seymourblack-1 Probably because its style is so low-key, "The Ice Harvest" is one of those movies that doesn't arrive with any high expectations and so makes a big impact when you discover how good it actually is. Its plot about the complications that set in after a seemingly perfectly-executed heist, doesn't sound particularly original (and of course it isn't) but a group of totally untrustworthy characters, a series of neat twists and plenty of dark humour combine together to make this a movie that's hugely enjoyable from start to finish.On Christmas Eve in Wichita, Kansas, mob lawyer Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) and his partner-in-crime Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) successfully relieve their employer of more than $2 million. Unfortunately, their employer is Kansas City crime boss Bill Guerrard (Randy Quaid) who very quickly recognises who was responsible for the theft and dispatches one of his henchmen, Roy Gelles (Mike Starr) to hunt them down. Charlie and Vic's plan to get out of Kansas immediately after the heist has to be put on hold when an ice storm suddenly envelops Wichita and the two men decide to split up until the road conditions improve.Charlie goes to a strip club called "The Sweet Cage" where he meets up with its sexy proprietor, Renata Crest (Connie Neilsen). He's infatuated by her and so when she tells him she wants to recover a photograph of a local councilman pictured in circumstances that could potentially cause him tremendous embarrassment, Charlie agrees to help out. He gets anxious when he twice sees a large man making enquiries about him and so, after recovering the photograph for Renata, goes to a restaurant to warn Vic who seems completely unconcerned. As he starts to leave the restaurant, a member of staff asks Charlie to take his friend Pete (Oliver Platt) home because he's extremely drunk.Pete is married to Charlie's ex-wife and so taking him home leads to an uncomfortable meeting with her, his children and her parents. Later, he takes the photograph to Renata at her club but then has to go on to help Vic when he finally recognises what danger he's in. A whole series of violent developments then follow.Charlie Arglist is an interesting character because his experiences in life have left him world-weary, disillusioned and cynical but despite this, his essential decency leads him into helping others, even when doing so is obviously not in his own best interest. John Cusack's expressions, demeanour and skill in delivering his witty dialogue are very effective in conveying his character's complexities in a way that's both understated and highly entertaining. Billy Bob Thornton and Connie Neilsen are both well-cast in their roles and Oliver Platt is outrageously funny as Charlie's friend who enjoys intoxication because it distracts him from the lack of respect and enjoyment that he derives from the rest of his life."The Ice Harvest" is well-paced, sleazy and often violent but its strongest elements are its interesting characters and its wonderful humour.

Mr-Fusion "The Ice Harvest" has all of the requisite ingredients of your classic film noir (the perfect crime, the femme fatale, a partnership undone by avarice, meaty plot twists), but it doesn't feel like a pastiche; and it's part of the movie's sense of humor that the crime goes down at Christmastime (in Wichita, no less, which is appropriate given the overall sleepy vibe) And not the bad sleepy, either.I came away from this with a smile on my face. There's some great dialogue (most of the funnies come from Billy Bob Thornton), and John Cusack's ideally chosen for a character brimming with self-loathing. Most of all, it tickles me that the late Harold Ramis was behind this. It's great stuff.7/10

museumofdave There are some films you know are intelligently made and good for you, but you keep leaving the screen in search of nourishment or to call a friend. Once in a while, however, some unexpected, relatively unknown film just grabs you and holds you to the screen with a tightly-constructed plot and wonderful sense of character; such a film is The Ice Harvest.This is a crime thriller set in a seedy milieu at Christmas time, like glittering diamonds in the trash, and it's a heist film--but the money has already been stolen when the film begins--what follows is a struggle between a batch of not exactly admirable characters to see who gets to keep the cash--at times zany, frequently gruesome, but always fascinating, I found this to be highly entertaining--and with Cusack, Thornton, and Oliver Platt interacting, it's hard to go wrong.

fredlondi A few years ago, I rented this film to watch with my family. 45 minutes into it, I was apologizing to my parents. I was physically blushing; I've never been more embarrassed by something I didn't do.Incorrectly billed as a "black comedy," anyone watching "The Ice Harvest" will find it is cruelty incarnate. Worse still, it bears the hubris of a recent film school graduate. Watching this movie was akin to watching someone stomp a puppy to death for 90 minutes, after which the brute makes you feel like an idiot for not understanding the significance of what his horror meant. The puppy's still dead, but the stomper doesn't care. He thinks he's transcended the negative implications of his act just by doing it on the screen.I am shocked that people consider this film "funny." If this is what passes for humor, even dark humor (which was accomplished much better in "The Weather Man"), then I cry for how heartless we humans have become. Hyperbole, you say? Consider this: one after the other, the comic relief characters are picked off before they have a chance to make you laugh. Their absence leaves you wallowing in the misery of John Cusack's character as he drags himself along through the bleakest of worlds. Without the padding of comedy, there is nothing separating the truncheon that are Cusack's misadventures from bludgeoning you into depression against the backdrop of the Christmas season. And this is supposed to be funny?! With cruelty filling the void left behind by the dispatched comedy, what remains is not a "black comedy," but mere blackness. To find humor in such blackness is nothing more than thinly-veiled schadenfreude. Anyone who denies this is lying to himself.I don't know who is most responsible for this travesty, but I do know this: "The Ice Harvest" grinds along like the arrogant exercise of a bitter, immature recluse unable to come to terms with his own shortcomings. It is the exaggerated bawling of a high school sophomore who thinks his life is over because his girlfriend stood him up at the school dance. Above all, it is the creation of one who has lost faith in everything good and is determined to make everyone feel his pain.By all means, don't let his pain become your own. Avoid this film at all costs.