Top Five Movie Ideas for a Cold, Wintry Day

When your area is hit with an arctic blast that cancels all plans and conspires to keep you locked in doors, cuddle up with a warm blanket, a cup of hot cocoa and a stack of movies to pass the day away! Here is a listed of suggested movies - some classic, others contemporary - that are just perfect for a cold, wintry day!

1. White Christmas - It definitely does not have to be Christmastime to watch this classic hit featuring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney! Great music, snazzy dance moves and World War II era romance lead to a plot that's wholesome enough to watch with children with enough hidden innuendos to keep adults enthralled.

2. 50 First Dates - If you can't stand to think about the cold outside, escape with a movie set in paradise! Adam Sandler displays his usual brand of wry humor, but tames it down successfully to show a soft and compassionate side to the character he plays. Drew Barrymore loses the "poor, whiny me" attitude that seems to come across in so many of her movies and plays a genuinely likeable character. By the end of this movie, the interplay between Sandler and Barrymore will warm you in ways your hot chocolate cannot.

3. Top Gun - Let's be honest - is there any good time not to watch this star-studded flick with warm sun, hot sand, fast jets and ripe dialogue? Forget the zany stunts Tom Cruise has pulled recently and travel back to a time when he was the hottest thing to move on the big screen. Listen carefully for the lines from this film that you quoted for days - or weeks - after you first say it years ago - my personal favorite is "I feel the need...the need for speed!" Pretty soon, you'll forget the cold outside as you immerse in the Cold War innuendos of threats from the Russians and the need for American Military Domination. "Tower, this is Ghostrider, requesting a flyby." "Negative, Ghostrider...the pattern is full."

4. Guys and Dolls - Perhaps some of the finest music every written for a musical makes this movie - adapted from a successful Broadway play - a timeless masterpiece. Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and the beautiful Vivian Blaine are four stars in a cast beyond compare. You'll find your foot tapping as the gamblers sing "Luck Be A Lady" and you'll want to throw off your blanket and start singing and dancing yourself by the final credit.

5. Fargo - Settle back into the cold with a trip to Minnesota, where a desperate husband seeks to rip-off is father-in-law with a harebrained scheme to kidnap and ransom his wife, but whose scheme is waylaid by all manner of trouble from the get-go. Featuring William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi and Emmy-winning France McDormand and this comedy that attempts to make a parody of law and order in the frozen north takes on the epic proportions common to all Coen Brothers films.