Here we are, folks. It's the last Thursday of 2015. It's the last day of the year, period. Fittingly, or least it was when she picked it, the topic for this week's Thursday Movie Picks, hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves, is Snowy Winter Movies. Where I am, it couldn't be more inappropriate than it is this particular year. We've been running about thirty degrees Fahrenheit above normal since November with plenty of days in the 70s. Haven't even sniffed snow. Not sure what the latter parts of winter will bring, but I hope it's nothing as harrowing as the situations in these movies...
The Ice Harvest
(2005)
It was all supposed to be so simple. A lawyer and an associate, played by John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton, respectively, embezzle a bunch of money from the local mobsters he represents. They were going to slip out of town that night, which happens to be Christmas Eve by the way, with the girl of his dreams. There's just one little problem. An ice storm has blown into town that's so severe, driving is practically impossible. So they're stuck in town with the bad guys who are slowly, but surely figuring out who took their money. This is a brilliant dark comedy with winning performances from Cusack, Thornton, and Oliver Platt.
Dead Snow
(2009)
A group of med students head to the Norwegian Alps for a little ski vacay. Of course, they're the only ones there. Sure enough, they're soon being killed one by one and we have ourselves a good old fashioned slasher flick. There's a twist, though. Our killers are Nazi zombies. I mean real Nazis from World War II. And real zombies. It's a blood splattering fun flick that combines the trendy creatures of this era, zombies, and combines them with an 80s-style slasher.
Deadfall
(2012)
When the getaway car they're riding in slams into a deer on a snowy highway, a brother and sister (Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde, respectively) decide to part ways to throw off suspicion and rendezvous later so they can make their way to the Canadian border. Wilde gets taken in by a local guy and the two take a shine to each other. However, she soon finds out that he is also on the run. Meanwhile, Bana is trying to navigate his way through the woods in an all-out snow storm and avoid freezing to death. Interesting film with one of the most tense dinner scenes of all-time, and at least a hint of incestuous emotion to amp up the creepy factor.
The only one of these I've seen is the last Deadfall. I got pulled in by Eric Bana and Sissy Spacek and it had its moments, and the dinner scene is disturbing, but overall I didn't love it. I've just found John Cusack harder and harder to take over the years so I tend to avoid his movies but I like the other two performers so I'll have to give Ice Harvest a look. Nazi snow zombies! Well while that sounds unique probably not for me so I'll more than likely give Dead Snow the skip.
ReplyDeleteI came up with two sportier movies and a piece of fluff to finish off the year.
Mystery, Alaska (1999)-Mystery, Alaska is a small, quiet town where hockey is the most important thing in the lives of the townsfolk. The mayor oversees special "Saturday Games" selecting locals to play against each other for the enjoyment of the other townspeople. When an article about the town and their hockey playing is published in Sports Illustrated a native son, who has left and made a name for himself in sports, convinces the NHL to have the N.Y. Rangers play a televised exhibition game in the town for publicity. This causes no end of upheaval. This was Russell Crowe's last film just before moving on to superstardom in Gladiator.
Iron Will (1994)-Having recently lost his father and in peril of losing the family farm a young man, Will Stoneman, enters a grueling dog sled race across the frozen north just before the outbreak of WWI. As he endures many hardships the newspapers latch onto his story and he becomes an inspiration for the country famed as "Iron Will".
Ski Party (1965)-Silly comedy, basically a beach party movie moved to the slopes. Two college boys pretend to be women on a ski weekend to meet other women. Taking into consideration the name of the movie your expectations should be low to start with but this is still a pretty dumb time waster. The major redeeming feature would be the appearances of James Brown and even more so Lesley Gore. Notice how whenever someone sings the movie switches to stereophonic sound! Also the scene of night skiing with color flares over which the opening credits are projected is very striking but otherwise...well read the description.
Happy New Year!
I had several chances to watch Mystery, Alaska, but always opted for something else. Maybe I'll give it a shot one of these days.
DeleteI never saw Iron Will, either. To be honest, I'm not sure if I saw Ski Party ornot. I used to watch a number of those teen party movies when I was a kid, but they all run together in my brain these days, with only a couple standing out enough for me to remember the titles. Great work, as usual. And Happy New Year to you, too!
Iron Will is one of those Disney movies, I took my nieces and nephew to see it when they were younger, where I could feel myself being manipulated throughout the movie and yet like the rest of the audience I burst into spontaneous applause at the end because I got caught up in the young guy's struggle.
DeleteSki Party, OY! Listen like I said the opening credits are cool and then if you fast forward to Lesley Gore and James Brown you could be done! Those teen flicks DO run together, I find that I can only sit through Beach Blanket Bingo nowadays, it sort of distills the essence of all of them and for whatever reason has stayed more entertaining than the rest.
Yes, Beach Blanket Bingo is one of the ones that stand out, lol.
DeleteAll three of these sounds really interesting. I haven't seen any of them. Dead Snow sounds like it would be pretty amusing.
ReplyDeleteDead Snow is amusing. There's actually a sequel which I haven't seen just yet. Both are streaming on Netflix right now. For my money, The Ice Harvest is the clear best of the three, though I clearly like them all.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these. I am cracking up over the Nazi zombies. My son used to have a bit of an obsession with Nazi zombies because of a video game. Maybe I should put it on his high school transcript.
ReplyDeleteLol, Dead Snow is a fun ride. The Ice Harvest is the best overall movie, though.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these, but they sound really interesting, especially Dead Snow.
ReplyDeleteInteresting definitely covers that one.
DeleteI almost picked The Ice Harvest. Such a brilliant dark comedy. And I love me some Cusack...and Oliver Platt. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you have even seen it, let alone like it. It's such an under-the-radar movie and, yes, it is a brilliant dark comedy.
DeleteOK Nazi Zombies?? Hahahaaa-That seems right up there with "Sheena:Shewolf of the SS." The other 2 sound good and I do like Billy Bob even if I am not one for John Cusack. Love the unique picks
ReplyDeleteWow. While Dead Snow is a gory slasher flick, it has nowhere near the sleaze factor of that movie. Please check out The Ice Harvest if you have the chance.
DeleteI've seen Deadfall...and yes that dinner scene was tense.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is!
DeleteGreat choices. The Ice Harvest is one of those underrated independent films that deserves a bigger audience. Deadfall is a film I need to catch up with though.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to see The Ice Harvest get more love. It's a fantastic film.
Delete