Rating: 
Summary: Although well acted not one of my favorites!
Review: I rented this movie to see Elijah Wood in it, because I ONLY rent movies with him in them, just kidding, but I am a huge fan. Anyway I was sorta disappointed. Most people I talk to enjoyed this movie but it did nothing for me. Although well acted I didn't quite understand the point. Maybe it was one of those movies not meant to be a book. Kevin Kline's performance was unsurprisingly good as usual, and Christina Ricci, playing another one of those wierd girl parts again. But if you are a fan of Elijah Wood I guess it is worth watching. If you want to see him in a movie try renting The Good Son, he gets to push that annoying kid from "Home Alone" off a cliff!!
Rating:
Summary: This movie is kind of depressing...
Review: I rented this movie. Thank God. I mainly rented it to see Elijah Wood's performance. I wasn't disappionted in his character. Christina Ricci creeped me out. She was like a pycho maniac. The rest of the cast was rather weak in my opinion. I came away from this movie feeling like I would never be happy again. Spend your money on better films like Deep Impact, Deep Blue Sea, Forever Young, LOTR: TFOTR, LOTR: TTT.
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Summary: Ang Lee's Look at the 70's..It's A Winter Wonderland
Review: This review refers to the 20th Cent Fox DVD Edition of "The Ice Storm"......The beauty of Ang Lee's storytelling, is that we never get the same story twice. His films are always a fresh take or a first look at era's past and present. Fresh off his success with "Sense and Sensibility", Lee steps ahead into the turbulant and oft confusing times of the 1970's with "The Ice Storm".The story based on a novel by Rick Moody deals with two upper class suburban families dealing with the changing times and the changes in their lives, all amidst the arrival of a wintry ice storm.He has chosen the perfect cast and adds just the right amount of nuance and subtle comedy to this drama to make it a perfect film. Ben and Elena Hood(Kevin Kline/Joan Allen) married in the idealistic 50's, now find themselves growing apart and their relationship getting cold as the sexual revolution of the 70's is all around them.Ben growing restless has an affair with the neighbor Janey Carver(Sigourney Weaver), Elena wants to feel the freeness she felt as a young girl. While trying to fit into this new world, they decide to participate in a "Key Party"(who you go home with at the end is anybody's guess).The teenagers(Tobey MaGuire, Elijah Wood, Christina Ricci) are also trying their hand at experiencing life so to speak.As the events of the evening unfold, a freakish storm arrives that seems to blow new life into all of them, their lives will be forever changed with the passing of the storm and the dawning of the new day. Ang Lee captures the mood of the Nixon era expertly. Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver and Joan Allen are perfect in their performances of the dysfunctional adults trying to cope with the times. Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, and Elijah Wood have all surely stepped up their careers from their brillant portrayals as the precocious but curious kids."The Ice Storm" will take your breath away. 20th Century Fox has made a beautiful transfer to DVD.It is presented in vivid colors and a sharp picture in the original theatrical widescreen(anamorphic 1.85:1). Depending on your set up it may be enjoyed in either 5.0 surround or Dolby stereo(English or French). There is a short featurette on the making of the film, the theatrical trailer and subtitles in English and Spanish. It's amazing that Oscar missed this little gem, it was just one of those that got lost in the wake of "Titianic" that year. If you have not seen this yet and like a good emotional ride, this film will take you on that ride.And then you'll want to buy another ticket and go again!.......Thanks and enjoy...Laurie
Rating: 
Summary: More of the score would have been appreciated
Review: Instead of trying to put out an early 70s nostalgia package (that's been done plenty of times and with more success), a larger collection of Mychael Danna's score tracks would have been appreciated. The CD only features two tracks from the movie's superb score of flute, gamelan, and more traditional western orchestral features. It seems to me that since The Ice Storm came out the use of gamelan (or western instruments tuned and played to sound gamelanesque) seems to be everywhere in film scores and tv ads. So check out this cd to hear one of the scores on the forefront of this trend.
Rating:
Summary: The Ice Storm
Review: "The Ice Storm" centers around two neighboring families, the Hoods and Carvers during a winter in the 70's. Kevin Kline of the Hood family plays Ben, a self centered husband who is having an affair with his neighbor
Janey played by Sigourney Weaver. They indulge in their loveless affair as Ben's wife Elena played by Joan Allen finds herself yearning for her inner youth and trying to escape her boring life. At the same time both families teenage off springs are experimenting with sex and drugs. Wendy(Christina Ricci), the daughter of Ben and Elena fools around with Mikey played by Elijah Wood. Tobey Maguire plays Paul who wants the beautiful Katie Holmes even if drugs are involved. This all happens as an ice storm approaches and climaxes at a "key swapping" party during the height of the storm and a tragedy.
The Ice Storm is set when the sexual revolution was in full swing and many changes were coming upon America. This film clearly shows how little communication and connection there is between the family members and overall all the people. For example, when Ellijah Wood's father comes back from a business trip to greet his son, Ellijah replies that he didn't even notice he was gone. Janey barely even moves her eyes from her magazine to greet her husband. Throughout the film we barely ever see anyone in a conversation they are deeply involved in. The sense of isolation and sadness runs rampant throughout. Each of the characters is so immersed in their own vices and affairs that they live in their own world, and pay little attention to the others. Mikey and Wendy either fool around or awe at the TV, but they never have much to say to each other. This is the sad state people are entering, one where they feel alienated and unable to express themselves. This applies to the parents just as much. After some sex, Janey doesn't permit Ben to talk about his golf because she feels she already has her husband for that. There is no real affection between the characters. When Elena tries to have an affair with Janey's husband to retaliate for her husband's affair, it is devoid of passion and rather clumsy.
The film features excellent cinematography of the cold atmosphere and the beauty of the ice storm. Each of the actors plays their parts righteously cold. None of them are very likeable but this shows just how disconnected each of them are. Ben is so full of hypocrisy and shallowness, that when he finds his daughter having dry sex with Mikey he lectures and preaches to even though he was there to commit an affair. However it is the final moments of the film where he releases his tears due to the tragedy that just happened and that he has just realized how truly pathetic his existence is. One of the best characters in the play is that of Christina Ricci's. She becomes sexual with other boys because it gives here a sense of power and control. From her mere facial expression we sense she is lonely and hardened. Tobey Maguire plays his character with creepy aura. The final 15 minutes of the film have little dialogue , but are emotionally filled as a terrible tragedy strikes.
The Ice Storm is such an important film because even though it is set in the 70's it is still relevant today. While many families appear to have stability and happiness, underneath they are not. The people in society are becoming disconnected and isolated through a loss of communication and boredom of their lives. They indulge in sins and pleasures just to break from their apathetic lives while damaging their self worth and morals. Ice Storm shows the deterioration of the traditional American family and relationships between people effectively with subtlety rather than making it over the top and sensationalist. A great film of how family has changed and the effects of loneliness and lack of expression.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Quite simply one of the most elegant works in cinematic history. Ang Lee has proven himself to be one of the most versatile and sensitive directors in modern cinema. The treatment of the story is subtle and heartbreaking-- you feel so deeply for these characters, who all move through life in a dazed state of isolation, unaware of how damaging this calculated lack of connection can be. All these characters
share in common a fear of vulnerability that robs them of the fulfillment of their most basic human needs-- the love and companionship of others. In this way, the themes are similar to "Happiness"-- but the storytelling in "The Ice Storm" deals more with disconnectedness and less with shame and self loathing, so it is much easier to watch ("Happiness" is a movie I think most people only see once). Every character in this film is a perfect whole, while not all even likable (particularly Sigourney Weaver's character, Janey), their imperfections breathe life into each portrait. The ensemble cast is riveting. There are definite elements that may upset some-- such as the open presentation of childhood sexuality. Be prepared to be painfully reminded of your own tentative and awkward first steps toward adulthood, or what most kids think of as adulthood-- i.e.
sexual relations. "The Ice Storm" deals with this with sensitivity and dignity, which is a refreshing change from the sexualization of children so prevalent in the media, which has the distasteful undertones of serving up innocents for the consumption of adults. The kids in this movie are learning about themselves within the realm of other kids, the way we all experienced it. This is simply one of the best films I've ever seen.
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Summary: ....
Review: White and Suburban, Beautiful and Rich, Unfaithful and Depressed. I concur that the mid and late 90s saw an OVERabundance of films centered around these ideas. The Ice Storm has more grit and power than all of the others combined. The Ice Storm is a film about human curiosity, insecurity, disappointment, and overall failure. It is also about family, love, longing, terror, winter, the 70s, etc. etc. etc. The complexities are endless. Somehow, the film seems so simple and clear amidst all the knottiness. Ang Lee does this like no one else. The character inter-play is so believable-everyone seems like they would know each other and everyone acts and looks like they really would. Nothing is over the top or pretentious. People do horrible things and people suffer because of it. The adults are just as messed up as the kids and yet everyone tries to keep up appearances. All of this is so frightening. The truth is stranger than fiction and the landscape and population of The Ice Storm couldn't be more real.
Rating: 
Summary: An extreme disappointment... Except for Elijah Wood
Review: With all of the outstanding actors in this film, I was expecting something quite spectacular... and was sorely disappointed. The characters in this film -- with the exclusion of Elijah Wood's -- are ugly, boring, hurtful, selfish and brooding. Dysfunctional doesn't describe the families in this movie; these people are just plain sick. Archetypes of soulnessness, they spend the entire film invading each other's boundaries and betraying one another. Woods character -- a bright, endearing teen who sees the world through his own literary and artistic lens -- is the only highlight in the entire film, and fans may want to see this movie just for his performance. [Be prepared, though, his character doesn't survive the film.] Everyone else in the movie wasted their talent on decidedly repulsive characterizations. Gad, this was awful!
Rating:
Summary: W(h)ither the family?
Review: In the early 70s illusions about our society were falling.
Symbolized by the corruption and debacle of Nixon, it was a time when many lies that we had accepted about the role of our nation and its leaders were shed. Of course this questioning of authority and the mores of society extended to the family, and the directory brilliantly portrays the complexity of the situation in "Ice Storm". The family very often appears as a sham. In order to "keep up appearances", one has to feign love and pretend to enjoy the so-called "togetherness" of patriarchal authoritarianism. An instance of this is the "Thanksgiving scene" in the movie. Almost every American has experienced one of those boorish holidays around the table with family members, when s/he would prefer to be somewhere else with other people. The movie demonstrates the efforts of middle-class America to go beyone the staleness of the nuclear family. Often this involved empty sexual promiscuity. It also demonstrates the failure of those efforts. As a result of those failures, the
experimental middle-class would soon champion the thermidorian reaction called reaganism in the 1980s. The finals scene of the movie shows the family remassed and willing to "give up". Along with PT Anderson's "Boogie Nights" this film does a great job of portraying the "in-between" years of the 70s as a juncture between between the 60s cultural revolution and the 80s neoconservative reaction. ...
Rating:
Summary: Very pretty but very dull
Review: If you're into the whole humorless examination of suburban life that the likes of American Beauty has carved out, then this movie is for you, but I personally found most characters wooden and the younger cast members particularly awful. Pretty much the entire cast was beautiful, and the truth is that the younger cast is so strikingly good-looking that it makes you mistrustful and disdainful right off the bat. Katie Holmes' intelligently jaded routine is awful as usual, Elijah's vulnerability is more creepy than touching and more painful to watch than Toby's cutesy boy blahness. And I did not believe for a second tha they were as young as the movie called for. I know that the movie is probably layered, but I definitely do not want to dig through that muck again. Christina Ricci and the sexual tension going on with her and the brothers is downright stupid to say the least, and all the adults act like little children (but hey that's the point!) and are too unlikable to even care for. The ending is a ridiculous cop out to rouse your hitherto dormant emotions, no surprise though for this sort of genre that likes to play off of worst case scenarios.
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