January 2025 New Movies Ranking

With January at an end, it is time to share my thoughts on the new releases I saw in January. January is usually considered a dumping month for movies and this month was not an exception with not many good movies coming out. I managed to see five new movies this month. There just weren't that many released this month. With the first January movie I saw not coming out until January 16th, I had to rely a lot more on streaming releases. All of them were at least moderately entertaining but not many of them were good. With that all said, here are my thoughts and ranking of the five January new releases that I saw.

5. Wolf Man

Wolf Man was the newest Blumhouse Universal monster film. It was made in the direction of 2020's The Invisible Man but unfortunately was not very good. It had some solid horror aspects to it. The whole Wolf Man transformation and every time the monster was on screen were very effective but those moments were few and far between. The plot and characters were just not up to the quality that they needed to be. There were several interesting ideas set up at the beginning of the movie but by the end, nothing was done to pay them off or leave things in a satisfying way. I also thought that the final chase wasn't as intense as the movie was trying to be. To me, it was clear what the Wolf Man's intentions were from the beginning and it just took away any sort of excitement as he wasn't even trying to attack these people. Finally, I didn't feel like there was enough Wolf Man action to excuse the poor plot. If it had been more action-packed, I probably would have given the writing more of a pass. Overall, this is a pretty generic horror film that has some scary moments but not enough to be a good movie.

Score: 5/10 Grade: C

4. You're Cordially Invited

You're Cordially Invited is the first film Sarah and I saw together this year. The film is streaming on Amazon Prime Video and stars Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon. It centers around two families who have their weddings double booked at a limited-sized venue. Sarah liked this movie a lot more than I did. I thought the movie had a bit of a Father of the Bride vibe going on. It did have a fair amount of moments that made me laugh. However, most of the humor was cringe humor instead of being legitimately funny. I found all of the characters to be extremely irritating and just awful people so much so that it was hard to like any of them. The two leads do so many petty things that it is just hard to watch at times. I also felt that the ending and who certain characters end up with made no sense. Finally, I thought that there were just too many sub-plots going on. Each of the two leads had like 3-4 different issues going on with none of them getting enough time to be worthwhile. In the end, while Sarah did enjoy this movie, I had a lot of hang-ups with it.

Score: 5.5/10 Grade: C

3. Flight Risk

Flight Risk was the new Mark Wahlberg thriller directed by Mel Gibson. This movie was a step up from Wolf Man but only marginally so. The movie does a good job of being this edge-of-your-seat B-level thriller. There are many exciting moments while you are left wondering how they are going to land this plane. I also thought the movie had a great length, coming in at about 90 minutes. It doesn't feel rushed but doesn't overstay its welcome either. However, this isn't a movie deserving of a theatrical release. Had it been a streaming original, It would have been seen as a decent B-movie thriller but it is definitely not worth a $15 movie ticket. I found the Topher Grace character to be incredibly annoying. He tries to bring this random comic relief that just doesn't fit in a movie like this. I also felt that the Mark Walhberg character had no reason to be in the movie after the initial confrontation. His character makes it clear that he will not help fly the plane, so there is no reason to keep him around other than to allow him to cause trouble. In the end, this is an okay enough streaming-worthy movie that has enough cheap thrills to keep you entertained for 90 minutes.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

2. Back in Action

Back in Action is the newest "Netflix Blockbuster". This movie is an action sky comedy starring Jamie Fox and Cameron Diaz. This movie follows a husband and wife spy duo who retire from the spy life to start a family. However, unexpected events bring them back into the world they left behind. This isn't any different quality-wise than other Netflix films like this but I still had fun with it. This movie is one part Mr. and Mrs. Smith and one part The Incredibles which I think works rather well for this movie. The dynamic between Jamie Fox and Cameron Diaz is a lot of fun. There are some solid action sequences and funny moments. Of course, like most other big-budget streaming movies like this, the movie lacks any sort of substance and is full of genre cliches and forgettable plots. However, it is more watchable than many of the others. This is definitely a junk food type of movie. Overall, this isn't anything overly memorable or interesting but it is still a safe movie with broad appeal that will entertain easily enough.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B-

1. Companion

Companion is easily the best movie of the month. This is a movie that effectively blends multiple genres. The movie somehow manages to pull being both a good romance film and a thriller. The direction they take the story in the second half is just so unexpected but still works well in the context of the film. A good twist is something that catches the audience off guard but still makes sense with the rest of the film and that movie undoubtedly does that. I thought that Sophie Turner and Jack Quaid were great in this movie. Both characters portray their infatuation with each other so well but also manage to portray the fear and anxiety once their weekend starts to fall apart. This movie reminds me of aspects of Gone Girl and Strange Darling. The movie does a great job of delivering nonstop thrills from beginning to end. The movie changes pace so naturally and goes in a new direction that no one would expect. In the end, this movie is very good in every genre that it ties into it. It has the thrills and the romance with both equally prevalent in the story. This is a significant step up from everything else I saw this month.

Score: 8/10 Grade: B+