6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.6 |
Two ski buddies, TJ Burke and Dexter Rutecki , move from Brighton, Michigan to Aspen to seek a better life. The two friends quickly become Aspen ski instructors, but women, drugs, and job troubles threaten to destroy their relationship. Along the way, TJ tries to realize his dream of becoming a professional writer, and the pair train for the upcoming Powder 8 ski competition.
Starring: Paul Gross, Peter Berg, Finola Hughes, Teri Polo, William RussSport | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Skiing is the easy part.
For ski pros TJ Burke (Paul Gross) and Dexter Rutecki (Peter Berg), skiing really is the easy part of their lives once they move from the auto
manufacturing heart of America to the powdery white ski slopes of Aspen, Colorado. Their story -- a story that's as much about what they do off the
slopes as on them -- is at the center of Aspen Extreme, a thematically and structurally simple but emotionally-driven picture about how two
friends
struggle to maintain their relationship, remain true to themselves, discover who they really are, and avoid the temptations that come with their new
upper crust surroundings. Skiing becomes their escape rather than their dream as life interferes with their time on the slopes. New friends, new
enemies, new challenges, new loves, and old mistakes make their lives far more challenging than they ought to be. Who knew that strapping on skis
and cruising down the mountain in frigid temperatures would indeed be the easy part?
Let's hit the slopes.
Aspen Extreme features a decent, but relatively unspectacular, 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. Mill Creek's Blu-ray does yield fairly vibrant and satisfying colors. The bright winter clothes often offset nicely against the blue sky and white powdery landscape. Detail is average; clothing and facial textures are neither flat nor complex. There's a general steadiness to both the colors and details that give the movie an honest, sometimes even good looking façade. The image does run into a few problems with bright edge halos, random spots and speckles, and a smoothness that's only sometimes evident; the image retains a grain structure elsewhere. Blacks and flesh tones are decent. Overall this is a relatively steady image. The material translates well to high definition. It's certainly not a pristine catalogue title, but fans should be surprised by the stability and boost in clarity and resolution.
Aspen Extreme skis onto Blu-ray with an underwhelming but adequate DTS-HD MA 2.0 lossless soundtrack. It enjoys fairly spacious elements, notably in the various energetic popular tunes that play throughout at high volume and with decent clarity. Atmospherics are likewise best described as "decent." gusty winds, background chatter at the base of the slope, and a few passing cars create a general sensation of ambience, but little more; listeners will never feel immersed into the film's chilly world. Bigger effects, like the steady sound of a spinning helicopter rotor and engine, lack pinpoint clarity but are also presented as more than just a jumble of noise. Dialogue is very clear, focused, an crisp. This is far from a top soundtrack, but it does well enough to get the audience through the movie.
Aspen Extreme contains no supplemental features.
Aspen Extreme enjoys a good, honest feel to it. It's certainly not all that original, but it also doesn't feel phony or manufactured. The characters are the real draw here; they enjoys believable chemistry, are likable, and are easy to cheer for, even when they make mistakes because they're played well enough for the audience to know that there's a goodness about their hearts that might not always be evident through their actions. Teri Polo is the film's best performer, a steadying influence in the drama and easily-identifiable as the film's heart and soul. Aspen Extreme isn't groundbreaking cinema, but audiences should enjoy it despite something of a generic plot. Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Aspen Extreme delivers fair video and audio, but contains no extras. Fans should pick it up, but this is probably best enjoyed by most as a decent rental.
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