It’s Oscar season which means that these superb films will be in your cinema this month

Get excited because there are some brilliant films arriving soon.

After LA La Land absolutely dominated the Golden Globes, it came as no surprise to see the musical going on to pick up 11 BAFTA nominations. January is always a fantastic month for cinema releases as the majority of the Oscar contenders reach these shores.

With this in mind, here are the main Oscar contenders that will be released in January, along with a few more of our picks.

The Oscar contenders

Manchester By The Sea

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%

Release date: Jan 13th.

Plot: After the death of his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is shocked to learn that Joe has made him sole guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Taking leave of his job, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for Patrick, a spirited 15-year-old, and is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and the community where he was born and raised. 

La La Land

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%

Release date: Jan 13th

Plot: Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a dedicated jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail piano gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

Jackie

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 87%

Release date: Jan 20th

Plot: An intimate portrait of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history, seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady, then Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman). Jackie places us in her world during the days immediately following her husband’s assassination. Known for her extraordinary dignity and poise, here we see a psychological portrait of the First Lady as she struggles to maintain her husband’s legacy and the world of “Camelot” that they created and loved so well.

Lion

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 87%

Release date: January 20th

Plot: A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

Hacksaw Ridge

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 86%

Release date: January 27th

Plot: In Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong.

The best of the rest

Trainspotting 2

Plot: First there was an opportunity……then there was a betrayal. Twenty years have gone by. Much has changed but just as much remains the same. Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) returns to the only place he can ever call home. They are waiting for him: Spud (Ewen Bremner), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), and Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Other old friends are waiting too: sorrow, loss, joy, vengeance, hatred, friendship, love, longing, fear, regret, diamorphine, self-destruction and mortal danger, they are all lined up to welcome him, ready to join the dance

Release date: January 27th

Go see it because: If it’s even half as good as the original, we’re in for a treat.

Live By Night

Plot:  In the roaring ’20s, Prohibition hasn’t stopped the flow of booze in an underground network of gangster-run speakeasies. The opportunity to gain power and money is there for any man with enough ambition and nerve and Joe Coughlin, the son of the Boston Police Superintendent, long ago turned his back on his strict upbringing for the spoils of being an outlaw. But even among criminals there are rules and Joe breaks a big one: crossing a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll. The fiery affair ends in tragedy, setting Joe on a path of revenge, ambition, romance and betrayal that propels him out of Boston and up the ladder of Tampa’s steamy rum-running underworld.

Release date: January 13th

Go see it because: Ben Affleck, Brendan Gleeson and Chris Cooper all in a gangster film that’s based on a Denis Lehane book? Sold.

xXx 3: The Return Of Xander Cage

Plot: Do we need one? Ok, Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) comes out of self-imposed exile and immediately goes on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box.

Release date: January 19th

Go see it because: You know that it’s going to be bonkers. Leave your brain at the door and enjoy.

Split

Plot: Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him—as well as everyone around him—as the walls between his compartments shatter apart

Release date:  January 20th

Go see it because: M. Night Shyamalan’s latest horror has proven to be a critical hit and the premise sounds excellent.

If you haven’t seen the following films that are still playing in the cinema, we highly recommend them; A Monster Calls, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Silence and finally, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

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