What To Stream In January
Netflix
V for Vendetta January 1st
Based on a limited series from DC Comics, V for Vendetta is about a future Great Britain being under fascist control. A masked vigilante rescues a woman named Evey, after she۪s caught out past curfew. She suddenly becomes entangled in his plot to resist the regime and get others to fight back, by launching attacks around London. The movie just celebrated its tenth anniversary.
Braveheart January 1st
Braveheart is one of those movies that you have to stop everything you۪re doing to watch it once it۪s on. Now that it is part of Netflix۪s catalog, you can tune in whenever you want, and get hyped from Mel Gibson۪s freedom speech over and over. If you are the one person on Earth who hasn۪t seen it yet, he plays William Wallace, a man who gathers an army with hopes to free Scotland from King Edward I/Longshanks in the 13th century.
Ocean۪s Twelve January 1st
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon got back together again for this Ocean۪s Eleven sequel in 2004, following the success of the first film three years before. This time, they۪re dealing with the consequences of the casino heist they pulled off when they robbed owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), who is now demanding his money back. The group heads to Europe in hopes of stealing back enough riches to make Benedict right, only they find themselves the target of another thief with a vendetta, The Night Fox. As you can imagine, clever jokes and stealing ensues.
Frontier January 20th
Netflix will debut one of its originals this month, and the streaming giant has so much faith in it that the show was renewed pre-release for a second season last fall. Game of Thrones and Aquaman۪s Jason Momoa stars in the six-part historical drama as a ruthless fur trader in the 1700s chasing wealth and control of the market, while butting heads with the traders he used to work for.
More To Watch: Caddyshack (January 1st), Boogie Nights (January 1st), The Superman movies (January 1st), The Shining (January 1st), It Follows (January 13th)
Amazon
American History X January 1st
American History X isn۪t an easy watch. It۪s violent and gets under your skin often, but it stays with you whether it۪s the first time you see it or the fiftieth. Edward Norton plays a neo-Nazi who lands in prison after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, but is released a changed man who then sets out to save his younger brother from heading down the same path. Norton was nominated for an Oscar for the role. Premiering in 1998, American History X remains a powerful portrait of how hate develops but also how the human heart and mind can be changed.
Hellboy January 1st
Renowned director Guillermo del Toro brought the cult-favorite comic anti-hero Hellboy to screens in 2004. It stars Ron Perlman as a good guy/superhero demon working at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, and trying to stop Sammael, a hellhound that has been unleashed. Perlman, who kicked ass as a character you loved to hate in Sons of Anarchy, delivers an amazing performance.
More To Watch: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (January 1st), The Infiltrator (January 9th), Dirty Grandpa (January 27th)
HBO Go/ HBO Now
Mad Max: Fury Road January 1st
Movies have never pictured the distant future with any optimism, but 2015۪s Mad Max: Fury Road is probably one of the bleakest: civilization has gone to shit, Earth is just desert, gasoline and water are scarce, and there۪s a sick tyrant named Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) forcibly making women his wives. When he sends Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) one of his lieutenants, on a gasoline run, she double-crosses him to get his wives to safety, with some help from Max (Tom Hardy). They set off a crazy chase across the desert as Joe and his followers try to get the women back. This is the fourth installment of the Mad Max series, and it۪s ridiculous action sequences set a new bar for what was popular with practical stunts and non-CGI action.
M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable January 1st; The Visit January 12th
HBO is rolling out a bunch of movies from the King of Twists this month. Shyamalan is hit-or-miss honestly, but when he does have a hit, like The Sixth Sense, it is pretty damn good. Revisit that movie if you haven۪t in awhile (it۪s 18 years old!) because it۪s great storytelling and features stellar acting from Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment. Check out 2000۪s Unbreakable as well, which also stars Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. It۪s a superhero origin story about the sole survivor of a train crash discovering he۪s indestructible. The Visit is one of Shyamalan۪s most recent worksfrom 2015and involves two teenagers۪ creepy trip to see their grandparents for the first time.
Beware the Slenderman January 23rd
Think memes are all fun and games? Well, this documentary will change your mind. It delves into the origin of the Slenderman lore, a creature resembling an abnormally tall man that evolved from an Internet character to a terrifying urban legend. The story of Slenderman played a part in an attempted murder in Wisconsin in 2014, which is also the subject of the documentary.
More To Watch: The Big Lebowski (January 1st), Cloud Atlas (January 1st), My Cousin Vinny (January 1st), The Village (January 1st), Evil Dead 2 (January 1st), Risky Business (January 1st)
Hulu
The Lethal Weapon films January 1st
A few months ago, Amazon Prime members got access to the entire Lethal Weapon franchise, and now it۪s Hulu subscribers۪ turn. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover star as cops Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, respectively, who become partners when Riggs is transferred from narcotics to homicide.
Transporter 3 January 1st
Transporter 3, a flick from 2008, is by no means the best movie in the Transporter series, but sometimes a run-of-the-mill action flick is perfect when nothing else is or you۪re posted up on the couch trying to manage a mean hangover. In this one, Frank Martin (Jason Statham), the transporter who gets things and people where they need to be without any questions, is forced to take a woman to Ukraine, after an explosive bracelet is placed on his wrist.
Hostel January 28th
No matter how shitty your most recent vacation was, it۪s nothing close to what goes down in Hostel. Two American college students, Paxton and Josh, (Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson) are doing their Eurotrip thing with their Icelandic friend Oli, (Eythor Gudjonsson), and decide to go to a Slovakian hostel after a recommendation from a guy they meet along the way. Things go horribly wrong from there. The 2005 film is from Eli Roth, who also directed Cabin Fever.
More To Watch: Jeepers Creepers 2 (January 1st), King Kong (January 1st), Jackass: The Movie (January 1st), Mission Impossible (January 1st), The Amityville Horror (January 1st)