Winter Watchings

Photo: Harrison Haines 

What to Watch when Winter Woes Weigh you Down

Eastern Ontario is in the grips of yet another cold snap, which means you’re either out enjoying fresh ice or out complaining about the fresh ice. Either way, you’re likely looking for some way to warm up at the end of the day. Why not curl up on the couch with a new movie or show?

Whether you’re on Netflix or just need something to pop in the DVD player, here are a few options to consider this season.

Logan Lucky, DVD

With his remake of Ocean’s Eleven, its two sequels, Magic Mike, and the taut spy thriller Haywire, Soderbergh built a reputation for creating slickly made movies with highly competent lead characters. So what better way to follow it up in 2017 than a robbery movie about down-on-their-luck ex-cons in North Carolina? Enter Logan Lucky, the funniest movie of 2017 that no one watched.

The set up is all Ocean’s Eleven, except instead of George Clooney and Brad Pitt in tailored suits, you’ve got Channing Tatum and Adam Driver recruiting a ragtag team of southerners (if you’re generous) and rednecks (if you’re not).

The Logan brothers, laid off from their construction jobs and stuck with debts they can’t pay, decide to rob NASCAR’s Charlotte Motor Speedway. They recruit incarcerated explosives expert Joe Bang (James Bond himself, Daniel Craig) to lend a hand. What follows is a remarkably heartfelt, always funny, and thoroughly enjoyable caper that continues to surprise until the credits roll.

Ozark, Netflix

Jason Bateman, best known for being TV’s original Teen Wolf and as perpetually beleaguered family man Michael Bluth in Arrested Development, takes a turn as a money laundering guru desperately trying to keep his (dysfunctional) family two steps ahead of South American drug cartels they’re in debt to and one step ahead of the locals looking to take the laundered cash for themselves.

The set up is grim and dark and a bit of a stretch, but by episode 2 the plots are getting interesting, the characters coming alive, and the performances start to surprise. Jason Bateman’s usual sarcastic, fast-talking character type gets another side as he struggles to keep it together for his family as they continue to rail against their new life in the Lake of the Ozarks.

If you enjoyed Breaking Bad, this is more of the same—but with a bit of happier ending. The grim, tense thrills are in full force, but we also get glimpses of a family working through their troubles and succeeding. Well, for now, at least.

Whether you’re glued to the screen by the darker stories or need a fun escape, you can’t go wrong with these options. Pair with popcorn and a drink of your choice for optimal viewing pleasure.

About the author: Ben Filipkowski lives and breathes film, books, history, music, and TV, so it makes sense that he’s an aspiring novelist. When he’s not watching Seven Samurai for the seventeenth time (with commentary), he can be found noodling on a guitar or out exploring another side of Ottawa.