Christmas is behind us, and so is Valentine’s Day. But winter still has about a month to go before it’s through with us. For many people, spring can’t come fast enough. However, Paramount+ subscribers have good reasons to stay indoors and curl up with some underrated movies that are perfect to watch for the winter.
Note that “underrated” doesn’t mean obscure. Some of Paramount+’s movies, like 2007’s Best Picture winner No Country For Old Men, are far from underrated. But we have come across three movies on Paramount+ that should get your blood pumping on these cold winter nights.
Insomnia (2002)
Oppenheimer furthered Christopher Nolan’s reputation as one of the best directors of his generation, but his second major studio movie, Insomnia, is often overlooked among his credits. Al Pacino takes the lead as Will Dormer, an LAPD cop who is under suspicion from internal affairs, as he and his partner, Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan), travel to Alaska to help an idealistic local detective, Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), solve the murder of a young girl.
After learning that his partner plans to testify against him, Dormer accidentally shoots Eckhart while in pursuit of the murderer. In the aftermath, Dormer is plagued by his conscience and the ever-present Alaskan sun, which leaves him with debilitating insomnia. The killer in question, Walter Finch (Robin Williams), then takes the opportunity to approach Dormer to offer his silence about Eckhart’s death if he helps shift the blame for the girl’s murder to someone else. It’s a slippery moral slope, and Dormer can’t seem to find any way out.
Watch Insomnia on Paramount+.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
At the time of its release, Sony Pictures expected The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to be a major hit and the first in a long franchise. It’s unfortunate that wasn’t the case because this was a terrific showcase for the title character, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a gifted computer hacker and a force of nature in her own right. But most of the film takes place from the perspective of Mikael Blomkvist (James Bond actor Daniel Craig), a journalist whose career is teetering on the brink after a corrupt businessman successfully sues him for libel.
Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) offers Blomkvist the evidence he needs to turn the tables on the libel suit, but only if he solves a decades-old murder mystery that has haunted the Vanger family. That’s why Blomkvist turns to Salander for help, and she proves to be an invaluable ally… as well as an unexpected lover. But the killer they’ve been chasing is closer than either Blomkvist or Salander suspect.
Watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on Paramount+.
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a film scripted by Shane Black, so of course, it takes place during the Christmas season without actually being a Christmas movie. In many ways, this action flick was ahead of its time, but movie fans in the ’90s weren’t ready to embrace Geena Davis as an action star. The story follows Samantha Caine (Davis), a housewife and mother who is haunted by the fact that she has no memory of her life prior to eight years ago.
To get answers, Samantha turns to private investigator Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson). However, the only real revelations come from within. After an accident starts to bring Samantha’s fragmented mind together, some of her deadliest enemies realize where she is. To protect her family, Samantha will have to become once again the woman she used to be.
Watch The Long Kiss Goodnight on Paramount+.
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