“Pretty Good” opens with an Ian Cosco skit that was funny when it was a Mike Myers skit, in “The Spy Who Shagged Me,” in 1999. There’s ironic facial hair that is probably LOL-worthy if you’re too young to grow any, and tons of homoerotic winks that are just safe enough to be bromantic.
The intro may be better suited to Van Wilder 4, but who really cares about intros anyway? What kind of loser would talk about an intro in a review? It’s the skiing that matters, and we all know that smaller budget productions like “Pretty Good” have ten times the creativity of the big dogs over at PBP and Matchstick. Right?
About ten minutes into the flick you realize you’re watching a Jr. Varsity version of EDIAS (or any other Poorboyz movie ever made). There are lots of switchups, conquered multi-kinks, BC wedges, and convoluted videopark creations. If you want some more details, just read that review and take it down a notch or two.

The skiing is good, but not super-pro level. There are some bangers if you watch closely, and more than one involving snow-covered evergreens. I could act like I know what stuff like “HD” and “digital” means, but I actually have no idea. So, the filming is nice and the soundtrack doesn’t sink to “Swollen Members” levels or anything. I’m pretty sure you could sync it up with EDIAS, Wizard of Oz/Pink Floyd style.
The FIRST Minnesota section is really good. There’s some real creative urban trickery in there that would make a fantastic 5-minute edit. Did Will Wesson already do most of it? Yes, but it’s still good stuff. I’ll take secondhand creativity over boilerplate rail-jump-pow-repeat formula any day. You may have noticed the emphasis I so subtly placed on the word “first” at the beginning of the paragraph. I did that because there is a second.
This is noteworthy because it’s a 50 minute video. You know I have to slip a title pun in here, so here goes: this movie was pretty good at a half hour…it’s a marathon of C-footage by minute 50.

Should you buy it? Seems obvious, but I’m going to throw you a curveball: Rage and their distributor were smart enough to make this baby available for something like $6 on iTunes…so you should buy it. I don’t care if you never watch it, but if they can prove that it’s a profitable formula maybe we’ll see other videos move this way. Then maybe we’ll get some fresh blood in here to make a movie that uses creativity to plug the holes in its budget (and leaves out the 90’s movie re-jokes).

The original tag line for BroBomb was “Some Love, More Hate.” I’m glad we changed it, because I think all this writing has had a cathartic effect. I just can’t muster the old venom like I used to. I watched Refresh several times back to back and just couldn’t come up with a sufficiently long “Reasons to Hate” list…I’m sorry and I’ll try harder next year.

 Reasons to Love Refresh:

1. Warren Miller demonstrates that quality narration is like riding a bike; nearly a decade out of the game and he doesn’t miss a beat.
2. For a sum total of 30 seconds, Will Wesson drops hammers like John Henry. If we didn’t get tons of him in Traveling Circus and Wild Stallions, this would be in the HATE column.
3. Phil Casabon –dog tow-in and switch fifty on a concrete ledge– this Canadian has come a long way since the Plehouse days.
4. Quebec’s concrete pyramids are introduced, slayed, and should probably be retired.
5. Tom Wallisch straight handles the opening curtain. It makes me think of T Hall’s Session 1242 classic…I’m not saying he’s there, but damnit he sure has one in him.
6. Did anybody notice that Talib Kweli is rapping about white kids who “want to be black kids, and talk like rappers” during Wallisch’s opener? I love subliminals.
7. Delorme on that double stage Keystone jump. We can only watch and dream that our home resort would build something so fun.
8. I could listen to Henrik speak his version of “gangsta English” all day.
9. My younger brother has never seen a ski movie that didn’t have “too many powder shots,” but even he had to admit that Wiley Miller threw down. The butters, slashes, and 2 stagers keep it fresh. For the record, there was still too much pow for him.
10. Not one comment about how friggen’ hard it rains in Alaska. Bravo!

 Reasons to Hate Refresh:

1. Ahmet Dadali holds poles less than a Mormon ex-stripper. Forcing him to hold them for this video just seems mean.
2. Dear skiers with eyewear sponsors: A grown man should wear one of two styles of sunglasses: Aviators or Wayfarers. Notify your sponsors.
3. Maybe one too many handheld-cam sing-alongs to “Just Like Living in Paradise”?
4. Ahmet Dadali’s “NY” chain. Go PHILLIES!
5. I’m sure that last Mammoth park shoot jump did wonders for ski-egos, but on film that sucker is the same as every other big jump that every other video crew filmed on. Get your doublecork-whatever in the bag and MOVE ON!

Level 1 Productions

Let’s get this out of the way up front—Wild Stallions, despite the neon and lightning laden logo—has absolutely nothing to do with Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. If you’re anything like me, you feel slightly misled.

Conspicuously missing.

Luckily, this is one of few missteps taken by Geoff McDonald and co.

Let’s also get this out of the way: I knew I was going to love this movie before it turned up in my mailbox. One of the first things I heard about “WS” was that there would be a segment filmed at my very own home hill- Blue Mountain, PA. After that segment I’m left with the realization that there’s really no such thing as a shitty park, or a shitty mountain, only shitty skiers (read: me). Moving along…

In the past, I’ve neglected to buy the annual Meatheads’ flick until I’ve watched pretty much every other movie I could get my hands on. This is likely a function of the other studios’ relatively sizable marketing budget, and doesn’t speak at all to my expectations. Invariably, when I get around to watching them, I’m relieved.  You see, as fantastic as Wild Stallions is, it’s also notable for what it isn’t.  You will not find any of the following in Wild Stallions: overly saturated colors, mute grabbed dub cork 12s, embarrassingly irony-free mental masturbation , Alaskan first descents, JOSS footage, or awkward interactions between the cast and random Japanese ski resort employees.

If you’re bummed by the aforementioned, there are a number of films that are currently shipping that you’ll find at least “Pretty Good” or “Refreshing”.  See what I did there?

Ok, enough bullshit.

My EC roots and countless winters spent building backyard jibs and jumps have probably made it impossible for me to maintain any sort of objectivity. Nonetheless, I love watching people jump over, and on to, weird shit with skis on their feet.  Wild Stallions features plenty of both.  More importantly, it features people doing those things consecutively. I’m talking about skateboard-flick style “lines.”  I know, it’s exciting.  I’m so tired of watching riders FS switchup a 30ft. down rail as many times as possible, only to watch the next three riders in the next three segments do the same thing, on the same rail, from the same angle. Never fear, Will Wesson and LJ Strenio are in this movie so switchups abound, but they’re bookended by bizarre and increasingly amazing jibs. By the time LJ nosetap 180’s a giraffe (yes, a giraffe) you’ll have seen a handful of the most impressive “urban” shots ever caught on tape—not the least of which involves gapping up some stairs into a quarter-pipe thingy, before sliding a rail.

Buying that winch was a goooood investment.

The Meatheads/Ski the East family is ever growing, and this year marked the addition of some incredible talent. I’ll venture a guess that adding Jon Brogan, Sean “Child Prodigy” Jordan, Matt Pothier, and Clayton Vila will move a few extra copies of WS—and it should, they all slay. Garrett Russell is also new to the squad, and despite a relatively small part, definitely leaves an impression. I’m fairly certain I’m referring to his skiing and not his mustache. A name that may not be as familiar or as marketable as the above is Dan Marion. It should be next year, as Dan kills everything.  Speaking of killing everything, what’s with these Canadian sonsabitches?  Cedric TF, JD Zicat, and Alexis Godbout are obnoxiously good.  Most of the Meatheads from season’s past are on board (Shea Flynn, Giray Dadali, Nick Martini, Andy Parry, The Hammer, etc.), but a few are conspicuously absent(ish). Jeff Curry is nowhere to be found, and Erik Olson’s screen time is way down from Head for the Hills. I’m disappointed about both. It’s worth mentioning that Maude Raymond reps the ladies exceptionally well.  I think she only has three shots, but they’re all good.  And, I mean “good”, not “good for a girl”. Is she related to Frank Raymond? She slays urban like she is. Hi Maude. You’re pretty.

One of my problems with Head for the Hills (Meatheads’ 2008 flick) was that there were some segments that were only really worth watching once. Yea, cutting a snowboard in half, throwing tele-bindings on it, hiking the glades behind your house, and drinking beer is charming and probably a hell of a good time.  Unfortunately, it didn’t make for particularly compelling viewing and I ended up skipping the segment (and a couple of others) on repeat viewings.  WS finds the Meatheads streamlining their focus and appears to be less concerned with appealing to every person who could conceivably be interested in watching a ski film. WS is stronger for it. There are still some misses for me, mostly in the form of the big mountain segments that show up towards the end. What it comes down to is simply this: a movie about the east coast ski scene, filmed almost exclusively on the east coast (they make it to Michigan!), just isn’t going to yield very many jaw dropping shots of “epic” lines. My guess is that these segments will be much more entertaining for those that have actually skied those lines. That said, the footage snagged at Mt. Bohemia features some ridiculously good glade skiing in shitty snow that is downright scary, and the shots from Jay Peak confirm what any EC skier already knows: they get lots of snow up there.

I think Wild Stallions is so effective because it’s so accessible. For the most part, anyone of us could have snagged the shots that fill this movie.  Unfortunately, most of us aren’t talented and/or ballsy enough to try half of what goes on (read: me). Still, WS is infinitely more relatable than the bulk of ski films that are churned out each year, and in that regard, it’s unbelievably successful. After all, I’m of the opinion that the loftiest things a ski movie can hope to do are:

1. Remind me just why I love skiing in the first place.

2. Make me want to go ski.

Mission Accomplished.

The movie looks great, sounds great, and is well paced. The entire movie is shot in HD, but I don’t know enough about any techy stuff to talk about any of those things in great detail. The skiing, and the personalities — cough*Radio Ron*cough — are the focus and nothing detracts from that. Wild Stallions, like all Meatheads flicks, is a decidedly EC ski movie. It certainly resonates with me, and provides a scarily accurate snapshot of what it’s like to live for skiing in a place where skiing barely lives. 

www.skitheeast.net

www.meatheadfilms.com

In the interest of keeping it all legal, Chris got this film straight from the Meatheads.