AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

eddie_baggins Chasing Ice joins the list of growing environmental themed documentary's (see also An Inconvenient Truth, A Crude Awakening, Who Killed The Electric Car etc) that look to highlight the effect global warming is having on our fragile planet. Ice presents an insightful look into a particular aspect of this issue or non-issue if you see fit that while interesting isn't particularly involving.Ice Centres its story on National Geographic photographer James Balog. Director Jeff Orlowski (who made the fantastic and somewhat scarier documentary The Cove) follows Balog and his crew's quest to document for the first time over a period of years the decline of some of the world's glaciers and ice capped territories from Greenland to America. The journey this crew of men take is a brave and commendable effort but as a film Ice just doesn't feel that structured or interested in making you the viewer feel a part of the mission. A major plus for Ice and an undeniable scary beauty is the images it captures both through Balog's lens and through Orlowski's filmmaking eye. The viewer is in no doubt that what is being captured by these men and therefore witnessed through this film is haunting, one particular segment of night time images is sure to make the most jaded of viewer stand up and take notice. Being nominated in the best documentary category in this year's Oscars ceremony it's clear Ice struck a chord with viewers and critics alike. At a short running time of 70 minutes Ice never outstays its welcome and provides another intriguing look into the Earth as we know it today. 3 and a half icicles out of 5For more reviews and movie opinions check out – www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com

Ordinary Review When I came across Chasing Ice, I was very enthusiastic. I always loved the Great North and documentaries, but even more these two combined. I, for example, loved Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World (2007) although it was, this time, the South Pole.Chasing Ice follows the ambitious project of National Geographic photographer James Balog who, after first doing a short project on glacier, saw the impact it had and decided he had to do more than that. That's when he decided to put in place a massive scale Glacier Watch Unit by implementing cameras to take many many pictures so that afterwards, in time lapse, the glacier could be seen moving. The project surveyed glaciers in Greenland, Alaska, Canada and Iceland for a few years. This documentary is the story behind it.The documentary starts with a mix of random news cast about global warming and natural disasters. I always considered myself a skeptic about global warming, not because I don't believe that the ice is melting, but because I know the planet has gone through a lot and is still kicking. I was quite surprised and forgot about the global warming for a while as the work and photos of James Balog were being shown. It is simply breathtaking.Once their project started, the implementation of cameras, reminded me a lot of The Cove (2009) in that they also faced technical difficulties (one has to realize that the cameras were and had to function in the worst possible condition). I felt a very human connection as the documentary also underlines the risks, the annoyances (for example when a fox has eaten away at the cable or when an electronic chip has been malfunctioning and they just traveled across the world to realize there were no shots taken) but also the family of James Balog who we briefly see and the health issues he faces with his knee. It all helps to make the actual work they accomplished all so much tastier and the evidence about the glaciers are hard to dismiss.I found it to be one of the most spectacular display of nature images. The ending is, without surprise, a warning for the public to take into account the danger of our behaviors. I think that this might throw people off, but I'd say it's a necessary evil. I don't have that much faith in humanity myself, but if there is anything that can inspire something to be done, it will be through these images, because texts and statistics never changed behaviors.It moved me.I liked: Breathtakingly beautiful. Human aspects. Harsh conditions. Team work. Stunning glaciers.I disliked: Yes, it holds a political agenda, but where does mankind and politics differ when it comes to the apocalypse?88/100 One of the most striking documentary I've seen, if not for the scientific dimension but simply for the beauty of the ice. And to paraphrase James Balog, as a photograph it is so beautiful, but as a human being it's very sad.More reviews at: www.theordinaryreview.blogspot.com

Conor McTernan Chasing Ice This documentary meets art feature and Sundance select for Excellence in Cinematography is visually breathtaking! This had been on my watch-list for months & thankfully the Environmental Protection Agency (Great organisation which deserves more recognition for their excellent reports, which were the backbone for my thesis on environmental issues last year!) Organised a special one-off free screening in the Irish Film Institute last night and the first of a partnership series hopefully. It was great to see a full-house with an applause at the end.The documentary follows National Geographic photographer and Extreme Ice Survey founder James Balog and his passionate team across Greenland, Iceland, Alaska and the Arctic as they installs custom-made time-lapse cameras to document never before seen glaciation at an extreme. The resulting photography is both frightening and breathtakingly beautiful.The issues that many people seem to have with this film are that it doesn't engage in a political argument and that it doesn't provide a solution to the problem. Balog stated that this isn't a political problem, it's a universal problem. The point is he's delivering a message with his photography and he's letting the photographs do the talking, not tarnishing the message with politics. & the aim of this film is to spread awareness not to provide a solution.This is an eye-opener and a visual reference as to how much climate change is immediately effecting our plant. At one point we witness footage of the largest ever recorded glacier calving, an iceberg larger than the island of Manhattan calves from a glacier in about 75 minutes. Politicians and energy corporation executives should be made sit a mandatory viewing of this. Seize any opportunity you get to go see this on the big screen.You can now apply to host a screening on the Chasing Ice website!

parallel_projection James Balog has one goal in mind throughout this entire documentary: to photographically demonstrate the rapid melting of our earth's glaciers. He doesn't throw statistics at us (okay, maybe one or two), and he doesn't bring politics into it, all he does is undeniably prove that the vast majority of the world's glaciers are disappearing right before our eyes.What this documentary does is capture his journey to photograph these glaciers. It shows his struggles, his failures, and his successes. Yes, he may come off as a bit of a hero, but what he's doing truly is heroic and simply cannot be missed. The photography throughout this film is spectacular--absolutely gorgeous. In fact, he photographed an article on this topic for National Geographic, and if you've seen their photographs, you know the level of quality we're talking about here.At the same time, however, there's kind of this sense of impending doom amidst all the beauty. It essentially shows all the damage humanity has done, in the past ten or so years alone, and I can only hope it's not too late to fix at least some of what we've caused. If this documentary can't get you to see the world and it's people differently, then I don't think much else can, his results are simply that stunning.