11 Great Streaming Video Essentials for Your Snow Day(s)

Here we are: snowstorm No. 9 (10? 11?) and we have another snow day to contend with. To help you while away your cozy day at home, I asked Philly Mag staffers to help me come up with a list of flicks and TV shows you can stream instantly.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly — Joel Mathis

Three reasons to watch The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: 1. It just arrived on Netflix, and you never know how long you’ll get a great classic movie like this available before it disappears again. 2. It’s three hours long, so it’ll fill up most of your snow afternoon. 3. It has one of the greatest scores in all of cinema history, highlighted by a wailing theme you’ll never forget. It’s almost too much awesome for a snow day.

She’s Gotta Have It — Simon van Zuylen-Wood 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtK9qknAhtE

Shot in black-and-white, Lee’s first feature film doesn’t have the coiled up political energy of Do the Right Thing or The 25th Hour. Rather, it’s a melancholic love story — three men compete for the affection of one woman — set in a sleepy Brooklyn, which like the movie’s heroine, the charming and aloof Nola Darling, seems to be searching for its identity.

True Detective — Jason Sheehan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXwCoNwBSkQ

Everyone in the world should currently be catching up on True Detective (its on Xfinity On Demand) because it is just punch-you-in-the-face awesome and dark as hell and weird and almost Lovecraftian–if Lovecraft was writing about hookers and meth-heads in Louisiana instead of tweedy professors in New England.

Jurassic Park — Emily Goulet

I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with dinosaurs. So good.

The Talented Mr. Ripley — Marina Lamanna

It’s the perfect storm of Matt Damon, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jude Law, all set in Italy. It really doesn’t get better than that on a snow day.

Crystal Fairy and the Magic Cactus — Josh Middleton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7nInvUzAI8

When I’m feeling stir crazy, nobody brings me back to Earth quite like crazy-pants Michael Cera. He’s a total nut case in Crystal Fairy and the Magic Cactus, where he and some friends travel to a beach in Chile to orchestrate the perfect trip on a cactus-derived hallucinogen. Plus, they’re on a beach in Chile. How amazing does that sound right now?

Dr. Who — Jason Sheehan

Depending on how long the storm lasts, there are currently about 800 episodes out there in the world, several hundred available to stream and, if nothing else, you can probably get through most of Matt Smith’s run as the 11th Doctor in a couple days of dedicated viewing.

House of Cards — Victor Fiorillo and Jack Cotter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULwUzF1q5w4

If you haven’t seen House of Cards yet stream it before season 2 is released in full on Friday.

The Fall — Victor Fiorillo

Also Gillian Anderson in The Fall. How can I resist Gillian in a twisted crime drama where she actually has sex? So many years of tension on The X Files.

Zombie Parodies — Jack Cotter

To celebrate the return of The Walking Dead: Warm Bodies, Zombieland, and Shaun of the Dead are hilarious parodies of the zombie genre. What could warm your heart more than seeing cold, hungry people filling up on warm, living flesh.

Sherlock — Jason Sheehan

Its third season just finished, I think, but previous seasons are available and about twice as good as Elementary — which is already better than most any other show on network TV right now