2004 SKI MOVIE REVIEWS
2004 SKI MOVIE REVIEWS
Reverence
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Reverence – Jon Klaczkiewicz in assoc. with TGR & MSP
www.justpushplay.com
Length: 70 minutes
Cost: $25
Medium: 16mm film + digital video
Kent Kreitler is arguably the most influential skier of the last decade. Don't believe it? Watch this movie and you'll learn he and McConkey—headband-clad, hop-turning side-by-side through the early '90s—took the sport of skiing from Schmidt, Plake, and Hattrup, and made it what it is today. From the early U. S. Extreme Skiing Championships in Crested Butte to pioneering Alaska first descents with MSP and TGR, Kreitler played a dominant role in the creation of the fat-twin-tipped-big-mountain-jibbing-check-out-my-seggie world we live in today. But Reverance is so much more than a story about Not-Quite-Rightler. It's a history lesson on the birth of freeskiing, told through interviews with industry icons such as Steve Winter, Todd Jones, Jim Conway, Jeremy Nobis, McConkey, and more. Using footage mostly from MSP and TGR, editor Jon Klackiewics has produced the most interesting ski film since The Seth Morrison Chronicles and There's Something About McConkey
BEST LINES:
"I think a lot of kids who bitch and whine about their contracts should be thankful to guys like Kreitler that they even have a team manager at a company." –Murray Wais, MSP
"A lot of skiers don't want to admit that snowboarding had an effect on skiing, but it did." –Shane McConkey
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Stimulus
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Stimulus – Team13 Industries/Rage Films
www.ragefilms.com
Length: 45 min
Cost: $25
Medium: 16mm film and digital video
Great things were expected from Rage Films & Team 13 Industries following last year's hit, Junkshow Diaries, and although Stimulus does deliver, it doesn't quite live up to all its expectations. The flick does, however, have a creative edge above the rest and a stacked cast including Jon Olsson, Rex Thomas, Heath Ordway, Gordy Piefer, and Ryan Oakden. Highlights include Ian McIntosh sweeping the B.C. backcountry, Jamie Pierre hucking a 180-foot Engelberg cliff, Jack Hannan and Jon Johnston sledding to the goods north of Whistler, and Nick Greener straight-lining Montana chutes. With innovative editing, big lines, progressive park riding, and pumping tunes, Stimulus is a good time and a solid addition to the shelf.
BEST LINES:
"We've got no heli, no patrol, we're the only ones out here." –Jack Hannan
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High Five – Level 1 Productions
www.level1productions.com
Length: 48 minutes
Cost: $28
Medium: Digital video
You don't care about powder skiing and big mountain lines? Good. This flick is for you. Urban rails, park hits, backcountry hits, and pipes are Level 1's specialty. In his fifth production as producer, director, and editor, Josh Berman delivers his best effort to date. The footage is clean, editing creative, and soundtrack--with gems like Russian band Haiduki—is truly original. High Five showcases the upper echelon of new jib talent, including Dave Crichton, Simon Dumont, Charles Gagnier, and Steele Spence. Unfortunately Berman continues to follow the athlete-segment formula, which works, but gets old quickly. Don't miss Travis Redd stomping a quad-kink rail with a 45-degree bend, Gagnier's near-death experience, and the director-athlete commentary on the DVD extras (Friedel, you should do stand-up.).
BEST LINES:
"I was so close to that rock, I thought I was going to be dead. But I'm still alive." –Charles Gagnier
Click Here for EXCLUSIVE footage (Windows Media)
Click Here for EXCLUSIVE footage (Quicktime)
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