Snow Angels (Missed Movies)

When one considers that much of the U.S. has snow on the ground for a significant part of the year, it is somewhat surprising that so few movies are placed in that setting. There are the Christmas movies.  But where are the movies set in the frigid and dreary months of January and February?

Perhaps because I grew up in the snow and later lived part of my life in areas without snow, I especially enjoy a good snow movie. And there are some excellent movies set in the snow such as the sad The Sweet Hereafter (1997).  There’s also Paul Newman’s fine performance in Nobody’s Fool (1994).  Murder sagas also seem to work well in the snow, as shown by Fargo (1996) and Insomnia (2002).

Snow Angels
photo: Adam Colton (licensed for reuse)

One of my favorite snow movies, though, is Snow Angels (2006).  The film is set in a 1970s small town in Pennsylvania.  The time of year is during the weeks when snow stays on the ground but it seems too cold for more snowflakes.

In the opening scene of Snow Angels, a marching band practices as their director tries to inspire them.  The students suddenly hear gun shots in the distance. The screen goes dark and we jump to “weeks earlier.” So we know from the start that somehow at least one person is heading toward a tragedy.

There are tragic turns in the movie, but I will not ruin the film. The movie focuses on two families. In one, Annie (Kate Beckinsale) and Glenn (Sam Rockwell) are separated spouses struggling with the failure of their marriage while trying to take care of their young daughter.

Annie works with and used to babysit for teenager Arthur (Michael Angaro).  And the other family focus is Arthur’s family. While Arthur is developing a relationship with a new girl at school, his parents are separating.

The acting in Snow Angels is superb and believable. Sam Rockwell may not immediately come to your mind when listing the top actors today, but he continues to make his every movie worth watching. Here, as the troubled Glenn, he is outstanding.  He makes viewers sympathize with someone they probably would not want to be around in real life.

I had seen Snow Angels several years ago.  So I watched it again before writing this entry. I enjoyed the movie the second time too, although it may not be a movie you will want to watch repeatedly.  Although there is a great deal of sadness in the movie, one may also find a little hope toward the end.

The movie is based on the book Snow Angels by Stewart O’Nan. Apparently the book included someone making a literal snow angel, while the movie does not. Still, the title suits the movie in a number of ways.  “Snow Angels” may refer to real angels or to the cold emotions and isolation faced by many of the characters.

If you are looking for a light comedy or uplifting story for this weekend, you should look elsewhere. But if you are in the mood for an intense drama that keeps you enthralled, you may like Snow Angels.

The trailer gives away too much of the movie.  So, you are better off not seeing the trailer before seeing the movie. But if you want to know more before deciding whether to watch the film, the trailer for Snow Angels is here.

“Snow Angel” the Song

Instead of the trailer I will introduce you to an excellent band from Ohio called Over the Rhine.  The band consists of the husband and wife team of Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist.

Below is a fan recording of their live performance of their beautiful song, “Snow Angel.” The song is not related to the movie of the similar name. The singular “Snow Angel” is off their album of the plural Snow Angels (2008).

In the song, the singer tells of saying goodbye to her “one and only love” who goes off to war (“The rumors of a distant war / Called my true love’s name”). But the man is killed during the war, leaving the singer heartbroken (“Snow angel, snow angel / Someday I’m gonna fly / This cold and broken heart of mine / Will one day wave goodbye”).

Like the movie Snow Angels, the song “Snow Angel” captures something about the pain and loneliness of winter.  It also reminds us to enjoy our days of warmer weather.

Movies You Might Have Missed is a Chimesfreedom series to inform our readers about good movies that did not receive the attention they deserved.

If you saw Snow Angels, what did you think? Any thoughts on the very last scene? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Christopher Walken’s Movie Dance Montage

    Christopher Walken Dancing
    Huffington Post recently compiled a video of movie scenes with actor Christopher Walken dancing. The clip features scenes of Walken’s moves from more than fifty movies, all set to C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).” Movies featured in the montage include The Deer Hunter (1978), Batman Returns (1992), Wayne’s World 2 (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Wedding Crashers (2005), Hairspray (2007), and A Late Quartet (2012). Seeing the large number of films that feature Walken’s moves, I wonder if some filmmakers hire him on that talent alone. Check it out.

    Walken has not only danced in movies. With all of Walken’s great film work, he is also known for his footwork in the great video for Fatboy Slim‘s “Weapon of Choice.” If the new movie montage video has you craving more Walken dancing, here’s the Fatboy Slim video.

    What is your favorite Christopher Walken dance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Kevin Bacon Reprises “Footloose” Protest on Tonight Show

    Footloose Tonight Show

    On The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon announced NBC’s new rule banning all dancing. Coincidentally, that night’s guest was Kevin Bacon, who pulled out his moves from his Footloose days to stand up against the network’s dancing ban.

    Is he able to change peoples’ minds about the ban on dancing? You will have to check out the video to find out.

    It is hard to believe that it has been three decades since Footloose opened in theaters in 1984. But the 55-year-old Keven Bacon shows he still has the moves (with a little help from a double). And he is a great sport here too.

    What is your favorite Kevin Bacon movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Springsteen’s “Spill the Wine”: Is This Just a Dream?

    Bruce Springsteen fans have noted that the singer has been making some interesting song choices on his latest tour. Recently, a friend directed me to Springsteen’s February performance of “Spill the Wine,” originally a 1970 hit for Eric Burdon (the former lead singer of The Animals) and War on their album Eric Burdon Declares “War” (1970). This February 23 opening performance at the Hope Estate Winery in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia was the first public performance of the song by Springsteen and the E Street Band. I am not sure there is a better song to open a show at a winery.

    “Spill the Wine” is one of those songs you have heard a million times even if you may not recognize the song’s name. The tune often appears in movies set in the 1970s, like Boogie Nights (1997) and Remember the Titans (2000), because the song sounds like the 1970s. You will recognize it once you hear the opening riff. It’s a cool song too, and Springsteen does it justice (with some lyric changes for the Australian locale), here leading into his own song, “Seeds.” Check it out.

    “Seeds” is about a family struggling to survive in the Southwest. As for “Spill the Wind,” you may read the different theories about the song’s meaning around the Internet. AllMusic, which gives its own interpretation of the song, notes that the song is so unique that few folks — like Springsteen and the Isley Brothers — have ever covered it. And, like a number of other one-off songs performed by Springsteen, so far he has only performed it once.

    Although Springsteen’s performance is a lot of fun, it is of course impossible to top the original. The first album of two collaborations between Burdon and War created this song that became War’s first major hit and Burdon’s last. Watch this performance by Eric Burdon and War of the shaggy dog story, “Spill the Wine.”

    What do you think? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    It’s About Time to Watch “About Time” (Missed Movies)

    Domhnall Gleeson There are a number of reasons to give the movie About Time (2013) a chance, despite its somewhat generic title. The film is written and directed by Richard Curtis, who wrote Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Notting Hill (1999), and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). While not everyone loves romantic comedies, About Time throws in a twist. In line with a trend previously examined on Chimesfreedom, the film incorporates a science fiction element where the science fiction element, with little or no special effects, is a mere co-star to help explore some interesting aspects of the human condition.

    Near the start of the film, a father, played by the wonderful Bill Nighy, tells his 21-year-old son Tim, played by Domhnall Gleeson that the men in the family have an unexplained ability to travel back in time in their lives to change their own past. Before viewers can get too excited about the time-travel concept, though, the dad explains that it is limited to the person’s life, so they cannot go back and kill Hitler, etc. With that limitation in mind and other “rules” we later discover, the rest of the film follows Tim trying to live a good life with his unusual ability to help his family and friends, including the woman with whom he falls in love, Mary, played by Rachel McAdams. As a metaphor for real life, Tim uses his powers much as the way we use our own power to live in the present.

    I will not ruin the movie by delving further into the plot (and if you are sure you are going to see the movie, skip the plot-revealing trailer below). But there are additional reasons to see the movie besides the clever writing and the interesting concept, which never comes close to overwhelming the real emotions of the characters. One reason the movie works is the engaging acting by Domhnall Gleeson. His occasional narration will remind viewers of similar narration by Hugh Grant in films like Love Actually and About a Boy (2002), with comparable phrasing and heartfelt insight. But, aside from the Hugh Grant similarities, Gleeson brings much more, adding some goofy humor from a man trying to figure out life. Gleeson, who lacks Grant’s leading-man looks, brings an everyman quality to the role. He interacts well with McAdams, but it may be his work with Nighy as his dad that provides the real heart of the movie. The movie features a fine supporting cast of other secondary characters that are well developed too.

    Because of the sweetness of the film is connected to a supernatural element, one is tempted to say the movie is a combination of Love Actually and Groundhog Day (1993). The comparison may raise expectations too much, but you get the idea. Even if About Time does not live up to those movies on your first viewing, it is one that has a chance to grow in popularity with repeated viewings once it starts running on cable TV. After watching the movie for the first time on DVD, I immediately watched it again, which is something I rarely do. And I continued thinking about the movie for several days, a nice respite from the majority of films that vanish from thought ten minutes after they end.

    In addition to the engaging characters, the concept of the film makes it re-watchable, as a viewer might analyze the logic of the film’s time-travel concept. Because of the number of questions that are raised by time travel that cannot be completely sorted out in a movie, I could not help thinking that About Time would make an interesting television series.

    There were other questions that a TV series might explore more. For example, Tim is a lawyer in the movie. While the movie does not tell us much about his work, someone does make a comment implying Tim has won all of his cases. That off-hand comment makes the viewer wonder if Tim used his time travels in the workplace, which would raise a number of ethical and moral issues. But the movie does not have time to explore them. What the movie does with the time it has, though, is explore the meaning of time, making the viewers think about their own lives. And, even if About Time is not perfect, that experience is a lot more than one expects from most modern movies.

    Conclusion? If you like romantic comedies and do not mind an unusual twist that may challenge you and make you think, then you should give About Time a chance. Maybe you will not like it, but then again, it might change your perspective on life.

    Other Reviews Because Why Should You Trust Me?: About Time is a movie that seems destined to be loved by a lot of viewers while being scorned by a lot of critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives About Time a so-so rating of 69% from critics while the movie gets a respectable 82% audience rating. Stephanie Zacharek at The Village Voice hated the movie, calling it “mostly dreadful.” Meanwhile, Joel Arnold at NPR enjoyed the film, concluding that About Time “blends genre pleasures with efficient, thematically resonant storytelling and moreover gives its audience a call to action.” Finally, if you get the DVD, check out the deleted scene involving Abbey Road that Curtis was sad to leave out of the movie (no longer available on YouTube).

    {Missed Movies is our continuing series on good films you might have missed because they did not receive the recognition they deserved when released.}

    What did you think of About Time? Leave your two cents in the comments.


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