Did someone say polar vortex? When the weather outside is like this, the only sensible thing to do is crank the heat and watch movies. Paramount+ is about to switch over into February, and there’s no telling when these four titles might move on to another streamer, so best watch them while you can.
For the week of January 26 to February 1, I’ve chosen a pair of classic DiCaprios, a sinister Damon, and Harrison Ford’s second most famous role.
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The Wolf of Wall Street
Clips from this critically acclaimed and five-time Oscar-nominated film by Martin Scorsese have dominated my Instagram algorithm lately for some reason, so I relented and watched it for the first time in a while. The Wolf of Wall Street has so much going for it (cast, director, timeliness) and is a dark, funny financial drama that is one of the greatest depictions of greed, ego, and bad business decisions ever made.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jordan Belfort, an eager stockbroker who builds a disgustingly successful business and a cult of personality by selling pump-and-dump junk stocks. At his side is his morally corrupt partner Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), and his trophy wife Naomi (Margot Robbie), who all get caught up in Jordan’s rollercoaster ride of drugs and crime. At the same time, FBI agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) closes in. Critics loved it, and it currently sits at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Titanic
The trick with James Cameron’s epic Titanic (the fourth highest-grossing film of all time) was always figuring out how to bring drama and catharsis to a tragic story that everyone already knew the ending to. To do this, Cameron crafted the love story of Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a broke, big-hearted artist who “won” his ticket on the unsinkable ship, and wealthy socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), who’s engaged to a man she doesn’t love (Billy Zane) and finally feels free with Jack.
Once firmly gripped in the fairytale of these star-crossed lovers, and the 2,200 other souls aboard the doomed ship, when the chaos and realism of Cameron’s visually arresting (and historically accurate) depiction of the Titanic’s final hours is upon us, it hits hard. It goes without saying that the critics loved it (it has an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score), it’s a money-making behemoth, and it still stands as the definitive telling of the tragic story.
2
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Although Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley didn’t win any of its five Academy Award noms, it stands second only to the writer-director’s brilliant The English Patient as one of his greatest works. Based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel, the 1999 movie follows Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), a broke social climber who’s employed by wealthy shipbuilding magnate Herbert Greenleaf to go to Italy and retrieve his playboy son, Dickie (Jude Law), who’s living a life of excess.
But Tom’s a tad unstable, and as he gets close to Dickie, he falls hard for his lavish lifestyle of boats, jazz, and excess, as well as his girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), to the point of obsession. So when Dickie goes missing, and people like Marge and Dickie’s suspicious friend Freddie (Philip Seymour Hoffman) start looking for him, Tom can only keep the charade going so long before it all falls apart. Highsmith’s novel has inspired several other adaptations, including Netflix’s acclaimed series Ripley starring Fleabag‘s Andrew Scott.
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Raiders of the Lost Ark
Written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the blueprint for so many action-adventure movies after it. It also marked the second of four immortalizing franchise characters that Harrison Ford would play in his illustrious career—Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Deckard, and Jack Ryan. You can find all the Indiana Jones movies on Paramount+ (except 2023’s Dial of Destiny, which is on Disney+), but it all starts with 1981’s epic Raiders.
We’re introduced to Ford’s Indy in 1936, where we learn that the archaeology teacher by day is also a fedora-wearing, bullwhip-cracking archaeologist adventurer who hunts for lost relics deep in the caves and ruins of the world. This time, though, Indy’s recruited by the Nazis to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant, a golden chest said to contain the tablets of the Ten Commandments. It’s an adventure film that does not slow down, is funny, is still a visual masterpiece after 45 years, and is perfect comfort viewing for a cold week spent indoors.
Lean into the winter weather with a blanket, a fire, and these four movies on Paramount+. Hopefully, there’s something here that’ll warm you up, but if not, be sure to peruse some of our other warmups on the service.
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