4 Movies That Stick the Landing

Including our favorite sports movie ever.

It’s cold. Our socks are wet from the slush. And watching Yellowjackets is not helping the adult viewers get over our house’s mutual case of S.A.D.D. The only in-season film genre lifting our spirits these days is the one in which we vicariously lace up our skates real tight, don our best rhinestone-studded Lycra, and compete like red-blooded Americans. Yes, it may sound counterintuitive, but one antidote for the winter blues is adding even more ice to your cocktail. (Bonus for Olympics enthusiasts—these picks will get you revved up for the Winter Games, which start in two weeks.)

Go for the Gold! Or the purple, blue, pink, and/or orange. Just click here to print this coloring page by artist Mara Sprafkin.

The Cutting Edge (1992; the Roku Channel, Showtime): This classic about an injured hockey player assigned to be an Olympics-bound ice princess’s skating partner has it all: fierce competition, hot chemistry, villainous Soviets, the Pamchenko twist, and D.B. Sweeney. In fact, it may be TBP’s favorite sports movie of all time? (Note that we said “favorite,” not “best” or “greatest.”) Young Moira Kelly is perfectly cast and does the best work of her kinda weird career. To our fellow fans, we have two words: Toe pick. For those new to this rink: Focus!

Ice Castles (1978; the Roku Channel): The Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken of figure-skating cinema, this good-enough heartbreaker-on-ice inspired many a GenXer to beg their parents for skating lessons.

Blades of Glory (2007; HBO Max): Lars from Eurovision! Buddy from Elf! No actor can please a multigenerational crowd quite like a Spandex-clad Will Ferrell, and here he is on ice as Chazz Michael Michaels, top figure skater and…sex addict. Whomp whomp. Indeed, this is one worth heeding the PG-13 rating and watching with older kids only.

I, Tonya (2017; Hulu): The Margot-Robbie-as-Tonya-Harding biopic is a solid watch for the ages-14-plus set. The performances—Allison Janney won an Oscar as Harding’s abusive, wacky mother—are tremendous and the movie is as entertaining as it is tragic in that stranger-than-fiction kind of way.