This month you are running to the cinema for these movies

Do you also have the urge to get away at the beginning of this year? I just want to plop down in a nice chair with a bowl of popcorn and dive into a completely different world. You know, that kind of movie that leaves you speechless afterwards and gives you the motivation to change your entire personality and life. Are you ready for that too? Then I have good news for you. There’s some distraction from the January blues that seems to last forever: cinema films. And there are quite a few fun ones coming up, just pay attention.

1. Hamnet

You know, William Shakespeare? One of the greatest writers in the history of mankind? There’s now a film about him, starring Paul Mescal. Yes, seriously. If you love a beautiful film that will ultimately require a box of tissues, then this is your chance to have a good cry in the cinema. This adaptation answers the question of whether the death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet inspired his play Hamlet. The film begins with how William (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) meet. Their story is about their children, love, and sorrow. We see why William (at Agnes's request) leaves for London to become a playwright and eventually grows into a legend. With two Golden Globe and one Critic’s Choice awards under its belt, this is a story you won’t forget anytime soon.

2. In Love with Curacao

Or something completely different: the classic Dutch romcom series In Love with…. And now we’re heading to the warm, sunny Curacao. Lars (Fedja Louman) is about to get married when he decides to take his mother Merel (Isa Hoes) on a trip. What he doesn’t tell her is that this is a singles trip. Of course, she becomes interested in someone on the island: the charming artist Ozzie (Tarikh Janssen). Meanwhile, the desperate romantic Herbert (Kasper van Kooten) is trying to find the love of his life and journalist Malti (Joy Delima) goes undercover in the singles group to write a devastating article about it. But yes: those warm temperatures and hormones ensure that nothing goes according to plan.

3. Dust Bunny

Are romantic films not your thing at all? Then you should go to a fantasy-horror film. Dust Bunny, starring Mads Mikkelsen (from Hannibal) and Sigourney Weaver (from Ghostbusters), is your terrifying salvation. They return to their horror roots in this blockbuster that will make you question whether you should have gone to such a scary movie on your bike ride home. Ten-year-old Aurora asks her neighbor, who happens to be a hitman, to help her defeat the monster that has eaten her entire family. Out of guilt, he takes on the task, as these monsters seem familiar to him. Are these the same people who were after him? To protect her, he must fight against a gang of assassins in John Wick fashion. And who knows, he might discover that monsters really do exist.

4. Avatar: Fire and Ash

James Cameron is back with the third film in the Avatarseries that the whole world fell in love with in 2009. After the death of Neteyam – the son of Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) – Neytiri's hatred for humans is greater than ever. When a fleet of traders descends, the couple decides that Spider (you know, the sixteen-year-old human child they found) must return to the scientists' camp of the humans. This will be a long trip, and during this journey, they encounter a new Na’vi clan: the Mangkwans. Or, as they are also called: the Ash People, due to their worship of fire and destruction. Can they safely return Spider to the humans? And will they survive this new, aggressive Na’vi?

5. One Battle After Another

After all those Golden Globes, it’s no surprise that this action film is on our list. Leonardo DiCaprio is back as Bob, a paranoid ex-revolutionary who used to be part of the violent rebel group The French 75. The now old, couch-surfing slacker comes out of his hiding place in the woods when his teenage daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) goes missing. Is this a coincidence? Certainly not, Bob discovers. Someone from his past, Lockjaw (Sean Penn), who seemed to have disappeared forever, has resurfaced to ruin his life. Distracted, Bob tries everything to get his daughter back.

6. The Housemaid

Time for a psychological thriller then. In The Housemaid we meet Millie (Sydney Sweeney). She is ready for a fresh start, which she gets with the perfect Winchester family. Here she starts working as a live-in housekeeper. But that Nina (Amanda Seyfried) and Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar)? They are really not the fairy tale Millie thought. She gets caught up in the dark and dangerous secrets of the couple, like that strange attic that is always locked.

7. Greenland: Migration

Have you Haven't seen Greenland? Then you’ll have to watch that first, because yes: this is part two. We are now five years after the comet impact. The Garrity family (Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, and Roman Griffin Davis) is still living in a bunker in Greenland, but after so much time, supplies are starting to run low. With more and more earthquakes occurring, the question arises of how long they can stay here before the bunker collapses. Together with a few others, the family decides to leave Greenland and go to the crater of the comet. Here, Mother Nature has done her work and nature has recovered. On their way to paradise, they naturally face all sorts of obstacles and drama. niet gezien? Dan zul je die eerst moeten kijken, want ja: dit is deel twee. Inmiddels zijn we vijf jaar na de inslag van de komeet. De Garrity-familie (Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin en Roman Griffin Davis) leeft nog steeds in een bunker op Groenland, maar na zoveel tijd beginnen de voorraden op te raken. Nu er steeds meer aardbevingen komen, rijst de vraag hoelang ze hier nog kunnen blijven voordat de bunker instort. Samen met een aantal anderen besluit de familie Groenland te verlaten en naar de krater van de komeet te gaan. Hier heeft Moeder Natuur haar werk gedaan en is de natuur hersteld. Onderweg naar het walhalla komen ze natuurlijk voor allerlei obstakels en drama te staan.

8. Anaconda

Actually, I want to laugh for a change, with all those movies in the cinema about monster hunts, post-apocalyptic worlds, and all-consuming firestorms. Fortunately, that’s also possible this month with Anaconda. Jack Black and Paul Rudd team up to create one of the funniest films of the year. Childhood friends Doug (Jack Black), Ronald (Paul Rudd), Kenny (Steve Zahn), and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) decide to make a low-budget film in the Amazon in the midst of their midlife crises. There’s just one problem: they need an anaconda. On their quest, they come face to face with a gigantic anaconda that threatens their film set and lives. Do you want to cry even more, but from laughter? Then this is your film to see now.

9. Rental Family

Before Brendan Fraser shines in the new The Mummy-film, we can first see him shine in the American-Japanese film Rental Family. This film is about American actor Phillip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser), who after seven years in Tokyo still hasn’t found success. After doing hundreds of commercials, he is approached by the company Rental Family, which offers fake families for people who are depressed or lonely, or for any other reason need a family. He throws himself into the roles but becomes emotionally involved with the other actors and clients. That may sound a bit strange, but this is really such a sweet feel-good film like The Terminal that you want to sit down for.

10. Dead of Winter

Another thriller? I won’t say no to that. Especially not if Emma Thompson is involved. In Dood van de Winter she plays Barb, a widow who travels to the snowy wilderness of Minnesota to scatter her husband’s ashes and deal with her grief. Here, she accidentally stumbles upon the kidnapping of a teenage girl, Leah (Laurel Marsden). In this literal middle of nowhere, she is the only chance the girl has for help. Totally inexperienced and without weapons, she tries to fight against the ‘disturbed’ Purple Lady and Camo Jacket to free Leah and escape their death.

11. Blue Moon

Comedy and drama? That sounds good. I’m up for some Irish humor – and you will be too when you see this trailer. It’s March 31, 1943. We are in the middle of World War II and it’s the premiere night of Oklahoma!, the musical by Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott, from Fleabag) and Oscar Hammerstein. Richard’s former partner, the legendary musical writer Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke), spends the entire premiere sulking in the bar. How can his old partner have such a big success without him? Could it have something to do with his years of alcoholism and depression? Most likely. Lorenz knows he has one last chance to revive the collaboration with Rodgers. This may not sound funny at all now, but it’s precisely the musical world and the serious scenes, perfectly interspersed with strong comedic timing, that make this a delightful watch.

Now that the snow has dried up well, you can finally do something else in this never-ending month than sitting on the couch: go to the cinema. Will you manage to see all of these? Then maybe it’s time to get a cinema subscription, because there’s a lot more fun coming out this year. Trust me.