08/09 : Think Thank : Stack Footy

Review:
Take generic city settings and turn them into the greatest jib parks ever and you have another Think Thank movie. After the Thanks Brain riders blew me away by jibbing through typical back-yard and park type places that were completely transformed with some of the most ridiculous lines, they did it again. Only this go around with toilet-bowl type funnels into snow tunnels, Mark Thompson riding over a half-moon of boulders spaced several feet apart, Nick Visconti going from the ground to a tire that rolls him onto a rail, and that isn’t even the start of the creativity that was unleashed.  Anyone who has watched snowboard movies has seen their string of rails and though impressive, it is still basically watching someone go up then down. Only in Think Thanks’ movies have I seen that urban landscape pushed to a new level.

The experience is mixed though.  With a tricked out set of riders and several strong rider parts, the editing still makes it a challenge to watch. Spliced with old home movies, which I liked the idea of, and a lot of artificial static, each clip is just too fast and too hard to digest. For much of it, you can’t focus on anything and the music stresses you out to boot. That said, it has really strong parts that you can settle into, like Jesse Burtner ‘s. And, to mention another that I like a lot, Gus Engle has a well edited, snappy, playful section with a great backing track.

Review:

After Think Thank's headache inducing film from last year, I started up Stack Footy with a bit of trepidation.  Luckily for my noggin Stack Footy is a much better film, and while still a bit overwhelming visually and audibly, it's definitely worth watching.

I've always felt a little underwhelmed by Burtner's video part, even though I know him to be an exceptional rider. Well Jesse finally puts down a video part that is actually representative of his riding skill, and it is appropriately impressive. Bogart and Spinelli hold it down for AK as usual, and they're joined by a host of new talent to the Think Thank crew.

These guys are so creative and tech. They're truly masters of the art of technical riding, mixing one footers into everything, banking and bouncing off obstacles into features, and digging incredible cave creations to thrash.

Unfortunately this is marred somewhat by the pacing issues carried over from Thanks Brain. Namely the quick rapid-fire cuts interspersed with over-used garbage and static edited into cuts. Combined with the somewhat manic soundtrack you're left feeling a little too overwhelmed by sound and noise. The content of the riding is so good, but it's hard to watch because of the editing done to the footage after the fact. Slow it down a bit guys, let us watch the footage, that's why we've got the dvd in the player.

There is plenty of bonus footy and hidden extras, I'm sure we didn't scratch the half of it.