Mikey LeBlanc provides a lot of charisma along with some gutsy street moves. Then there's Hans Ahlund putting down some really sweet jibs, making it all look varied. The section with Romain De Marchi and Danny Davis has a handful of hits from a backcountry kicker that deserve to be watched over - super smooth riding/filming and a sick tail grab in there.

If you're into extras you may find the DVD a little thin in this area... having said that, Flipside's The Making of More (part1) is included, and it's really good!

The Soundtrack
I really like the soundtrack to Optimistic, there's some nice tunes in there, the mix is good. I'm not going to try and classify it, I'll just say it's right up my street. The production of the movie's intro is especially noteworthy. Excellent song, it's pretty inspiring. Here's the track list in the order played, with uk iTunes hook-up:

• "Rusted Wheel", album "Carnavas", by Silversun Pickups
• "Wolf Like Me", album "Return to Cookie Mountain", by TV On The Radio
• "Season of the Witch", by Donovan Leitch
• "Calling For The Dissolution", album "Criminal Saints", by Scott Sullivan
• "Don't Sweat the Technique", by Eric B and Rakim
• "Frosty", Meka
• "Cadillac Dust", by Elliot Brood
• "John The Baptiste", album "File Under Forgotten", by The Ants
• "C'mon C'mon", album "Pawn Shoppe Heart", by Von Bondies
• "Ain't Cha", album "Hell Hath No Fury", by Clipse
• "Jamna Plagor", by Dungen
• "Spring and by Summer Fall", album "23", by Blonde Redhead
• "The Man Who Came To Stay", album "Killamangiro", by Babyshambles
• "I Love My Bitch", album "The Big Bang", by Busta Rhymes
• "Presentazione Orchestra", album "Stasera Shake! Volume 2", by Rafaella Carra
• "Fragments", Meka

Here's most of the soundtrack to sample:

Labels: absinthe films, dvds, review

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Absinthe Films: Optimistic

Posted by on Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Simon sent me a link to the trailer for Absinthe's next snowboarding film: Optimistic. But it's not the first time that I've been pointed towards it, and seems as though it looks pretty damn good, I figured it's about time I mention it here...

You can check out the trailer and the blurb on Absinthe's site, which is currently undergoing some work; but, as you might expect you can also watch it on YouTube, so I'll happily embed it below.

The trailer does look great - I'll certainly be getting hold of a copy as soon as it's available. I've been really impressed with Absinthe's films over the last two seasons: Futureproof and More. I know that many people feel that Vivid and Pop were great/better - but not me. I became attracted to Absinthe's style more recently.

Here's the trailer...

Labels: absinthe films, dvds, video

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