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Movies / On DVD / The Ice Storm
The Ice Storm

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The Ice Storm (1997)

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Reviews Counted:54

Fresh:44

Rotten:10

Average Rating:7.6/10

Consensus: Director Ang Lee revisits the ennui-laden decadence of 1970s suburban America with deft humor and gripping pathos.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Director Ang Lee's main concern is a subtle examination of family life that he began with THE WEDDING BANQUET and EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN. With THE ICE STORM, Lee creates a truly American period film... Director Ang Lee's main concern is a subtle examination of family life that he began with THE WEDDING BANQUET and EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN. With THE ICE STORM, Lee creates a truly American period film that is equally concerned with family relationships, set in 1970s New England. It is Thanksgiving, 1973, and the Carvers and the Hoods are two prototypical suburban families seemingly living the good life in New Canaan, Connecticut. Behind their New Age philosophies and polyester fashions, however, lies deep discontent. One husband carries on an unsatisfying affair with the other family's wife, while his teenage daughter experiments sexually with both of the neighbor's boys. When a winter storm descends upon their upper middle class neighborhood, buried resentments bubble over, leading to a tragedy neither family will ever forget. An intense, well-acted drama based on the novel by Rick Moody, THE ICE STORM is a masterly depiction of the frigid emotional life of suburbia. Great care was taken to accurately recreate the fashion, philosophy, and music of the 1970s without devolving into camp. Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, and Joan Allen all excel in their roles, but it is the younger actors (Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire, Elijah Wood, Adam Hann-Byrd) who steal the show. [More]

Starring: Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire

Starring: Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Henry Czerny, Courtney Peldon, Adam Hann-Byrd, David Krumholtz, Jamey Sheridan, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes, Michael Cumpsty, Allison Janney

Director: Ang Lee

Director: Ang Lee
Screenwriter: James Schamus
Producer: James Schamus, Ted Hope, Ang Lee
Composer: Mychael Danna

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The Ice Storm

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41 - 55 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The Ice Storm is a movie that's trapped under the ice, and it'll leave you feeling the same way.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kristian M. Lin
Kristian M. Lin
rec.arts.movies.reviews

With good direction, and excellent acting, The Ice Storm paints a vibrant picture of suburban life in the early 70s.

Full Review Source: Cinematter | comment Comment
01/01/00
Madeleine Williams
Madeleine Williams
Cinematter

With The Ice Storm, Lee seems to have emphasized the details of cultural accuracy over the rudiments of telling a gripping drama.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

Disturbing and discomfiting, The Ice Storm is a slice of lonely, desperate reality that I hope I never visit.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/01/00
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

A very good film.

Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Matt Easterbrook
Matt Easterbrook
Matt's Movie Reviews

Adult hypocrisy and adolescent concupiscence in the suburbs is nothing new, but unlike the book, Lee and his actors overcome stereotype to find new humor and humanity in the premise.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
01/01/00
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

Despite its mordant undertones, the film is often satirical and frequently very funny, and quietly observant in its performances.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Scott Renshaw
Scott Renshaw
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Over and over again in Austen, [Lee's] framing, his course of action, his editing suited and amplified the essence of the scene. But here everything in his directing, absolutely everything, is banal.

Full Review Source: New Republic | comment Comment
01/01/00
Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann
New Republic

A devastating film that will almost certainly leave you emotionally drained.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Perceptively detailed in both the directing and acting, The Ice Storm commands strictest attention from start to finish.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News

An atmospheric, moody, and entertaining little morality play which never gets preachy or even boring.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ted Prigge
Ted Prigge
rec.arts.movies.reviews

An intelligent film that will appeal to thoughtful audiences.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
01/01/00
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

The Ice Storm is so life-like and real that if the settings were modernized, it would still be topical today.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
01/01/00
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

'Come back with us to those rolicking years of the 1970's and watch two dysfunctional families dysfunction!' I know you want to sign up right now.

Full Review Source: Needcoffee.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Widgett Walls
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com
 
 
41 - 55 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3
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