The Watch List: 10 Movies and TV Shows to See this Month

Movies

My Week with Marilyn

Ethereal beauty Michelle Williams anchors My Week with Marilyn, a film about the incomparable Marilyn Monroe and her alleged 1957 fling with Laurence Olivier’s young assistant. Williams’s performance is charming, nuanced and yes, incredibly sexy. In theatres now.

The Innkeepers

The latest offering from up-and-coming horror director Ti West (the man behind The House of the Devil), The Innkeepers follows two listless 20-somethings on their last weekend working in a haunted hotel. In theatres February 3.

Safe House

Canada’s super-hunk Ryan Reynolds takes on Denzel Washington in Safe House, a popcorn action flick about an ambitious CIA agent who makes it his mission to bring in a co-worker gone rogue. In theatres February 10.

Monsieur Lazhar

Philippe Falardeau’s touching classroom drama Monsieur Lazhar-Canada’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-comes to the Niagara region courtesy of Brock University’s film series. In St. Catharines, Ont., February 15.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Just in time for the TIFF Bell Lightbox’s late-night look at his broad body of work, the sometime-action-hero Nicolas Cage returns with a sequel to Ghost Rider. Direction by the hyperactive team of Neveldine and Taylor (Crank, Gamer) means Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is bound to one-up the original. In theatres February 17.

A Separation

A Separation-the adored film by Asghar Farhadi that was a staple on critics’ year-end “best foreign film” polls-follows the trials of an Iranian couple muddling through a divorce. In theatres February 22.

Goon

Michael Dowse (FUBAR, It’s All Gone Pete Tong) solidifies his position as Canada’s foremost comedy director with Goon, a riotous look at hockey enforcers starring Seann William Scott as a dopey thug on a Halifax farm-league team. In theatres February 24.

Wanderlust

Toronto-raised Swedish beauty Malin Akerman co-stars opposite Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston in Wanderlust, the road-trip laugh-fest from David Wain (Role Models, Wet Hot American Summer). In theatres February 24.

Carnage

The always controversial Roman Polanski looked to popular playwright Yasmina Reza for source material for his latest film, Carnage. The result: John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster as concerned liberal parents eager to make amends with Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz’s upper-class couple after their kids are involved in a schoolyard altercation. At Silvercity in Newmarket, Ont., February 27.

TV

Canada Reads

The Ceeb’s canon-shaping literature debate series, Canada Reads, returns to the tube this month. A treat for all those NHL/Growing Pains fans out there: Alan Thicke is defending Ken Dryden’s pro hockey memoir, The Game. Premieres in February, airs February 6 to 9 on Documentary TV; a one-hour special airs February 12 on CBC TV, on CBC.