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My take on NWD6

slang

Monkey
Apr 20, 2005
130
0
This has been nagging at me for far too long so I decided it was finally time to jot my thoughts down. If you dont want to read all of it just skip to the last part.

This is my honest view on NWD6. You can agree, disagree, whatever, but if your'e going to comment do it constructively, and no flat out slagging on other people unless you have a good respectful reason. What follows is a detailed view into the movie. If you dont feel like reading that, skip to the last bit.

Movie starts out with a helicopter shot chasing Darren B. (who incidently screams out the most hideously cheap hollywood line I've ever seen. Not gonna say it, you'll have to see this classic for yourself). Definate sick Mountain Bike Parachuting though.

From the intro it cuts into Darren B. riding to typical nwd rocker music. Pretty much everything is shot in slow motion with typical NWD style zoomed-into-rider filming. It's a pity because the first few shots of him tailwhipping and super-seatering the jump at Utah are beatufiul, but he goes -incredibly- high. Zoomed so far into Darren, you can barely tell how big he's actually going. Pick up a copy of Dirt (with Chase on the cover) to see John Gibson's photo of Darren doing the sseater to see what I mean. It's pretty confusing to watch as well because we're treated to Darren doing the most styled out airs and biggest gaps, then a shot of him doing a non-clicked no footer to bar turn off a drop, and an ugly sseater off a drop into a horrible tuck no hander (nowhere near tucked).

If a shot's no good, why dont you just cut it, instead of including it in the video and bringing the overall quality of the scene down? If I was Darren and at his level of riding, I'd be pretty pissed off at having a no footer to bar turn included in my part that has 360s over road gaps and 3 tables over 10 foot spines.

Dunne's section is done in slow motion to typical nwd rock music. Pretty much no tricking at all, just really, really, big hits. I respect this because he is right, there will always be a place in mtn. biking for going big, and if he does that, and does it well, then it makes for a good section.

John Cowan is an amazing rider. Backflips over rivers? What the hell? Nothing really new in terms of the tricks he's pulling (except that corked flip thing), but it's really cool to see him take gnarly tricks back to the mountains instead of the same old backflip x-up in his backyard.

Wayne goss is incredibly surprising- I never expected his part to be so good. He takes things one step further than most bikers in the movie, whne you expect him to 3 tap a van, he 5 taps it. When you expect an x-up or something, he pulls a clean barspin. Definately one of the most promising newer riders of the year for me.

Richie Schley's section is like... every other Schley section. Lots of trails and hucks and barturns. He used to have a smooth as baby's butt style but it seems like he's been losing it lately. Pressure from younger 'uns forcing him to try new tricks?

Dave Watson, see Richie Schley. I dont see the point of watching guys bar turn the same drops and gaps all day when there are other young rippers who can hit these drops with more style, and even trick them. This is just my honest opinion, as a consumer and viewer.

Wade Simmons hasnt lost much over these years. Even if he doesnt trick as much, it's cool to see that he still retains the old smooth style that's fun to watch and easy on the eyes. There's something about Simmons that will always remain timeless.

Cam Mccaul. Oh my Lord. Log/stump rides to tailwhips? What is this? One of my favourite sections in the movie for sure. Probably one of the guys to do actual good looking inverts instead of half assed tables. Rocking the deraileur and vertical dropouts, it's cool to see someone staying true to mountain biking.

Cedric Gracia. EPIC. That's pretty much it. Cedric's always loved for his personality. The most beautiful shots in the most beautiful places, and FINALLY a song to match the riding and mood of a section. Also, finally someone that holds his manuals!! Truth be told, some of this footage looks a tad sped up. His power wheelies look unnatural, and I've seen him power wheelie in real life. It doesnt look like that. It's quite unnerving going from slowed down like crazy shots to possibly sped up ones. Why doesnt freeride ent. play stuff like it is in real life?

Cam Zink and Kyle Strait. Sick lines, amazing tricks, Strait no handering a 40 ft. gap. These are guys who are young, have a ton of potential, and they're going to be around for a long time because they respect theyre place and dont **** talk every second they get to.

Geoff Gullevich. Local ripper. Sick riding. Super Seaters on pinner jumps on A-Line, but why not show it's A-line? Better filming and more consideration of the skills that go into the riding in this section could've made it so much better. Not everyone knows it's a small 6 ft table, but if the filmers had made that obvious, it'd be a better testament into the skills of the rider. Right after showing a sseater on a 6 ft table, we get treated to an ugly table on a 20 footer. How does that make any sense at all? Show us how good this kid is and cut his outtakes. If it's a bad shot, DONT SHOW IT. Gully's WAY better than that.

Good to see Gatzka and Brooks getting the exposure after UFC and proving it by hitting big lines. Would've been nice to see more tricks than straight airs though.

Vanderham. See Schley and Watson.

Voreis hits some gnarly lines (and his 3 crash is just crazy). I find it ironic how Freeride ent. would dedicate 10 seconds of slowed down footage to him doing a table off a rock, but play off Kirt pulling a SUPER corked 3 to a massive no foot can like it's nothing.

Chase's section is typically chase, something new (backflip to fakie's on a pinner dirt quarter), BIG hurricanes, smooth style. His consistency is probably one of things that make him a big favourite rider of mine. Too bad he got stuck with a teaser song though.

Lenosky's section starts with him signing boops. It's good to see Freeride ent. making an effort to bring back some respect to prob. one of the best bikers in biking. I dont think I've ever seen a Lenosky section where he doesnt do something new and just bewildering. Hititing up rails at speed and 180ing off, barspinning rail gaps. It's cool to see the contrast between Chase and Lenosky too, with Chase bringing street tricks to the dirt, and Lenosky exclusively hitting street lines with street tricks. Unfortunately the reoccuring theme of everything being in slow motion is here again. It doesnt let you into how fast and how gnarly some of this stuff is.

Bourdon learns to backflip!! Although a lot of guys (including me) dont like watching Robbie ride, when I sat down to think about it, this guy is small and doesnt have as much bike control as most riders. So while we can sit here and slag at him doing bar turns all day, I think it's more impressive to watch him bar turn all day to watching a bigger more-in-control rider bar turn all day. All said and done though, if given the chance, I'd rather not watch a bar turn.

Paul B. Probably the only other section in the movie with a song to match the mood of the riding. This kid goes big, he tailwhips, backflips, and 3s everything, combines them (3 whips), and does a 7 better than I've seen some bmxers do it. Have you guys ever ridden a kona ht? They're huge and get in your way. Watching him 7 a Kona is THE most impressive thing in the movie, and probably the biggest thing to go down in mtn. biking this year. Personally I wouldnt mind watching a 2 song part of Paul.

---------

So what's my opinion? The riding was good at parts, boring at parts, but a bigger issue is what freeride ent. is doing to the industry. They're taking in all the biggest sponsers and pretty much demolishing the movie budget for most of them. What we end up with is a biking industry that has one big budget movie a year, and a lot of little ones that pretty much receive no funding at all. This gives up and coming film makers with potentially more talent less ability to show us a better film because it wasnt shot in 16mm with helicopter footage and rope lines.

NWD films are glamerous, filmed in the most incredible of places, and everything is shot in high quality film. Which means that riders sometimes dont want to go all out with a new revolutionary trick because, with more takes to land, it would mean more money spent. This also means Freeride ent.'s going to include all the bad parts that shouldnt be making a movie (Darren B's no footer to bar turn) because they dont want to waste precious footage. So to make up for the riding, these guys find the most scenic places all over the world and shoot everything with expensive as hell helicopters. The riders dont want to get injured so they end up doing bar turns all day. As a result, the viewer ends up sitting at home watching bar turns all day. Who wants that?

Slow Motion's usually used to emphasize the size of a trick. An ugly table off a rock does NOT deserve slow motion. Please show us stuff the way it should be. Also, is freeride ent. going to include riding noises anytime soon ? Something isnt right watching a film about mountain biking and not hearing gears churning or tyres gripping dirt.

I know music's a personal thing, but when most people hate the music in a movie, you think the filmakers would take heed and notice. I'm sick of great riding being butchered by kiddy punk rock that makes no attempt at matching the riding and overall mood of a section. Also, if a rider's going to do a super seater on a 6 ft. table, show how gnarly the trick is. That's the difference between the collective and nwd films. The collective communicated with the riders and it shows in the film, people do see the difficulties behind a big huck or trick, instead of a random super seater in the middle of nowhere.

And finally, this is taken from Jeremy Jones in the new snowboarding film 91 words for snow. He's considered the undisputed king of freeride snowboarding, and I'm pretty sure 99% of snowboarders (no exaggeration) would say he's the best freeride snowboarder out there. He's almost 30 years old.

"Where I get a lot of my energy is when I get in the heli for a day of filming it's like there's so many people in this world who would love to be in that seat and if you're not giving it everything you've got, then.. you're taking up space"

That's my 2 cents. Damn that was waayyy longer than I intended it to be.
 
J

J5ive

Guest
Dude, its a movie. Watch it and move on.

Though, I pretty much agree with everything above. ;)
 

tlproject7

Monkey
Nov 15, 2005
520
0
i dont know if we were all watching the same movie or not but alot of that movie was prettty crazy. its compltely fine to say you dont like the movie or a shot, but to say stuff like bearclaws super seater is just ugly, who are you to say that, can you do a nicer one, cause then its all good. and them all bein scared to hurt them selves, yea who isnt, they're all people who have lives out side of a 45min movie, not stunt doubles in an action flick
 

Downhiller

Turbo Monkey
Sep 20, 2004
1,498
0
CROATIA....europe....CROATIA
i agre with you slang..

i dont have dvd i download movie from lime wire and in every new nwd bender is more and more less on movie, on nwd 5 he is just on extras so is the same thing on nwd 6 or he aint anymore in any nwd movie?
 
Sep 10, 2001
834
1
I personally thought this was the best of the last couple NWD vids... They focused less on the "plot" and more on the riding. They did the opening with Claw and pretty much left it at that.

Overall, I say two thumbs up!!

Brian
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
motomike said:
ummm, what's a Super Seater? :help:
Canadian for superman seat-grab.

I liked it personally. I watch to see progression as well as long-time favorites ripping and NWD6 provided both. I thought Watson's and Simmons's parts were great and was blown away by McCaul and Gullevich.
 

blt2ride

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2005
2,333
0
Chatsworth
J5ive said:
Dude, its a movie. Watch it and move on.

Though, I pretty much agree with everything above. ;)
I haven't seen it, yet. To be honest, I'm sure it will be a decent movie. However, it will be the same old thing from the NWD video series...hucks and ladders. Personally, I'm kind of tired of these types of movies, (watching someone ride some ladders and bridges on the North Shore or watching Jeff Lenosky do some "street trials" doesn't really catch my interest anymore). Although, there's still a market for these videos, and I'm sure I will enjoy certain parts of it.

Now days, it's all about Clay Porter's videos and the "Earthed" series...I never get tired of watching DH race and 4X footage--that's just me...
 

be-radd

Chimp
May 31, 2004
96
1
O-town
i dont wanna sound like a hater but the soundtrack just wasent up to par in NWD6, i got tired of the rock pretty quick after darrins segment. im not a huge fan of rap, but they could have mixed it up a bit like the last videos, i personally like gosse's segment the best, some of the stuff he did i think was pretty ballsey and hey c-mon who dosent like a mohawk
 
May 12, 2005
977
0
roanoke va
paul b, cowan, chase, jeff, voreis's section were all fat, and the slow-mo was well played in al lot of sections. (jeff's wall-gap over the door)
i love watching 4X and DS, but my favorite MTB movies ever were the original drop-ins. when they have virtural unknowns, and documented everything. i like seeing exactly what goes into a massave gap, how many hours work, how many speed checks a rider does, the reaction after somone nails somthing, the effects if they come up short, the hostial trips, inviteing local rippers to be the guide, watching mech. failure take out one of the better riders for a day, and hearing riding sounds. all that behind the secnes and driving and shinanagens. (how do you spell that)
 

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
I though Wayne Goss was the smoothest rider in NWD5......he did that step-up jump and rolled it out backward and did with alot of speed......things have come a long since watching Chase do rollback after rollabck after rollback off fences......
 

SuboptimusPrime

Turbo Monkey
Aug 18, 2005
1,658
1,633
NorCack
I thought the movie was entertaining, and it got me pumped to ride. To me, that is the point of bike porn. I don't really understand why people seem to think every single part of a movie should showcase some never-before-seen location and/or trick. Hell by that logic, I should be yawning as I watch Darren 3 a drop since he's been doing that since NWD4... I have no problem watching Darren do his thing or watching Wade shred a trail...it's always entertaining for me. Obviously, to each his own.
 

The Kadvang

I rule
Apr 13, 2004
3,499
0
six five oh
tlproject7 said:
its compltely fine to say you dont like the movie or a shot, but to say stuff like bearclaws super seater is just ugly, who are you to say that, can you do a nicer one, cause then its all good.
Or not.

Thats like saying you have to be a NFL player to have an opinion on football.
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
SuboptimusPrime said:
I thought the movie was entertaining, and it got me pumped to ride. To me, that is the point of bike porn. I don't really understand why people seem to think every single part of a movie should showcase some never-before-seen location and/or trick. Hell by that logic, I should be yawning as I watch Darren 3 a drop since he's been doing that since NWD4... I have no problem watching Darren do his thing or watching Wade shred a trail...it's always entertaining for me. Obviously, to each his own.
I agree ^. I do wish they would have actually filmed A-line. I couldn't really tell that it was A-line. They could have zoomed out and filmed the jumps too, instead of just the air.
 
I was bored. There was nine million shots of No cans.. and now I would be happy if I never saw another no can EVER.

Something that has been bugging me though,
Cowan was bragging about how he was going to film his segment on the Redbull Elevation jumps (which is why they stayed up after the comp) but there was not one shot of them, and I KNOW that him and Paul B both rode them and filmed on them...

I am just trying to figure out if it was that they could not perform appreciably on them relative to the BMXers.. or if the Mountain INSISTED that they use the Kona Jump Farm stuff instead because of the MASSIVE financial investment they put into building it..

What I did like of the movie was some of the location shoots.. it is nice to see trails of that level being built in the interior of BC.

What I liked least.. was Cedric's segment..
Please.. be a mountain bike movie.. not a wannabe surf movie.
 

wydopen

Turbo Monkey
Jan 16, 2005
1,229
60
805
Zach Dank said:
Carlin Dunne has mastered the bar hump. He is the new Bender.
:stupid: ...lets see u hit a 50 footer and not let the rear wheel drop a tad especially if u were a lanky 6'2"
 

wydopen

Turbo Monkey
Jan 16, 2005
1,229
60
805
slang said:
This also means Freeride ent.'s going to include all the bad parts that shouldnt be making a movie (Darren B's no footer to bar turn) because they dont want to waste precious footage. .
thats not true they leave alot on the cutting room floor
 

Zark

Hey little girl, do you want some candy?
Oct 18, 2001
6,254
7
Reno 911
I was entertained when I saw it, of course I also had close to 20 beers in me!

Soundtrack. Dio, Megadeth and Anthrax....oh yeah!
 

Rip

Mr. Excitement
Feb 3, 2002
7,327
1
Over there somewhere.
The trick I found to working best on getting my Cowan to feel more nimble was to ditch the 70 mm stem and go with a 40mm, and running the wheel base as short as possible.

Oh, I liked Dunne's and Cowan's section and Paul B did kill it at the end.
 

Zach Dank

Turbo Monkey
Jun 28, 2005
1,296
0
Gnarcal
wydopen said:
:stupid: ...lets see u hit a 50 footer and not let the rear wheel drop a tad especially if u were a lanky 6'2"
he never hit a 50 footer hommie. That's just a wee bit exagerated
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
tlproject7 said:
i dont know if we were all watching the same movie or not but alot of that movie was prettty crazy. its compltely fine to say you dont like the movie or a shot, but to say stuff like bearclaws super seater is just ugly, who are you to say that, can you do a nicer one, cause then its all good. and them all bein scared to hurt them selves, yea who isnt, they're all people who have lives out side of a 45min movie, not stunt doubles in an action flick
Dear Lord, punctuation, capitals and spelling can be your friend.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Meh. They've got a formula that works. Some of you just sound jaded. The sport is progressing really fast, sure, but you are not going to get a new trick in every shot. Jeez, look at all the rad stuff in this movie, even compared to last years some of it is off the hook, and it's another planet from 2 or 3 years ago. As for the bitching about lame tricks and slow motion, perhaps they are just trying to show style. Heck, it was art in The Collective.

Don't like the music? Turn the sound off and rock out with your own tunes, who cares?

Personally I'm just glad they don't have much stupid story line stuff. I don't want a story in my regular porn and I don't want any in my bike porn either. Shut up and just get to it!! :cool:
 

sleepinggiant

Monkey
Jul 9, 2004
498
0
San Jose, CA
I was surprised that UFC runner-ups Matt Brooks and Jared Gatzka were in the film, and UFC winner Kurt Storge only had a small segment on the bonus disk. I was bummed that they left out Matt Hunter, I really like the way that guy rides.
 

punkassean

Turbo Monkey
Feb 3, 2002
4,561
0
SC, CA
Zach Dank said:
Carlin Dunne has mastered the bar hump. He is the new Bender.
$hit talk like that from just about anyone but you would require some serious reprimanding. Since you hit lines that big it gives your opinion some weight. But I'd think you know better than to assume what you see in a few minutes of video represents a riders full abilities. That gap is damn near 50' down by my estimations and since no one who was actually there is ghey enough to bust out the measuring tape or geometry workbook pinkbike style then all we can do is guess.

Those of us here and on MTBR know what you can do on a bike but no one else in the MTB scene does and they'd probably call you a hack if they just saw some "snapshot" of your riding. All people get to see of Carlin is in a mag here and there or a short video seggy, and that's more than you're getting even though you throw down so you can't judge skills JUST by what makes it into a video or whatever.

Carlin flips and does threes, I've seen both in person. If you want my opinion Freeride Ent. is pigeon holing Carlin as "The New Bender" because Bender is out of the scene for the most part. That's too bad because Carlin is much more multi-dimensional than just hucking, I ride with the guy often and he absolutely rips. He places well (podium expert or better) at races with no practice and half the time hung over. Not to mention he has an illustrious background in motorcycle racing and there is ZERO hucking in that, it's all bike handling skills.

Anyway I'm done e-defending my bro. I've been trying to get him to head up to your neck of the woods so you guys can ride and if that happens I'm sure you'll change your tune pretty fast.
 

Zach Dank

Turbo Monkey
Jun 28, 2005
1,296
0
Gnarcal
punkassean said:
$hit talk like that from just about anyone but you would require some serious reprimanding. Since you hit lines that big it gives your opinion some weight. But I'd think you know better than to assume what you see in a few minutes of video represents a riders full abilities. That gap is damn near 50' down by my estimations and since no one who was actually there is ghey enough to bust out the measuring tape or geometry workbook pinkbike style then all we can do is guess.

Those of us here and on MTBR know what you can do on a bike but no one else in the MTB scene does and they'd probably call you a hack if they just saw some "snapshot" of your riding. All people get to see of Carlin is in a mag here and there or a short video seggy, and that's more than you're getting even though you throw down so you can't judge skills JUST by what makes it into a video or whatever.

Carlin flips and does threes, I've seen both in person. If you want my opinion Freeride Ent. is pigeon holing Carlin as "The New Bender" because Bender is out of the scene for the most part. That's too bad because Carlin is much more multi-dimensional than just hucking, I ride with the guy often and he absolutely rips. He places well (podium expert or better) at races with no practice and half the time hung over. Not to mention he has an illustrious background in motorcycle racing and there is ZERO hucking in that, it's all bike handling skills.

Anyway I'm done e-defending my bro. I've been trying to get him to head up to your neck of the woods so you guys can ride and if that happens I'm sure you'll change your tune pretty fast.
Chill dog. I don't doubt that dunne has the skeelz. NWD is shaping him up as the next Bendy. I'm sure he rips it gnarbot. I, in no way think i'm better than him or anyone for that matter. I just call out the bar humpage when i see it. Dunne throws it down for sure. I have respect for Bender to.
 

Banshee Rider

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2003
1,452
10
To much slow mo' and too many tricks. This is mountain biking, why didnt I just buy a bmx vid and see them throw down 10x harder? I thought it was by far the worst disorder installment yet.
 

wydopen

Turbo Monkey
Jan 16, 2005
1,229
60
805
punkassean said:
$hit talk like that from just about anyone but you would require some serious reprimanding. Since you hit lines that big it gives your opinion some weight. But I'd think you know better than to assume what you see in a few minutes of video represents a riders full abilities. That gap is damn near 50' down by my estimations and since no one who was actually there is ghey enough to bust out the measuring tape or geometry workbook pinkbike style then all we can do is guess.

Those of us here and on MTBR know what you can do on a bike but no one else in the MTB scene does and they'd probably call you a hack if they just saw some "snapshot" of your riding. All people get to see of Carlin is in a mag here and there or a short video seggy, and that's more than you're getting even though you throw down so you can't judge skills JUST by what makes it into a video or whatever.

Carlin flips and does threes, I've seen both in person. If you want my opinion Freeride Ent. is pigeon holing Carlin as "The New Bender" because Bender is out of the scene for the most part. That's too bad because Carlin is much more multi-dimensional than just hucking, I ride with the guy often and he absolutely rips. He places well (podium expert or better) at races with no practice and half the time hung over. Not to mention he has an illustrious background in motorcycle racing and there is ZERO hucking in that, it's all bike handling skills.

Anyway I'm done e-defending my bro. I've been trying to get him to head up to your neck of the woods so you guys can ride and if that happens I'm sure you'll change your tune pretty fast.

 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,335
2,448
Hypernormality
Banshee Rider said:
To much slow mo' and too many tricks. This is mountain biking, why didnt I just buy a bmx vid and see them throw down 10x harder? I thought it was by far the worst disorder installment yet.
Because people with their wheels firmly on the ground for more than a few minutes is boring?
 

slang

Monkey
Apr 20, 2005
130
0
wydopen said:
thats not true they leave alot on the cutting room floor
but obviously not enough, if a no footer to bar turn is making it into the movie and bringing his entire segment down.
 

slang

Monkey
Apr 20, 2005
130
0
J5ive said:
Dude, its a movie. Watch it and move on.

Though, I pretty much agree with everything above. ;)
It's hard to when I know some of the up-and-coming filmers and see what kind of budget those guys have to work with
 

slang

Monkey
Apr 20, 2005
130
0
spacemanspiff06 said:
paul b, cowan, chase, jeff, voreis's section were all fat, and the slow-mo was well played in al lot of sections. (jeff's wall-gap over the door)
i love watching 4X and DS, but my favorite MTB movies ever were the original drop-ins. when they have virtural unknowns, and documented everything. i like seeing exactly what goes into a massave gap, how many hours work, how many speed checks a rider does, the reaction after somone nails somthing, the effects if they come up short, the hostial trips, inviteing local rippers to be the guide, watching mech. failure take out one of the better riders for a day, and hearing riding sounds. all that behind the secnes and driving and shinanagens. (how do you spell that)
You are right, there is space in the biking world for all kinds of movies. Bike porn (nwd), race (earthed), documentary-style (hypnosis), and a lot more. Unfortunately, that "a lot more" part isnt getting the funding a lot of them deserve because sponsers now see NWD as the funding avenue, pretty much ignoring the rest and not giving everyone a free chance for change.

There are up-and-coming unknown riders, and there are up-and-coming unknown filmers too.

It's the difference between bmx and mtn. biking movies. There seems to be a more spread out feel in the bmx movie industry, with movies coming out of no where that stun and kill the higher budget ones. Of course, there also is the bad, but with mtn. biking, we seem to be getting more bad than good at the moment unfortunately