Sick of Holiday Movies? Help Is On the Way

It happens to the best of us. One day you’re settling down in front of your television set, or sliding your laptop over your abdomen, or bringing your enormous smartphone up towards your face, or however you watch what you watch, and you think, hey, ‘tis the season, it might be fun to watch a holiday movie! And then the next thing you know you’ve glutted yourself with holly jolly holiday “content” and if you see another childhood TV star playing a winsome baker entering another gingerbread competition in a fictional town that claims to be in Colorado or Vermont (but really looks a heck of a lot like Vancouver) only to meet a dashing business executive who happens to have designs on developing that same beloved small town into—gasp—a ski resort, well! You may in fact throw your screened device out the nearest window. Call it the Christmas cookie effect: one can be fun, but overindulge and nausea has been known to occur.

But look, you say, I'm already wearing my soft pants and my enormous knit and my extremely cute at-home-socks and I really have no intention of stepping outside for any sort of entertainment, even if it is Oscars-bound. That's fine! The good news is, there's a happy medium between making a big show of heading out for the cinema and settling in for treacly, cavity-inducing holiday fare! You can watch something that’s wintry and fun and totally unrelated to the holidays, by which we mean that you can have your cake and eat it too, with seasonally-appropriate content that has absolutely nothing to do with Santa Claus, or Hanukkah gelt, or poinsettias, or presents. And you’re not even being Grinch-y! There are wintry movies out there that are also just really good movies, regardless of the fact that they may be set in Hallmark’s favorite season. So put down the colored icing, step away from the baking sheet, and train your focus this way. (Consider it something like a palette cleanser.) Without further ado, 10 great winter movies that have nothing to do with the holidays. You’re welcome!

Cool Runnings
Highly family friendly! Four Jamaican bobsledders dream of competing in the Winter Olympics, despite never having seen snow. (Remember when snow was fun, and not a personal scourge?)

Fargo
The Coen brothers brilliant, bloody, superbly acted classic is set in a very glum, very grey Minnesota, and also manages to be very funny, in a very pitch-black way. Decidedly not for kids.

Miracle
Another one set in Minnesota! The story of the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team as it took on the Soviets and grows to symbolize American patriotism during the Cold War. Features excellent accents from areas of America with very cold weather, at least one famously inspiring locker room speech, and some truly impressive hockey flow. Family friendly. Especially if your family likes sports, or remembers the 1980s.

Call of the Wild (1935)
Clark Gable stars in an early adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel, and if that’s not enough to sway you, the dog is the hero. (That's enough for us!) Harrison Ford is reportedly set to star in a 2019 CGI version, so really, you're ahead of the curve.

The Revenant
Yes, the one that won Leo his first Academy Award. Have you ever been so glad to be warm, and inside, and not inside of a bear? We doubt your kids are interested but it's pretty stiff stuff for anybody under 13. It's also pretty stiff stuff for many over 13, so be prepared.

Winter’s Bone
The critically beloved indie film that made Jennifer Lawrence a star! Gritty, depressing, gray, a lot like winter a lot of the time? Not for kids.

March of the Penguins
Impossible to watch and not come away deeply impressed by penguins. Excellent for young kids, especially as a means to approach our current climate struggles and what they mean for penguins and their ilk.

The Shining
Impossible to watch and not come away impressed with Stanley Kubrick (and the cast). Decidedly terrible for young kids. Excellent for adults eager for flattering comparisons to their own families.

Force Majeure
A warning: this brilliant, psychologically twisty film may have a negative effect on your romantic relationship. (It will almost certainly provoke discussions around it.) It's a movie that's chilly in more ways than the obvious, which is that it is set at a ski resort in the French Alps during what one character quickly comes to believe is an avalanche. Not fun for the whole family, but arguably all the better for it!

Ice Age
This one's for the kids. Kooky computer animated early animalia attempt a southward migration during a great ice age. It is not, you may tell your young friends, anything like when their grandparents set off for Florida. Another good opportunity to talk about climate change!!!!!!