WHAT FILMS DO YOU FIGHT OFF THE COLD? >>>

No question about it: we done got screwed this summer. Never mind the fact that I write these words outdoors with a cloudless blue sky and blazing sun above me; I'm here to bitch about past grievances. It took us too many weeks to finally earn this weather, and from the look of things it won't last. That freak rainout last Monday only tells the fidgety fatalist in me that autumn isn't far away.

We do what we can to stave off the inevitable cold, and I believe movies can offer the great escapism we'll soon need. I combed my collection for a few titles that should keep you in a tropical state of mind regardless the season.

So here's my top five, ranked by temperature for your convenience (and they all hold up as pretty good films to boot). May they serve you well on those looong winter nights.

1. Dog Day Afternoon: "He's been very crazy all summer." I have yet to visit New York in the summertime, and after watching director Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon I don't really need to. Shot somewhat in documentary style, it quintessentially captures the city in vivid detail - the dirt, the teeming masses, and, yes, the heat. Robbing a bank would make any amateur sweat bullets, but Al Pacino's hapless Sonny launches his caper on a sticky mid-July day in Brooklyn. He holes up inside with his captives while outside waits red-faced Detective Moretti and globs of boys in blue. A riveting drama based on true events, the tension only rises as the sun goes down.

2. Summer Rental: "I'm Joe Public, welcome to my beach." I had to include at least one movie on this list that had "summer" in its title, but this comedy doesn't disappoint. John Candy, in one of his best roles, plays the Everyman plagued with hilarious misery as the rest of his family enjoys their Florida vacation. So much visceral pleasure comes from Jack Chester's many beach mishaps: the tomato-red sunburn against his white underarms, the squeal a sunbather makes as he accidentally dumps chilled water on her back. And don't think Summer Rental''s touching themes of family togetherness won't warm your heart.

3. Do the Right Thing: "Today's temperature's gonna rise up over 100 degrees, so there's a Jheri curl alert!" We return to Brooklyn again in Do the Right Thing, which also like Dog Day takes place over a single day. Writer-director Spike Lee uses a heat wave as the catalyst for a racism-fueled meltdown in an ethnic Harlem neighborhood.Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson recalls in the documentary Visions of Light, "The first thing Spike said to me is...‘How do we make the audience feel heat?'" They succeeded, making fire hydrants shimmer and red brick buildings explode on the screen. Combine this with an escalating tension between the characters and your TV practically melts.

4. The Arrival: "If you can't tend to your own planet, none of you deserve to live here."Back in 1996, Independence Day was the summer alien invasion movie, eclipsing all competition along with this little-seen sci-fi drama starring Charlie Sheen. In the film he sweats constantly, acts paranoid, and often rambles incoherently. Though not much has improved in fifteen years, I still enjoy his earnest portrayal of an astronomer who stumbles upon a global conspiracy involving hot-blooded ETs quietly turning up Earth's thermostat. A popcorn flick with genuine twists and an awesome finale set on a satellite dish in the desert.

5. Sunshine: "Detonation beyond all imagining..." And finally, it doesn't get any hotter than the setting for Danny Boyle's film. A team of astronauts ride a bomb with the mass of Manhattan toward our dying sun, hoping to jumpstart it and save Earth. They journey across a harsh realm of extreme climates, where no seasons exist save the absolute zero of outer space juxtaposed with our star's fathomless, near-maddening warmth. The hypnotic scene where a character freezes, then gets a solar cremation pretty much sums up this theme of humans' fragility in the cosmos. Check your face after two hours of Alwin H. Kuchler's visionary cinematography - you may have a suntan.

OK, your turn? What films do you sit close to during the winter months?

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