The 10 best Philly movies you can stream while you’re snowed in

If there is one thing that working on the 50 Best Philly Movies list taught us, it’s the fact that Philadelphians take their films very seriously. Irrespective of whether a film was shot in the city or is about the city but shot elsewhere, people here have opinions.

Before you start on yet another debate over what films deserve a place on this list, and the ones that don’t, may we suggest a timely rewatch of our top ten? This snowy weekend, grab a blanket, get some popcorn, and brush up on your Philly films knowledge — all without leaving your couch.

As many readers have pointed out, all the action in The Blob takes place in Chester County but hey, this is the City of Brotherly Love and we’re an accommodating lot. Especially when it comes to films about a large mass of silicone and red dye that absorbs a couple dozen Chester County residents.

July, when the annual Blobfest is held, maybe far away, but nothing is stopping you from partaking in this gooey, brilliant mess of a film in these days of snow and chill. As The Inquirer journalist Jake Blumgart said about the film, “It’s not scary, per se, but it sticks with you.” Happy sticky, chilly weekend!

Watch The Blob on Max.

If it ain’t bizarre, it ain’t Philly. Which is why it makes sense that so many people voted for this film about a Ema AKA Emmy from “ancient Egypt” whose prayers for true love are answered when she undergoes a renaissance as a mannequin at a department store.

As Savage described it, Mannequin is what you get if “Weird Science met Macy’s, sprinkled with some Night at the Museum high jinks.” This is 1980′s bizarre cinema at its best and it only makes sense because it takes place in Philly.

Watch Mannequin on Max.

Yes, the rom-com was shot on a Hollywood sound stage but it’s still all very Philly with this film. It’s set on a Villanova estate with Katharine Hepburn playing a Main Line socialite, Tracy Lord. Her character is, in turn, based on real-life Main Line socialite Helen Hope Montgomery Scott. When the film was remade in 1956 Philadelphian Grace Kelly played the role of Tracy.

This golden oldie was nominated for six Oscars and was preserved in the United States National Film Registry in 1995.

Watch The Philadelphia Story on Apple TV.

“Spin-offs rarely capture the same energy as the original, but Creed infused a fresh, new life into Rocky’s legacy,” wrote Inquirer reporter Rosa Cartagena. The Ryan Coogler film may have been snubbed at the Oscars but you can show it some love this weekend.

Released to coincide with 40 years of Rocky’s release, Creed was shot extensively in Philadelphia. Including the empty store that was converted to resemble a boxing gym. Coogler didn’t just represent the city authentically, Cartagena wrote, “he also ensured Black Philadelphians could see themselves on screen through the underdog boxer played by an unrelenting Michael B. Jordan.”

Watch Creed on Google Play Store.

A science fiction thriller inspired by Chris Marker’s La Jetée with, as The Inquirer journalist Henry Savage put it, “a fake-mustachioed Bruce Willis disguised in a stoner wig, Brad Pitt’s best supporting-actor role (besides Fight Club’s Tyler Durden), and one of the most climactic slow-mo run scenes in film history. What’s not to love!

In a fictional and futuristic 2035, Willis is incarcerated within an underground cell beneath Philadelphia. Above, there are computer-generated giraffes running across what used to be the South Street Bridge. The bridge, as it stands now, is a complete reconstruction of the original seen in the film.

Watch 12 Monkeys on Amazon Video.

Brian De Palma was born in Newark, N.J. and raised in Philadelphia so even if Blow Out had nothing to do with Philly, we’d still claim it as our own. But the city does play a big role in this retelling of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup.

Keep an eye out for the scenes filmed in Lincoln Drive, Reading Terminal, 30th Street Station, Penn’s Landing, and the City Hall.

If John Travolta and Nancy Allen’s firebrand performances don’t convince you, watch the film for Quentin Tarantino, who said this is one of the films he’d carry to a desert island.

Watch Blow Out on Amazon Video.

This film, as Cartagena noted, broke ground as one of the earliest mainstream films about the AIDS epidemic. Watch it if you want a good cry or want to test your Philly knowledge and see if you can identify the scenes filmed at Penn’s Fine Arts Library, Lower Merion, Philadelphia City Hall, and the Wells Fargo Center.

After that, go ahead and play our very fun game that keeps you guessing on the locations of Philly-based films. Maybe have some Springsteen going on in the background too.

Watch Philadelphia on Apple TV.

“Timeless, terrifying, and touching,” is what my colleague Stephanie Farr called this film. “It’s a fantastic Philly movie not just because it was set and filmed here and written and directed by Chester County resident M. Night Shyamalan, but because it’s one of the greatest ghost stories and psychological thrillers ever told,” she said.

So if you are in the mood for spook, this weekend, this film’s your go-to. Watch this film in preparation for the September Philadelphia Orchestra concert where Shyamalan will play host as James Newton Howard leads the orchestra in excerpts from his scores to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village.

Watch The Sixth Sense on Amazon Video.

In this retelling of the Prince and the Pauper parable, take a jog through the Philly of yore as Eddie Murphy goes from begging on Rittenhouse Square and then drops in at the Union League. From Delancey Street to the Italian Market, and to City Hall and the Clothespin, and beyond, Trading Places leans heavily into its Philly-ness.

“The movie is dated — Aykroyd briefly wears blackface, homophobicand racist slurs are heard, and Jamie Lee Curtis plays a cliched hooker with a heart of gold. But it’s a Philly comic classic and a revenge fantasy that makes it points about privilege stick,” said The Inquirer journalist Dan DeLuca in his blurb for the 50 Best Philly Movies list.

Watch Trading Places on Amazon Video.

Well, duh. We didn’t need a whole poll to tell us what we already knew. Rocky is as Philly as the Liberty Bell, or even more depending on who you ask. As The Inquirer journalist Mike Newall wrote, “The simple and perfect truth that fuels the rooted heart of Rocky is one that burns inside every Philadelphian: Underestimate us and our superhuman ability to withstand ridiculously absurd barrages of punches and you’ll end up hobbled and humbled at the final bell (and eventually defeated in a less superior sequel).”

Start your Philly films marathon with this classic. And if the temperatures allow, take a run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs after.

Watch Rocky on Amazon Video.

To see what other Philly classics made it to our list, head over to our 50 Best Philly Movies list. Then follow it up with our very our very fun game to test your Philly film location knowledge.