So I bought The Art of Flight today....

watched it last night. T Rice is out of his god damn mind. and J Jones is the best big mountain rider/skier on the planet. so fucking sick
 
the one and only complaint I have with the movie is this: there were several "holy shit" shots in the teaser that were not in the movie...?? where did all the extra footy go? Some of the segments were these long drawn out segments just for ONE run, I was a little bummed on that. But the movie is incredible and I loved it!
 
Great movie,but the Patagonia part where they were rushing back to the helicopter and Travis had to jump into the river was staged and painfully obvious.
 
? The only thing staged about that was that there was a camera waiting for them on the other side of the river. they had to cross it. this isn't some reality nature survival show.
 
I watched it on Xbox Live the 2 nights ago i was sick. Im glad it only cost me 5 bucks but I'm not a huge fan of back country but that was the most impressive BC movie ive watched. But did anyone else notice that it would've been about 20-30 mins shorter if they would have not used sooo much slow motion?
 
like pretty much everyone on here is saying, the movie is amazing, and well worth the 10 bucks. Make sure you get the HD version or it just wouldn't do it justice.

What impressed me the most is some of the jumps Travis and others do on some of the gnarliest lines I've seen. They throw 5's, and butter off stuff that they are riding for the first time - and then they stomp it.

REAL SNOWBOARDING ON REAL MOUNTAINS! That is what I kept thinking throughout this movie.

My only beef against this movie, is the countless shots of the Redbull helicopters. Don't get me wrong, the first 50+ shots (especially the first one in slow mo when you can see the propeller in real time) were sick, but after about 30 mins of it they could have thrown some other stuff in there.

Anyways, I know we are all skiers but its well worth it to support these guys - killin' it!
 
I agree with you on some of the music choices being questionable, and I also think that some of the narration/meandering on Travis's part was a bit contrived and sort of in that Contrast (Nimbus a few years ago) vein.

All things considered though, neither of those things interfered with my enjoyment or scuffed up the impeccable riding and filming. If you (the greater you, not you personally) didn't think this movie was incredible, well....I dunno....I just don't think you like to watch skiing or snowboarding all that much because there's a verrry short list of snow sports flicks that are even close to being on the same level.
 
Word to that. Even if you don't snowboard it is still crazy to not respect what Travis Rice is doing. He is the epitome of progression.
 
honestly this, for anyone that sat down and watched this movie without enjoying it should seriously just stop watching because they're never going to be impressed
 
This is not a snowboard movie. It is a +1 hr commercial for Eurocopter, the makers of A-Star helicopters. They added some snowboarding to make it look cool and attract young buyers of B3 machines. Smart!
 
I hear ya and as a movie, i enjoyed watching it immensely. the riding is insane and they push the limits of snowboarding, without a doubt. That said, films tend to leave you with a certain feel and this is just my personal take, but ridiculous cinematography, slow motion cams, and general hype aside, the genuine feel and vibe I get from this movie isn't as sweet as some other ski and snowboard films out there. funny that you said contrast... that was exactly what i had in mind
 
i saw it last night. so unreal who thinks its a good idea to throw a three off a cliff with two avlanches on either side of you.
 
Totally respectable. I agree that it was far from my favorite shred flick in terms of "personality" or vibe, or whatever those other intangibles are that add depth or spin to shred porn.

Sort of like how I approach music and flicks, I don't hold all snow movies to the same criteria. I enjoy all sorts of movies and songs for VERY different reasons. The part of me that enjoyed Avatar in 3D in IMAX isn't the same part of me that loves Wes Anderson movies. Similarly, the part of me that loved The Art of Flight isn't the same part of me that loves Nipwitz, TC, or Weight.

At the end of the day, no movie can be everything to everyone, but in terms of pure spectacle, level of riding, and level of presentation (heli shots, fancy cams, crazy MEGAMO, graphics/titles, wildlife/mountain pans), I don't know that it gets much better than The Art of Flight. Basically, AOF was exactly what I needed it to be, and I'll turn to Shoot the Moon, or Think Thank's flick for vibe and feel
 
I think the amazing thing about this movie (aside from the fact that its Planet Earth + Travis Rice) is that I can sit down and be blown away every time and enjoy it immensely, while at the same time someone like my dad who knows nothing about skiing or snowboarding can sit down and really enjoy it too. It's really not fair to compare it to any previous snowboard or ski film. It appeals to a much wider audience than most extreme sports movies, while still amazing the people who really knoe the technical difficulties if whats going on. I would honestly have enjoyed it even if it didn't have the sickest riding ever, just cause of the mind blowing filming. Anyway, love it so much.
 
Any place Travis goes to ride, he is the dopest on the mountain. Period. He is pushing all snow sports like no one else. The tricks he is throwing off natural features during lines that would intimidate the most experienced riders. The man deserves more props than any other for pushing snowboarding, and essentially freeskiing to a whole new level. Absolutely epic.

Alright I'm done riding his nuts. But seriously, give the man the props he deserves. The gap in the Jackson segment was out of this world. I wonder if that was bigger than Chads. Was also the closing jump for Thats it, Thats all.
 
It felt a little too "warren miller"-esque to me. Not that warren miller isn't a fucking champ, but for what the riding was and who the people were, it had too serious and deep of tones.
 
I thought it was pretty pathetic how they filmed it. Like I'm sure they used the best HD cameras and did fly overs and used those camera swing things to make this into like an epic, Planet Earth-wave movie. Add in the soundtrack, which fits into that 'epicness', and the over use of slow mo, nature shots, the obviously scripted commentary, and the repeated references to the threat of 'imminent' danger (the heli running out of fule, the avalanches, the weather, etc) and the movie just looks even more manipulative.

I don't know, it just seems to me like kind of a lame way to put together a film, like they abused all the shit that they know people would think is amazing, The epicness (and slow mo and everything else that went into it except for the riding) just got exhausting after the first Alaska segment.

Personally I think ski/snowboard movies should present the riding/skiing in a cool way but they should let the tricks stand out for themselves. Your not suppose to slow down every amazing trick and present 3 shots of it. I like the movies that are quick paced and full of dope shots where you can watch the movie 10+ times and still notice new awesome little details and tricks.

Yea I agree the movie was epic and constantly throughout the movie I was like holy shit thats awesome. The tricks were obviously amazing I just thought the style of filming got so repetitive. It didn't seem like there was much variation in rider style (maybe cause it was done by location) but even the locations seemed to be bland and repetitive. The movie could have definitely used some more 'fun' thrown in there and a park/urban seggy to some rap music.
 
who wants to see helicopters flying off mountains in uber slow motion with the full moon in the backdrop anyways? that shit sucks.

have fun jacking off to b&e edits for the rest of your youth.
 
You basically described every single ski movie that's been made for the past 5 years. And you're calling this one movie repetitive.
 
That's how I feel as well. Refresh is my favorite film simply because of the narration and vibe I get from it. Still gives me goosebumps at the end!

Slow mo got so old in AOF (I get it...you shoot RED), the soundtrack was surprisingly lame, and about 30 minutes of the film was helicopter shots. The shots were great quality, but the style and feel of the film was not what I expected from a multi million dollar project. A better soundtrack and a cutback on the megamoooooooo would have made this one of the best films ever. I guess that's kind of a matter of opinion though...

I think my favorite parts of the movie were the tree jump scene, the story about the freezing on the helicopter, and the portrayal of the Chilean culture.
 
I watched it last night.

The riding is absolutely sick, and the cinematography is unparalleled in the snow sports world.

That being said, I do understand some of the criticism. It is very slow moving, and not ski/snowboard porn in the standard sense. They made this into more of an epic, more of a movie, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

It is insane, I just think people should be aware that the riding ratio is much less than in most other movies. I would say 20-30 minutes of action footage, and then almost an hour of other stuff. I personally thought the other stuff was pretty cool, but I could see how it might bore some.

I can't stress enough that the actual action footage was mind-blowing. Travis Rice is insane. In my mind he is the best all-around snowboarder in the world BY A MILE. All the urban/park stuff looks so boring compared to T. Rice slaughtering Alaska.

I would love to see MSP/TGR get some of those cameras, but they just don't have the budget. There is a thread on TGR about the movie, and someone mentions the type of camera Brain Farm has. I don't know enough about it to comment, but it is apparently really sick.

It was refreshing to have no urban stuff in the movie.

I don't know if I would call it the best snow sports movie I have ever seen, but the actual on-snow footage is insane. When you are dealing with stuff this cool, it seems a silly thing to argue about.

This movie is DEFINITELY worth buying.
 
link to TGR thread? thanks

and yeah i agree with everything you said. personally i think it wouldve been a lot cooler to just make a 30-40 minutes banger of a movie with all the gnar riding and none of the talking, heli shots, or repeated reminders of how serious and gnarly they are. but that's just like, my opinion..
 
Still think the movie was amazing and I love how it pushed ski/snowboard films in a new direction. Like obviously I think thats awesome. Progression is dope.

Just saying why I don't think this is a 10/10 movie. It slacked on a lot of the fun, fast paced shit and little unnoticed details I really enjoy watching in other movies and they overdid some stuff like slomo and whatnot and there was not much park and no urban and music was meh and interviews and melodramatic danger scenes were lame.

This was like the Avatar of snowboard movies if that makes sense.
 
i think what is throwing some people off is that this movie was created with the intention to appeal to people who aren't passionate about or don't ski/snowboard at all. all of those super slo-mo shots and pictures of beautiful landscapes appeal to people who don't really know anything about or don't really appreciate snowboarding. the deep, heavy, danger is eminent feel created by scenes such as the Patagonia segment is why this movie might actually get viewed by people other than ski bums living in vans. with this in mind, if this bothers you too much to enjoy the insane level of riding than it's your loss.
 
Phantom cameras!!!!!! So sick, one of the best snowsport movies I've seen in a while, such a refreshing break from the monotony that has become the slow release of repetitive ski movies.

And I met Travis Rice in Sacramento when he came through and was a super cool dude. Took the time to talk and listen to everybody.
 
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