Iteration two of our curation of films to watch for very specific moods, is here! Movie watching is the bun to any burger of a hotel stay — the same could be said about chilly weather equalling staying indoors. Here to hold your hand through the cool climate, and perhaps a cheeky stay within our walls, is a list of the best films to watch when the temp drops. As with our list of travel films, a carefully laid room service plan will enhance your Old Clare or home-bed-cinema experience 12-fold, so load up the snacks, boil the water for both your tea and hot water bottle, and prepare to get square eyed. In a good way.
If anything will warm you up this winter, it’s watching people experience a Minnesota winter from the comfort of your comfies. Joel and Ethan Coen’s comedy-thriller follows a pregnant police chief investigating roadside homicides and the anguished anguish of a desperate car salesman’s life gone wrong. A piece of film that’ll have you swiftly Googling all of Frances McDormand’s other work.
The Man From Snowy River, 1982
An Australian classic, based on a poem of Banjo Patterson’s, it is. Set in the chilly heights of the Snowies, this film is coming of age of sorts, following youngun’ protagonist Jim Craig’s journey to inheriting the station that’s rightfully his. It’s nostalgic and inspired and elicits ideas to buy a highlands hut to renovate and sit by the fire in? No? Just us?
A decaying and morally in arrears, post-Vietnam New York is the host of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Follow an unstable, insomniac veteran in Robert De Niro drive his cab around the city. Some say it’s Robert’s best work, we say it makes one appreciate the comfort of le couch.
Grandpa jumpers, patent red leather jackets — High Fidelity, the 2000 film version, is the stuff of winter wardrobe dreams. Step into Rob’s failing Chicago record store and watch him examine his Whole Life, from failed romances to failed happiness, while simultaneously becoming a Real Adult. Quality watching from a Clare Suite king.
Nothing will warm your winter heart, nothing, like this heart-wrenching, arresting story following a Korean-American family that moves to a rural farm to pursue the American Dream. There’s a foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandma (tick), incredibly lush pastures (tick, tick) and a determination to fight the instability and challenges of their new life (tick, tick, tick).
Vintage Meryl? Yes, ploise. In this comedy-dram’ a youngun’ Meryl is recovering from addiction and trying to scrape her acting career back together. She’s living with her dear mum post-rehab and, well, it’s a lot. Settle in with a tea or two and watch the family saga unravel. Good Sunday watching.
Get the blood moving with some actual laugh out louds courtesy of Rushmore. A tale as, annoyingly, old as time, but in this case, quite hilare’. Ambitious teenager falls in love, only to be met with competition by the very person advising him on how to woo. It’s funny, it’s a classic, it’s good with a smidge of room service too, we hear anyways.
Nineteen fifties New York is the backdrop to this incredible, must-watch-before-you-go film starring Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. They meet in a department store and forge a fast, complicated bond, explored over two hours of some of Cate and Rooney’s best work. Just add a bottle of vino and duck-down bedding and you’ve got yourself a tip-top night in in a Chippendale Loft.
Arguably, The Best Sci-Fi Film of All Time is a title that could very easily be given to 2001: A Space Odyssey. A scary-looking black structure connects past and future in this adaptation of a short story by Arthur C. Clarke. Astronauts are sent on a mysterious mission, their computer system, HAL, starts “behaving” strangely and in the end there’s a showdown of person versus machine. Excellent watching, from the safety of Earth.
Bonus: The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014
The pièce de résistance — the most hotel-y hotel on the silver screen. If you’ve somehow missed watching Gustave H. and Zero flit about the 1930s hotel in costumes/work uniforms we could only dream of, then you haven’t quite achieved peak hotel-stay etiquette. Our suggestion? Book your any Old Clare Room, though the C.U.B would really suit well, slip on your slips and settle in with block or two of that good ‘n’ wobbly Koko Black stuff from our mini bar.
Perfer to make your winter-esque movie watching a vacay thing? Every Old Clare room boasts HD TV and Chromecast, for your pleasure. Book here.