Sick of the cold, the slush, the dirty slush, the dirty slush puddles, and the malaise of a particularly nasty Connecticut winter? Stay toasty inside and curl up with the phenomenon that uses a sizable chunk of the Internet’s bandwidth. Nothing counts the days down til Spring Fling like snuggling to any of these timeless movies. A few favorites from Netflix’s Instant Watch you should check out this winter.

Top Gun

Top Gun takes you back to a time when the Laffer Curve was king, the USSR was the embodiment of pure evil, and the 1986 Tom Cruise knew better than to jump on Oprah’s couch.  The film portrays all the patriotic goodness of supply-side America as Cruise’s character Maverick breaks the rules and out-flies communism at the Navy’s elite Fighter Weapons School.

Best in Show

Arguably the best of Christopher Guest’s phenomenal mockumentaries, Best in Show chronicles the different experiences of trainers and their dogs as they compete in a major dog show.  Redneck, gay, neurotic, and painfully Jewish contestants ensure that there’s something to please the whole audience.  And indie film princess Parker Posey makes it wholly appropriate for the Wesleyan community.

Hollywood Shuffle

Do you like blaxploitation films? Do you like criticizing blaxploitation films?  Robert Townsend’s parody on the entire genre gives us laughs while making the audience think about the film industry’s morality in casting black actors in stereotypical roles.  It may not make you question the role of movies in society or anything, but watching a ghetto Siskel and Ebert skit never fails to amuse.

Shutter Island

While falling short of the intensity that is Taxi Driver or Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese’s latest film is definitely not a flop.  DiCaprio delivers a perfectly riveting performance as a U.S. Marshal tasked with investigating a mysterious and creepy and shadowy and scary psychiatric facility.  It doesn’t exactly register at the top of the list for psychological thrillers, but it’ll definitely make you appreciate not being at a hospital.  For the criminally insane.

Donnie Darko

Everyone’s favorite mainstream cult movie. Creepy guy wears a rabbit suit, and then there’s time travel or something. You’ll like it.

Serenity

Wesleyan alum Joss Whedon’s film adaptation of canceled Fox series Firefly. Action, adventure, romance, morals, and Whedon’s dialogue make Serenity a fun one.  It may not carry all the hugely cinematic pizzazz of Avatar or Star Trek, but the characters will win you over.

The Pianist

It’s sad, but amazing. Roman Polanski and Adrien Brody bring famed Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman’s Holocaust memorial to life.  Szpilman goes from haughty virtuoso to emaciated prisoner in a story that speaks to both great defeat and triumph. Not a popcorn movie.