Stay Inside and Stream These Great Winter Movies

Plus, read our mini-reviews on two new releases from last weekend

Feb 19, 2021

As much of the country has been battered by winter storms over the last week (prayers up for those in Texas right now), it seemed like the right time to recommend the best winter movies you can find via streaming. So, today we wrote about four very different movies set primarily in cold weather. You’ll find a light winter sports comedy, an inspirational drama, and a couple dark and twisted thrillers. Whatever mood you’re in, we’ve got you covered.

You can also find our thoughts on new releases like Judas and the Black Messiah and the latest To All the Boys movie below. Read, subscribe, and share DYLA with a friend!

Drew recommends…

Cool Runnings (streaming on Disney Plus)

Although it has all the hallmarks of the classic underdog sports movie, you just can’t help but fall for Cool Runnings. In this Disney sports comedy, an unlikely group of outsiders unite against the odds to compete at the highest level, earning respect and love along the way. Even though this has been done countless times, Cool Runnings differentiates itself by moving its story to an unconventional place: the bobsled track.

Loosely based on the real-life Jamaican bobsled team at the 1988 Winter Olympics, this is an undeniably compelling fish-out-of-water story. John Candy plays “Irv” Blitzer, a disgraced former American bobsled medalist, who becomes the coach of this unlikely team of sprinters-turned-bobsledders. This was one of Candy’s final performances before his untimely death in 1994, but he’s as good as ever here. Cool Runnings simply doesn’t hold together without Candy’s charm and humor at the center. And now I’m sad thinking about all the great movie moments we could’ve had with him over the last couple decades.

In addition to Candy’s Blitzer, each of the four members of the Jamaican bobsled team gets their moment in the film. Derice learns how to lead, Junior and Yul form a surprising friendship, and Sanka keeps the audience laughing throughout. This is such a lovable quartet that the movie makes it easy to get caught up in their success or failure.

How do you make bobsledding exciting? You show how dangerous and difficult it is to rocket a tin can down a sheet of ice without crashing. Then you give us a rooting interest and a time to beat, and we are sold. That’s what Disney knows how to do so well. They can pluck on the heartstrings until you don’t even realize how invested you are in a story you knew nothing about an hour ago. Cool Runnings may utilize all of the underdog movie tricks (there’s even a slow clap at the end), but this is a classic feel-good sports movie for a reason. If this incessant cold weather is starting to get to you, let the rhythm and rhyme of Cool Runnings pull you out of that funk.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (streaming on Netflix)

There may be no movie better suited to bone-chilling cold weather than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is a grim, provocative, and uncompromising mainstream Hollywood production (I mean, how did this movie make $100 million at the domestic box office?) that absolutely refuses to let much light in. It’s also immaculately styled and detail-oriented, thanks to its obsessive director, David Fincher.

Fincher was really the only choice to adapt the Swedish bestseller by Stieg Larsson into an English-language movie. He’s the perfect match for the material, a psychological thriller about a disgraced reporter and a guarded hacker that work together to investigate the disappearance of a wealthy girl 40 years ago. Fincher made a name for himself with 1995’s noir serial killer classic Seven, and then later returned to the genre with Zodiac in 2007. Not many directors in Hollywood history have been better at hitching such gruesome subject matter to commercial aspirations. Fincher’s bleak and often depraved films tend to make pretty good money at the box office.

READ: Director Spotlight: David Fincher

In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo he found the perfect star to complement the movie’s dark and eccentric energy. Rooney Mara plays Lisbeth Salander, the brutalized young investigator that revels in turning the tables on evil men. You can see Mara knows this character deeply, and she displays the intelligence and capability to pull off the hacking scenes as well as the revenge scenes. However, she also lets just enough of Lisbeth’s guard down in the moments with Daniel Craig’s reporter Mikael Blomkvist. That relationship is where you can find the (barely thawed) heart of the movie.

The icy Swedish background sets the stage for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and enhances its storytelling. It’s hard to imagine this movie taking place anywhere else. The frozen landscapes, combined with the icy remove of Fincher’s visual aesthetic, reflect the unforgiving nature inherent in this tale of murder and corruption. Be warned: if you’re seeking warmth, look elsewhere.

Billy recommends…

Into the Wild (streaming on Netflix)

Into the Wild is a great mix of commercial filmmaking with a lot of things that snobby film fans will like. The beautiful cinematography and attempt to bring extra layers of spirituality/philosophy to this story made this movie the perfect amount of deep for a high school kid like me when I first saw this. The idea of saying “fuck it” to what is expected of me and making a drastic decision is still an attractive option.

Into the Wild is primal in what it is trying to say. Surface level, but deep thought about the current state of our society and at almost every moment there is a desire to do something drastic to fight against it. The director is Sean Penn and he drives that point home to an absurd level. Narration and needle drops are the true sins of this movie. We do not need to be spoon-fed how to feel when the journey is so beautiful and the nature surrounding the story is meant to be taken in. There is too much distraction while this story is being told. I wish Penn would fight against the commercialization and spoon-fed telling of this story and adhere to a quieter lens.

The methodical journey of our main character Christopher McCandless is what makes me enjoy this movie. Not the needle drops or narration telling me why he took this journey. I don’t mean to drag this movie because it is incredibly entertaining and has that wanderlust quality that we all wish we had more confidence to act on. This movie is not 100% set in the winter cold, but the most serene moments are. Use our current cold temperatures to your benefit. Let this primal and deep story light a fire in your soul so that when you do thaw out we can all act on our desires more profoundly.

Eyes Wide Shut (streaming on Hulu)

I’ll let a previous Letterboxd review do the talking, but Eyes Wide Shut is one of the most beautiful movies to be set in the winter time. Stanley Kubrick does not hold back ever and Eyes Wide Shut is the epitome of a director creating a movie that is solely his own vision. Read the review here.

Judas and the Black Messiah (in theaters and on HBO Max)

Drew: Judas and the Black Messiah is essential viewing for movie and history lovers alike. This film boasts a compelling story of betrayal and corruption, stellar acting across the board, and an entertaining retelling of an under-discussed chapter in American history.

By framing the FBI’s assassination of Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton through the lens of a deceptive FBI informant, this movie finds a fascinating way into the political biopic drama. Similar to films like The Departed or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the audience spends more of its time with the turncoat in this movie, not the conventional hero. And Judas and the Black Messiah is all the more riveting for it.

While Lakeith Stanfield’s informant main character feels a little too unknowable, Stanfield’s performance as an insecure and desperate traitor is extraordinary. Ditto Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton; he is extremely convincing playing a single-minded charismatic young leader. Along with some of the best acting you will see all year, this is a well-constructed and tragic true story. - 4 / 5 Apples

To All the Boys: Always and Forever (streaming on Netflix)

Drew: This is a fairly satisfying end to the To All the Boys trilogy. While these movies saw diminishing returns — the first one remains the best — the characters are lovable enough to keep you invested until the end. As teen rom-coms go, To All the Boys is pretty effective at tugging on the heartstrings without overloading on the sugary sentiment. Put Lana Condor in more movies! - 3 / 5 Apples

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