Okay, he doesn’t actually say much but it’s nice to see someone other than Shaun on ‘proper’ telly, and show the soccer moms that there’s way more to snowboarding than contests and Olympic golds. We know that avalanches are a serious business, but was it just us who thought Travis totally pulled that blonde when he clawed his way out of that slide.

On another Brain Farm-related tip, you can read our brain farting on The Art of Flight premiere in Munich here if you want more Rice wit dem peas.

travis-rice-art-of-flight-conan-obrien

Erm, careful you don't topple over.

The Red Bull tour bus stopped off in Munich last night and gave us the opportunity to watch The Art of Flight on the big screen. It made us think…

Brain Farm Cinema’s The Art of Flight has been touring the planet for a while now, but the crew only pitched up in Onboard’s home village of Munich last night and gave the local shred mafia a chance to experience the movie on the big screen. Of course, we’ve seen The Art of Flight already and it’s been discussed and dissected to death both online and in print, but laptops, iPads…  hell, even if you bought it on Blu-Ray we’d say seeing it in a theater on a house-sized screen is arguably the best way to experience the vision of Travis Rice, Curt Morgan and their Brain Farm homies.

Sadly for some reason Travis, Curt and Pat Moore who were supposed to show up to the premiere didn’t make it, so it was left to Nicolas Müller to walk the red carpet alone as a barrage of flashbulbs went pop and cameras were thrust in his face. Ain’t no thang for Nico, he’s one cool cat.

Anyway, here’s some thoughts that popped in our heads after the event, which don’t involve the chitter chatter about how there’s more shots of aircraft than shots of Travis riding.

- It looks great on the big screen. Shocking, eh?

- It’s still kind of a big deal. Though there was no Justin Timberlake at this premiere, there were two of the big cinemas full to capacity and there was some dudes from German TV ZDF hassling people for their thoughts on the film as they came out.

- We didn’t actually notice the helicopterphilia so much. It sounds dumb but with a bag of popcorn and a cushy chair, you get drawn into the movie more and the storytelling aspect becomes more enjoyable. You’re not thinking, “Ok, great. Now show me a triple whoopdedoo.”

- Travis Rice’s riding is truly superhuman. You don’t need us to tell you he’s a beast, but the size of the stuff he sends himself off becomes even more awe-inspiring when it’s 40-foot high.

- However, Travis’s narration is still pretty cheesy. “Alaska. So far gone.” We still can’t hear that without grimacing.

This is Nicolas 'Lonely' Müller and a couple of grommets. He is a cool guy.

- Nicolas Müller is a dude. While Rice fucks the mountain, Nico makes sweet love to her. It was interesting to chat with him after the film too. In short: he filmed all his stuff in one month, it was hectic to shoot for as there was barely a down day, and he’s never seen anyone else send it as hard as Rice does, nor take such savage beatings and get back up to hit the spot again and stomp it. He was also visibly in awe of the man which, coming from the guy most snowboarders would like to be able to shred like, is one hell of a testament.

- Because The Art of Flight is, as we mentioned, still kind of a big deal, the premiere as expected drew in the usual snowboard suspects from Munich, but there were also a fair few regular Joe-type cats who’d come to see what all the fuss was about. Not that we’re saying they’re not people who snowboard, but some were certainly not ‘snowboarders’. And from talking with Curt and Travis this is a big part of what they want their movies to do – to inspire people to get out in to the mountains more and give them a glimpse into the life we perhaps take more for granted. Not the sending 100m switch backside double corks, more the dicking around on bad weather days, the battling with the elements and the majesty of the natural environment in which we play. Of course, there’s also showcasing the pinnacle of our humble sport with the most cutting edge cinematography available but what we found really interesting was being sat next to a generic non-snowboard dude who seemed really entertained by some of the lifestyle parts, and was constantly exclaiming “Scheisse!” throughout the action. We couldn’t help but think this guy would be heading to the hills come next snowfall off the back of this, giving snowboarding a whirl and even maybe even getting his nipper a board for Christmas. This is a good thing. Appealing to the core and mainstream is a tough balancing act to get right, but we’d say for the most part Brain Farm pull it off.

- It’s really not a snowboard movie. It’s a movie with snowboarding in it. Perhaps subtle semantics but a point missed by many wailing at the heaps of ‘nothing’ between the riding.

- It’s pretty good.

That’s our brain fart anyhoo. If you can see it on the big screen we’d heartily recommend it. It’s certainly better than half the junk in the cinemas now for sure. Should you buy it to watch on your small screen? If you get offended by gratuitous heli shots, people firing guns, stuff in the mountains that’s not actual snowboarding or energy drinks, then perhaps not. But, still, even the most diehard hater of popular snowboard culture could not fail to be impressed by the riding when it’s on. So, y’know, like, do what you gotta do.