The Ice Storm Reviews

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

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A quarter of a century ago, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver dealt with the same issues more successfully.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10

'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 | Original Score: 1.5/5

A little too slow for my own jive.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10

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.

I don't know when I've seen actors realize so many affecting moments in such a muddled conception. Lee's aestheticized approach is its own kind of ice storm.

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

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

[D]espite good performances and fine intentions, ultimately fails.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

It's unfortunate that as capable a team as director Lee and screenwriter-producer Schamus should have become fascinated with such unpromising material.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Rather than being moved or transfixed, you feel frozen and impartial, almost as disengaged as the characters themselves.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

...a black comedy ... that ultimately acquires Hitchcockian levels of suspense.

Full Review | Original Score: 91/100

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

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

The Ice Storm is perceptive about people, relationships, and human nature, and there's not a single moment in the entire 112 minute running length that rings false.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

| Original Score: 5/5

A well-observed and deftly performed examination of upper-middle-class emotional deep freeze...

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A rich and elegant drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5

This is one of those films in which nothing seems to be 'happening,' but in retrospect, when it's over, everything seems to have happened.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

While I'm not the type of moviegoer who needs everything neatly spelled out, I do appreciate some sense of closure. In the end, this film is an enjoyable one, but it may be a little too hip for its own good.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

A thoroughly enjoyable blend of comedy and melodrama...

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As in any joke, destiny is a major character.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

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