Ice Men
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Movie Reviews of Ice Men
Movie Review: Great character study
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this film to be quite engaging and maybe at times a little uncomfortable but in a good way. I could see the ticking timebombs everywhere and felt the tension as things were about to bubble over. It's not a typical guy movie. These friends have alot of growing up to do and I feel like by the end of it, they've done just that over the course of the weekend. Wounds that were left years ago are torn open and finally given a chance to heal. The acting is top notch from everyone involved. If your a fan of Martin Cummins, David Hewlett or Ian Tracy, this is not a film you want to miss.Movie Review: Wish there were more films out of Canada like this one
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent script, dialog, cast, etc. The characters were fully believable and it's too bad the actors only had a two hour movie to explore them. Martin Cummins and David Hewlett were especially good as the up-tight, controlling Yuppie and the hapless musical screwup respectively. Maybe there'll be a sequel or something similar?
I'm just happy they set the story in Canada and then did NOT pretend it was Michigan or up-state New York.
Kudos.
Movie Review: "Nothing happened, we were drunk"
Summary: 4 Stars
Things don't work out exactly as planned when a group of childhood friends meet for a weekend of drinking, revelry, and deer hunting in the wilds of Ontario. It's been along time since Vaughn (Martin Cummins) has got together with his buddies, and it's a reunion that has been long over due. But old friendships begin to fall prey to new tensions, as the tightly fuelled testosterone bond between these men begins to unravel.
Long-buried secrets give way to sexual tensions, and tempers begin to flare. When a knock on the cabin door signals the arrival of some surprising guests, the relaxing weekend retreat becomes a dire struggle to salvage what little is left of the group's fragile friendship. Gay Jon (Greg Spottiswood) - perhaps the happiest of the group - falls for Steve (James Thomas), a hunky fitness instructor, who although says he's straight, seems to want to sleep with guys for recreation.
Bryan (David Hewlett) a second rate songwriter and singer is Vaughn's best friend, but he's also friends with Vaughn's ex-wife Renee (Brandy Ledford). Vaughn, full of bitterness, hostility, and anger, is resentful that Bryan still sees Renee. Completing the circle is the dark, brooding Trevor, Vaughn's uninvited black sheep brother. Trevor has a gambling addiction and has come to the cabin to ask his brother for help, yet he resents the fact that his younger and more successful sibling inherited the cabin from their parents. The yuppie Vaughn however, sees his wayward brother as just another one of life's losers.
None of these men are particularly happy, and many of their issues remain unsolved. Steve immediately shuts down any further discussion of his night with Jon by telling him "nothing happened, we were drunk." And Trevor and Vaughn's troubled relationship remains just as enigmatic and fraught with problems by the film's end - their old family scores remaining unsettled.
Everyone seems to want to unload their insecurities and secrets but none of them are prepared to listen, when a drunk Bryan tries to tell Trevor about his infidelities, Trevor replies "I don't want your secrets." So rather than talk out their feelings, the guys pass the time by playing poker, getting drunk, and swapping jibes and gas jokes in the Jacuzzi; they even have a game of ice hockey, where the poor Jon gets the worst of it.
Ice Men is gritty, thought provoking, and disturbing, it's a beautifully acted film that not only exposes male vulnerability, but also explores the varying degrees of male sexual ambiguity. The interior lives of these macho men are gradually exposed and while the air outside is thick with snow - bitingly captured in brilliant camera work - the air inside is thick with tensions: broken hearts, sibling rivalry, childhood fears, financial desperation, and even sexual desire. Mike Leonard December 05.
Movie Review: Reunions and their Consequences
Summary: 4 Stars
Thom Best of 'Queer as Folk' directs this taut story by Michael MacLennan, a tale of how friendships since childhood are altered by life's flow and the difficulties inherent in attempting restoration.
Vaughn (Martin Cummins), distraught over being tossed by his ex Renee (Brandy Ledford), invites his three best friends to his snowbound cabin somewhere in Canada for a weekend of fun, hunting and drinking. Vaughn's parents are now dead and he has taken over the family cabin that held memories of his childhood, both the good and bad aspects of it. The three friends arrive: Jon (Greg Spottiswood) is now a gay man; Steve (hunky James Thomas) is a personal trainer involved with a demanding girlfriend whom he must call constantly to reassure; and Bryan (David Hewlett) an alcoholic songwriter and singer who is on the skids and whose wife is Renee's best friend. Into this mix enters Vaughn's older estranged brother Trevor (Ian Tracey) who has spent his life gambling and comes to request his share of the brothers' inheritance to pay off gambling debts. And to further complicate matters, Renee shows up to 'get her things' and flaunt her decision to leave Vaughn in front of his friends.
In this frozen setting each of the men unearths secrets and demons: no one is who they appear to have been as childhood friends. There is a devastating schism between Vaughn and Trevor magnified by their childhood history of abuse by their hunter father, a sexual encounter between Jon and Steve that reveals much about each, and another sexual encounter involving Bryan and the visiting Renee that likewise brings the pot of ice boil over. There are no resolutions: none are needed. The story merely lets us observe the consequences of reunions with men whose lives have grown apart.
Well directed and beautifully photographed, the story unfolds in a slow but steady fashion that maintains our interest even though the characters (except for Trevor) are tropes to a degree. The one important criticism of this interesting film is the sound editor's problem: the conversations are often drowned in music or spoken so softly that the messages are indecipherable. And that is a shame, because otherwise this is a credible story of how men interact when isolated together after years of life changes. Grady Harp, December 05
Movie Review: Male High Drama In The Snow
Summary: 4 Stars
Four friends plan a trip to a cabin in the woods to bask in the glory of their friendship and do some recreational drinking, hunting, and, turns out, have a little sex. With the help from two unlikely surprise visitors: one black sheep (and very troubled) older brother and one ex.
This film keeps you guessing all the way through and you'll do a little gasping, too, I think, as the story, and the back story, reveal themselves with a finesse that I seldom see. One note, that this is hardly a "gay movie" as much as it has one gay character and, probably, one closet case.
First, the good: Good acting, marvelous sequences of interaction, both verbal and otherwise, great sets, both indoors and out, lots of affecting snow and ice and cold (reminds me of the madness of The Shining) and enough baggage, secrets, and lies to fill a great novel.
Then, the bad: Sound issues: what are they saying, exactly? ("Muddy," is what I would term the sound.) Sense of resolution: pretty much, there is none. I understand some viewers feeling cheated out of an ending, because the movie pretty much stops with very little resolved or concluded. You get the sense these men will be stuck forever in their errant paths. And that may be, actually, a logical conclusion for these characters that don't have "enough guts" to make a change.
But hope springs eternal, and I can project enough hope on these hopeless characters to carry the movie through for myself. It's a wonderfully riveting hour and forty-five minutes that you won't soon forget. You'll just have to fill in the blanks at the end for yourself. It's not a bad thing.
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