 RED does not mean "stop." GREEN does not mean "go." Click on the CAPCon Alert image for explanation |
Reel World Reality A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR2011.149  (2011), PG [PG*] (80.8min) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1300 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
|
  (a PayPal account is NOT required). The CAP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Christian ministry. Donations are TAX-DEDUCTIBLE. |
on what Hollywood feeds your kids. SUBSCRIBE (or unsubscribe) to our FREE email version of these reports and our COMING SOON notices. |
  Christian Long Distance |
(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Production (US): MPower Pictures LLC Distribution (US): ARC Entertainment LLC Director(s): Robert Kirbyson Producer(s): Bill O'Kane, eray liotta, Diane Hendricks, Tina Segel, Todd Burns, Stephen McEveety, David Segel, John Shapherd, Randy Jackson Written by: Robert Kirbyson Cinematography/Camera: Geno Salatori Music: John Debney Film Editing: Catherine Kirbyson Casting: Joey Paul Jensen Production Design: Christopher R. DeMuri Viewed on ARC Entertainment Home Video DVD  Adolescent Billy Kirkfield (Bobby Coleman) wants to do something important that everyone will remember for years. But he wants to do it before he dies of cancer ... this year. SNOWMEN is a story about three unlikely heroes that change their lives and the lives of an entire community. Forever. A gruesome discovery of a "snowman" in a quinzhee by three young lads: Billy, Lucas Lamb (Christian Martyn) and Jamaican transplant Howard Garvey (Bobb'e Thompson) lead themselves and the entire town of Silverlake, Utah into the national spotlight and into the Guinness Book of World Records®. Along the way a local bully, Jason Bound (Josh Flitter) makes it hard for Billy and his friends to make any difference at all. But the support of gorgeous young Gwen Nowakowski (Demi Petersen), Billy's first girlfriend, makes things a little easier. Ray Liotta and Susanne Sutchy star as Billy's parents, Reggie and Elaine. Reggie is the local opportunistic used car salesman. After the fanfare surrounding the boys' discovery of the "snowman" starts to dwindle, Billy starts to embellish the event a little as he tells his friends of his find. But Jason doesn't buy it and starts to paint himself as the bully. Jason is king of the Kill Hill - a large pile of snow dozed off the school parking lot that only the toughest kids may climb onto. After a brief episode of social warfare between Jason and Lucas, Howard steps in and makes mockery of Jason's toughness which leads the foursome into the principal's office. It is here we learn why Billy is allowed to wear a snow cap in class - he has cancer and the therapy has left him bald. At least he has put two and two together that tell him he has cancer from the parts and pieces of things from his parents and from the hospital calling every day. Here is where we find that Billy does not want to go out a loser, does not want to be remembered as "the pathetic bald kid." But he does not yet know how to achieve the notoriety he wants. After the boys have an episode of social warfare with Jason and a visit to the "snowman's" gravesite Billy starts to get ideas. First, he tries to get into fame with posting on the internet a video of him being pelted with 100 snowballs in one minute. When that does not work, he tries a toboggan vaulting video. And that doesn't work. Now Billy is getting irritated. The trio start looking through the Guinness Book of World Records® for ideas. Voilá! Snowmen! Build more than 2311 snowmen in 24 hours and he will have a Guinness title! It is winter, fer cryin' out load. Everything is covered in deep snow. There is plenty of snow. All Billy needs now to break the world's record for building snowmen is a lot of help. That is the main thrust of the film: that an entire community comes to the rescue of a young boy's dream to be somebody important. But soon Billy and all others involved learn that self importance is not built on what you do in life as much as how you do it and that everyone counts. As a side note, Christopher Lloyd, famous for Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and many other films appears as a cemetery groundskeeper and is provided with what attempts to be sage advice for the boys. Anyone could have played this part. Lloyd has provided much stronger and contributory parts in his long career. This film earned a final score of 70, placing it near the bottom of the scoring range earned by PG films (86 to 68 out of 100) in the comparative baseline database. It is R-equivalent (54 and below out of 100) in violence/crime and impudence/hate but G-equivalent with a perfect score of 100 out of 100 in Sexual Immorality, Drugs/Alcohol and Murder/Suicide and PG-equivalent in Offense to God. The R-equivalence is not particularly because of the severity of any individual events of assault on morality and/or wholesomeness but because of the sheer number of them, making the total magnitude of moral assaults within each of the two investigation areas large enough for the effect to be equivalent to the same content in some R-rated films. Following are brief discussions of the content per individual content investigation area. As always the Findings section of this report, the heart of the CAP Analysis Model, is the best source for discovering the full accounting of the content of this film. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - 34 out of 100 The quintessential trio is noted as playing in a tunneled out pile of plowed snow (a "quinzhee") and then are immersed in peril as the plow dumps more snow on the pile, entrapping the boys who barely escape. In addition, the boys come face-to-face with a dead man frozen in the snow. Further, Jason holds an ice skate blade to Lucas' face as a threat. That is certainly not PG material. That the one holding the blade and his victim are adolescents does not sanitize such a demonstration. One might see such terror in an R-rated film or maybe even a PG-13 rated film, but it does not belong in a PG-rated film. SPOILER: The boys also must visually deal with Billy drowning and his drowned dead body. A fact-of-life similarity of some of these cinematic demonstrations does not excuse exposing a PG-crowd audience to them. As I said, this content investigation area found material to be equivalent to some R-rated features. And God finds it inadvisable. So does man. Let me explain. Of the great number of admonitions in the Bible against embracing violence, I favor using Proveb 16:29 to impart His Wisdom to you because it warns us that violence is "catching" and that violence can lead one "into the way that is not good." Long after God "published His findings" in the Bible, man published findings about viewing violence in and as entertainment. Four professional public health agencies have jointly published that, among other things, viewing violence, especially by the young, can lead to real life violence and can cause the observer to view violence as an acceptable way to settle conflict. God warned us about embracing violence. Now man warns us about doing so. When are we going to listen? Impudence/Hate (I) - 1 out of 100 Four times the adolescent cast use euphemisms of profanity, ostensibly to "excuse cussing." But the strongest presence in this content area include bullying, social cruelty, name-calling, lying [Rev. 21:8] to garner social superiority and attention and other matters shown in the listing in the Findings section. Note also that adults in the cast are not squeaky clean. Reggie lies a number of times to attempt an increase in car sales, lies to Billy about his health and is opportunistic with the death of an old man in the street in front of his house. The news media embellish the truth about the dead man and peripheral information. [Isa. 13:11] There are a few other matters of impudence and/or hatred but I ask that you look to the listing in the Findings section for a complete accounting of the content found by this investigation area. As with the violence content investigation area score, the score earned by the content of the film applicable to this investigation area is also R-equivalent but not due to any particularly extreme cinematic demonstration or display but rather due to the sheer number of them. For more information about this technique of loading the content of a film with tons of "lesser" matters of assault on morality and wholesomeness to achieve the same "feel" as films that use fewer but more bold and graphic examples of content, see our publication CAP Rule of 1000. Sexual Immorality (S) - 100 out of 100 There is no content worthy of incorporating into this content investigation area. Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 100 out of 100 No possession or consumption of illegal drugs, of alcohol or tobacco were found throughout the entire 80.8 minutes of the program. Neither was any abuse of prescription drugs found. Offense to God (O) - 83 out of 100 There is one use of God's name in vain by an adult. Though it was without the four letter expletive, God made no distinctions between with and without the four letter expletive. He will hold guilty those who abuse His name. [Deut. 5:11] But of much more concern was the statement by Billy [SPOLIER], who was telling of his memory during the 53 minutes he was dead, that there are dogs in Heaven. Dogs and all other things that walk on four legs, creep or crawl or fly through the air ... no animals ... have no souls. They will not be found in Heaven. Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100 No murders or suicides were found. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE --> Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way of settling conflicts. Children exposed to violence are more likely to assume the acts of violence are acceptable behavior. --> Viewing violence can lead to emotional desensitization towards violence in real life. It can decease the likelihood that one will take action on behalf of a victim when violence occurs. --> Entertainment violence feeds a perception that the world is a violent and mean place. Viewing violence increases fear of becoming a victim of violence, with a resultant increase in self-protective behavior and a mistrust of others. --> Viewing violence may lead to real life violence. Children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children who are not so exposed. Further, God speaks darkly of violence 56 times in the Old and New Testament of the KJV.] As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
 |
(The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary / Commentary section.)  Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - 34 out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - 1 out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 100 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 100 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - 83 out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100 |
| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
|
Thank you for visiting us and may God bless you. Prayerfully, we will provide you with some of the most revealing commentary and investigative reporting you have ever read. In the name of Jesus: Lord, Master, Teacher, Savior, God. Tom Carder Chaplain and President ChildCare Action Project (CAP): Christian Analysis of American Culture 100% dependent on your tax-deductible financial support |  |
Christian Long Distance |
|
We exist only by your tax-deductible donations. PLEASE  Features PayPal! You do NOT need an account to donate. |
| For G rated Films with G equivalence: G PG equivalence: PG-G PG-13 equivalence: 13-G R equivalence: R-G< | For PG rated Films with G equivalence: G-PG PG equivalence: PG PG-13 equivalence: 13-PG R equivalence: R-PG | For PG-13 rated Films with G equivalence: G-13 PG equivalence: PG(13) PG-13 equivalence: PG-13 R equivalence: R-13 | For R rated Films with G equivalence: G-R PG equivalence: PG-R PG-13 equivalence: 13-R R equivalence: R | For NR rated Films with G equivalence: G-NR PG equivalence: PG-NR PG-13 equivalence: 13-NR R equivalence: R-NR |
