What to Watch This January

Happy New Year! 2022 was a wonderful year for movies. The blockbuster film came back in a big way with Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water. Also, many early calendar movies had huge staying power such as Everything Everywhere All At Once and Elvis. There has been so much excitement! January is typically a slimmer month when it comes to new releases, but there should be a movie or two to spark some interest, as well as a lot of great films carried over and expanded wide from last year!

January 6th:

• M3GAN has already become an internet meme, and it seems like it will be a fun start to the 2023 movie season. It stars Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Brian Jordan Alvarez, and Ronny Chieng. M3GAN is written by James Wan and Akela Cooper and directed by Gerard Johnstone. It is a Blumhouse production. 
• A Man Called Otto is the American version of the 2015 Oscar nominee, A Man Called Ove. The film stars Tom Hanks, Mariana Trevino, Rachel Keller, and Manuel Gracie-Rulfo. The film is written by David Magee, directed by Marc Forster, and will be released on limited screens this week. The film is still in limited release but will go slightly wider until it is everywhere on January 13th, 2023. A Man Called Otto is a Columbia Pictures release. 

January 13th:

• Plane stars Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, and Tony Goldwyn. It is directed by Jean-François Richet and written by Charles Cumming and J.P. David. They find themselves in a war zone after landing an airplane that was caught in a horrible storm. Plane is being distributed by Lionsgate. 
• House Party is a remake of the 1990 movie of the same name where a teenager throws a party when his parents are away. The film stars Tosin Cole, Jacob Latimore, Karen Obilom, D.C. Young Fly, Andrew Santino, and Scott Mescudi. It is directed by Calmatic and written by Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori, and will be distributed by Warner Bros. 
• Saint Omer is a French film written and directed by Alice Diop and also written by Amrita David, Marie N’Diaye, and Zoé Galeron. This film is on the shortlist for Best International Feature for the 2023 Oscars. It stars Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valeria Dreville, Aurelia Petit, Robert Cantarella, Salimata Kamate, and Thomas De Pourquery. It will be in limited release on this date and distributed by Super LTD. 

January 20th:

• Missing is a Sony Pictures film that stars Storm Reid, Nia Long, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leun, Amy Landecker, and Danie Henney. When Grace (Long) goes missing her daughter must digitally sleuth to help find her mother’s whereabouts. It is written and directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson with additional story credits to Sec Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty. 
• The Son is written by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton and directed by Florian Zeller. It stars Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern, Zen McGrath, and Anthony Hopkins. It is distributed by Sony Pictures Classic. This release should finally be the wide release date. 
• When You Finish Saving the World is Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial and screenwriting debut. The film stars Julianne Moore, Finn Wolfhard, and Alisha Boe. The film follows Ziggy (Wolfhard) and Evelyn (Moore) as they try to find replacements for each other in this A24 release. 
• Alice, Darling is directed by Mary Nighy, written by Alanna Francis, and stars Anna Kendrick, Kaniehtiio Horn, Charlie Carrick, and Wumni Mosaku. The film is a tight 90 minutes in length, and it follows Alice as she tries to break up with her abusive boyfriend Simon. It will be released by Lionsgate. 

January 27th

• Infinity Pool is Brandon Cronenberg’s follow-up to his highly acclaimed 2020 release Possessor. He is both the writer and the director of this movie, which is also distributed by Neon. Alexander Skargård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman, and Jalil Lespert star in the film. It’s a psychological horror movie, filled with hedonism and violence. 
• Distant is a science-fiction film that stars Anthony Ramos and Zachary Quinto. Andy (Ramos) has crash-landed on an alien planet and he tries to rescue another crewmember whilst having aliens follow him the entire time. Distant is co-directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon and written by Spenser Cohen. 
• Fear is a psychological horror film that takes place in an isolated hotel and each member of the group has to face their worst fear. The film stars Joseph Sikora, Andrew Bachelor, Annie Ilonzeh, Ruby Modine, Iddo Goldberg, Terrence Jenkins, Jessica Allain, and T.I. Fear is written and directed by Deon Taylor and also written by John Ferry. It is distributed by Hidden Empire Releasing. 
• Close won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and is now making its way to theaters with its story of two best friends whose bond is broken through tragic events. It’s co-written by Lukas Dhont and Angelo Tijssens and directed by Dhont as well. This Belgian film stars Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, and Kevin Janssens. Close is also on the International Feature Oscar shortlist. 

Streaming Releases: 

• Teen Wolf: The Movie is a sequel to the TV show Teen Wolf, and is about a new evil presence that brings the whole gang back together. The movie is directed by Russell Mulcahy and written by Jeff Davis. Reprising their roles are Tyler Posey, Crystal Reed, Holland Roden, Tyler Hoechlin, Colton Haynes, Dylan Sprayberry, Ryan Kelley, JR Bourne, and Melissa Ponzio. Teen Wolf: The Movie will be released on Paramount+ on January 26th. 
• Shotgun Wedding is a Jennifer Lopez rom-com that also stars Josh Duhamel, Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer Coolidge, Sonia Braga, Cheech Marin, and D’Arcy Carden. It’s directed by Jason Moore, written by Mark Hammer, and will be released on Amazon Prime on January 27th. 
• You People is a new Netflix comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Jonah Hill, Lauren London, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sam Jay, Nia Long, Travis Bennett, David Duchovny, Rhea Perlman, and Elliot Gould. It is written and directed by Kenya Barris and written by Jonah Hill, too. It will be released on January 27th.