Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

M AR I can tell what they were trying to do here. Make a film that real life drama film ended up like a lifetime movie that missed the cut. If you have ever seen a movie that made you think, what the F*** was that? This is probably similar to that movie.There is not one likable character in this movie.Unfit mother. Depressed, psycho, alcoholic ex. New boyfriend who is a degenerate. The best thing about this movie was the credits when it ended.

daveydyall This movie seems like the kind of thing someone would write who doesn't have a clear picture of where they want to go with things. Predictably it never arrives. The amount of raving reviews I read on IMDb is really stunning, to the degree that I seriously paused to wonder if the director or writer hasn't payed off a few of his friends to come on here and pump up his dud. In truth, the various loosely associated story lines never really coalesce. There are characters with mildly interesting personalities all over, but there are too many and nobody ever comes to the fore and carries things. The result is a continuous sense of anticipation that slowly settles into the awareness that time has run out for substance, though this comes too late for us to turn it off with time to watch something better before nodding off for the night. The most promising character, and certainly the one we want to like most (the boy), never seems to have more than an observer role in the events on display throughout the film, and so our sympathy for him is never channeled into any direction of note. The "bad guy" crazy husband is absolutely unbelievable as a character, and is made more ridiculous by the caricature of religiosity which he is given. The director must have some personal ax to grind in that respect, but whatever it is it isn't effective. The movie literally starts where it ends, with the bulk of it being a flashback, but this is actually quite apropos of the meaningless lost-in-the-woods wandering sense of the whole piece. I like a good art film. This, friends, isn't even close. Don't waste your time. Seriously. My only guess for an explanation of the raving reviews scattered amid the much more sensible panning might be that people who have watched something else seem to have written about it here by mistake.

Wuchak Yes. 2007's "Snow Angels" is easily one of the most potent and realistic dramas ever filmed. The story is about a handful of ordinary couples, young and older, in a NE hamlet at winter time (filmed in Nova Scotia). Some criticize that the film is depressing but it's inaccurate to say that the WHOLE movie is depressing. Nor does the film leave the viewer in a totally depressed state. There's a lot of beauty and hope amidst the shadows and darkness; and it left me pondering many things, including the numerous real-life people the characters remind me of. Certainly one storyline is tragic and depressing, but that's not the whole focus of the story (altough it is the dominant focus). The film is about romantic relationships in various stages and whether they're successful or not depending upon their responses to the inevitable crises & temptations of life:(No major spoilers here; just general plot revelations) Arthur and Lila's high school relationship is just budding and seems healthy and promising. - Glenn and Annie's relationship has been devastated by Glenn's alcoholism and anger/obsession issues; Annie wants to move on but foolishly chooses to have an affair with the husband of a friend. She's not only foolish, she's also treacherous! Glenn is truly trying to recover from his personal demons -- he even gets born-again -- but for some reason he has a hard time getting over his ex and moving forward with his life. His struggle between the positive and negative forces within us all is real. Both Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale are outstanding in their roles, Rockwell particularly so. In fact, I've never seen such a realistic and powerful performance. No kidding. The viewer sees his sincere desire to improve his life but foolish and selfish temptations manifest when he's faced with rejection and tragedy. Will he take the wise or foolish path? - Nate and Barb's relationship hits its first major crisis: Nate is discovered to be an adulterer, and not just with one person. Barb understandably responds with fierce anger, at first, until a tragedy shows her true angelic nature. - Arthur's parents separate but maybe there's still hope for their relationship and family. - Glenn's parent's are in the latter stage of a committed relationship, which seems to have been successful. - Glenn's loving & loyal retriever is the anithesis of Annie, who treats Glenn with hostility and desires to move on in life, away from him; although this is understandable, the viewer can't help but empathize and root for Glenn in light of his sincere attempts to improve his life and reconcile with his ex. After all, he's genuine & humble, he loves his daughter (and vice versa) and he's not an unfaithful scumbag. Pay attention to the very last scene to discover the fate of the dog. Take note of the scene (very minor spoiler) where one of the main characters takes down a painting of the cross (which represents love and self-sacrifice, of course) and there's a kid's handprint on the wall accompanied by the word "me". This signifies the selfish and immature turn he's decided to make. The film leaves the viewer with hope despite the series of foolish, tragic and criminal events -- hope that love will triumph, a certain couple will stay together and a youthful couple will make wise decisions and overcome the numerous pitfalls that destroy others. It could go either way. Yes, the young couple look happy and natural together, but everyone's like that in the early years of their relationship. Although the movie starts out showing Annie's hostility toward Glenn, she admits that Glenn always used to help her focus on the positive side of life and his total support was always comforting. The film shows a young character flirting with alcohol and pot; not all people get thrown offtrack by flirting with such things, I know, but one main character obviously did. Will he? Only time -- and wrong or right choices -- will answer these questions. Right after seeing the film I read the story about a recent incident in Arizona that mirrors the main storyline in the film. It happens. "Snow Angels" IS reality in every sense -- storyline, cast, acting, music, etc. In fact, the film is brilliant. Once seen, you'll never forget it. I'll personally treasure it for decades to come. My only complaint is that sometimes the camera bobbles around too much, drawing attention to itself. I realize the director is trying to be hip but the camera should never draw attention to itself. Fads pass away while solid filmmaking endures.

TxMike The location looks like it could be any Midwest town with a medium sized high school. It is winter, there is snow on the ground, the band is practicing outside for the halftime show of the next football game. We hear what sounds like a gunshot, we don't know from where. The students hear it too. Is it a school shooting?Then the movie flashes back a couple of weeks and is told in a linear manner, up and then past that point where we hear a shot. The first thing we figure out is there don't seem to be any "faithful" couples. At least we don't see them. The ones we see are fooling around with spouses of friends.I suppose the best summary is a "slice of life" in a small community, and for the high school kids it is part of their coming of age. Kate Beckinsale is Annie Marchand, she works in a restaurant and is separated from her husband. They have a small daughter. It seems he has had some emotional issues, received treatment, but still behaves like the kind of guy most people don't want to be around. He is a social misfit, often saying or doing exactly what shouldn't be said or done in the situation. Meanwhile Annie is secretly carrying on with a married man, while her husband seeks to reunite the family.Sam Rockwell is the husband, Glenn Marchand, and he plays the part very well. Separate from all this another family is having domestic problems. Michael Angarano (of 'Sky High' fame) is teenager Arthur Parkinson. He plays trombone, not very well, in the high school band. Seems his mom and dad aren't getting along very well, dad leaves home for a while. Meanwhile Arthur gets to be friends with a new girl at school, Olivia Thirlby as Lila Raybern, and they become young lovers. Interesting dynamic, when his mother one morning realizes he and his girl had spent a night together, she doesn't scold him at all, in fact expresses some amount of envy that he is getting some and she isn't.Anyway, as well-made and as well-acted as this movie is, when it was over I didn't feel good. I had just witnessed train wrecks where no one comes out of it in good shape. Had I known what all was going to transpire I would not have taken the time to see it. Not my kind of "entertainment", but I grant that some viewers will like it a lot.MAJOR SPOILERS: As Annie and Glenn are jockeying for position in the strained relationship, Annie wakes up from an unplanned afternoon nap and finds the small daughter missing. The town has everyone, even early dismissed school kids, begin looking for her in a 4-mile radius. Arthur, who as a kid had Annie as a babysitter, found the girl, dead at the edge of a frozen pond. This of course further strained relationships and Glenn went to Annie's house with a shotgun and shells, he waited for her, shot and killed her. Later, as he was driving away in his truck and realizing his life was essentially over, stopped and shot himself through the mouth and brain with piston. As the movie ends we see everyone else in the town just going on with their lives.