Rev's Annual Ski Movie Skewering
Yearbook by MSP
I arrived to the small little theatre here in town after a few games of billiards and a couple of beers. There were waaaaay more people there than at MSP's tour last year. TGR generally packs the house here thanks to their coverage of hometown heros Rick Greener, Will Burkes and Kent Kreitler and their devotion to big mountain skiing (we don't have a park, really). MSP, on the other hand, has received a rather lukewarm response here in the past. Not the case this year. The lobby was going off with lots of familiar faces, hotties in beanies and the lurking Smith crew.
After giving away a handful of prizes, the MSP bro gave a nice intro and started the movie.
Content: Far and away, this is the most humorous ski flick I've seen yet. The high school theme is done really well, with dodgeball segments, school nurse segments (read: Sarah Burke), Principal Douglas, Mr. McConkey, etc. etc. Each featured skier is given a different cliche' high school roll. Mark Abma, for instance, is a greasy geek who gets waxed playing dodgeball. Eric Pollard is the stoner who can't stay awake and Tanner Raineville is about the biggest nerd you've ever seen. You get the picture.
The actual skiing segments are pretty damned impressive. I had no idea Mark Abma killed it in the big mountain scene, but in his debut outside of the park, the guy skis some super hairball lines. Props to him.
Other highlights included Ingrid Backstrom's segment which is the most impressive female big mountain skiing I've ever seen. The girl straight kills it and punctuates the segment with a sick front flip at the end.
Tanner Hall is a bigger deuschbag than ever. He tries the big mountain thing and gets spanked. Good jibber but the gorilla thing ain't happenin' outside the park. And someone remind him that a) he's from MT and b) he's whiter than average. People were literally busting up in the theatre during his "lifestyle" shots and interviews.
McConkey and JT kill the cliff==>BASE thing which I found to be a bit long and redudant. It was cool but got a little old. Still, those guys have cantelope sized nuts.
Overall, this movie had more big mountain footie than most MSP flicks, which I dig. Only a few jibby jabby segments made me happy.
Content grade: B
Soundtrack: Overall, I'd say I liked a few songs in the flick and I thought that the music worked with the footage most of the time. I found myself digging a couple of songs I didn't know. And there were a couple of segments where the music was nothing short of painful. I'll put it this way...I rarely noticed the music unless it hurt and there weren't ANY songs that I wanted to investigate, like most ski flicks.
Soundtrack grade: C
Cinematography: This movie absolutely killed it in cinematography. The audience kept oooooooooooohing and aaaaaaaaaaahing at the expansive shots, the matrix-like rotating shots of arials (see the trailer) and a few really cool helmet cams. The picture was unbelievably clear, too. Being a camera JONG, I can't tell you why. But picture and cinematography wise, this is the best ski flick to date.
Cinematography grade: A+
Overall: Overall, Yearbook is a must-see movie on its cinematography merits alone. Add some unreal big mountain segments, the genuinely funny side story and the ooooooooooh and aaaaaah factor, and you have a solid ski flick.
Overall Grade: B
Coming soon: Stimulus, Soul Purpose
