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Grab some popcorn, a mug of hot cocoa and get cozy for a winter movie night
Winter weather is here! While getting outside for some winter activities is fun during the day, winter nights are perfect for lighting some candles, cooking up some comfort food, and cozying up on the couch.
Need a movie recommendation to keep you company on a chilly evening? Here & Now staffers picked out their favorite movies to put on when the snow starts coming down.
Here & Now’s staff winter movie round-up
Holiday movies
- “The Muppet Christmas Carol”
Associate producer Thomas Danielian says, “It is just such a cheery, festive movie. Michael Caine plays Scrooge very seriously, which really helps the rest of the comedy sing. The music is really catchy and stays with you for days after.
“My family has a tradition of watching the movie all together at exactly 5 p.m. GMT / noon EST on Christmas Eve. No matter where we are in the world — and we are spread far and wide sometimes! — parents, cousins, uncles, aunts and siblings all stop to watch.”
- “Tokyo Godfathers”
Producer James Perkins Mastromarino says, “A distinctly Japanese twist on the nativity story, ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ is moving, funny and brilliantly animated. Set on Christmas Eve, three unhoused people — an alcoholic, a drag queen and a teenage runaway — come across a baby in a Tokyo trash bin and set out to find its parents.
“Director Satoshi Kon brings characteristic wit and warmth to every character in the ensuing journey, however humble their circumstances. It's a pure delight.”
- “A Christmas Story,” also recommended by Perkins Mastromarino.
- “The Holiday,” recommended by senior producer Emiko Tamagawa.
- “Love Actually” followed by “Die Hard”
Executive producer Carline Watson recommends this double feature, "because one can never have too much Alan Rickman."
More wintery picks
- “Little Women” (2019)
Digital producer Grace Griffin says, “This movie is the epitome of cozy! Its themes of family, close friendships and perseverance coupled with intense pain and grief is a realistic picture of life. Plus, it has some beautiful winter scenes that'll make you want to build a snowman and frolic under snowflakes as soon as the film ends.”
- The “Twilight” saga
Griffin says, “Big-time winter scenes here, especially in the last two movies. Curl up on the couch for the first movie, a classicly 2000s film, or put on all 5 for a cozy movie marathon.”
- “Carol”
Managing producer Gabe Bullard says, “The movie is sad but beautiful, which is the way the winter can be sometimes. It's dark outside, but that makes the lights look brighter. It's cold, but that just makes the warmth of a welcoming person or place all the nicer.”
- “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Tamagawa says, “Please don't be turned off by the fact that EEAAO is ostensibly about the metaverse! And that there are a lot of (very cool) fighting scenes.
“Underneath its sci-fi trappings this is a film about family, self-acceptance, and how the choices we make reverberate throughout our lives — that is, a perfect film to watch during the holidays. (Or rewatch, the film goes so fast that there's stuff you might have missed the first time.) The ending makes it clear that this is a film about love.”
- “Bridget Jones’s Diary”
Associate producer Kalyani Saxena says, “I just think this is such a fun rom-com (and loose ‘Pride and Prejudice’ adaption). It's genuinely very funny and the romance between Renee Zellweger's character and Colin Firth’s is so well done. Not to mention. there's a pivotal and swoon-worthy scene in the winter involving snow and an obnoxious pair of leopard print underwear.”
- “Pacific Rim”
Saxena says, “On the surface, this is a movie about giant robots. But in reality, it's about love, family and the mortifying ordeal of being known.”
- “The End of the Tour”
Digital producer Allison Hagan says, “Take a trip through the snowy Midwest with journalist David Lipsky as he interviews the late novelist David Foster Wallace in the late '90s, not long after the release of ‘Infinite Jest.’ The film starts with Lipsky, played by Jesse Eisenberg, learning that Wallace, portrayed by Jason Segel, died by suicide.
“The film takes a journey back in time to when Lipsky joined Wallace on his book tour for the iconic novel. On a book tour of his own years after Wallace's suicide, Lipsky reflects on how his time with Wallace made him less lonely — a feeling the film itself evokes on a cold winter night.”
