Never Eat Soggy Waffles...

Here is a review I have written for my journalism class on the new film

North, East, South, West

by Foursquare Outerwear.

Gathering a small team of five pro snowboarders consisting of riders like Pat Moore, Jake Blauvelt, and Peter Line, Foursquare Snowboard Outerwear ventured out on a four stop tour going North, East, South, and West to document what helps create, develop, and inspire the Foursquare team and the products it produces. The film North, East, South, West begins with a montage of mixed footage seen later in the film. Narrating the intro is the mesh hat wearing Eddie Wall, giving a play by play of what the film entails and why they are putting it out. Stopping off in Svalbad, located in the article circle, Eddie is quickly on the audio to begin annoyingly narrating the section through the history of the location and the mission of the team. As the narration gets blurred out via conversation the film doglegs into Jake Welch's opener, chopping up the documentary aspect of the film and mixing it with a quarter of a snowboarding film.
From Glaciers to grass gaps the snowboarding picks up the dull slack of the film while providing progressive and fun footage (watch out for Board de dog sled). Transitioning out of Jakes part to Southern California, the film captures an East Coast styled “Most Extreme Day Ever” taking place first at the beach for an ill surf session. Psych! On to the mountains via helicopter, Mountain High, located just outside Los Angeles, hosts a few hours of shredding on jumps, rails and natural excellence for the teams appetite. Eventually capping the day off with some skateboarding at Costa Mesa park in San Diego, Eddie Wall narrates on about how they “mix it up with the locals” as if that’s what the trip is all about.
Continuing the films pattern Sand Diego leads into Pat Moore’s featured section that covers all sorts of progressive tricks giving the video some more credit. San Diego falls back as Foursquare relocates to another destination repeating the pattern for the remainder of the film as parts come in and out of new historical and interesting snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing that takes place there and how different cultures mix with style and features on and off snow. The repeated pattern of the film is interesting and creates a new style of snowboard film in a documentary form. Though the dialogue does become rather vague and tired, maybe like the travelers? The Dialogue is able to captivate the viewer through narration that allows the viewer to feel as if they are there and ready to slash some pow turns, in Foursquare gear, of course.
As the narration becomes melodramatic, the parts and the footage from the different locations pop out in a strangely familiar orange tint; luckily not all of it is that weird filter. The combination of a solid team, unlimited transportation and the gear to back them, the team was able to put out a solid piece of consistent, progressive riding that has been captured in three not so traveled area’s and one local favorite that represent to the best of their abilities a fun, interesting way to look at snowboarding and develop. Subtract the corny narration by capping it after the montage add at least fifteen seconds more of travel/riding footage, better inform the music coordinator and a 5-out-of-5 snowballs film is then created. Unfortunately those elements were lacking, giving this film a mere 4-out-of-5 snowballs, other wise its still worth watching, check it out at the local shop, seeing as it is free and all.

....................................................................................................................................................Banner: Snowboard Magazine.