MovieChat Forums > The Ice Storm (1997) Discussion > Absolutely awful

Absolutely awful

posted 12 years ago by victorherm54
15 replies | jump to latest

haha Laughable to see the overload of pretension regarding this film. "The best movie of the 90s"..."Should have won like 10 Oscars"..."Oh my god, the scene where Sigourney Weaver gets back home and curls up into the fetal position was just so beautiful" etc etc

Are you kidding me? Boring, pretentious, pointless about sums up this movie. I know, I know, I'm just not sophisticated or deep enough to get this movie, and I should go watch Transformers instead. Maybe I will.

I thought this was so bad, that I now have no interest in seeing some of Lee's other work, such as Brokeback Mountain.

A bunch of unbearable characters that are supposed to show the dysfunction of the typical American family or something...the idiotic Elijah Wood character and his moronic musings about molecules and walking around the dark road by himself and hopping on a frozen diving board because he's so "deep and enlightened"....the unbearably crap narration by Tobey Maguire and his Fantastic 4 crap....Christina Ricci's ludicrous character...ugh it just goes on and on with no point to it.

I give it a 5/10, only because I'm feeling generous and it's technically well made and acted. You couldn't pay me enough to ever watch this garbage again.

[–] thbryn 11 years ago

The Gold Coast of Cn is a somewhat different place and is near me. For that reason it held my interest. I moved on from the location to plot aspects and it wasn't bad. So you can watch this film on a slightly diff' level.

Obviously they wanted a real ice storm to be a metaphor. Yes the movie feels more like a novel.

There were some things I didn't like at all but am I mortified I saw it, no. Would I recommend it, also no.

Kisskiss, Bangbang

[–] PrometheusTree64 11 years ago

Kinda, yes.

Ang Lee clearly had the right idea in mind with this movie: a melancholy, wintry backdrop, along with the Watergate scandal, to convey the post-60s disillusionment that existed in the bleak and almost-cozily forlorn early-70s., and the physicality of it is near-perfect.

The world really felt that way then... Think the snow angels scene in LOVE STORY or the first season theme design to THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW... It was just something in the water, frozen water perhaps, at the time.

But the effect is undermined by what feels like too desperate an effort to be pretentiously "meaningful", with bad performances derived from normally good actors. It renders the "My God, what have we done to our children??" type finale more silly, and it ultimately rings hollow.

--

[–] YuunofYork 8 years ago

I didn't get the theme you're talking about for the finale at all. The DVD extras have cast and crew talking about how your interpretation would have been the easier road to take, but that Lee deserved praise for putting the blame for Mikey's death on no one but nature itself.

It wasn't focused on the parents (although it did balance the perspectives a little more than the book, which was strictly the from the children's point of view), and it certainly wasn't intended to be karmic or 'the wrath of god' or anything like that, even if it's possible to read into that I suppose, as you did.

Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre
Au défaut d'un cordon pour étrangler les rois

[–] SteveMoonlightAllaby 10 years ago

I agree and I also rated it 5/10. I found it boring and most of the performances average at best. Ang Lee's other films are better. This was his weakest film in my opinion.

[–] yatzo376 10 years ago

Funny thing is, I was 11 and my sister was 14 in 1973 and we grew up in Fairfield County minutes away from New Canaan.

This is the most accurate portrayal of that place and time that I've ever seen in a film.

I love this movie and watch it religiously every November around Thanksgiving.

[–] MissMargoChanning 10 years ago

I watch it for that early 70's feel. It actually takes me back to that time when I was in my teens. I also find the people and relationships compelling.
This film isn't for everybody though, so I respect your feelings.

"Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night"

[–] PreachCaleb 9 years ago

I know, I know, I'm just not sophisticated or deep enough to get this movie, and I should go watch Transformers instead. Maybe I will.

Nah, it's doubtful you'd get the Transformers either.

You couldn't pay me enough to ever watch this garbage again.

What makes you think anyone ever would? Now that's pretentious.

Can't stop the signal.

[–] nashknight-1 9 years ago

I wouldn't say awful, but it didn't blow me away. Having three stories kind of watered down the movie, I didn't get to experience the weight of neither of them and kept confusing one character for another. The story arc about Tobey Maguire was interesting, but the one about his parents was dull and cringe-worthy at times.

It is well made and acted, but a bit boring, I gave it 6/10.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] london777 8 years ago

Totally agree with the OP. Well crafted, but what was the point? I have rarely seen such a contemptible bunch of losers in a movie. Idle, spoiled, vacuous layabouts. It was all totally unrealistic even for Connecticut, particularly the children.

And Kevin Kline is so incredibly camp when trying to portray a straight male. He does not walk, he minces. Particular when paired with Joan Allen, a good actress but hardly cut out to play vulnerable femininity. (She would be a good Hillary Clinton and a better Theresa May if they are making biopics).

The Khmer Rouge had the right idea with bourgeois scum like this. March them out into the countryside and make them work a 16-hour day doing something useful like de-icing the road surfaces.

Nice houses, though. Harvard Five style.

[–] yatzo376 8 years ago

I live down the road and trust me, this is the most realistic portrayal of 1973 in Fairfield county I.ve ever seen.

I was Sandys age in that year and this film beams me back like no other.

"You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine"

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

"but what was the point?"

I agree after my first watch, but maybe that was the point: there was a lot of nihilistic undercurrent to the film, IMO. I think that's why it ages rather well into our current time.