It’s a new year, and Netflix has a new change in gear, they swear! The world’s largest streaming service may not have made any actual resolutions, but doesn’t the monthly turnover in new movies and films count? Whatever the case, Netflix is offering a whole new slate of entertainment for January 2016. Along with new seasons of Parks and Rec and It’s Always Sunny, we’ve got movies galore, including an underrated Coen Brothers classic, a crime thriller featuring Denzel Washington’s best performance, a little known Scottish gem, and a Clive Owen/Juliette Binoche tearjerker. Check out our featured recommendations, and read on for the full list of this month’s new offerings.
Training Day
Year: 2001
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Available: Jan. 4
In his darkest—and perhaps best—role, Denzel Washington embodies Alonzo Harris, an LAPD narcotics detective who can’t really be called “corrupt,” since that word is such an understatement. He’s vicious, Machievallian, and charismatic, and when he takes Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) under his wing, the combination is highly combustible. One of the chief pleasures of this film is watching Jake react to a situation that he is clearly not prepared for, trying manfully to hold on to an ethical foundation in the face of an arrogant, megalomaniacal crook disguised as one of society’s protectors.—Paste
Words and Pictures
Year: 2014
Director: Fred Schepisi
Available: Jan. 31
If it takes well into a person’s twenties before fully absorbing the reality that one’s parents are actual people, that comprehension typically comes earlier in regards to teachers, when the veneer of stentorian authority is punctured—either by an instructor’s casual jocularity or their serial challenge to ideas and mores. Words and Pictures, scripted by Gerald Di Pego and directed by Fred Schepisi with an aplomb that belies its hyper-charged emotionality, centers on two such characters. In doing so, it offers a rich, playful vehicle for Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche to parry and thrust, and maybe even fall in love.—Andy Crump
The Ladykillers
Year: 2004
Director: Joel and Ethan Cohen
Available: Jan. 12
The Ladykillers is considered one of the lesser movies from the Coens, but those who dismiss it fail to recognize the beauty and the eeriness amid the clutter. Yes, there are a few dumb jokes about IBS, and not all of the characters in the ensemble cast quite make sense, but the black comedy disguises something poetic in the manner of that most gothic of poets, Edgar Allen Poe. This is a story of a failed casino heist, but deep down it’s a morality play (and an interesting prelude to A Serious Man). Tom Hanks is excellent as Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr—a flawed mastermind, and one who reforms too late.—Paste
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Year: 2012
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Available: Jan. 1
We Need To Talk About Kevin concerns the experience of a mother struggling with the aftermath of a school massacre carried out by her son. In its narrative construction, it draws upon two key tropes: that of the “whydunnit” thriller, in which the the mystery of the perpetrator’s motivations are a driving factor, and that of the family horror, in which some dark element tears a traditional household apart. Indeed, the real horror is not that a teenager chose total negation over the banality of normative family life—it’s that these appeared to be the only two choices available.—Donal Foreman
January 1
2 Fast 2 Furious
Along Came Polly
American Girl: Grace Stirs up Success
Angry Birds Toons: Season 1
Bring it On: Fight to the Finish
Bring it On: In It to Win It
Catwoman
The Celebrity Plastic Surgeons of Beverly Hills: Season 1
Constantine
Forensic Files: Collection 2
Friday Night Tykes: Season 1-2
The Good Road
House of Wax
How to Change the World
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
Intolerable Cruelty
Journey to Le Mans
Loins of Punjab
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Parents
Nanny McPhee
Piku
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie
Pride and Prejudice
The Rundown
Shout Gladi Gladi
Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball
Something New
Stephen Fry Live: More Fool Me
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle: Season 3
Swordfish
The Tale of Despereaux
Under Arrest: Season 1: “Put Some Clothes On”
We Need to Talk About Kevin
The Wedding Date
The Whole Ten Yards
January 2
30 for 30: Four Falls of Buffalo
I’ll Have What Phil’s Having: Season 1
January 3
Sofia the First: Season 2
January 4
Blunt Force Trauma
Training Day
January 5
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 10
New Girl: Season 4
January 8
Adult World
Dragons: Race to the Edge: Season 2
Tom Segura: Mostly STories
January 10
Dos Hermanos
El Hombre de al Lado
Esperando La Carroza
The Marziano Family
Rosario Tijeras
Un Oso Rojo
January 11
Littlest Pet Shop: Season 4
January 12
The Ladykillers
January 13
Parks and Recreation: Season 7
January 14
The Testimony
January 15
Degrassi: The Next Class: Season 1
The Last Five Years
Moonwalkers
Occupied
The Overnight
Sirens: Season 2
January 16
Hyde Park on Hudson
January 17
Z Nation: Season 2
January 19
Curve
January 20
Drone
January 21
When Calls the Heart: Season 2
January 22
Sharknado 3
January 23
Chelsea Does
January 25
From Dusk Till Dawn: Season 2
Turbo Kid
January 28
Frozen Planet
Frozen Planet: On Thin Ice
Frozen Planet: The Epic Journey
The Making of Frozen Planet
January 29
Ever After High: Dragon Games
January 31
Words and Pictures