Search - Jack Johnson :: Thicker Than Water

Not bad

Andrew D. Dixon Jr. | Jacksonville, Florida United States | 03/22/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Compared to other surf films being flooded into the market these days, this is not bad. Music is good, footage is good (note: SHOT ON FILM, not video). It was somewhat hard to figure out where they were. We have clear scenery change, but no indicator to tell us where they really were except for the traditional Irish folk music that obviously indicated they were surfing Ireland. Director's commentary is witty and insightful and gives us perspective that few surf films give us and basically provides a good reason to watch it again -- and again. The version of this DVD I purchased in a local surf shop included a second disc; a CD with the soundtrack from the film. Very nice and a unique marketing and packaging idea. It actually convinced me to purchase the package. More importantly, the music is actually good (I was disappointed, though that the Irish folk music used in the film was not included on the soundtrack CD). But as a film, come on, it's only about 45 minutes long (with special feature bonus material, about an hour). It can't possibly be that difficult to compile film to make it last longer than an hour. Anything less than an hour these days, let's face it, is somewhat of a disappointment. Jack Johnson's involvement added to the film, though. Nicely done, let's just have more of it. I'm glad to have it in my DVD collection, though."

Good stuff...

j. | 09/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Thicker Than Water," the soundtrack to a documentary surfing film by Jack Johnson, manages to capture the heart of the laid-back beach style, and also the exoticism of the world's beaches that Johnson explores in the documentary (in the same vein as "The Endless Summer.") A slew of artists have been collected to contribute their two cents, and for the most part, it comes across as a nice blend of styles, voices, tones, and rhythms. The music provided seems to float gently over your ears like a breeze off the ocean and keep you captivated like a Hawai'ian sunset.



Johnson's influence is very present throughout the album despite the fact that he only sings on two tracks. Indeed, the album sounds something like a Jack Johnson tribute record, with many artists guesting to capture the same spirit of sunsents and surfboards that Johnson seems to always find so effortlessly. The music is upbeat enough to keep one's interest peaked, although relaxed acoustic guitars definitely dominate the landscape.



Johnson nay-sayers will enjoy the fact that the album shows a little more diversity than his albums are usually known for, and even Johnson's hardcore fans will find the new music different but non-threatening.

The Johnson-G.Love duet "Rainbow" is especially poignant, picking right up where Johnson's "Brushfire Fairytales" album left off.

"

Good surf film

kyle | montana | 01/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nice video from the malloys and jack. Filmed in quite a few different locations..australia(no exact spot was specified), the big island of hawaii, the north show of oahu, indonesia, ireland and tahiti. The directors commentary is worth watching multiple times and the segments with shane dorian and kelly slater are both very good. It was also nice to see ireland in a surf film...somewhere kinda different from the norm.



The photography is really great...shot on a 25 year old 16mm camera, gives it a nice feel..not blurry and not digital looking. Also kinda neat is the bonus footage for holes to heaven, a song jack wrote while filming this project. The great thing is that I bet that quite a few fans of jack's music have no idea he's a great filmmaker and surfer too.



The green board (hobknobber) segment makes more sense also when you watch the commentary also the names of almost all the surfers are told while they are surfing in the commentary...seems as though most of the reviewers here missed that point. The waves are generally pretty average with the only great waves being a couple in ireland and a spot in tahiti that isn't teahupoo but it looks real nearly identical exept it spits way harder(according to the directors). Definitely would reccomend this video to just about anyone that's even considering buying it and for the price it's really a great deal."