Video Review Preview: Absinthe - Ready

I've been talking about Ready for a while now, but haven't reviewed it properly yet. First, here's a sample of what's coming. I got a chance to talk to Justin Hostynek, the big dog at Absinthe and he had some rad things to say. Check out this piece I did for Snowboarder. The video quality is poor, I know, but the sound is there and the content is what's really important. I'm thinking about putting up the raw interview, but it's 20 minutes and rambling. Let me know if that's something you're interested in and I'll hook you up.

Shit, while I'm typing I might as well do the review. Let me go find a rider list. . . Here we go (gotta love cut-and-paste):

Gigi Rüf, Jeremy Jones, Kevin Pearce, JP Solberg, Romain deMarchi, Matt Beardmore, Bjorn Leines, Scotty Lago, Jules Reymond, Chris Coulter, Markus Keller, Blair Habenicht, Marco Feichtner, Mikey LeBlanc, Matty Ryan, Keegan Valaika, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Cale Zima, Annie Boulanger, Nate Bozung, Nicolas Müller

Yeah, heavy hitters all the way. So many good parts. The rails were limited, but Absinthe has never really been known for the best urban sections. Of course, Mikey killed it, but after that it's more isolated bangers than solid sections. Big mountain Jeremy Jones was back with the crew again and didn't let anyone down. I always love watching what he can do on big lines. I do have some interview footage with him that I might throw up raw. He's such a good guy and with the experience he has, you know he's got good advice. Be sure you check back for that. He put together something like six parts this year and the ones I've seen have all been among his best work. I hope I rip like that when I'm in my 30's. Moving on, though. I gotta give one part away: they had a wreck section! Just when you thought films were giving up on those. I like the formula of showing the wreck and then showing the rider stomp the same trick, just to really show the process and the frustration. But the whole wreck section has an energy to it that just makes you remember how gnarly snowboarding can be. As if you forgot.

Overall, Absinthe put out another great film. They really are a company you can count on. Year after year, they never disappoint. One thing to mention, Marc Frank Montoya didn't get a section this year. He filmed with them, but got hurt early and didn't get any shots. I don't know if he has bonus material, but he's not in the actual film. Sometimes you see his name attached to the project, so I thought I'd get that out there. Regardless, this is one worth buying, especially if you're into a lot of backcountry freestyle. Gigi, Nicolas, Wolle and the gang have it locked yet again.