Yuen: Anoka County Woman Coaches Emma Thompson on How to Speak Minnesotan

Yuen: Anoka County woman coaches Emma Thompson on how to speak Minnesotan

Drawing out her "o"s is one way the actress prepared for her role in the new action thriller, "Dead of Winter," which opens in theaters Friday.

Harsh environment helps elevate ‘Dead of Winter’ kidnap drama

Like a virus, desperation thrives in the unforgiving cold of Northern Minnesota in “Dead of Winter.” The environment heightens the largely engrossing kidnapping thriller. Its principal characters are desperate — mostly desperate to survive. However, the primary figure, Emma Thompson’s Barb, is desperate to save the life of another. Barb has returned to this largely uninhabited area to visit a lake that played a key role in the life she shared wi…

Movie Review: Harsh environment helps elevate kidnapping drama ‘Dead of Winter’

Unfortunately, as summer has just given way to fall, it’s a harsh reminder that, for many of us, a cold winter is coming. -- Mark Meszoros, The News-Herald

Dead of Winter Review — A Meandering Thriller Saved by Emma Thompson

Dead of Winter probably should’ve been more like one of those thinly plotted Liam Neeson films than the slow character study it is. The action subgenre perfected by Neeson has a simple, effective formula: give a capable but unassuming hero a clear mission and a trail of bad guys to get through. It’s a clean, cathartic thrill that mostly works. Dead of Winter Review This film, however, seems almost afraid of its own simple premise. It’s a frustra…

Dead of Winter movie review | Emma Thompson stars in a solid, suitably tense affair

An often-repeated refrain, meant to decry the bland miasma of popular cinema today, that you might hear in cinephile circles is “Whatever happened to the ’90s movie?”. The term ’90s movie is an exceptionally vague catch-all, more about the spirit of something than its content. If there was maybe one era-specific subgenre these film nerds were missing the most, however, it’s possibly the back-to-basics thriller with a bankable star in the lead. T…

Dead of Winter Review: Emma Thompson goes into survivalist mode in this urgent, chilling, and emotional thriller

Plot: Hit by a blizzard, a grief-stricken loner (Emma Thompson) gets lost among backroads near a Minnesotan lake and stops for help at a remote cabin in the woods. Here she discovers a young woman (Laurel Marsden) kidnapped by a desperate couple (Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca) who are armed and intent on murder. Isolated and without cell service, this unlikely hero realizes she is the woman’s only hope of survival. Review: As I sit in the comfort of…