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.