Surfing Film Reviews and Cool Vids

promethius · 09-01-2012 7:58pm

It's been mentioned in the thread here's my review of
September Sessions

This one is classified as surf porn, ie no real story or much dialogue just loads of surfing!
Jack Johnson shot this in glorious 16mm back in 2002, he doesn't just do songs for childrens movies

It's a trip to Sumatra with some of the best waves i've seen on film.
The perfection and the consistency of the waves is out of this world, it's the kind of thing a surfer goes to bed at night and is thinking about last thing before they go to sleep.

Top notch surfers including Kelly Slater (with hair!), Shane Dorian and Rob Machado feature and some of the Kelly footage is for me as good as it gets. No heats, points, interference, it's just wave after wave after wave. The scenery is spectacular and a few bits of surf wisdom from the lads too.

Soundtrack fits real nice with the film. This is my favourite in this category of surfing film. It's a great one to throw on the night before a surfing day, really gets you in the mood and is very relaxing to watch.

Decos · 09-01-2012 10:10pm

rodento wrote: »

Brings back memories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rMrCHq-FlfM#

Where's that?

Brandog · 10-01-2012 12:01pm

promethius wrote: »

It's been mentioned in the thread here's my review of
September Sessions

This one is classified as surf porn, ie no real story or much dialogue just loads of surfing!
Jack Johnson shot this in glorious 16mm back in 2002, he doesn't just do songs for childrens movies

It's a trip to Sumatra with some of the best waves i've seen on film.
The perfection and the consistency of the waves is out of this world, it's the kind of thing a surfer goes to bed at night and is thinking about last thing before they go to sleep.

Top notch surfers including Kelly Slater (with hair!), Shane Dorian and Rob Machado feature and some of the Kelly footage is for me as good as it gets. No heats, points, interference, it's just wave after wave after wave. The scenery is spectacular and a few bits of surf wisdom from the lads too.

Soundtrack fits real nice with the film. This is my favourite in this category of surfing film. It's a great one to throw on the night before a surfing day, really gets you in the mood and is very relaxing to watch.

What a beautiful piece of filming!!Surf porn? Certainly put the surf horn on me:D:D:D

Mickeroo · 10-01-2012 12:12pm

rodento wrote: »

Brings back memories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rMrCHq-FlfM#

Memories eh? Were you the snaker or the snake-ee? :pac:

promethius · 10-01-2012 8:13pm

watched this one recently:

blue horizon

This film by legendary surf videographer Jack McCoy follows competition surfer Andy Irons RIP and freesurfer Dave "Rasta" Rastovich over the course of two years all over the world as they do some travel and also take part in the world tour.

There is plenty of really good comment and out of the water stuff along the way and it looks back to some of the legends that have inspired the two guys as surfers. Some of the bits about Rasta's background are brilliant, he used to compete with olympic swimming legend grant hackett in surf lifesaving. His dad is a real character.

The music is as good as i've seen in a surf film, varied and always suits the mood of the scene.

Rasta whom i'd never come across before is very likeable, chilled out and interesting. Any doesn't come across very well, doesn't seem a particularly nice guy but will leave it at that. Kelly Slater features a bit as part of the world tour and there's some Bruce Irons in there too. Eddie, Archie, Gerry etc get brief mentions. All or most of the good international breaks feature.

There's a short (thankfully) piece on tow in surfing, no new footage it's all been done to death in countless other movies. The film does acknowledge that the true test of a waterman is to paddle in at the end of the segment.

It's a good insight into the tour and how it works, this doesn't dominate the film and is cut back to throughout it which works very well.

Then there's the cinematography, without doubt it's the most complete surfing film in this regard.
Some of it is pure art, tropical barrells with hyponotising colours and light. The camera work is so strong, i was trying to figure out how they actually captured some of the shots it doesn't seem possible. Every angle is covered and makes you feel part of the action. Mindblowing stuff.

This is an inspiring and beautiful surf film and makes you want to catch waves more than most!

Cecil Mor · 11-01-2012 7:23pm

Crystal Voyager.

This is probably not to the taste of most on here, no up & down monkey dancing nonsense, but its a classic featuring some important characters from surfing's history.

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjWhqgs4uEo

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eRNbyiquq4

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THQDD0vPKhk&feature=related

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2N3WC_cKRY

Part 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHct27wG84I&feature=related

Part 6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t791nWbWE-g&feature=related

keryl · 11-01-2012 7:43pm

Great film

Really captures that 70s Country movement.

Love the soundtrack, it's a guilty pleasure.

promethius · 11-01-2012 10:50pm

Cecil Mor wrote: »

Crystal Voyager.

This is probably not to the taste of most on here, no up & down monkey dancing nonsense, but its a classic featuring some important characters from surfing's history.

Dude thank you for sharing that, i really enjoyed watching it.
The music is so good and the vibe is really relaxing.
As for the boat, i think that's one of the best examples i've ever seen of "living the dream"
lots of changes since then, the opening sequence with leashless boards flying in all directions is an eye opener

imagine if you'd shown him a go pro back then and said this was the future! pioneering stuff there.

got a beautiful clean (big) reef session in this morning at first light and all these movies are greatly increasing the stoke and motivating me!

keep em coming!

OuterBombie · 12-01-2012 9:56am

Cecil Mor wrote: »

Crystal Voyager.

This is probably not to the taste of most on here, no up & down monkey dancing nonsense, but its a classic featuring some important characters from surfing's history.

Great flick, props for getting it up here. I love his dream about a car that was a boat!

I recently lent my copy to a friend who's building his own boat, the scene where he's transferring the lead is hero stuff!

I don't see the Pink Floyd Echo's piece in there. Its at the end on the VHS I have at home:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEZTheet3jc

Skip on to about the 3 minute mark and pull in :P

Greenough was on water camera for a lot of the surf shots for Big Wednesday.

Some legend.

VNP · 12-01-2012 2:38pm

My eyes wont dry III triple box set, I Got it a few months ago, not really worth the money thb, but If you want to see amazing barrel riding barrel after barrel every 25 seconds with a few shots of Brian Conley driving to the beaches in his massive jeep and no tangents its the movie for you. In fairness the guy has cahones of steel and its amazing to see some of waves he goes for in mexico etc, but the lack of humor or a tales makes it difficult work, I enjoyed it no end but my non surfing friends were talking over it before long:o.

dermo909 · 13-01-2012 10:57am

I agree with your opinions on September sessions. Very chilled out movie and the soundtrack is excellent. Going on a trip like that is what we all dream of.

Riding Giants also gets a big thumbs up from me. Great story, great narrative and enthusiastic interviews with footage of some serious waves.

keryl · 13-01-2012 10:59am

Watched One California Day, surprisingly good. Thought it gave a positive view of Cali rather than a full on soundtrack and attitude.

Also watched Blue Horizon, really liked it. He's passed but my God did Irons love the money. I suppose it was good as it showed the difference between him and Rasta.

rodento · 22-01-2012 1:01am

Big Screen release to wait for

Called the Drift:D

Drift%2BTeaser%2BPoster.jpg

Mickeroo · 22-01-2012 11:26pm

Surfwise.

Its a doumentary about the Paskowitz family. Basically a guy and his wife decide to live their whole life out of a camper van and just surf, they have 9 kids who are all raised in this fashion, it's not a surf movie more a documentary about a family. The first part is steeped in the idealism of their lifestyle but as it goes on and the more they talk to the now adult kids the more the cracks show in what was actually a pretty messed up family. It was very well made and kept me interested for the whole run time, the only thing was I felt it didn't go hard enough on the father, it didn't delve into the darker aspects as much as it should have but was still a good documentary.

here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54wo_WMzfo

xxyyzz · 23-01-2012 11:16am

Mickeroo wrote: »

Surfwise.

Its a doumentary about the Paskowitz family. Basically a guy and his wife decide to live their whole life out of a camper van and just surf, they have 9 kids who are all raised in this fashion, it's not a surf movie more a documentary about a family. The first part is steeped in the idealism of their lifestyle but as it goes on and the more they talk to the now adult kids the more the cracks show in what was actually a pretty messed up family. It was very well made and kept me interested for the whole run time, the only thing was I felt it didn't go hard enough on the father, it didn't delve into the darker aspects as much as it should have but was still a good documentary.

It's odd because the guy is regarded as a surfing hero but to me he came across as a sociopath at best. If it happened here the kids would have been taken into care. The oldest kid was seriously memssed up especially when he sings the song about his father.

Mickeroo · 23-01-2012 4:03pm

xxyyzz wrote: »

It's odd because the guy is regarded as a surfing hero but to me he came across as a sociopath at best. If it happened here the kids would have been taken into care. The oldest kid was seriously memssed up especially when he sings the song about his father.

Yea that was a pretty powerful scene. I don't know how anyone could regard him as a hero, though I identify with some of his philosophy to an extent I don't agree with putting the kids through all that. Sociopath pretty much sums it up I think.

[Rasta] · 23-01-2012 8:41pm

Blue Horizon by Jack McCoy

Very enjoyable movie documenting both Andy Irons' and Rasta's surf career.
Some great footage and the contrast between the two guys makes an interesting film.

rodento · 24-01-2012 8:46pm

For all those weekend warriors:D

http://magicseaweed.com/Weekend-Warrior-Scotland-Content/3657/

promethius · 24-01-2012 9:51pm

rodento wrote: »

For all those weekend warriors:D

http://magicseaweed.com/Weekend-Warrior-Scotland-Content/3657/

thanks really enjoyed that, bit of braveheart music in the mix too, can't be beaten!

OuterBombie · 25-01-2012 10:28am

rodento wrote: »

For all those weekend warriors:D

http://magicseaweed.com/Weekend-Warrior-Scotland-Content/3657/

Nice, a trip to Scotland is definitely on the cards for the future.

If we doing web flicks, check out:

http://thechive.com/2012/01/13/the-most-beautiful-waves-ever-surfed-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feedburner%2FZdSV+%28theCHIVE%29

I had a link to this from the surfers path website but it wasn't working.

Mickeroo · 28-01-2012 11:29pm

God Went Surfing With The Devil

MV5BMzU1MTIzODU1N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDc4NTU1NQ@@._V1._SY317_CR30,0,214,317_.jpg

Watched this today. Its a documentary centred around the small surf communities in Israel and Gaza and follows the efforts of the Surf 4 Peace charity to get 23 surfboards into Palestine. Its not bad but not as good as I was hoping it would be, it spends too much time in Israel (although that probably couldn't be helped) with a lot of interviews that don't really say all that much. The best part of the film is when they finally get into Gaza but this is only the last 15/20 minutes or so. Its good to see both sides but I just found the parts in Israel lacking any real impact for the most part. Worth a watch but not for the surfing footage which there isn't very much of.

Mickeroo · 21-02-2012 9:51am

Bustin' Down the Door:

MV5BNzY0NTk2MTM3N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTkwNzg3Mg@@._V1._SY317_.jpg

Gave this a look on Netflix.This is about the birth of professional surfing in the 70's. Its a pretty well made documentary, moves a long at a good pace, has a good story and is even pretty moving in places. It tells the story of a group of 6 Australians and South African surfers incuding Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew, Mark Richards and Shaun Tompson, who moved to Hawaii's north shore to try and make a career out of their sport. Some really good vintage surf footage in it. Worth a look even if you're not a surfer. Narrated by Ed Norton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NOfm4WEMCs

rodento · 21-02-2012 5:33pm

Mav's clip:D

http://vimeo.com/37003064

promethius · 06-04-2012 11:15pm

video of mullaghmore tow in session 2012
i'll call it how it is. a load of self indulgent ****e. most of it's either out of focus, way too far out or filler material (a van plashing a puddle!). in their defence i believe cameras that were meant to get out didn't make it due to problems launching boats in the conditions. i thought this would be the high quality in proper position footage i thought would surface but there mustn't be any. a real wasted opportunity.

stevire · 10-04-2012 8:15am

promethius wrote: »

video of mullaghmore tow in session 2012
i'll call it how it is. a load of self indulgent ****e. most of it's either out of focus, way too far out or filler material (a van plashing a puddle!). in their defence i believe cameras that were meant to get out didn't make it due to problems launching boats in the conditions. i thought this would be the high quality in proper position footage i thought would surface but there mustn't be any. a real wasted opportunity.

Didn't get a chance to watch this yet but footage might be a bit better than what has been released so far:
http://vimeo.com/39821073

Mickeroo · 01-07-2012 2:10pm

Worth a look, some Irish footage in it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKeslrZ-i6k

promethius · 11-10-2012 6:06pm

nice 25 min piece on some big wave PADDLE IN surfing with greg long. these paddle in guys are heros, big time....
http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/adventure-video-of-the-week-the-psychology-of-big-wave-surfing-with-greg-long.html

promethius · 07-03-2013 12:50am

watched chasing mavericks tonight
based on a true story of a young boy becoming a man as he prepares to surf mavericks.

surf scenes are mostly good, some continuity stuff that is hard to get away from, but some lovely aerial sequences at some smaller breaks than mavericks itself. think it's a cameo of the guy who pioneered the wave?

some of the big wave footage is impressive and the wipe outs look like they really took them on the head for the cameras.

lot's of "be the wave" type of stuff but it works ok if being a bit cheesy.

i won't give too much away but some touching moments in this.

def worth a watch

OuterBombie · 07-03-2013 10:12am

Agreed,

Watched "Chasing Mavericks" last week as well and thought it was a good show. For a Hollywood take on surfing it has to be up there as one of the best, thankfully the cringe factor was kept to a minimum.

Myself and some mates spent some time in Santa Cruz the summer of '95, the season after the winter glorified in the movie, so it was a nice trip down memory lane

Now I feel old though so need to go and surf....

Mickeroo · 07-03-2013 1:11pm

Looking forward to watching it, shame it didnt seem to get a proper cinema run here.

Freedive Ireland · 08-03-2013 7:46pm

Jesus lads 6 pages and no sign of Endless Summer or did I miss it? Classic. watch it before anything else.

Mickeroo · 20-03-2013 2:36pm

Few nice recent ones on vimeo.

Mainly Aileens in this one: http://vimeo.com/61082631

This one is in 2 parts:

Part 1: http://vimeo.com/61545174
Part 2: http://vimeo.com/61567729

promethius · 20-03-2013 11:33pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Few nice recent ones on vimeo.

Mainly Aileens in this one: http://vimeo.com/61082631

This one is in 2 parts:

Part 1: http://vimeo.com/61545174
Part 2: http://vimeo.com/61567729

some great sligo and donegal in there. is that mostly the peak in the first part? it's absolutely firing!!!:eek:

snowyeoghan · 22-03-2013 10:59pm

I think Chasing Mavericks is probably one of the better Hollywood surf films - does get a little cheesy at times.
They were often shooting the film while I was in the lineup, pretty surreal having a hollywood crew hanging around.
I often see Frosty Henson (as played by Gerard) in the lineup out here.

Not a film - but I found some time & made a short video of Santa Cruz & Mavz surf this winter: http://vimeo.com/59090010

That Aileens clip makes me want to move home.

@promethius, that's not The Peak

promethius · 22-03-2013 11:37pm

cheers buddy, must be an off the beaten track one so i won't ask :-)

Mickeroo · 23-03-2013 3:32pm

snowyeoghan wrote: »

I think Chasing Mavericks is probably one of the better Hollywood surf films - does get a little cheesy at times.
They were often shooting the film while I was in the lineup, pretty surreal having a hollywood crew hanging around.
I often see Frosty Henson (as played by Gerard) in the lineup out here.

Not a film - but I found some time & made a short video of Santa Cruz & Mavz surf this winter: http://vimeo.com/59090010

That Aileens clip makes me want to move home.

@promethius, that's not The Peak

Some very nice footage there, fair play. Good choice of music too! Would love to see a wave like that up close someday but unlikely to ever have a go at catching one at this stage

Here's one I just saw on facebook: http://vimeo.com/61260054#

Nice to see an irish vid that's not clare or donegal for a change :P

kumate_champ07 · 23-03-2013 3:35pm

Storm Surfers 3D on tonite in Lighthouse cinema Smithfield Dublin, 10.30pm

http://www.onlinecinematickets.com/index.php?s=LHSMITHF&p=details&eventCode=9537

" STORM SURFERS 3D is an epic, character-driven adventure documentary following two best friends on their quest to hunt down and ride the biggest and most dangerous waves in Australia. Aussie tow-surfing legend Ross Clarke-Jones and two-time world champion Tom Carroll enlist the help of surf forecaster Ben Matson and together they track and chase giant storms across the Great Southern Ocean..."

rodento · 23-03-2013 5:40pm

promethius wrote: »

cheers buddy, must be an off the beaten track one so i won't ask :-)

Is that the insurance thingy /mully clip:D

promethius · 06-11-2013 12:25am

northshore, absolute cheddar fest
Hoaulis, wise old board shapers, angry locals, a beautiful love interest, nagging mother, it's all in there!
if that's not enough it features laird hamilton, lopez and mark fou
acting is terrible but some nice wave action and a nice feel good vibe!
full film is on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK2W9dTksZI

keryl · 07-11-2013 12:21pm

promethius wrote: »

northshore, absolute cheddar fest
Hoaulis, wise old board shapers, angry locals, a beautiful love interest, nagging mother, it's all in there!
if that's not enough it features laird hamilton, lopez and mark fou
acting is terrible but some nice wave action and a nice feel good vibe!
full film is on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK2W9dTksZI

"Hey, who is that guy"

Occhie's acting is top draw stuff....

I love that film:D

keryl · 19-12-2013 8:09pm

Can anyone post some videos they like from films through to shorts

the London Surf Film festival has some great ones
Michael Kew on Vimeo, Morgan Maasen, the new Ryan Lovelace looks good.

Mickeroo · 15-01-2014 1:28pm

Some go-pro footage from mundaka: http://vimeo.com/83968390

Mickeroo · 21-02-2014 2:59pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Surfwise.

Its a doumentary about the Paskowitz family. Basically a guy and his wife decide to live their whole life out of a camper van and just surf, they have 9 kids who are all raised in this fashion, it's not a surf movie more a documentary about a family. The first part is steeped in the idealism of their lifestyle but as it goes on and the more they talk to the now adult kids the more the cracks show in what was actually a pretty messed up family. It was very well made and kept me interested for the whole run time, the only thing was I felt it didn't go hard enough on the father, it didn't delve into the darker aspects as much as it should have but was still a good documentary.

here's the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54wo_WMzfo

Don't know if anyone else here has a Netflix account but this film got added to the catalogue today. Well worth a watch.

Bub34 · 22-02-2014 11:23am

Archy full surf movie. Documentary bout Matt Archbold. Really good movie bout Archy the rebel surfer of the 80's. BRILLIANT!! A def must see

Bub34 · 02-03-2014 12:13am

Bub34 wrote: »

Archy full surf movie. Documentary bout Matt Archbold. Really good movie bout Archy the rebel surfer of the 80's. BRILLIANT!! A def must see

Anyone get the chance to look at this??

xxyyzz · 02-03-2014 3:49pm

Bub34 wrote: »

Anyone get the chance to look at this??

Saw it before, I thought it was pretty good. It was interesting to see how young surfers were thrown on the scrapheap by the big sponsors without any support. Andy Irons was another example of this where his drink and drug problems were swept under the carpet by billabong while he was still making $$$ for them.

Jack McCoy's deeper shade of blue is up on US netflix. Not a lot of original material but it's worth a look.

Mickeroo · 05-03-2014 1:48pm

Mickey Smith has a new short out: http://www.finisterreuk.com/comingupforair/full-film/

rodento · 05-03-2014 3:47pm

Check out the short vid of prowlers in the irish times website

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/surfers-pounce-as-prowlers-roars-back-to-life-1.1713484

Freedive Ireland · 06-03-2014 2:08pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Mickey Smith has a new short out: http://www.finisterreuk.com/comingupforair/full-film/

Nice "ambassadors of landless lattiitudes" what a poet.

promethius · 06-03-2014 10:11pm

Freedive Ireland wrote: »

Nice "ambassadors of landless lattiitudes" what a poet.

really enjoyed that, his videos are just top notch. love the voiceover.

Surfing Film Reviews and Cool Vids

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