By Morgan Martin

The holiday season is here and covid-19 cases are on a rise across the nation. Americans will (hopefully) be staying home this December, per CDC guidelines, but home-bound boredom remains at large. Here are six movies for your quarantine moods… 

Nosy: “Rear Window” (1954)

Stranded at home, photographer ‘Jeff’ Jeffries, played by James Stewart, is stuck in a situation many of us are familiar with. Confined to his third-story Manhattan apartment with a broken leg Jeff is wheelchair-bound and antsy. Although his partner Lisa, played by Grace Kelly, stops by with food and entertainment he is soon desperate for excitement. Jeff turns to his window and observes his neighbors through their windows, and what starts as nosy peeping quickly turns to chaos as he witnesses a murder — or so he thinks.

Exquisitely shot, this crime mystery teases suspense from the mundane. Hitchcock’s thriller demands your attention and delivers the razzle-dazzle quarantine needs.

Argumentative: “12 Angry Men” (1957)

There’s no better high stakes disagreement like a murder trial. In this black-and-white adaption of Reginald Rose’s story, 12 jurors must deliberate the case of an 18-year-old boy charged with his father’s murder. All but one are convinced this crime is open-and-shut just another crime statistic for a poor inner-city neighborhood, but the evidence is not as solid as it first appears. In deliberation of justice, each juror must reconsider their personal bias on class and race. A young man’s life is in their hands and arguments get heated because the jurors must reach a unanimous decision or force a hung jury.

While the film stays contained in one room, director Sidney Lumet displays a mastery of pacing, cinematography and character to keep an ordinary event engaging. 

Secretive: “Bad Times at the El Royale” (2018)

The seven strangers checked in at the El Royale hotel may not be trapped per-se, but they are planning to leave the forgotten Nevada/California hotel the following day. Who will live and who will fail? Some will answer for their sins but everyone gets what they had coming. Nobody is who they claim to be and everybody wants privacy. A star-studded cast of Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny and Chris Hemsworth impress as familiar faces don peculiar roles. For those wary of A-list actors leaching this movie's budget, fear not, quality prevails with riveting mysteries and charming dialogue. No prior knowledge is needed and no sequel is set up.

It’s an absorbing stuck-in-a-hotel film for all those who are stuck.

Emotional: “Room” (2015) Rated R

Heart wrenching and poignant, “Room” romanticizes the forgotten beauties of life as seen through Jack’s eyes. 5-year-old Jack has lived in a single room his entire life, from birth to his highly anticipated fifth birthday with his mother. For 7 years, Ma has been trapped in their 10-by-10-foot sound-proof shed, tormented by a deranged man who kidnapped her as a teen, but together mother and son make Room a bountiful home. Jack is content with his small world; he greets each piece of furniture in the morning, listens to Ma’s stories, cooks with Ma, watches TV with Ma and unleashes his imagination to pass the time. When Ma plans an escape from the room, Jack must experience an alien world outside of the room for the first time.

“Room” is a powerful and moving film well deserving of the awards won. For those in need of a good cry, or just a beautiful story of mother and son love, this is the film for you.

Cramped: “The Shining” (1980) Rated R

Not many have to quarantine in a place as big as the Overlook Hotel, but the jealousy won’t last long watching Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic. Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd, the Torrance family has been hired to care for the seasonal Colorado hotel through winter. At first, solitude is liberating as the peculiar boy explores the hedge maze and endless halls, even Mr. Torrance can finally focus on his novel writing. Slowly, the hotel begins to toy with the tenants as hallucinations and paranoia pick at Mr. Torrance and his son. Isolation tends to change people, and evil hotels will usually change them for the worst.

This thriller will make a two-week quarantine look like a cakewalk and your cell reception and internet feel luxurious. Maybe you’ll even feel inspired to start your own novel.

Scheming: “Home Alone” (1990)

This holiday season will leave most Americans home-bound, and what better way to relieve boredom than some pranks? Kevin’s large Illinois family rushes to the airport to catch their plane but leaves him behind, and with a few days until Christmas, all flights are booked. Young Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, gets creative to entertain himself when he is left home alone. Thrilled with this independence he grocery shops, stays up late and goes to church. Mundane tasks for many of us but Kevin glows with the proof of his maturity. The only thing that wears on his can-do attitude is the continued absence of his family. When he catches robbers staking out his house, however, he turns his ingenuity on the hapless men. 

Seeing the world through childlike wonder can do wonders from a fresh point of view. Home Alone may give that extra kick of holiday cheer you’ve been searching for.

Any movie you recommend? Let us know!

Morgan is a culture writer for La Tonique.