Winter Storm Jonas Movie Watch List

When I think of Jonas, I think of the brothers, Nick, Joe and Kevin. Sigh. You remember them; they gained fame in the mid-2000s with appearances on the Disney Channel and their films, Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: the Final Jam.

Unfortunately, it won't be the Jonas brothers Burnin’ Up this weekend; Jonas is a major winter storm that will impact millions across from Ohio to the Tennessee Valleys to Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. I'm one of those millions. So considering we're all going to be hearing a lot about the wrong kind of Jonas this weekend, I figured I'd put together a snow themed watchlist. 

First, let me suggest a great hot chocolate recipe from Ina Garten from the Food Network.

2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups half-and-half
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
4 to 5 vanilla beans or cinnamon sticks, for garnish

Directions

Heat the milk and half-and-half in a saucepan on medium heat to just below the simmering point. Remove the pan from the heat and add both chocolates. When the chocolates are melted, add the sugar, vanilla extract, and espresso and whisk vigorously. Reheat gently and serve immediately. Use a vanilla bean or cinnamon stick to garnish each serving.

Then settle down and snuggle in, mug in hand, and commiserate with the characters from these classic snowy films.

The Day After Tomorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZyXtEMFfaw

Roland Emmerich at his world-ending best,  bringing about the apocalypse with a…instant ice age? Okay then! The above is a great scene where Jake Gyllenhaal runs into some nasty wolves on a cruise ship in the middle of Manhattan while searching for…oh just watch the film, it's a freezing laugh riot.

Frozen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEJ566EnNgM

Obviously.

The Shining

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lQ_MjU4QHw

Perhaps the ultimate snowed-in horror film of all time. And (36 year spoiler alert), when you think about it, it's the snow and cold that save the day.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWRxPDhd3d0

God we miss John Hughes and John Candy. In one of his many classics, a sudden snowstorm in Chicago forces a plane to land in Wichita, marooning two very different people together in what is one of the all time road movie classics.

Snowpiercer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH6zj7lovAE

Bong Joon-ho's criminally under-watched action masterpiece starring a great Chris Evans and an even better Tilda Swinton. 

Groundhog Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqSYC_vwhDg

Harold Ramis gave us this absolute classic, one of the truly great comedies of the 90s, starring Bill Murray as an obnoxious weatherman stuck in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, perpetually waking up on the titular day. Ned? Ned Ryerson!?

And there's always this, for when the storm passes and your cabin fever has truly set in.