Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

resireg-31415 First of all, this movie is based on a book written by Rick Moody, who was an raised in an upper middle class Connecticut suburb in the 70s. I watched the movie first and read the book after, and for me both are masterpieces.He (Rick Moody) wrote a fictional story, but we can see and feel that he is talking about the environment where he grew up and the the book depicts the hypocrisies and contradictions of society at the time, who was very traditional and conventional on the outside (men are breadwinners, women are attractive housewives, everybody celebrate thanksgiving, everybody aims to be part of the corporate world), but on the inside, the adults are insecure and irrational just like their children, despite their respectable looks and sophisticated language.The beauty of the film, is that the director Ang Lee invested a lot on the aesthetic factor ,casting perfect actors and making the audience nostalgic for a time when most of us were not even born. There are plenty of cultural references of topics that most generations today are not even aware of(like Richard Nixon, Poseidon Adventure, Jonathan Livingston Seagull).The movie was hardly watched because it was release together with Titanic, so bad timing contributed to the obscurity of " the ice storm"The story is very intense. Two prosperous families who are the typical role models for the American Dream are having a typical thanksgiving weekend. What all members have in common is that they are all horny, and are trying to have some sex (adultery for the adults, first experienced for the youth) and it appears that getting some of it is not making them any happier. They are normally miserable and frustrated despite their successes in bed, in their studies and professions.There is a very moving scene in the end when a wife gives some affection to her sobbing husband , and then we realize that this is the missing element in their lives. Despite their constant desire for more sex, they don't realize that they were actually were deprived of love.When I watch this movie, it always makes me feel like hugging the people I love.

grantss Thanksgiving, 1973. We meet two dysfunctional families living in New Canaan, Connecticut. The Hoods are Ben and Elena and their children Paul (16) and Wendy (14). The Carvers are Jim and Janey and their teenage sons Mikey and Sandy. Ben is having an affair with Janey. Paul spends most of his time at boarding school but is coming home for Thanksgiving. Wendy and Mikey are in a relationship, of sorts. Sandy is infatuated with Wendy. One night all their relationship and family issues reach a tipping point.Started very well. First half was great - quirkily funny with some great oddball family drama. Characters had depth and were engaging. Everything seemed set up for fantastic second half, complete with more quirky comedy and some intriguing family drama.But, alas, it was not to be.Second half is pretty dull, even silly, and ends in random anticlimactic fashion. After a largely comedy-driven first half, director Ang Lee gets all serious in the second half, turning the movie into a full-on drama. Laughs become few and far between. Moreover, the drama is dull, pointless and not at all profound. Very disappointing, especially considering how well it was set up.Can't complain about the cast though. Heaps of big names, some of which weren't that big at the time: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maquire, Christina Ricci (16/17 at the time) and Elijah Wood. We even have Allison Janney and Katie Holmes in minor roles. This was Katie Holmes' first role, in either film or TV.

inioi Interesting approach on the lives of some American families in early 70s.In fact, you could say that is a study on how it affects the socio- political situation of a country to its citizens.As we all know, and as has been written, the disappointing American political situation in the late 60s and early 70s led to weariness and distrust. This is brilliantly reflected in the movie. Lee's approach is intimate and personal and plunges into the depths of the psyche and human behavior. Moreover, not only adults are depicted in the story but also their children. Displays the sexual awakening of young people in an open and realistic way. However, parent's feedback before this awakening, gives rise to questions. It is easy to realize the amount of prejudice and confusion of adults: so apparently responsible externally, and erratically behaving internally.Storm visuals are amazing along with the music. Particularly striking is the little attention adults give to the storm, even as phenomenon of nature .They are so immersed in their own personal problems that can not see beyond. As in other films (Picnic at Hanging Rock, 1975) there is a force of nature, which is silent witness of everything that happens, and ultimately, ends up bringing the situation to a climax.9/10

itamarscomix It's easy to compare The Ice Storm to American Beauty and Happiness, both of which also dealt with disillusionment and the disintegration of the American Dream and the traditional family cell in the suburbs, and to a lesser extent The Sweet Hereafter which explored some similar themes in small town Canada. The Ice Storm is as cynical as those other films, but it's much more subtle in masking its sardonicism, and has aged much better than American Beauty, which had the appearance of a masterpiece at its release but looks flat and shallow now. The people in The Ice Storm feel more real and more human than the ones in American Beauty and Happiness; and the film walks that fine line between character-based slice-of-life storytelling and metaphorical satire, which works only because the viewer cares for the characters and their fates, while also absorbing the bigger issues under the surface.That would not work without a strong ensemble cast; the actors in The Ice Storm are not among my favorites, yet they all outdo themselves and produce sympathetic, powerful, convincing performances - Kevin Kline, Joan Allen and Sigourney Weaver are all at their very best, and the younger actors (Elijah Wood, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Adam Hann-Byrd and - amazingly - even Katie Holmes) all deliver too. In contrast with the (intentionally) despicable characters in Happiness and American Beauty, these actors form a group of very average people that the viewer relates to and cares about - but the dysfunction and sickness is right there beneath the surface, waiting for the right catastrophe to explode.There's an undefinable something that stops The Ice Storm short of becoming one of my favorites. The ending fits the mood of the rest of the film, but doesn't offer the catharsis that is needed, and it left me with a bitter taste. In the end, I found myself wishing that the film said more, and left more of a mark; the fact that it isn't often recognized as one of the best films of the 90's is simply because there's something not quite memorable about it. It's incredibly engaging throughout, though, and is definitely one of the strongest dramas of its time, beautifully shot, and a gem that's well worth discovering.