Anticipated Movies of January
After a year that was a REAL BUMMER !!!!! NO GOOD !!!!! I think we all just want to get vaccinated and see movies in theaters again. But, we can’t because there are still assholes going out to eat, attending big parties / events, and going about their business without masks on. So we are back to watching things at home for minimum a few months. That’s not ideal for some of us, but if there was a time of year to be forced to watch things at home it is now.
The Oscars are in April this year and it is weird but also just how it goes. I wish they would’ve just kept it the same and did a virtual ceremony but they refuse to do that so now we will have an awkward one in almost 4 months.
I’ll do an Oscar post sometime this spring but right now I want to get excited about what is to come. There isn’t a ton of new stuff this month but I’ll name some things coming out in January I’m ranging from mildly interested in to excited to see.
PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix) January 7th
I have only seen one previous feature by the director Kornél Mundruczó and it was 2014’s White God. It is about a thirteen-year-old girl who goes to find her dog and some of the best dog imagery in a film occurs. It’s good. This one will be much different. Vanessa Kirby stars as a woman having a tragic home birth and her following year of grief and relationships. It sounds like a (pulls collar of shirt) rough hang! It’s got domestic abuser Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn, Iliza Shlesinger, Benny Safdie, and Molly Parker. It’s a unique cast and a dramatic sad art film that will just drop on Netflix for anyone to see! Streaming!
THE REASON I JUMP (VOD + THEATERS) January 8th
An experimental documentary delving into the different ways people experience autism around the world. One I wanted to see at the Chicago Film Festival but instead will see this month. It sounds engrossing and personal and I can’t wait to see what they do with the sounds and visuals to give us a sensory experience.
MLK/FBI (VOD) January 15th
Directed by Sam Pollard, who did two episodes of the Atlanta Child Murders doc series on HBO last year, comes a documentary about how the FBI harassed Martin Luther King Jr. The newly declassified files show even more in depth how they surveilled him and caused trouble in his life. It’s gotten good reviews from festivals and I am in the mood for a good documentary.
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI (Amazon Prime) January 15th
Regina King, Oscar winner from If Beale Street Could Talk and star of Watchmen the HBO series, is making her directorial debut with the play adaptation by Kemp Powers of the same name. It’s a fictional telling of a night where Ali, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke got together in the 60’s to talk about civil rights and the culture changes. Sounds delightful and if she can direct even half as good as she acts this thing will be alright.
THE LITTLE THINGS (Theaters & HBOMax) January 29th
A new Denzel crime thriller with Rami Malek and Jared Leto about the tracking down of a serial killer. It will only be on HBOMax for one month I believe. It is not an adaptation of the Fall Out Boy song.
THE DIG (Netflix) January 29th
Carey Mulligan might be Oscar nominated for Promising Young Woman (also on streaming this month") but she has a new Netflix movie adaptation of a book with Ralph Fiennes and Lily James about the TITULAR dig and excavation in 1938 at Sutton Hoo. Carey Mulligan has a career pass from me so I will be seeing this.
There are more movies coming out in February and as we get closer to Oscar time the best ones will be getting released again to be pushed for nominations. I’ll post about those later. Thanks for reading. Watch some good movies.