Want to know what’s coming to a cinema near you this January? Look no further…
TUESDAY 1 JANUARY
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
From the director of The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Lobster comes a delirious take on the story of Queen Anne’s vying courtiers. With a typically superb Olivia Coleman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
Welcome to Marwen (Robert Zemeckis)
Despite potential aplenty, Zemeckis’ latest is a flop. Steve Carell plays real-life PTSD sufferer Mark Hogancamp, who created a fictional village to ease his trauma in 2000. Jeff Malmberg documentary Marwencol previously told the story.
FRIDAY 4 JANUARY
An Impossible Love (Catherine Corsini)
When the passionate relationship between an office worker and a bourgeois young man ends in pregnancy, the latter refuses to marry beneath him. Heartbreaking French drama.
Life Itself
From the creator of popular US TV series ‘This is Us’ comes this multigenerational drama about a selection of couples whose lives unexpectedly meet over a single event. Life has, itself, been critically mauled and bombed at the box office. In the UK, Sky will release it simultaneously with cinemas.
One Cut of the Dead (Shinichiro Ueda)
This new Japanese comedy comes from the creator of 2011 film Rice and Boobs. It tells the tale of a film crew attacked by zombies whilst shooting a low budget zombie movie.
RBG (Julie Cohen and Betsy West)
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ruth Bader Ginsburg gained pop-culture status when the retirement of Sandra Day O’Connor in 2006 left her the only serving female justice. She is renowned for her fiery dissents, as this remarkable new documentary explores.
The 12th Man (Harald Zwart)
Harald Zwart adapts this story of Second World War heroism from the true story told in Tore Haug and Astrid Karlsen Scott’s book ‘Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him’. It is the tale of a saboteur who escaped the Nazis.
The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni)
A re-release for Antonioni’s Jack Nicholson starring drama about a journalist who inadvertently steals the identity of a deceased arms dealer whilst working on a documentary in Chad.
Zabawa, Zabawa
Polish drama about a trio of women whose lives have been derailed by the influence of alcohol. With Dortota Kolak and Agata Kulesza.
WEDNESDAY 9 JANUARY
Colette (Wash Westmoreland)
Kiera Knightley shines in true story drama, based on the life of ‘Gigi’ writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, better known as Colette. Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson and Fiona Shaw co-star.
FRIDAY 11 JANUARY
Island of the Hungry Ghosts
Millions of crabs journey across Australia’s Christmas Island in one of the planet’s largest land migrations. Documentary from the director of 2017 short film The Island.
Nina (Olga Chajdas)
Polish romantic drama about a young teacher who searches for a surrogate mother in a battle to have a child, only to fall in love with the woman she finds.
Stan and Ollie (Jon S. Baird)
Laurel and Hardy were the comedy double act whose slapstick routines, bowler hats and vintage theme tune won them a legendary status in the Hollywood Hall of Fame. In Jon S. Baird’s biopic, Steve Coogan plays Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly is Oliver Hardy.
The Accidental Prime Minister
Anupan Kher stars here as Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of the Republic of India between 2004 and 2014, who was the subject of Sanjaya Baru’s memoir of the same name. Both book and film hint that Singh was neither entirely in control of his cabinet nor office.
The Front Runner (Jason Reitman)
Still dancing on the coattails of The Greatest Showman, Hugh Jackman returns to screens in the meatier role of Gary Hart, the US senator from Colorado whose bid for Presidency in 1988 was uprooted by reports of an affair.
The House by the Sea (Robert Guegiguian)
Guegiguian reunites with his regular choice performers, Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin, for this drama about three grown children who gather at their dying father’s villa.
The Upside (Neil Burger)
Based on Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano film The Intouchables, this comedy-drama sees a paralysed billionaire (Bryan Cranston) form an unlikely bond with a recently paroled convict (Kevin Hart), when the latter is hired to take care of him. Nicole Kidman also features.
Uri: The Surgical Strike (Aditya Dhar)
Based on the Indian Army’s surgical strikes on Pakistan in 2016, Dhar’s film casts Vicky Kaushal as Major Vihan Shergill. The Hindi actor put himself through an extensive, five-month military training regime for the part, only to injure himself in filming.
FRIDAY 18 JANUARY
Beautiful Boy (Felix Van Groeningen)
Another Steve Carell showcase for the month, but this time alongside indie film favourite Timothée Chalamet. Here, Carell plays real-life New York Times writer David Sheff, whose relationship with his son (Chalamet) became strained when the latter spiralled into drug addiction.
Glass (M. Night Shyamalen)
M. Night Shyamalan pulled off a twist worthy of his reputation at the close of 2017 horror Split, when he revealed it to be the long-awaited second part in his Unbreakable trilogy. In Glass, Bruce Willis’ David Dunn goes on the hunt for James McAvoy’s Wendell Crumb, while Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass watches over.
Hale County This Morning, This Evening (RaMell Ross)
Billed as an ‘emotive impression of the Historic South’, this documentary sees photographer/filmmaker Ross explore the lives of black people in Hale County, Alabama.
Hey Duggee at the Cinema
In the vein of Peppa Pig, CBeebies favourite Hey Duggee translates to the big screen for a whole hour of fun. Watch out for some extra special content too!
London Unplugged (NIck Cohen, Layke Anderson, Natalia Casali, Mitchell Crawford, Andres Heger-Batterud, Ben Jacobsen, Rosanna Lowe, Kaki Wong, Qi Zhang)
Déjà vu? This one was supposed to be released last October. Better late than never!
Mary Queen of Scots (Josie Rourke)
Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie deliver powerhouse performances in this entertaining, if rather anachronistic drama about the tempestuous relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I. In real life, the pair never met so this is history as interpretation and speculation.
Monsters and Men
Fresh from BlackkKlansman, John David Washington stars in this drama set in the wake of a police killing. There’s a twist though: the film’s told from the perspective of the bystander who filmed the act.
The Raft (Marcus Lindeen)
Documentary about the 1973 experience of five men and six women who drifted across the Atlantic on a raft as part of a sociological experiment.
Underdog (Oh Sung-yoon and Lee Chun-baek)
South Korean animation. A group of stray dogs unite and discover the meaning of freedom and self-identity.
FRIDAY 25 JANUARY
A Dog’s Way Home (Charles Martin Smith)
We called the last film to be based on a W. Bruce Cameron book ‘Nietzsche and me’ but can this second effort produce something more winning? Ashley Judd voices a dog so the jury’s out.
Bergman – A Year in a Life (Jane Magnusson)
A Swedish-Norwegian co-production, this documentary brings together archive and contemporary interviews to chart a year in the life of Ingmar Bergman. 1957, specifically.
Destroyer (Karyn Kusama)
An unrecognisable Nichole Kidman heads the cast of this crime drama about an undercover LAPD officer who must take out members of a gang, years after her case was blown. It’s a hard hitter and Kidman’s on fine form.
Love Sonia (Tabrez Noorani)
Having debuted at last year’s London Indian Film Festival back in June, Love Sonia finally gets a UK release. It is the story of sisters, slavery and saviours.
On Her Shoulders (Alexandria Bombach)
Aged just 23, Nadia Murad is a survivor of genocide and sexual slavery. In this documentary, Nadia finds herself thrust onto the international stage as the voice of the Yazidi people.
One Nation, One King (Pierre Schoeller)
French drama about the country’s 1789 revolution. This is a film about a King and his people, their destiny and his fate. Louis Garrel and Gaspard Ulliel feature in an ensemble cast.
Second Act (Peter Segal)
A Jennifer Lopez rom-com ready to be lapped up by a primed audience. Lopez plays a forty-something woman stuck in a low-paying job whose life gets a lift when a private finance firm is misled into believing that she is an accomplished consultant and hires her to handle a major business deal.
The Mule (Clint Eastwood)
After six years behind the camera, Clint Eastwood returns to the fore to play a Second World War veteran who became a drug courier in his eighties. Bradley Cooper and Laurence Fishburne co-star.
Vice (Adam McKay)
This latest excuse to give Amy Adams an Oscar has proved polarising in the extreme. Christian Bale leads as Dick Cheney, the US politician who sought to become the most powerful Vice President in American history under George W. Bush.
What are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments!
The Film Blog 
Looks like a great Jan 2019 at the cinema. Looking forward to reading your fantastic reviews.
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Thank you!
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