My January Watches

Here’s my list of watches for January:

The Old Woman With the Knife (Min Kyu-dong, 2026)- a stylish South Korean indie action film with some nice character beats

Night Call (Michiel Blanchart, 2025)- a tense low budget thriller about a guy who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time from France and Belgium (co-production).

Song Sung Blue (Craig Brewer, 2025)- a true story and a genuine and somewhat suprising crowd pleaser with a genuine emotional punch from the American Director who gave us Footloose

We Bury The Dead (Zak Hilditch, 2026)- Australian mid budget zombie film with an interesting and unique premise and some thoughtful thematic undertones starring the always great Daisy Ridley

Is This Thing On? (Bradley Cooper, 2026)- not the follow up to A Star is Born and Maestro I was expecting, going instead for a far less flashy, low key character film about a struggling marriage, but I’m here for it.

Little Amelie (Mailys Vallade and Liane-cho Han, 2025)- an impressive animated debut with some strong spiritual themes from France

The Mother and the Bear (Johnny Ma, 2026)- a love letter to Winnipeg from a Canadian Director that similtaneously functions as an exploration of family relationships.

Resurrection (Bi Gan, 2025)- a Chinese film from the Director of the Long Day’s Journey Into Night, which this film functions as a kind of spiritual sequel to with its visual and deeply poetic and symbolic presence.

Primate (Johannes Roberts, 2026)- it’s exactly what it sells itself as, which is a tightly scripted and paced horror film about a Primate who goes around killing everyone, managing to be a solid middle of the road January entry

Dead Man’s Wire (Gus Van Sant, 2025)- starring Bill Skarsgard, this retro drama is soaked in its 70’s vibe in all the necessary ways, making up for a slightly muted script with its deliciously old school presence

No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook, 2026)- a masterclass in filmmaking from South Korea’s greatest auteur, blending humor and commentary and moral ambiguity with a beautifully scripted story about a family and the socio-economic realities that define the real world struggles they have to manage

The Testament of Ann Lee (Mona Fastvld, 2025)- the real life story is perfectly suited for the choice to frame this as a kind of musical, treating the subject matter with the stort of openness and respect and curiousity that allows it to be a genuine exploration of faith and struggle

Mercy (Timur Bekmambetov, 2026)- decent idea, questionable execution leaves this a bit of a middling effort that was worth seeing on the big screen for the ways it utilizes a small budget (it’s creative to that end), but I don’t think it has lasting power beyond that

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Nia DaCosta, 2026)- a follow up to one of my favorite films of 2025 (28 Years Later), and while I think it has some issues on the story front it nevertheless functions as a solid follow up in tone and theme

Shelter (Ric Roman Waugh, 2026)- another January, another Statham film, and I would put this one in the upper tier of his filmmography, as its a no frills, no twists, straight forward thriller that uses that simplicity to make the most of the chemistry between its aging and the young star, whom happens to be the best part about the film

Send Help (Sam Raimi, 2026)- Raimi’s back to doing what he loves, which is having fun going off the rails with some unhinged performances (in this case featuring what I think is a career best performance from McAdams). It misses some opportunities to really land the commentary that’s there for the taking, trading that instead for a few more late game twists, but that’s a small quibble with a film that boasts some memorable moments (and shout out to making one for us Survivor fans out here)