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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Aspen Extreme....Life Unforgiving, June 5, 2005
"Dexter Rutecki lived a life that was short and funny and sad and hard and good. Most of the time it was good. It was good the day he died. The snow was deep and pure white. The sun high and cold. He was my best friend."
This film, while some will cry "Predictable", is entirely watchable and utterly enjoyable, almost to the point of sin. Granted, it's not "Chicago", "Phantom of the Opera" (2004 version), "Dances with Wolves", or "Titanic". However, it is certainly not cutting room floor crap either, and WAY better than "Hot Dog" because it doesn't rely on nudity to sell the story. Come to think of it, that's probably why the film wasn't a smash at the box office. YES! That's it! I'm sure of it! No nudity, that remains this film's fatal fault for the vast majority of America.
As for me, this film deals with far more human issues than simply throwing the odd breast on the screen to drawn in crowds. No, this film deals with two friends desire to attain success together (and not in that way).
This is an overall good film if one can manage to see the issues at hand. A man's climb to the top, the value of friendship, and the horror when your world comes crashing down. Then, yes, there is death, remorse, and dealing with all of those feelings in a way that leaves you among the living.
Predictable, yes, but if it wasn't it would either be "too real life" or "depressing". So what if it's predictable. That is why we see films. We watch to either be happy, or sad, or vindicated. Predictability is a good thing. If it wasn't, you'd take your date to what was supposed to be a "chick flick" and need a ride home at the end.
Bravo for predictability and Bravo for Aspen Extreme. It's a fine film and a guilty pleasure sure to be watched countless times over.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
much better than you'd ever expect, January 3, 2006
I watched this movie thinking it would be some shallow t&a movie- but one with great ski sequences (which I why i thought it worth a look). How wrong I was!
Aspen Extreme is one of the rare films about male friendship that gets its right.
It portrays, as few films do, how a close male friend can simultaneously be your emotional anchor and greatest competitor. Dexter and TJ ( the main characters) have that complexity and paul gross and peter berg are great actors- you actually believe they are lifelong friends who need each other, even while they know they may be going in different directions as they get older.
The ski sequences are excellent and teri polo shows why she should have become a major star a decade ago (if there was any justice in the world)
the only negative- fiona hughes was too one dimensional and not on par with the three leads- you never once get the feeling this person is a successful businesswoman!
the plot twist towards the end is a little shocking- but moving and effective.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Movie, Poor transfer, September 8, 2002
First off, I love this movie. Sure, it's a bit ridiculous, but I like the characters, and the skiing footage is great. I'd probably give the movie itself 4 stars, but the DVD production deserves 2 stars, at best. Issue 1: The video transfer is not very good. I did a side-by-side comparison with my VHS version, and the DVD image isn't much of an improvement. The colors are a little brighter, but the image isn't any sharper, and there is even dust evident on the DVD transfer. But what's worse is the letterboxing. I prefer to see all my movies in the original aspect ratio, so I was excited to finally see a widescreen version of Aspen Extreme. However, I was incredibly disappointed to discover that the 1.85-to-1 aspect ratio was achieved by cropping the top and bottom of the VHS image, rather than restoring the sides of the frame. Issue 2: There is no Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. As you would expect from a not-so-popular catalog title, it didn't receive any special sound treatment. All you get is the Dolby 2.0 surround. Issue 3: And finally, as you would expect, this title received no extra treatment in the special features department. Granted, with the ...price tag, you probably weren't expecting much, but if you didn't already know, this is the movie only. There's not even a theatrical trailer. In short, if you already have the VHS version of this movie, don't bother to buy the DVD version. It's not offering you anything you don't already have.
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