It finally snowed over the weekend. Left a solid amount on the ground. My wife and I have been looking forward all winter for a good snowfall so that we can watch some snowy films. We managed to complete The Shining, Misery, and The Thing over the weekend. I would also include David Fincher’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but my wife said she was fine with only having watched once in theaters. That is code for, no thank you, I don’t want to watch this. We joking refer to these films as our “feel good winter movies.”

I don’t know if I’ll ever grow tired of The Shining. Just a masterpiece of a film. Shelly Duval gives the performance of a lifetime. Just absolutely incredible. She carries that film. I miss when Jack Nicholson was still flexing his amazing acting chops, everything he does in this movie just…works. I only just noticed on this re-watch, but when Danny is communicating to Scatman Crothers via telepathy, I never noticed that Scatman was all the way over in Florida. Super strong “shining” abilities from Danny that he can reach him over 1500 miles away. Poor Scatman. He is possibly the nicest, most sweetest character and he travels all the way back for, what is essentially a stranger. Only to go out like…that. Great film.

Every time I watch Misery I am reminded why Kathy Bates won an Oscar from it. She absolutely nails this unpredictable character. You can sort of almost sympathize with her. To a point. She does a great job selling Annie Wilkes as just a nice little lady who enjoys her music and novels, but can swap easily to an obsessed fanatic when she feels slighted or doesn’t like something. They just don’t make them like this anymore. Just fantastic film making from Rob Reiner here.

The Thing is probably one of my top 5 movies of all time. I love “bottle” type of shows/movies and this is the epitome of that. It has such a simple premise, straightforward plot, and the most top notch practical effects I’ve ever seen on camera. Kurt Russell is in his prime beefcake era here. Lovely to watch. The cast has incredible chemistry with each other, nothing feels phoned in. John Carpenter is the man, man.

Sitting on the couch with my kitties and my wife, snowed in, and watching movies together is my happy place. I look forward to many more nights like that night. ❤