Premiere weekend .. 32 Ammo, VideoGrass Retrospect, Think Thank Ransack Rebellion, Yes its a movie, and Absinthe Twe12ve Reviewed

Ah the last weekend of August in SLC, traditionally the start of the premiere season and this year was no different. This weekend we had Ammo, Retrospect, Ransack Rebellion, Twe12ve, and YES its a movie all premiere over the weekend in two separate events and I was lucky enough to attend both.

Friday Brighton Passapalooza…

For the second time in three years Brighton held a “buy your season pass and watch some movie premieres event”. Dubbed Passapalooza it offered some free swag with a season pass purchase, some cheap goods from last season, a few rails to skate, a chance to catch up with friends and finally three yes count them THREE movie premieres Ammo, Retrospect, and Ransack Rebellion.  I got there early to snap  some pics and catch up with some of the locals. I must say it was nice to be around my home resort when so much activity is going on. It wont be too long before the park crew pulls out the jibs and is setting them up for pre season jibbing at the base of  Majestic Lift buuut Im getting ahead of myself. On this night its was all about catching up with some homies and watching some great flicks….

A glimpse of the new snow making capabilities going in on Milly

Skullcandy, Forum, Neff, and Electric were all in the house with swag and deals on product

A few rails and boxes were brought out by the park crew for kids to skate on...

32 Ammo…

This past season 32 boots filmer Jeff Heit spent a majority of his winter days following the am team around and documenting it all for 32′s Ammo project. The flick has featured parts from Brandon Hobush, Spencer Schubert, Chris Brewster, and Dylan Alito with montages of other regional and flow riders sprinkled through out and a few clips from Grenier, Miller, and Stevens as the cherry on top.  Its a good video filled with kids putting their bodies out there to get the shots and the slams are in there to prove it. Now  you do have to remember youre dealing with am and flow kids here so dont expect a Brainfarm master piece but take it for what it is. If youre a fan of the gritty raw type of snow documentation youll love Ammo.  One note however as Ive said is that you are dealing with a smaller budget flick so dont expect tons of back country booters and big mountain pow lines. Many of the clips come from the urban filming the crew did as they moved around the country last year filming spot checks at various mountains but thats cool because hey how many times do you get urban footy from New Hampshire? Anyway overall a good gritty urban flick, is it the most progressive, no, but solid and entertaining all the way around. Im not sure what 32′s plans for release are for this vid ( if itll be released on iTunes or packaged in mags or released to shops for full retail) easily worth 20 bucks especially if they have some good out takes and extras on a hard copy.

32 Ammo's Brandon Hobush, Think Thanks Ted Borland and Brighton Park Director Jared Winkler catching up and planning for the upcoming season

Videograss Retrospect…

VG is releasing two features and one trick tip dvd this season. Thats a pretty risky move for most production houses but with a stable as stocked as VG two features is almost a requirement.  We were able to see Retrospect at Brighton this week (a full VG event is coming in mid September for both films).  Im not sure how the VG house views the films but to me Shoot the Moon is the big baby with Retrospect being “the other film” so I went in expecting some good solid riding but not a revolution. I pretty much got what I was expecting from Retrospect. I loved Blauvelts opening assault on Alaska and then sat through solid riding from Bryan Fox, Ben Bilocq, Alex Cantin, Alex Andrews, Austin Smith, Knut Eliasen,  and a handful of other riders. I liked this film a lot and have a feeling that it will only get better with each view because its so loaded with riders you kind of get over stimulated with shots. Ender went to Jake Kuzyk and it was well deserved, banger part for sure.  If youre a buy 6-8 dvd’s a season guy grab this one when copies ship this week to your local shop. If you are on a limited budget you may want to wait for Shoot the Moon to be reviewed before you make a decision or at least grab Retrospect on iTunes for a bit cheaper. I’ll be buying this one for sure.

Soon Milly will be covered with snow but for this evening the parking lot was the place to be...

Think Thank Ransack Rebellion…

The Think Thank videos have been some of my favorite over the last three or four seasons. I love their brand of urban assault of weird obstacles and keeping the fun factor in the forefront.  Unfortunately Ransack Rebellion just ddnt do it for me this year and Im not sure why. Hell maybe it was the fact that I saw it on the back end of a 20 hour day sitting on the cement parking lot and was just over it altogether. There were stand out parts from Brandon Larson, newcomer to the squad Ted Borland,  Sam Hulbert and Nick Visconti but it just seemed to me something was missing and Im not sure what it was. It will definitely get another viewing from me and most likely even a purchase because Im a fan of the series but I guess its just hard to make your best film EVERY season. I also think it was hard for Think Thank to overcome the loss of Stevens and Kimura to film for Capita as well as trying to integrate Sean Black and Ted Borland as new comers into the film. Once I get a second look I’ll come back and let you know if Im feeling it a bit more but for now Im saying buy if youre a big fan of Think Thank but pass if you have a limited dvd budget this season.

UPDATE;  I bought Ransack today the 6th and Im half way through it and wanted to post. Its good not as good as RBLB but that was my favorite vid from anyone last season. The only complaint I have is too many half parts from normal mainstays  like Bogart Milbery Hulbert and Hironaka and no part from Genevese but once again cant be bangers every season. Overall solid and with a Visconti skate edit and five b reels in the extras plus a few other things its a solid dvd. 

A few hundred settled in and got treated to three films to make for a great start to the 2011.2012 season

Saturday SLC  Absinthe and YES premiers…

For the third year Absinthe has chosen Utah as the place to host its world premiere

Saturday I headed down to watch the premieres of two other films, Absinthes Twe12ve and YES snowboards, Yes its a movie! There was a huge crowd for the flicks and excitement was high. I go to many premieres each season but the Absinthe premieres are usually the most energetic and fun of them all.

YES its a movie…

Ok heres what I expected from the YES movie, fifteen minutes of the b footage from Absinthe filming to create a fun little promo for the YES brand. Heres what I got… a near half hour of amazing grade a footage spanning Canada, Japan, and Russia. Simply stunning and amazingly filmed I owe the YES crew an apology for greatly under estimating what their video would be for the season. Like 32′s Ammo Im not sure how they are going to put this film out for the public. Will it be iTunes or a magazine bundle or in shops for a few dollars Im not sure but however it gets put out there you owe it to yourself to get your hands on a copy you will not be let down. Highlights include shoulder deep yes you read correct SHOULDER deep turns in Japan and a banger part from their token jibber Frank April and of course the big three DCP, JP, and Romain. Find this, buy it, love it.

Absinthes Justin Hostynek and Jones Snowboards Forrest Shearer talk outside the SLC Absinthe Premiere

The Man and his mans board .. Bode unstoppable in Twe12ve

Absinthe’s Twe12ve…

The Absinthe films have been a staple of my yearly buys for almost ten years. Absinthe has always had a good mix of big mountain lines, back country booters,  pillow play, and a few urban assaults sprinkled in for good measure. Neverland and Nowhere were good but not as good as Optimistic and Ready so I arrived at SLC’s Tower Theater expecting good and solid but not epic especially since we didnt get a proper teaser this year. I was wrong oh god how I was wrong. Twe12ve may be the greatest Absinthe film… EVER.  I dont even think I can give you a rundown of how good it was.  Gigi opens the show with a banger and it doesnt stop for forty minutes with Bode Merrill shutting it down with a full 10 minute part divided into 5 minutes of urban and 5 minutes of back country.  Johnnie Paxson is new to the crew this season and has a great part and despite a part in the Capita film Dan Brisse still found time to put in a great full part as well. I was stoked to see the return of a Gigi/Muller Alaska shared part again too. Blair Habenicht’s ultra aggressive big mountain lines were a crowd favorite as were the pow antics of   Sylvain Bourbousson.  Again dont let the small write up deceive you this film is amazing and is a must buy for this season. MUST MUST MUST! I cant wait to get a copy in my hands to watch over and over, true snow porn in every sense of the word.