It’s cold out there, so why go out? And honestly, is it worth it to see Wicked again? Once you see a green witch fly off into the horizon, there’s nothing left to revisit. What you see is what you get. But if you stay home and check out what’s on streaming, I guarantee you can find some hidden treasures you may have missed.
Netflix has tons of those, and I’ve selected three of them that are perfect to watch over the second weekend of December. One’s a revenge flick set in the dead of winter, while another is a holiday movie that won’t make you puke. The last one is a decent sci-fi movie with a rare Harrison Ford supporting performance. All three films will entertain you far more than singing along to Defying Gravity again. Trust me.
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Cold Pursuit (2019)
It’s wintertime, which usually means it’s time for hot cocoa, a warm blanket, and a good Liam Neeson action movie. Considering the weather just turned a bit chilly, it’s a great time to watch Cold Pursuit, a 2019 action-thriller that casts Neeson as a vengeful snow plow driver. Yes, really. But Cold Pursuit is not a comedy, and it mostly works thanks to Neeson’s grim performance and capable backup support from Oscar winner Laura Dern (who usually doesn’t do these types of movies), Tom Bateman, and Emmy Rossum.
Neeson plays Nels Coxman, an ordinary plower of snow in Colorado whose only son dies from an overdose of heroin supplied by a local drug cartel. To gain revenge, Nels kills three of the cartel’s members. You’d think that was the end of the movie, but that’s only the beginning of Cold Pursuit as the leader of the drug cartel, nicknamed the “Viking,” wants to find the man responsible for eradicating three of his members. What follows is a trail of violence and bloodshed.
Cold Pursuit is streaming on Netflix. The movie leaves Netflix on December 31.
Ender’s Game (2013)
Based on the classic sci-fi novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game arrived with much fanfare, and a bit of controversy, in November 2013. The final result was somewhat disappointing; its ambition outmatched its execution, and it didn’t quite achieve the greatness its director, Gavin Hood, was reaching for. Eleven years later, it remains a solid, if straightforward sci-fi space yarn, with a good lead performance by Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield as Ender.
It’s the far-off future, and humans are about to start a war with an alien race known as the Formics. To battle them, the International Fleet of Earth created a school to train young children to engage in space combat to save their home planet. Ender is one of those kids, and he’s perhaps the most gifted of the current crop. But first, he’ll have to survive the tough tutelage of Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford), who knows all too well the threat the Formics pose to Ender and his peers.
Ender’s Game is streaming on Netflix. The movie leaves Netflix on December 31.
Feast of the Seven Fishes (2018)
Chances are, you’re being bombarded with an endless supply of holiday movies, most of which star faded starlets from the 2000s and have a glossy sheen and inane plot that makes you wince. Does Hollywood even make decent movies about the holidays anymore? The answer is yes, and one of them is Feast of the Seven Fishes, a charming comedy from 2018 starring Superman‘s pal Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and The Matrix‘s Joe Pantoliano.
Set in a Pennsylvania working-class town in 1983, Feast of the Seven Fishes centers around the titular Italian seafood feast that occurs on Christmas Eve. Italian American Tony Oliverio returns to his home for the holidays bringing an unexpected surprise for his family: Beth (Madison Iseman), who isn’t Italian and isn’t Catholic. That’s a big deal for Tony’s family, and when Tony also has to deal with an ex-girlfriend who has an abusive boyfriend, his relaxing holiday break might just break him.
Feast of the Seven Fishes is streaming on Netflix.