Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

InspireGato Film Perfection

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

jb_campo Ice Castles is a Rocky-like story based on a 16-year-old ice skater Alexis Winston (Lynn Holly Johnson) from a small town in Iowa who dreams of skating in the Olympics. She has been somewhat trained by a local skater Beulah (Colleen Dewhurst), but not to the standards of kids who had professional training from the age of 6. If she's going to make it, it's due to her innate talent and drive.Robby Benson plays Nick, her childhood boyfriend who dreams of many things, being a Dr (pre-med), being a hockey player, just somehow escaping the small town life of their Iowa town. This story presented a promising background of breaking free, around this ice skating theme, just like Rocky was a nobody boxer with a lot of talent and desire.But the acting is uneven. Lynn-Holly Johnson is just OK. Robby Benson is just OK. There was a lot of lame dialogue and unpurposeful blank stares into space that were supposed to indicate something, but the acting or music was just unconvincing. At least Colleen Dewhurst and Tom Skerrit (as Alexis' father) delivered some gravitas. But Skerrit really didn't have much to work with, and even though he's an accomplished actor, he really didn't add much to the success of this story.You end up rooting hard for the couple, for Alexis, for the father, but the ensemble just doesn't add up to much more than an interesting TV- like movie with some nice ice skating shots, some pretty outdoor vistas, and a somewhat Hollywood-like ending, Iowa style.I saw this yesterday on TV, and it seems that even though it was a 1978 release, it really would work best as a modern-day made for TV movie. It seems there was a remake in 2010, so it'd be interesting to compare the two. Not much here, but it's an OK way to spend a few hours reliving the 1970s. Enjoy.

Wuchak Released in 1978, "Ice Castles" stars Lynn-Holly Johnson as Alexis Winston, an up-and-coming figure skater on the threshold of worldwide fame who unexpectedly faces serious challenges. Robby Benson plays her hockey-playing boyfriend, Tom Skerritt her dad, Colleen Dewhurst her hometown coach, Jennifer Warren her professional coach and David Huffman a sportscaster who becomes infatuated with her.This is a realistic drama first and a sports movie second. It's reminiscent of the tone/theme of 1976's "Rocky" except dealing with figure skating rather than boxing and Lynn-Holly as the protagonist rather than the Italian stallion. Johnson convincingly carries the film with her doe-eyed charm and Benson is likable as always. The other four main actors all kick axx, especially Skerritt and Dewhurst. The movie features a lot of figure skating, if that's your thang.Johnson is such a charming petite cutie it's not surprising that the sportscaster falls under her unintentional spell. However, despite her curvy beauty she's not that interesting as a person; perhaps because she's only 16 years old in the story (although Lynn-Holly was 19 during filming). You'll see this in the high society (of skating, that is) schmoozing sequence. While Alexis is a champion and charming figure skater, she's not yet developed enough to schmooze. So she's left pouting alone until she gets back to the ice. Don't me get wrong, I've met 12 year-old girls who are fascinating (in a non-sexual sense) because they have an incredible imagination, but Alexis' appeal never goes beyond her outward beauty, innocent charm and skating talents. Nevertheless, this is a quality 70's drama and figure skating flick.The film runs 109 minutes and was shot in Minnesota and, to a lesser degree, Colorado.GRADE: B

lori-105 While I do agree with some of the other reviewers...a lot of unnecessary cussing...I believe that is Hollywood's version of showing rough and tough small town Midwesterners, so it was easy to overlook for me. Because I was raised in small town Minnesota...where this was filmed...I can attest that in fact, some of the edgier people in the town I grew up in did talk like that on occasion, so I guess it wasn't too far from the truth. That said, I think overall, the plot and emotions in this movie are a lot deeper than what is thrown on screen before us these days!! And for the reviewer who said that continuity was off when Lexie changed caps and coats...I think you missed out on a subtle hint the director was trying to show in time passing...as Lexie also became a stronger skater with every costume change in the sequence. Obviously, she didn't do it the moment she got up on her skates, so I think you missed out. Someone also mentioned that the 'Live Televised Broadcast' was a goof because there was no audience...but it was not a goof! It was televised on live camera on Christmas Eve, according to the plot line. Did not specify it was to be before an audience. News broadcasts are always live, and they don't have an audience, either. Nor do I think Robby Benson sounds remotely from Brooklyn, but that's another story altogether. Over all, I like this film a lot! Of course, Robby Benson was my big crush since Ode to Billie Joe, so I am a bit biased, but I think even without him, it would be a pretty good piece of film work. I give it a 7 out of 10!!

tedg Movies are like people, some of 'em.You'll encounter some that are like this, so trivial, so unoriginal, so mawkishly dumb that you'll want to stab your eyes. And yet it will have a center -- like this -- that is so appealing you cannot avoid the inner seduction.The story is completely ordinary and obnoxious. The drama of a soul as a sports competition; characters dragged out of high school cribsheets. Stuff that just makes no sense, even in a fantasy. A completely incoherent rhythm.The seduction is from the skating. Our sweet young midwestern princess this time is an ice skater. Instead of getting an appealing actress and somehow handling the skating with doubles, they used a real skater. Sure, she's a poor actress, but no less so than the pros involved here. The point is that when she skates, the reality of it is inherited by the story and all of the clunky machinery seems more real by association.Her face is plain and uninteresting, but that's just an artifact of not knowing how to act, to give us a being. But that's not true at all when we see her move, even at times when she is not moving on the ice. Skaters are actors in a grand theatrical tradition. The "scoring" keeps getting adjusted to make it more and more appealing to audiences, to improve the business of show. And our girl here is fully saturated in the thing.What makes this different than watching a sports competition? Because those girls and women really are competing, a grueling, joyless enterprise of questionable worth to society. Here, we have the camera placed in very clever and effective places. We have the freedom to have innocent costumes and personal projection. And we have the freedom of our dancer to just dance in most pleasing way her team can devise.There's a "sex" scene of sorts. No nudity at all. Our girl is in front of a mirror with a cotton blouse and no bra, lightly touching herself. Her slight body under, a couple years later presented as a Bond girl.An unscrupulous TeeVee personality has been making her a star in a manner within the story very similar to the stance of the movie itself. He is the trainer's lover. With no explanation whatever, he enters and is accepted as our girl's lover.It is a tender scene in how she moves, with implied violence in the sexual voyeurism. (The plot revolves around her losing her sight and rediscovering her old boyfriend.) If the Olympics is date rape, movies like this are a seduction where money changes hands. I prefer the latter.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.