Movies for a Winter's Night
Snowy films to cozy up to
"I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life." - Phil Connors, Groundhog Day
Winter is a glorious time of year to bundle up, get cozy, and snuggle onto a couch with a movie while the snow falls outside. I’ll be doing that, minus the snow. Here in L.A., I can pretend though—and I will—by watching some of the films below. I love watching movies that fit the season, energy, current events, etc. of the time and winter is no exception. The selections below specifically try to avoid Christmas, since that time has passed and I did two posts at length about that genre here and here. I’ve broken my picks down into popular categories, highlighted my favorites, and gave alternate options for each.
Silent Era: The Gold Rush (1925) - dir. Charlie Chaplin
(Streaming on Amazon Prime, Criterion, Hoopla, and Tubi)
This masterpiece of Charlie Chaplin’s might be my favorite from the whole list. First off, black and white films, especially silent ones, are particularly well suited to winter movie viewing. The lack of color and sound both reflect the nature of . . . nature—of snow. As the snow silently falls and your window is in full white-out, why not mirror that with your TV? The nice thing about The Gold Rush is it is an ingenious comedy, so any of the gloominess you may feel by the season is countered by wonderfully slapstick hilarity.
Alternatives: Nanook of the North (1922) was the first documentary to move the needle at the box office, inspiring more docs to be produced. Eskimo (1933), while not a silent, is nonetheless a fascinating film based on the experiences of adventurer Peter Freuchen. The story behind how it was made is equally as interesting. It was filmed over the course of a year in the arctic and includes actual hunting footage, authentically showing the Eskimo way of life. It was also the first film to win an Oscar for Best Editing at the Academy Awards. It’s hard to find a good copy of but there is a poor copy readily available on YouTube).
Here’s a list of all the films mentioned in this post, plus some bonuses:
Comedy: Groundhog Day (1993) - dir. Harold Ramis
(Streaming on Netflix)
Need I say more? Watch it . . . again and again and again. Relive winter . . . forever.
Alternatives: Spies Like Us (1985) dir. John Landis. Dumb and Dumber (1994) dir. Peter Farrelly. Cool Runnings (1993) dir. Jon Turteltaub. Amarcord (1973) dir. Federico Fellini. Metropolitan (1990) dir. Whit Stillman. Werewolves Within (2021) dir. Josh Ruben. Hot Dog… The Movie (1984) dir. Peter Markle.
Action: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) - dir. Peter R. Hunt
(Streaming on Netflix)
The only James Bond film to primarily take place in a wintry landscape and George Lazenby’s one and only outing in the role, this installment is one of the better early Bonds. There’s something extra cozy about a franchise. It screams: don’t get off your couch, keep binging until winter’s over!
Alternatives: Runaway Train (1985) dir. Andrei Konchalovsky—a very close second. This film isn’t talked about enough. Fantastic snowy action train sequences. Snowpiercer (2013) dir. Bong Joon Ho (Parasite). The Day After Tomorrow (2004) dir. Roland Emmerich (Independence Day)—this one is so bad it’s good. Lady Snowblood (1973) dir. Toshiya Fujita (helped inspire Kill Bill and stand well on its own). Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) dir. Quentin Tarantino (specifically for the final scene, inspired by Snowblood). Batman Returns (1992) dir. Tim Burton.
Romance: All That Heaven Allows (1955) - dir. Douglas Sirk
(Streaming for rent on Apple TV, Amazon, and Fandango)
Nobody has ever used Technicolor like Douglas Sirk has. This is his most striking to me. The colors are shockingly bright and vibrant for a wintry melodrama. It makes for an enjoyable contrast in tone that helps elevate the story to become really absorbing. Watching it in winter allows us to escape to a fireplace in a cabin in the woods.
Alternatives: There are a couple very good ones. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) dir. Orson Welles. Doctor Zhivago (1965) dir. David Lean. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) dir. Michel Gondry.
Crime: Fargo (1996) - dir. Joel Coen
(Streaming on HBO Max)
This is a great choice, because not only is it a classic and so wonderfully directed and written, but the comedic element helps break the tension so that it’s not so entirely stressful (like some in my alternates are).
Alternatives: Spellbound (1945) dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Odd Man Out (1947) dir. Carol Reed. A Simple Plan (1998) dir. Sam Raimi. Insomnia (2002) dir. Christopher Nolan. Winter’s Bone (2010) dir. Debra Granik. Anatomy of a Fall (2023) dir. Justine Triet.
Documentary: The Art of Flight (2011) - dir. Curt Morgan
(Available for rent on Apple TV and Fandango)
Snow sports are a blast to watch in the winter. Snowboarding films are a dime a dozen, but The Art of Flight has the perfect combination of great music, directing, and of course, incredible feats of flying snowboarders.
Alternatives: Morgan’s other great snowboarding film That’s It, That’s All (2008). White Rock (1977) dir. Tony Maylam, is a dynamically directed showcase of the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (2021) dir. Torquil Jones. Last, but not least, 2005’s March of the Penguins dir. Luc Jacquet.
Western: Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - dir. Sydney Pollack
(Streaming on Tubi with ads or for rent on Apple TV, Amazon, and YouTube)
Westerns give winter a great platform to shine. Ever since my wife and I stayed at my grandparents’ home years ago and discovered their VHS copy of Jeremiah Johnson, we’ve been hooked. It’s become a sort of cult classic around our house. It gives us the wintry chills even when it’s 80 degrees in January in Los Angeles. And yes, we thought it cool before the famous approval meme.
Alternatives: McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) dir. Robert Altman (tough not to add this as the primary). Pale Rider (1985) dir. Clint Eastwood (another favorite). Ride the High Country (1962) dir. Sam Peckinpah. Day of the Outlaw (1959) dir. André de Toth.
Horror: The Shining (1980) - dir. Stanley Kubrick
(Streaming on Peacock and for rent on Apple TV and Amazon)
There’s nothing like escaping to a ski lodge in the winter for some writing and solitude.
Alternatives: Misery (1990) dir. Rob Reiner (RIP). The Thing (1982) dir. John Carpenter (another heavy hitter vying for the top spot). Kwaidan (1964) is a beautifully directed, if not slow, Japanese ghost anthology film by Masaki Kobayashi with gorgeous winter scenes. Let the Right One In (2008) by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson is about children vampires. I couldn’t let this one go by without mentioning Guillermo del Toro’s newest masterpiece, Frankenstein (2025).
Drama: Citizen Kane (1941) - dir. Orson Welles
(Available for rent on Apple TV, Amazon, and Fandango)
The GOAT prominently features the title character with a snow globe, famously references a sled throughout (“Rosebud”), and the scenes of his upbringing are in a wintry landscape. It checks lots of boxes.
Alternatives: Ikiru (1952) dir. Akira Kurosawa. Winter Light (1963) dir. Ingmar Bergman. Little Women (1994) dir. Gillian Armstrong. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) dir. Stanley Kubrick. Schindler’s List (1993) dir. Steven Spielberg. Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979) dir. Joan Micklin Silver. Downhill Racer (1969) dir. Michael Ritchie.
Adventure: The Revenant (2015) - dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
(Available for rent on Apple TV, Amazon, and YouTube)
I’m lumping adventure here with some that could also be considered westerns and also survival/reenactments. The Revenant is just too good not to feature though, as incredibly harrowing as it may be.
Alternatives: There are some great survival tales that could use their own category if I had the space: Touching the Void (2003) dir. Kevin Macdonald. Alive (1993) dir. Frank Marshall. Society of the Snow (2023) dir. J.A. Bayona (same story as Alive). Everest (2015) dir. Baltasar Kormákur. Rounding out the broad category, there’s the insane Ravenous (1999) dir. Antonia Bird. Arctic (2018) dir. Joe Penna. The mostly silly, but enjoyable Liam Neeson film The Grey (2011) dir. Joe Carnahan. Aspen Extreme (1993) dir. Patrick Hasburgh (this is some serious 90s fun). And finally, how about The Empire Strikes Back (1980) dir. Irvin Kershner? (There isn’t a whole lot of wintry sci-fi—maybe Interstellar and The Martian can go here?)
Fantasy: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - dir. Andrew Adamson
(Streaming on Disney Plus and for rent on Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, and Fandango)
Though this can easily go in the “family” slot, the fantasy genre isn’t huge for winter and this fits nicely here. Plus, it can be binged as a trilogy.
Alternatives: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) dir. Chris Columbus. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) dir. Peter Jackson—sorta works, but this is more about the vibes and binging a long satisfying series of film while holed up in winter. The Green Knight (2021) dir. David Lowery. Edward Scissorhands (1990) dir. Tim Burton.
Family: Ice Age (2002) - dir. Chris Wedge
(Streaming on Disney Plus and for rent on Apple TV and Amazon)
The kiddos can easily binge this series of films during a winter lockdown. I most often find them funny with solid animation though I haven’t seen them all. There’s no better winterscape than the Ice Age.
Alternatives: There’s a decent amount. The all too obvious pick is Frozen (2013) dir. Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee. Also: Balto (1995) dir. Simon Wells. Abominable (2019) dir. Jill Colton. Togo (2019) dir. Ericson Core. White Fang (1991) dir. Randal Kleiser. Iron Will (1994) dir. Charles Haid. The Journey of Natty Gann (1985) dir. Jeremy Kagan. Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011) dir. Mark Waters.